The view from the summit of the Great Pyramid is described by my brother as being of a most extraordinary nature. On the eastern side the eye ranges over an extensive verdant plain, watered by numerous canals, and interspersed with villages erected upon mounds of rubbish, and surrounded by palm-trees. In the distance is the Nile; beyond which are seen the lofty minarets and citadel of Cairo, backed by the low yellow range of Mount Mukattam. Turning towards the opposite side, the traveller beholds a scene exactly the reverse: instead of palm-groves and corn-fields, he sees only the undulating sandy hills of the great Syrian Desert. The view of the second pyramid, from this commanding situation, is extremely grand. A small portion of the third pyramid is also seen; with one of the small pyramids on its southern side. The space which lies on the west of the Great Pyramid, and north of the second, is covered with oblong tombs, having the form of truncated pyramids; which from that height appear like patches of gravel. The head of the Great Sphinx, and the distant pyramids of Aboo-Seer, Sakkárah, and Dahshoor, are seen towards the south-southeast.
About half an hour or more after sunset, the gloom contributed much to the grandeur and solemnity of the scene. On one occasion my brother ascended the Great Pyramid about two hours before daybreak, and waited upon the summit until sunrise. He found it extremely cold, and the wind, sweeping up the northern side of the pyramid, sounded like a distant cataract. The second pyramid was at first faintly discernible, appearing of vastly more than even real magnitude. Soon after, its eastern side was lighted up by the rising moon; and the effect was truly sublime.
On the second day after he had taken up his quarters at the pyramids, during the visit to which I have referred, he went out without his pistols; and in the evening one of his guards reproved him for having done so. “How easy,” he observed, “would it be for one of our people (the Bedawees) to rob you, and, if you resisted, to murder you, and throw you down one of the mummy-pits, and who would ever know what was become of you?” On the following day he ascended the Great Pyramid alone, but not unarmed. While on the summit, he perceived a solitary Arab, making towards the pyramid, from the west. He began to ascend the southwestern angle; and when he arrived about half-way up, little thinking that my brother’s telescope was directed towards him, he stopped, and took out a pistol from a case which was slung by his side, looked at it, and then continued the ascent. As it was evident that the fellow had no good intentions, my brother called to him, and desired him to descend; but he either did not hear him, or would not obey. My brother then discharged a pistol, to show him that he was not without the means of defence. Upon this, he immediately began to return, and, having reached the base, walked slowly away into the desert.
Under the present government, travellers seldom are subjected to any danger from the natives in this or any other part of Egypt; but from the crowding and importunity of the Arab guides at the pyramids they generally suffer much annoyance. They are always attended for a considerable distance, sometimes even from El-Geezeh, by a party of Arabs who are in the habit of extorting money from the traveller on the top of the Great Pyramid before they will suffer him to descend. A few days ago, a gentleman of distinction bargained with some of these men to attend him to the summit of the Great Pyramid; and when they had done so, they claimed the promised payment, saying that they had fulfilled their engagement. Being afraid to descend without their aid, he was compelled to submit to their exactions, and paid them five dollars.
SECTION OF PASSAGES
It is pitiable to observe the haste which most of the travellers to and from India are obliged to make, if able to visit the pyramids at all: some arrived during our stay, ran up the Great Pyramid, descended as rapidly, spent a few minutes within it, and disappeared in little more than an hour.[[39]]
[39]. Most visitors to Niagara do the same thing to their great loss. From a single hurried visit, the true impression of the grandeur of the falls is never obtained; the first impression is almost uniformly that of disappointment.—Ed.