Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-06-08
visit to the Pyramids.

s.
i William C. Bryant, Esq, Of the N Y. Euenine
Post, is journeying in the East From an ex-
ceedingly interesting letter published in that pa
per of Monday evening, we copy the following
account Of Mr.. Bryant's visit to the Pyrmaids:
d II is almost the first business of travellers in
Egypt to visit the pyrmaids of Ghizeh, and we
madesout ours; but do not suppose that I am GO
ing to weary you with description of them.--
We setlout on one of the glorious winter days of
Egypt with a.one-eyed dragoman at the head of
our little train, brandishing long stick and at
tired in a costume, which, though considerably
the worsef for wear, was'very snowy at little dis
tance.E Three brown Arab boys in. blue shirts,
and close fitting dirty white caps, came trotting
and screaming after ussto urge, on the denkeys
we rode. two or three mileswe kept along
the Nile, among trees and gardens, and then
crossedtoe the west bank in a boat emanned by
three men, one of whom, fine looking Arab, in
a single garment of coarse white linen, handled
the sai, and his two companions the oars. As
they rowed, one sang, ~ cd is great, =" to which
the other responded, God: give me streng -
Arriving on the other side, we rode througha viii
Mage where the dogs barked at us fiercely from
the tops ofthe mud cottages, and the dirty inhab-
itants, squatting by the way, clamored for back
ssisA, as we appeared. the children running after
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We passed through the palm grove where
many}turtle doves were flying about, and the
hoepee. a bird of beautiful speckled plumage, de-
scended in search of its food close to our path and
then struck out upon the fields where the peas
ant women and children were atching their cam
els and buffaloes, tethered and grazing among
the clover and nerva helva-grass. We came at
length to where an ancient canal, now a broad
hollow with a little water in it, wound along not
far from the western4edge of the fertile country.
A score of Arabs, Bedouins from a neighboring
village, came about prepared to carry us over
their shoulders. / could not but admire the fine
figures of these men, with their muscular, shapely
limbs, uniting strength with lightness, and their
striking countenances. A sculptor could not find
a better model, as it seemed to me, for. the per-
fection of the human form. Throwing off their
upper garments, and fastening the lower ones con-
siderably above the waist, two of these strapping
fellows lifted me up by the legs, while support
ed myself by the hands on their shoulders, and in
this way waded with us through the mud and wa
ter. The others were carried over in the same
manner, as well as a gentleman and lady who
had come up with us just we were about to
Cross fa1 &asaazs as@= iza= ". ttz4sE 3
We were soon on the bare sands ascending
gradually to the range, of rocks skirtng the des-
ert,on the brow of which the pyramids are placed.
Of COURSE we climbed to the top of the great pyr-
,amids. "If you no 60 up, what for you come to
pyramid !'' asked one of the Arabs, who spoke
little English, and the question seeming to me
very petnent one. From the summit of this vast
pile of hewn stones, which would cover all Wash
ington Park with its base, we looked over the
green Delta, stretching forth, with dark groves
spotting it like broad shadows of clouds. To the
west of us was the sLybian desert, a waste of
rocky hill tops and sandy hollows: to the north
rose the submits of pyramid after pyramid, and
eastward lay Cairo, below the pinnacles of the
mosque of Mehemet Ali, beyond which CLEANS
| the white edge of another desert.
/ As I stood amidst the pyramids where all around
the skirts of the desert vast cemetary full
oftombs and mummy pits, and remains of pyra-
mids of small size, could not but wonder that
I
design of those immense structures. They were
meant as monuments of the dead, and, in my opin-
ion, nothing more. They are the same in shape
as some of the smaller monuments, and no more
exceed them in size than the kings to whose
bones they were erected, excelled in power and
riches the most distinguished of their subjects.
/ A day or two afterwards we visited the pyra-
mids of Sakkara, lying to the north Of those of
Ghizeh. We had letter to M. Mariette, who
is here, employed by the French Government in
making excavations among the tombs and other
remains of Egyptian greatness of the ancient cem-
etary of Memphis. He received us very politely,
and ordered the the tomb of Apis to be lighted up
for us. We descended into the rocks by an in
inclined passage leading from portal graver
with numerous hyeroglyphics A gallery about
four hundred feet in length lay before us, regu
larly arched overhead, with chambers, at inter
!, walls, on each side, the floor of which was abou
five feet below that of the gallery. Each of thes
chambers contained its sarcophagus of black o
gray granite, exquisitely polished, about twelv
feet in length, ten in height, and seven in width
They were covered with hyeroglyphic characters
, On each lay massive lid the same material
weighing tons, which had been showed a littl
aside by iron levers, the marks of which are ye
visible, giving US an opportunity of looking int
the interior. 1t was empty. "This," said M
: Mariette, " was done by the Persians, by orde
of the King Cambyses, to show his contemp
: for the worship of the Egyptians ~
a One of the saroophagi was found which ha
escaped the general deseeration. M. Mariett
had ordered it to be opened, and the content
were lying on the lid when saw it. They wer
the bones of the sacred bull Of the ancient EgyI
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