PYRAMIDS OF DJIZA. 176 
were as desirous as^our predecessors' to leave chap. 
a memorial of our arrival ; it seemed to be a tri- , i^' 
bute of thankfulness, due for the success of our 
undertaking; and presently every one of our 
party was seen busied in adding the inscription 
of his name^ 
Upon this area, which looks like a point 
when seen from Cairo, or from the Nile, it is 
extraordinary that none of those numerous 
hermits fixed their abode, who retired to the 
tops of columns, and to almost inaccessible 
solitudes upon the pinnacles of the highest 
rocks. It offers a much more convenient and 
secure retreat than was selected by an ascetic 
who pitched his residence upon the architrave 
of a temple in the vicinity of Athens. The heat, 
according to Fahrenheit's thermometer, at the 
time of our coming, did not exceed 84"; and 
the same temperature continued during the 
time we remained, a strong wind blowing from 
the north-west. The view from this eminence 
(1) 'Apresque nous e{imes grav6 nos nonis sur le somniet de la 
pyramide, nous desceudtmes," &c. Savary Lett, sur VEgypte, torn. I. 
i>. 188. Par. 1785. 
(2) In order to prove how commodious a station this place affords, it 
may be mentioned, that the author was enabled to write upon the sfwt 
a letter to a friend in England. 
