Milford chronicle., 1891-10-23
r1Rsr VIEW OF THE PYRAMID.

FIRST VIEW OF THE I1 ltAMlb.
Rnt how can describe the thrill of eX-
pectation, for today we are to see what al
tbe world has seen or wants to see-the
nvramids. We are Aounted for an hour
and a halfs ride We pass on amid bl-
zaars stuffed with rugs and carpets ana
cnrious fabrics of all sorts from smyrna
from Ale1ers, from Persia, from Turkey
and through streets where we meet people
of all colors and all garbs, carts loaaed
with garden productions, priests IN gowns
women in black wells, Bedoulns IN long
and seemingly superiiuous apparel, jams
saries in jacket of embroidered golu-ouO
and on toward the great pyramid, for
though there are sixty-nine pyramids sun
Standing the pyramid at Gizeh is the mon
arch of pyramids. We meet camels grunt-
inc under their loads, and see buttaloes on
either side browsing in pasture fields
The road we travel is for part of the way
under clumps of acacia and by long rows
of sycamore and tamerisk, but after awhile
r. is a path of rock and sand, and we ina
we have reached the margin OF the desert,
the great Sahara desert, and we cry out 10
the dragoman as we see huge pile OF rock
looming in sight, "Dragoman, what Is
thatgn His answer is, THE pyramid
and then it seemed rs il we were living a
century every minute. Our thoughts and
emotions were too rapid and intense Tor
ntterance. and we ride on in silence until
we come to the foot of the pyramid spoken
! of in the text. the oldest structure in all
fine earth. four thousand years old at least.
4 Here IL is. We stand under the shadow OF
/ structure that shuts out all the earth
and all the sky, and we look up and strain
our vision to appreciate the distant top
and are overwhelmed while we cry, "Ihe
pyramidl The pyramid"
I had started that morning with the De
Termination of ascending the pyramid.
One of nv chief objects in going to Egypt
was not only to see the base OF that gra-
nitic wonder. but to stand on the top OF II.
Vet the nearer came to this eternity in
stone the more my determination Was
shaken. It's altitude to me was simply
appalling. A great height has always
been to me a most disagreeable sensation
AS we dismOunted at the base OF the pyra'
mid, said: "Others may go up 1t, but not
L. will satisfy myself with view from
the base. The ascent of it would be 70 me
a foolharuy undertaking" But aIter
had given up all idea Of ascending, Ioune
nv daughter was determined to CO. ana
could not let her go with strangers, ana g,
changed my mind and we started Will
guides Il cannot be done without thes'
belners Two or three times foolhardy mel
have attempted it alone, but their bodies
came tumbling down, unacceptable anc
Each person in our party had two o.
three guides or helpers. One OF them un
rolled his turban and tied it around my
Z waist and he held the other end of the tuf
-" han as a matter of safety. Many OF tn
blocks of stone are four or five feet higl
4 and beyond any ordinary human stride un
4 less assisted. But, two Arabs to pull an'
two Arabs to push, found myself rapldl
ascending from height to height, and on &
attitudes terrific, and at last at the tptO
,, we found ourselves on a level space O
about thirty feet square. Through cleares
atmosphere we looked off upon the desert
and off upon the winding Nile, and ol
upon the Sphinx, with its features OF evel
lastip., stone, and yonder upon the min
arets OF Cairo glittering in the sun, an
Wonder upon Memphis in ruins, ana o.
B upon the wreck of empires and the balbi'
: fields of ages, a radius OF view enough I
Il fill the mind and shock the nerves an
overwhelm ones entire being.
A STARTLING ARRAY OF FIGURES.
After looking around for awhile anu
kodak had pictured the group, we a.
scended. The descent was more tryin
than the ascent, for climbing you heeI h'
: see the DEPTHS beneath, but coming dow
s II was impossible not to sec the abysms b
low. But two Arabs ahead to help
down. and two Arabs to hold us back,
were lowered, hand below hand, until u
ground was inyitingly near, and amid Il
= jargon of the Arabs we were safely lunue
y Then came one Of the most wonderful iea
ef daring and agility. One OF the Ara
aolicited a dollar, saying he would run
and down the pyramid in seven minute
We would rather have given him doli
moi to 20, but this ascent and descent
> seven minutes he was determined on, al
80 nv the watch in seven minutes lie we
to the top and was back again at the Das
1t was a bi0odcurdling spectacle.
said the dominant color OF the pyram
was gray. but In certain lights it seems
Il sbaKe off the gray OF centuries and becon
A blond. and the silver turns TO the gol
en-. It covers thirteen acres Of groun
What an antiquity It was at least "
VI thousand years old when the baby Chri
II was carried within sight Of 1t by his rus
's tive parents, Joseph and Mary. The storr
of forty centuries have drenched It, boi
barded it. shadowed it, flashed upon
but there it stands ready to take anoth
forty centuries Of atmospheric attack
X the world should continue to exist
III oldest buildings of the earth are juniC
HI to this great senior Of the centuries.
Herodotus says that for ten years pref
rations were being made for the buildi
Of this pyramid. It has eighty-two n
o. lion one. hundred and eleven thousa