The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-04-19
A VISIT TO THE GREAT PYRAMID,

A VISIT to the Pyramids is an event in a
mans life. 1t is worth a vSysgc to
Egypt. There are about sixty such ar
chitectural monuments; but the Great
Pyramid, or the Pyramid of Cheops, with
its two less pretcntious neighbors. is
worth all the rest. 1t is the Pyramid. as
the mysterious Sphinx at its base is the
Sphinx. 1t covers an area of about half a
million square feet and rises sixty feet
higher than St. Paul's Cathedral in Lon
don. 1t is the largest building of mans
hands in the world, though mere pigmy
as compared with Gods own pyramids
the Alps 1t is the most appropriate SYM
well of the land of the PharaOhs, who
themselves rose like pyramids, in solitary
grandeur, far above the desert plain of
slavery round about them. Well might
Napoleon fire his soldiers by pointing
them to that gigantic monarch of build
ings, from which forty centuries
looked down upon them.' And yet
we see it only in its mutilated
state. The vandalism of the Greeks,
Romans and Saracens has robbed
them of their polished red granite castings
to enrich their palaces and mosques.
The colossal Sphinx, too, carved out of
the solid rock, at the base of the Pyra-
mid, is merely ruin of what it was
when sacrifices were offered between its
lion-like paws fifty feet in length. And
yet it makes an overpowering impression
as, with sleepless eyes, it stares out, in
majestic repose, over the valley IF the
Nile and the vast wilderness beyond-an
emblem of sovereign royalty, intellect
combined with physical strength; or
rather, according to the latest view, a
representation of the god Horus, the son
of Osiris and Isis, who, in order to
avenge the death of Osiris by Staying his
enemy, the evil spirit Typhon, assumed
the shape Of lion with human head
The Arabs call the Sphinx :" Aboo-el hol, :"
the Father of Terror or immensely. 1t
reminds one of the inpenetrable mystic.
ricS Of eternity. 1--WE shall die or Islam
shall wither away, and still that sleepless
rock will be watching and watching the
same sad, earnest eyes and the same tran.
quill mien everlastingly. You dare not
mock at the Sphinx"
l climbed to the top of the Pyramid
and enjoyed the magnificent view over
the garden of the Nile and boundless
desert which here border on each other in
startling contrast. The green fields, the
stately palms, the majestic river, the City
of Cairo, with its citadel, palaces and
mosques, toward the East, and the ocean
of sand and rocks toward the West, con.
stitute panorama that has no parallel in
this world. And the impression is deep.
ened by the historical associations which
involuntarily pass before the minds eye
Abraham, Joseph, the patriarchal family,
Moses, the Exodus; the Egypt of the Pha.
roahs, OF the PtOlemies, Of the Saracens,
Of the Turks, of the Memluks, of Napo.
leon, of Mohamet Ali, and of the present
khedive. passed through the dark and
narrow passages, into the heart of the
structure-the Kings chamber and the
Queens chamber-which produce an I'M
preston equally striking, though totally
different from that of the view on the top.
Here it is the mystery of death and eter-
nifty which Overwhelms the mind. I am
not competent to judge of Piazzi Smyth's
theory, who finds in the interior of this
royal mausolcum the evidence of profound
gcOmetrical and astronomical science,
and in the empty sarcophagus of
the King a meteorological monu.
ment or standard of weight and
measure for all ages, equivalent to the
laver of the Hebrews, Or four quarters of
design to divine revelation. He re-
minds me of those commentators who,
not satisfied with the natural grammatical
sense of the Scriptures, put their pious
and ingenious fancies into them, and thus
substitute imposition for exposition. His
theory is not applicable to any other
pyramid. The great majority Of EgyptOl.
Ogists regard the Pyramids simply as
tombs. They are all situated ir necrop-
oils. They are the massive and impene.
trable castings of a mummy, without win.
dOws, without doors and external opening.
"The fact" says Mariette Bay, the
present superintendent of Egyptian anti.
quites, THAT one alone has accessible in.
terror chambers from which astronomical
observations might have been made as
from the bottom of the well. only proves
that such was not the purpose for which il
was originally destined" The alleged
absence of all traces of idOlatry in the
Pyramid of CheOps would be . remarka-
bic testimony to an anterior monotheism.
But the hieroglyphic Inscriptions (of
which one at least is mentioned by Herod-
Otus) have long since disappeared, and
the great Sphinx, to which sacrifices were
offered, is said to be much older than the
Pyramid. There is no doubt, however,
that mOnOtheism preceded p0lytheism ana
underlies, in the shape of trinity in unity
OSIRIS. Isis and their son Horus), the
Egyptian mythology.
The gigantic proportions, the antiquity
and the location of the Pyramids on the
border OF the desert, constitute their chief
interest. And this is the character of all
the Egyptian monuments. The ruins of
temples, tOmbs and palaces on the Nile.
Toll xy ot hob ~
rah and Edfou, defy our notions of grand.
ment at the mechanical skill that could
such enormous masses of stone; but there
is no real beauty or grace in them, and
all are disfgured by the ever-returning
pictures and sculptures of the basest idol.
airy. The mind is kept vacillating be-
tween admiration of the old Egyptians as
giants in architecture, SCULPTURE and
painting, and pity and contempt for them
as worshipers of crocodiles and frogs,
cats and beetles. They built as maenifi.
cent tombs for their sacred bulls at SAX
kara as for their Kings at Thebes. It
was easier, in the DAYS of Herodotns IN
find god on the Nile than a man. and
to these gods-half man, half beast. or
all beast-their greatest works of art were
dedicated. If idolatry could do SO much.
what should the worship of the only true
and living God be able to do? But the
noblest monuments of Christianity are
constructed of better material than gran.
tie and marble.
Nor should we forget that the pyra.
mids. temples and palaces of Egypt could
emily be built under system OF absolute
despotism or absolute slavery such a
Egypt presented in the days of Moses,
1t was, in the language Of the Bible so
house OF bondage" kingcraft and priest
craft, In the possession Of all intelligence
and power. used the people - beasts Of
burden and mechanical tools. The CON