23 
horseback at a short distance before us, who threaten- 
ed us, and desired nothing better than to revenge them- 
selves; for the Arnauts of Djiza had had the good 
fortune the night before to carry off from them two 
hundred camels. 
The imagination of man cannot conceive a just and 
correct idea of these pyramids, and the column of 
Alexandria, as they appear to the sight, their form and 
dimensions being so different from those of any other 
object. I had an achromatic telescope, and my military 
glass, made by Dolland, with me. By dint of com- 
parisons and reasonings, I believe I succeeded in 
forming an idea of them, which, if not quite correct, 
is at least very near; for it is impossible to be per- 
fectly exact when one sense alone is consulted, and 
that also at some distance. I shall not speak of their 
dimensions, for the mission to Egypt has completely 
solved that problem; it is sufficient to say that they are 
enormously colossal, and the work of man. 
They are three in number, two much larger than 
the third; and I perceived less difference in height be. 
tween the two large ones than is generally remarked 
by travellers. 
The profound historian Mr. Duppreis says, that 
the large pyramid was constructed in such a manner, 
that an observer placed at its foot, on the day of the 
equinox, could have seen the sun at noon, seated as it 
were upon its summit. Thus it would appear, that the 
inclined plane of the side of the pyramid forms an 
angle with the plane of the horizon, equal to the 
meridional height of the sun at that period, or equal 
to the height of the equator. The pyramids being placed 
almost exactly in the latitude of 30° north, it results 
that this angle ought to be 6Q\ As all the sides appear 
