The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-01-13 00:00:00

VISIT TO THE PYRAMIDS.

From Memorandums of a Tour in Egypt, by Geo. Keet.
At daybreak we started from our hotel in Grand Cairo,
a goodly company, consisting of my father, myself, our
dragoman, Ali Fadl, three donkeys, their propellers, and
a fourth one to carry the eatables, for, during the inun-
dation of the Nile, it is a long and tedious journey, the
distance being greater than at any other time. We rode
through the narrow stre:qs, which were crowded even at
that early hour, and, passing through Ibrahim Pasha's
grounds, went through one of the beautiful gates of this
city, and arrived at Old Cairo. Here we had a most
magnificent view ; foe arriving at the end of the road, (we
were perfectly entranced,) the valley of the Nile spread
out, as it were, beneath our feet, dotted here and there
with villages and palm trees, the rushing Nile below us,
with boats of a bright colour and graceful form, passing
to and fro, those in the distance, with their white sails,
looking like birds upon the water, and right before us the
two great pyramids, with several smaller ones, fading
away in the distance. They did not look more than a mile
from us, but they were thirteen ; so vast were they, that
they deceived the natural eye. We dismounted from our
steeds at this place, and got into a ferry-boat, donkeys,
dragoman, and propellers ; I call them propellers, be-
cause these donkey boys establish a raw on the animal's
back, and when the rider is mounted, they run behind,
and every now and then give the unfortunate animal a
dig with a pointed bit of stick, which they invariably
carry. We crossed the Nile, remounted, and rode on
through mud villages, tenanted by the poorer class of
Arabs. The women form a peculiar feature in an Egyp-
tian landscape, dressed in one simple garment of blue,
with veils covering the whole of the face but the eye;.
They look like the weird sisters, or the presiding priest-
ess of an oracle, We travelled along a high bank, the
whole of the land, right and It-ft, covered with water,
flocks of wild birds floating on the surface. This bank
was not straight, but wound round among villages.
About half-way we arrived at a ruined bridge, donkey
stumbled, and I very naturally fell over his head. Re-
mounted, and jogged on, the beat most oppressive.
When we were within a mile or so from the pyramids,
we came to a dead halt. The hick bank on which we had
been travelling was broken, and the water dashing through
it at a tremendous rate. While we were debating as to
what course to pursue, we observed a number of black
specks making rapid progress towards us, on the surface
of the water. We asked our dragoman" what they were."
He replied- " Bedouin Arabs take you up de Pyramid."
In a few minutes about a dozen Arabs hounded on the
bank, surrounded us, and told us, through the medium of
our dragoman, that they would get us a boat. We agreed
for the price, and they scampered off ta get the boat, the
remainder sat round us, looking at us as though we were
natural curiosities. One of them spoke a little English,
and endeavoured to engage himself as my guide in the
following manner. "Am you go up de pyramid; ver
well. Englishman, ver good man; Arab man, ver good
man. Two men, two dollar; four men. four dollar. You
know Missa Shepard ? he weary good man, too." We
waited about an hour in the burning sun, but no boat ar-
rived. I proposed swimming across the stream ; my
father seconded me. We stripped, and swam across ;
the whole body of the inundation emptying itself through
this break in the embankment. My father got over directly,
but I was not so fortunate, being washed down the stream
some distance. Our clothes were carried across by the
Arabs. Landed on the other side, we pursued our route,
but had not got far when we had to be carried on the
backs of the Arabs, over a marshy piece of water. They
sank up to their necks several times, but we arrived safely
at last on the plains of Ghizah, and stood at the base of
the great pyramid of Cheops. There we eat qur cold
mutton, and drank our bottle of pale ale, with an appe-
tite it would be difficult to describe. When we had
finished, we commenced the arduous task of ascending.
Two Arabs above me, and two below ; the two above
pulled, the two below pushed ! So was I pulled, hauled,
pushed, and dragged half-way up, when we stopped to
breathe. I was panting and weary. My guides slapped
me on the back, and said, " Englishman, very good man ;
Arab man, very good man. Haff-way ; ha I ha! Back-
sheesh (i.e. charity)." As soon as we were rested, we re-
sumed our labours, and, after an immense effort, were
safely landed at the top of the Great Pyramid. The view
from the summit was grand ; the river winding in a
serpentine manner through the desert, washing the sub-
urbs of the city of Cairo as it passed. On the stones, at
the top, we found inscribed the names of many great men
—Napier, Belzoni, Victor Hugo, &c. &c. At the bottom
is the autograph of the celebrated Billy Button, the letters
three feet high. The descent was a very difficult one, and
perilous in the extreme. One false step, and we were lost.
An Englishman, three years ago, was dashed to pieces in
endeavouring to descend the second pyramid without a
guide.
On arriving at the base, we looked over some of the
tombs in the neighbourhood Campbell's tomb the
great Sphinx—and came to the conclusion, that it is evi-
dently a burial-place for the dead. On arriving at tht
water edge, we were joined by the Sheik of the tribe el
guides, and paid him our dollars, got into the boat loaded
with water melons, and, as the sun set, bade adieu to
these wonderful, vast, and sublime monuments of anti-
quity, that are marvellous beyond description.