PYRAMIDS. 
149 
to stand upon the confines of nature, and to con- 
template the ruins of a former world, which the 
waters have spoiled. The enormous size of these 
ancient monuments, and the solidity of their 
structure, promise an eternal duration, an exist- 
ence coeval with the everlasting mountains. They 
are visible at a great distance, and, as the traveller 
advances, seem to retire into the recesses of the 
desert. Their stupendous height, prodigious sur- 
face, and enormous solidity, strike the spectator 
with reverence and awe, as they recal^the memory 
of distant ages. The situation of the principal 
pyramids is at the entrance of the Flain of Mum- 
mies^ where the sepulchres of the ancient Egyp- 
tians, hewn out of the solid rock, are closed with 
stones of a large size, and covered with sand. 
The pyramids are distinguished by the names of 
the villages in their immediate vicinity, as Giza, 
Sakkara, and Dashur, and they extend, at inter- 
vals, along the sand-hills which skirt the banks of 
the Nile, from Giza to Medum, over a space of 
twenty-six G. miles. The rocky base on which 
they are founded, is elevated about fifty feet above 
the level of the plain. On the western bank of 
the Nile, between the river and the line of pyra- 
mids which shuts up the entrance into the desert, 
the villages of Metrahenny and Mohanan mark 
the site of the ancient Memphis. These villages 
lie about nine G. miles above Fostat, in N. L. 
