We rode round it, and then went on to the second pyramid. This is sometimes called the Pyramid of Cephren. He was brother to Cheops. The casing-stones are still left on the highest part of this pyramid. They are of a delicately-grained white stone which comes from the Mokattan Hills, and are highly polished. We saw great quantities of granite lying scattered about.
This pyramid was opened by the celebrated traveller Belzoni, in the year 1816. Passages were found in it like those in the Great Pyramid. In a granite room, with a pent roof, we saw a sarcophagus half-buried in the floor.
The third pyramid, called the Pyramid of Mycerinus, was opened by Colonel Howard Vyse. Mycerinus was the son of Cheops. He was a just king, and treated his people with kindness. This pyramid now measures three hundred and thirty-three feet at its base, and is two hundred and three feet high. It was originally cased with granite, and some of the casing is still left.
In it is a room with a painted roof; a space is left over it to prevent its being crushed in by the weight above. A sarcophagus was found in this room, in which was the coffin of King Mycerinus, and his name on it. The coffin and the king's body were sent to England, and are now in the British Museum. This pyramid is thought to have been the most beautiful of the three.
EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS.
As we stood in these solemn chambers of the dead, we thanked God, who has given us a better hope than these mighty kings of old had. Death must have had many terrors for them. But our blessed Saviour came to make it the gate to eternal life for all who love him and serve him truly.
We next went to look at the tombs around the pyramids. Some are very much injured, others are in better preservation. One of the most curious of these was opened by Colonel Vyse. We looked down into a deep well or pit, about fifty feet deep, and there we saw a large black sarcophagus. There were many other tombs on all sides, but we had not time to examine them.
Time was passing quickly, and we had not yet seen the wonderful Sphinx.
The excavations which have been made show the Sphinx to have been a gigantic figure of a crouching lion, with the head of a man, and wearing a royal crown. It is cut out of the natural rock. Its length, according to Pliny, was one hundred and forty-three feet, and its height sixty-three feet.