A friend had told me what to do so I stipulated that only the two men to serve, me should come near me otherwise I should pay nothing. I required the sheik to select the two and away we started. A boy carrying a gargolet of water followed us, and I found him desirable and consented that he should accompany me. The unusual exertion gives one a dryness in the throat that it is well to alleviate occasionally.
The Great Pyramid is built on a rock platform, about a hundred feet above the level of the plain below; from a very early period, it was one of the cemeteries of Memphis, and at the present day the remains of tombs are scattered all around, most of them being buried in the sand. The stones for building the pyramid came from the other side of the Nile, and were ferried over in boats to the end of a causeway that was built to facilitate their transport to the place where they now lie.
As it now stands, the pyramid consists of a series of steps from two to four feet high, and very few of them are less than three feet. To make the ascent, you yield yourself into the hands of the two Arabs appointed to accompany you; they stand above, and lift you up by the arms, at the same time indicating where you are to place your feet.
Imagine a series of steps as high or higher than an ordinary dining-table or writing-desk.
And then remember that you must ascend on these steps a perpendicular height of four hundred and eighty feet.
Originally, when completed, the pyramid had a casing of granite and limestone fitted into these steps, so that an ascent was impossible. The casing has entirely disappeared, having been removed for building purposes in Cairo at the time of the Caliphs; on the second pyramid, part of the casing still remains, though, broken in places, and gives an idea of the beauty of the whole, before the work was injured.
And now a few figures; skip them if you like, and don’t say anything about them.