538 
WONDERS OP A.RT. 
were liable to be broken every instant. At 
reached the topmost tier, to tlie great delight and . 
of all tlie party. Here we found a platform, ,vl'' 
feet square ; consisting of nine large stones, eacn _ 
icci nviuo*'-) — - Tr'll ^ 
might weigh about a ton ; although they are m 
m size to some of the stones used in the cons 
iiis pyramid. ^ a'J’Li 
The view from the summit of the Py’^^^ujch 
fulfilled our expectations ; nor do the accounts y . 
been given of it, as it appears at this season O 
(in the month of August), exaggerate the (;air‘’j(. 
grandeur of the sight. All the region towards 
tlie Delta resembled a sea, covered with innume (gt ; ^ 
Forests of palm-trees were seen standing in the 
inundation spreading over the land where they |j( 
to give them an appearance of growing in tn goijl*' ^ 
the north, as far as the eye could reach, noth‘h&. . 
discerned, but a watery surface thus diversitien 
tions and by villages. To the south we saw 
of Saccara 5 and, upon tlie east of these, sm ap& 
ments of the same kind, nearer to the Nile, ’ J 
ance of ruins might indeed be traced the whole 
the Pyramids of Djiza to those of Saccara ; as ' ggjii® jiit 
been once connected, so as to constitute one j.gei'®^ 
Beyond the Pyramids of Saccara we could 
distant mountains of the Said 5 and upon an e a 
the Libyan side of the Nile appeared a monaste 
s'lderable size. Towards the west and south-'*' IP- jir 
ranged over the great Libyan Desert, exten 'hs^tgct 
■most verge of the horizon, -without a single j 
errupt the dreary horror ot the landscape, 
floating spots, caused by the shadows of passing ^ f 
the sand. . . . . 
“ The stones of the platform upon the 
most of the others used in constructing the decro 
from the base upwards, are of soft limestone- ^ M 
ployed in the construction of the pyramids, am 
nature as the calcareous rock on which tn ; 
which was apparently cut away to foim the^-y^fjl)W 
1 xxrortk Kr/MicrVtt" fl*nlTl 
says, however, that they were brought from tne 
of the Nile. . 
“ The French attempted to open the smalts 
