222 PYRAMIDS OF SACCARA. 
CHAP. o{ Egypt, even if the testimony of Herodotus 
. were less explicit as to the remote period of its 
existence among Northern nations'. 
Village of We came to the wretched village of Saccdra. 
Near to this place, towards the south, there is 
an antient causeway, composed of stones twelve 
yards wide, leading up the short ascent to the 
plain on which the Pyramids stand. Several of 
the Arabs left their huts to accompany us. 
When we reached the principal cluster of them, 
which is behind the village towards the west, 
we were conducted to the mouth of one of the 
Catacombs; and prepared for a descent, as into 
the mouth of a well, by means of a rope-ladder 
which we had brought with us for that purpose. 
Tlie sandy surface of the soil was covered with 
a quantity of broken vessels of terra cotta, pieces 
of human bones, sculls, bits of antient glass, 
and heaps of ruins. 
These Pyramids appear to be a continuation 
of the same great coemetery to which those of 
Dj'Lza also belonged. They extend four or five 
miles, both to the north and to the south of the 
(l) See tlie account given by Herodotus of the Scythian mode of 
sepulture. Melpomene, c 71. 
