We met troops of camels and donkeys laden with green provisions for Cairo; the majority of them carried freshly cut grass for the sustenance of donkeys, horses, and camels, piled in great loads that half concealed the animals that bore them. The grass thus cut is sold quite cheaply, and as many as four or five crops can be taken from the land in the course of the year. The fertility of the Nile soil exceeds that of any land I have ever seen elsewhere; the lower Mississippi with all its richness is far behind it.
Although good roads have been provided here burdens are still carried almost entirely on the backs of animals, very few carts being in use. Almost the only vehicles visible here are the carriages of tourists going to or from the Pyramids or visiting one of the Khedive’s palaces. There is a fine palace on this side of the Nile known as the Gezereh, and there are two new palaces in course of construction. In spite of the tightened money market and the general absence of cash, the Khedive continues to make extensive outlays on palaces and their adornments. He has several sons, and it is desirable that each shall have a home of his own.
As we drive towards them the Pyramids fill the horizon, or rather they rise very prominently out of it. When we are yet an hour’s drive from their base they seem not more than ten minutes away, an optical delusion, partly attributable to the clear atmosphere and partly to the great size of the structures themselves. A house two stories in height stands at the foot of the first pyramid, and by observing what a slight speck it makes against the great mass you can form an idea of what is before
you. Long before we are near the Pyramids our carriage is surrounded by Arabs, bent on serving us in some way, or at all events in wringing money from us. They follow the carriage at a run and have no difficulty in keeping up with us. Most of them run bare-footed and keep their great clumsy shoes in their hands as the least fatiguing way of carrying the burdens.
At the edge of the fertile land the road ascends an elevation and here it is necessary for us to dismount and walk as the track is covered with sand that has blown from the desert and makes the ascent very difficult for a loaded vehicle. The horses have all they can do to take the empty carriage up the slope and the drivers are obliged to use the whip very freely.
We came to a halt on the broad open space below the Great Pyramid, and the drivers immediately removed and unharnessed their horses, and took out the poles of the carriages. The Arabs flocked around us to make bargains for the ascent; there are some thirty-five or forty that stay here to serve-travellers, and they have a fixed tariff for the ascent and the journey into the interior You pay two shillings to the sheik of the tribe for the ascent and two more if you go inside, and for this he furnishes you with two or more men to assist you. Half a dozen will volunteer to accompany you but two are quite enough.