They are the oldest monuments in the world. Jacob, Joseph, Moses looked upon them. They are the grandest work of man in lasting endurance. The workmen who laboured at them have been dead and forgotten for thousands of years. But their work lives, and will live for hundreds of years to come; probably till the Great Day when the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and the earth and everything on it shall be burned up and melt with fervent heat. No other work of man has been so enduring.
The pyramids are supposed to be the tombs of the Pharaohs, kings of Egypt.
We went first to the Great Pyramid, or Pyramid of Cheops. We were attended by Arab guides, who carried wax candles, and undertook to show us everything. We went down a sloping pa.s.sage till we came to a large block of granite. A narrow way has been made round this block, and by it we reached the other side and came to an ascending pa.s.sage. This was very low, so low that even Hugh could not stand upright in it. This brought us to the great pa.s.sage, from which a gallery led to a room called the Queen"s Chamber. The ceiling is painted, and the masonry very beautiful.
Here we rested for a little while, and then went back to the great pa.s.sage. We still had to ascend to reach the King"s Chamber. The pa.s.sage being cased with polished granite, we found it very slippery. Indeed, Hugh and I were continually sliding backwards, and found a special difficulty in getting on.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
At last we reached the King"s Chamber. This is the largest in the pyramid. It is more than thirty feet long and about half as wide. The roof is flat, made of seven immense blocks of red granite, with halves of two other blocks. The walls are of the same red granite. In this room we saw a large granite sarcophagus, but there was neither any inscription on it nor any of the hieroglyphics which the old Egyptians used in writing.
There are five other rooms above the King"s Chamber. But the guides told us that we could not get to them without ladders. As we could not find out that there was much worth seeing in them, we left them unvisited.
Many travellers suppose that these rooms were only built to break the great weight of the large upper part of the pyramid, and to prevent it from pressing too heavily and crushing in the ceiling of the King"s Chamber.
Colonel Howard Vyse (who made a great many researches in Egypt, and has written a very interesting book about them) says that the Great Pyramid is now four hundred and fifty feet high, and that when it was entire it must have been four hundred and eighty feet high. The blocks of stone become smaller in size as they near the top. The lowest fifty rows measure one hundred and thirty-eight feet three inches; the highest row, only three feet six inches.
When we had come back again into the fresh air the guides asked if we wished to go up the outside of the pyramid. Hugh wished it very decidedly. I was advised not to attempt it, and told that the view would not repay me for the exertion. So I consented to stay below. The others went up, and returned in about twenty minutes. Hugh said that the steps were steep, and made of irregular broken stones. All agreed that the view was not so fine as might have been expected. Cairo; the Mokattan Hills; the Nile, with its fresh green banks; the Pyramids of Aboosir, Dashoor, and Sakkara, were the chief objects.
Hugh asked one of the guides in how short a time he could go to the top of the pyramid and down again. He said he would show us, if we would give him a present. We agreed. Within five minutes he was at the top, and in three more he was by our side again below, claiming his reward.
The Great Pyramid is seven hundred and forty-six feet square at its base.
"How many yards is that, Hugh?"
Hugh thought for a minute. "Two hundred and forty-nine yards all but a foot," he answered.
"Right, so that if you were to build a straight piece of wall as long as the four sides of the pyramid, it would stretch more than half a mile."
"How wonderful!" exclaimed Hugh, gazing in astonishment at the gigantic pyramid. "May I ride round it?"
We rode round it, and then went on to the second pyramid. This is sometimes called the Pyramid of Cephren. He was brother to Cheops. The casing-stones are still left on the highest part of this pyramid. They are of a delicately-grained white stone which comes from the Mokattan Hills, and are highly polished. We saw great quant.i.ties of granite lying scattered about.
This pyramid was opened by the celebrated traveller Belzoni, in the year 1816. Pa.s.sages were found in it like those in the Great Pyramid. In a granite room, with a pent roof, we saw a sarcophagus half-buried in the floor.
The third pyramid, called the Pyramid of Mycerinus, was opened by Colonel Howard Vyse. Mycerinus was the son of Cheops. He was a just king, and treated his people with kindness. This pyramid now measures three hundred and thirty-three feet at its base, and is two hundred and three feet high. It was originally cased with granite, and some of the casing is still left.
In it is a room with a painted roof; a s.p.a.ce is left over it to prevent its being crushed in by the weight above. A sarcophagus was found in this room, in which was the coffin of King Mycerinus, and his name on it. The coffin and the king"s body were sent to England, and are now in the British Museum. This pyramid is thought to have been the most beautiful of the three.
[Ill.u.s.tration: EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS.]
As we stood in these solemn chambers of the dead, we thanked G.o.d, who has given us a better hope than these mighty kings of old had. Death must have had many terrors for them. But our blessed Saviour came to make it the gate to eternal life for all who love him and serve him truly.
