The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-29

straightened me out and propped ma up. was in the famous Queens cham Der. They said If l wanted to look at
 1t they would burn a piece of magne-
 sium and 1t would cost only ona shfi-
 ling. They touched off the red light. and found myself in & beautiful apart- ment. which resembled the interior of freight car. There was nothing to be seen, SO folded myself up and they pushed me through one subterranean passage after another, only in getting out tobogganed most of the way in- stead of climbing. When 1t came to the last scramble and l saw that little round hole of daylight ahead of me was so thankful--so used up--I handed over to those burglars all the money they asked and then bought two imtta- ton soarabs"
 Mir. Peasley's account is not much of an exaggeration. We came out all mussed up, winded, ewringing with per- spiration and with new and profound admiration for Cheopss It seems that he constructed the interior passages leading to the royal tomb chambers so that tho vandals of coming genera tions could not possibly find their way in and steal the royal remains. Some of these passages are less than three feet in diameter and simply bored through the slippery rock at sharp grades, first up and then down. or course, when Cheops planned thesa passages he did not count on the enter prise and perseverance of the modern tourist. To get to these tomb cham bers, which are buried in the very sub- centre of the huge mass of rock. calls for desperate and wearisome exertion, and after one arrives there is nothing to see except blank stone walls. But as MT. Peasley expressed 1t, We don.t want to go back home and not be able to say that we saw the whole works" :"
 overheated and groggy, we tottered down hill to the hotel. which stands near the end of the car line. It Is . high class establishment. patronized by a sedate class of English travellers. and here we had no difficulty whatever in cooling off It was one of those hotels at which no one speaks to any one else. and gooseberry tarts are served for luncheon. Here on the edge of the burning desert 1t was so frigid and formal in the dining room that people had to put ice in their claret in order to reduce 1t to the temperature of the room. Even Mir. Peasley, who feels that to be cheery and convera- tional is duty he owes to his fellow man, crawled back into his shell and lay very quiet after two large dowager looking ladies began looking holes In him with their iorgnettes.
 Most of the pleasure seekers that we encountered In the neighborhood of the Pyramids seemed to- be quite elderly some of the most sprightly as young as sixty. and from that going up to where 1t would be better to stop guessing. MT. Peasley gave an explanation of their presence. He said that the dry climate of Egypt would preserve an- tiquities for an indefinite period. but. of course, he was just in fun when he said that. The old folks are really eIi- titled to a lot of credit for keeping on tho move when they might be expected to rest on the shelf.
 Here they were. these male and female octogeparians. not propped up in armchairs dividing the family sill verware and arranging bequests to hos- pitals and libraries, but out on the blinding desert. thousands of miles from home. falling of donkeys, climb ing up on camels. devouring guide books, rummaging around for time ta- bles. kicking on the charges and lead Ing on the whole life ef purple stren- uosity. We heard of two English wo- men, sisters, both over seventy, who had just returned from Khartoum, from which point they had gone on a hunt ing expedition still further into the interior. They had to wear mosquito
 
 out in the wide country for days at 2 time, chasing gaxeiies. hyenas and oaher indigenous fauna.
 When the microbe of travel gets into the human system nothing can ex- terminate It. Once a traveller, always traveler-that is, If the excheoues and the physical strength hold out. This aching desire to pick up and go sonns- where is called by the Germans wan derlust." and with singular appropri- ateness, for 1t is a lust, an unholy pas- sion for gadding about.
 Just as I am about to conclude this treatise 1t occurs to me that, although I have given a wealth of useful infor- nation regarding the Pyramids. I have rather overlooked our old friend the Sphinx. can only say. in passing that 1t looks exactly like the printed adver- tisements. There Is no deception about it. It Is in a bad state of repair, but this Is not surprising when we con- slider It's age. Herodotus does not mem ton the Sphinx. It was right there at the time. In fact, it had been there fourteen hundred years when he first arrived. It seems strange that an ob- serving traveller should have overlook cd a monument sixty-six feet high. with a face nearly fourteen feet wide. nose i've feet and seven inches long and wearing a smile that measures over seven feet! Herodotus either walked by without seeing it or else he did not think it worthy of mention. The only plausible explanation Is that he waa too busy figuring up the garlic statis- tea