The great pyramid is seven hundred and forty-six feet long, and four hundred and eighty feet high. It covers an area of five hundred and thirty-six thousand square feet, or nearly thirteen acres. Its solid contents are calculated at eighty-five million cubic feet. How much do you suppose that is?
Well, you could build a wall four feet high and two feet thick, and something more than two thousand miles long, with the stones in this pyramid, or you could build a wall twelve feet high and four feet thick all the way from Cincinnati to St. Louis—a distance of three hundred and forty miles. And if you piled it up around Manhattan Island, where New York stands, you would encircle that metropolis with a wall twenty feet thick and forty feet high. And remember that all this stone was hewn from the quarries, and moved and piled up before the days of steam!
How were the pyramids built? That is a conundrum which many people have puzzled over, and nobody has been able to answer. The Egyptians have left nothing to indicate how they performed their work, and nobody has been able to devise a satisfactory explanation. Many men have theorized about the matter, and every time anybody builds up a theory the rest of them show that it was impossible to build the pyramids in that way. One of these days, something may be discovered to throw light upon the matter, but at present all is darkness.
All this time I have had you climbing up the northeast corner of the great pyramid, halting occasionally to take breath and a swallow of water, and a glance at the country around and below us. It is tough work for the muscles, to climb these high steps, but if you are patient and careful you will get along without much trouble.
In about fifteen minutes we are at the top, and the Arabs indulge in a hurrah as we get there. They pestered me on the way up to give them a personal fee, in addition to what I gave the sheik, and I promised it to them on condition that they should not allude to it again until they reached the base. The men I had were strong, healthy fellows, rather dignified in their bearing, and they spoke English, French, and Italian sufficiently well to be understood. They handled me without difficulty, and by making them understand what I wanted at the outset, and being firm with them, I had no trouble.
The Judge had so much bother with the Arabs, that he was rather disgusted with his visit. About a dozen of the fellows accompanied him, and gave him all sorts of assistance. Two pulled him up, and two pushed; one unwound his turban, and two others put it around the Judge’s waist in order to lift him.
Another carried his overcoat, another his cane, and another a bottle of water, and two or three others gave directions as to the proper places for his feet.