BRICKMAKING (from Egyptian Sculpture).
The bird was rolled up in long bandages of linen. The head and neck were folded over the breast, the wings laid close to the sides, and the long legs were folded up and brought close to the beak. The bird was perfect. We said we knew how delighted you all, and especially Hugh and Lucy, would be to see it. But our curiosity was selfish. As soon as the air played on it, it crumbled into dust.
THE SACRED IBIS.
There are some fine tombs near the Pyramids of Sakkara. We went to the one which we were told was the best worth seeing. The roof was hollowed into the shape of an arch and covered with smoothly-cut stones cemented together. This led into a room in which is a deep well. We also saw some hieroglyphics, and some sculpture; most of these represented men carrying birds. It was not very interesting, and we did not stay long to look at it.
We had a delightful ride back to Bedreshyn, through fields and among clumps of thorny mimosa, on which the camels love to browse. The palm-trees looked beautiful in the clear sunlight. Nothing was wanting but the song of birds, and this is a want almost always felt by Europeans in the hot climates of Africa and Asia.
The next day we went to the Pyramids of Dashoor. Two are of stone and two of brick. The first was the largest. Colonel Howard Vyse gives its height as three hundred and twenty feet. The entrance was covered with stones and rubbish. The second pyramid is not so large. The ascent to the entrance is not very difficult, but the descent is exceedingly so, and there is not much to repay one for the trouble.
We returned to our boat in good time, and were much amused, after we had again started, by watching the peasants raising water from the river with poles and buckets, and with looking at the Arab boats, a number of which passed us.
We next came to El Kafr el Jyat. It is only a small village, but in it is the residence of a wealthy chief whose hospitable house is the resort of travellers. He bears the title of Khabeéree, or "the guide." We find from Sir G. Wilkinson's book[A] that this title "has been hereditary in his family since the time of Sultan Selim, who gave it to his ancestor as a reward for his services in that capacity, when he took possession of the country after the defeat of the son of El Ghoree."