We next went to look at the tombs around the pyramids. Some are very much injured, others are in better preservation. One of the most curious of these was opened by Colonel Vyse. We looked down into a deep well or pit, about fifty feet deep, and there we saw a large black sarcophagus.
There were many other tombs on all sides, but we had not time to examine them.
Time was pa.s.sing quickly, and we had not yet seen the wonderful Sphinx.
The excavations which have been made show the Sphinx to have been a gigantic figure of a crouching lion, with the head of a man, and wearing a royal crown. It is cut out of the natural rock. Its length, according to Pliny, was one hundred and forty-three feet, and its height sixty-three feet.
The Sphinx is now much injured: and the sand drifts so fast from the desert that the s.p.a.ce where excavations have been made is soon filled again. Yet, defaced and half-buried as it is, it is grand beyond description. The "Father of Terrors," as the Arabs call him, is majestic in his mighty repose. There he crouches, guardian of the solitary desert and its solemn tombs. Thousands of years have rolled over his head, yet there he still sits on his lonely throne amid his silent court. There as long as the world lasts he will abide; grand, silent monarch of the desert!
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SPHINX.]
It was long before we could tear ourselves away from the majestic Sphinx. But at last Mohammed warned us that if we wished to reach Cairo before nightfall, we must no longer delay. We remounted our donkeys. But though we rode at a quick pace, the sun was already setting before we reached our hotel.
Our first thought the next day was to find out all we could about the Sphinx. We searched our books of Eastern travel, and from them we found that the Sphinx originally supported a small temple between its paws.
The walls consisted of three tablets, the top of one of which yet remains. The middle one was of granite, and represented Thothmes the Fourth making an offering to the Sphinx. He lived about fourteen hundred and ten years before the birth of Christ.
The side walls were of limestone. They, too, were sculptured, and represented offerings made by Rameses the Great, He lived in the year thirteen hundred and eleven before the birth of our Lord.
There was an inclosure in front of this temple, bounded by a low wall, which stretched from one paw of the Sphinx to the other. The s.p.a.ce inclosed between it and the temple was about fifty feet. There was an altar for sacrifice in front of the steps leading to the temple.
In front of the wall was a wide paved s.p.a.ce, from which two large flights of steps went up to a paved road. This road led to the plain, and had a brick wall on each side to protect it from the sand.
The approach must have been very grand. A man coming by it would first be on a level with the breast of the Sphinx, and would have a full view of the altar and temple below. Then, as he went down the roadway, the Sphinx would seem to rise higher and higher, till he must have felt himself quite a pigmy, looking up at the vast figure.
The children were, like ourselves, very much interested in these accounts of the Sphinx, which their father had collected for us.
"Has any one besides Colonel Howard Vyse tried to clear away the sand?"
Hugh asked.
"Yes, Mr. Salt and Signor Caviglia excavated the upper portion and all the front of the figure. Colonel Howard Vyse continued what they had begun."
CHAPTER VI.
THE MOSQUES.
This day was to be given to seeing the mosques in Cairo. We set off early, and went first to see the mosque of Sultan Ha.s.san. This is thought to be one of the most beautiful specimens of Arabian architecture in Cairo.
It was built in the fourteenth century, and the blocks of stone for it were brought from the Great Pyramid, of which these were the casing-stones. Inside, the mosque was beautiful. Rows of coloured gla.s.s lamps hung from the walls; some were especial curiosities, for they were the finest early gla.s.s-work of their kind. The arches also are fine, and so are some of the ornaments of the roof.
One sight was pointed out which made us shudder. This was the dark stain of Sultan Ha.s.san"s blood on the pavement. He was murdered in the mosque by his Mamelukes. His tomb is just in the middle of the inner inclosure.
On it we saw a copy of the Mohammedan holy book, the Koran. It was splendidly illuminated in gold and colours. The sultan"s tomb was once covered with a rich embroidered covering, but this was faded and moth-eaten when we saw it. The marble pavement, too, was broken in many places.
The mosque of Sultan Ha.s.san has always been famed for its beauty. It is said that the sultan cut off the head of the architect, that he might never build another as beautiful.
From the mosque of Sultan Ha.s.san we went to the mosque of Sultan Tuloon.
It was built about the year 879 after the birth of our Lord, and is said to be the oldest mosque in Cairo. It has double rows of handsome pointed arches. There is a fine view from the chief minaret. Our guide told us that it even excels that from the citadel. But the staircase is spiral, is outside, and in rather a ruinous state.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MOSQUE.]
On reaching the second gallery, some of us became faint-hearted and stayed to rest. Even from it the view was a grand one; but those who went to the top said that we had really seen nothing in comparison.
Lucy was tired and giddy when we came down, so some of us went home with her while the rest went to see the mosque of El Gh.o.r.ee.