Great Falls weekly tribune., 1896-08-14
CLIMBING UP CHEOPS
AN AMERICAN DESCRIBES A VISIT TO
THE PYRAMIDS.

| tain Ride on IA Camel.
The Troy IN. Y. Times prints let
ter written at Cairo, Egypt, by Rev. DR..
L. M. S. Haynes, pastor Of the First
Baptist church Of that city, to Fl. D.
Sweet, parishioner, in which he says:
"Our conductor called us to an early
breakfast at 6 80. Our party of five
were promptly Oh hand. Our carriage
was an ordinary American hack. We
soon reached the bridge over the Nile
and entered the avenue of acacia trees
skirting the elevated pike which the
government has built clear to the pyra-
mids, a distance Of about eight miles.
The road was literally crowded with
farmers 'fellahee,' coming into market.
We passed hundreds of camcls and dom
! keys loaded down with every concciva-
bic thing, csl oiallY fresh white clover,
great quantities of which arc sold in the
city. Each camel carries about 400
| pounds. With all the animals there
We're men, women and children, most of
then, walking but thoy Will ride back.
! The men and boys seemed to be having
a good time; but, as usual, the women
| and girls locked sad and miserable. The
dOnkoys Wcro looking down to the
ground, hu, ,l.y camcls looked up III the
air. as thcy glway5 do They are very
high nindcd. Their backs are also high,
as | can testify, for I had uy first camel
ride today l., about an hour We rode
up to the voTv base Cf the great pile Of
stone ara alnht Il from our carriage in
the sand, with the san three hours high
and blazing hot. Twas about 0 o'clock
| We We're immediately surrounded by
! the usual crowd Of clamcrous Arabs,
anXiccs to help Us up the great climb
But cur conductor, Mr. Solomon, aud
our superb drQGoman, Abraham, who
had been with rs up tho Nile, cleared
them all away, and We selected three
men each, fine looking mon in white.
eve went right away over a pile of
sand along the base and stood upon the
first tier of stone. Then | formally
looked up for the first time. We had
seen the three pyramids. so familiar in
picture, for moro than an hour, but they
did not seem to be so very large, be
cause there is nothing to compare them
|
around Choops, and $50 feet to the top.
The stones are about six feet square, and
project one beyond the other, Just like
going up many stairs. The place for
your feet is about four feet, very good
standing if you reached the floor or
were not going up $50 feet right up in
the air nearly three times as high as our
church stccplc
we walked easily along one course
Of stone on the west side, whic' were
worn smooth with passing tert, and
came to the northwest corner, where
the ascent is made. Two men took me
by the hand, and one pushed behind,
and | began going up stairs four feet at
step After about 200 steps | conclud
ed to stop. We must have been about so
feet up at that corner. | was not dizzy
nor very lame, but felt very peculiar,
and felt more peculiar every minute
afterward until got back on to solid
and capacious footing. But up we
went, hop, skip and jump, going all the
time and going up on the ragged corner
Of nothing. The stones We're smooth,
irregular and sometimes broken, but
none less than four feet Heaven was
above you and both sides Of you, and
everlasting smashation beneath you if
you should fall. just then one OF the
Arabs tumbled little and gave me y
shock like an electric battery
"Now we come to the half way place
where they have thrown off few rocks,
and where you can brace yourself
81 eta nI l'hlor,G al, Il
look off little. We were $40 feet up
in the desert air, standing or leaning on
the ragged corner and trying to behave
and say it was fun. But it was NOT.
There was too much risk and danger.
Some people have to be blindfolded 10
, get them down, and many faint, and
not long since an English soldier fell.
But on we go a little farther, and, think
ing the matter all over, ] called a halt
and deliberately decided that was
enough. The view was something grand,
/ suppose, and if l could have done the
climbing when l was 20 years old
, might have seen the grandeur. Going
down, as | was not dizzy, was easier.
But any step might have been my last,
and did not enjoy it as much as die
my splendid reception, though that en-
= barrasscd me somewhat.
:, "Once at the bottom We mounted
' camels to go to the sphinx A very
. large, white fellow fell to my lot. He
was fiat Oh the ground as l mounted
+, When he began to get up, l thought h'
s was going all to pieces. He rose i'll sec
o tions, with four distinct motions, ant
! as each section assumed the horizontal
was jerked backward and forward
q Cut foot log into four parts, joint then
& together, get astride and have that lot
il begin to assume the shape Of saw
horse, with you on top, and you hav
o the idea. However, held on, and ava.
r we went. | estimated that from IN,
l. chin to the end Of the camel's nose wa
=, six feet at least. The motion, once UP
= was not very disagrecahlc.
J. would gentleman like to trot?' in