Evening star., 1907-08-24

means It is not so old after all Every one
of us knows 100 men who have reached
forty years. Their aggregate lives, if
patched together, would go back to the be-
ginning OF this great structure. In other
words, II a at forty should have a
child and that child should live 10 be forty
and then have n child. and the program OF
life should so continue II would take only
100 such generations 10 reach 10 the days
when the breath from the garlic and onions
eaten by those 100000 men polluted this
desert air.
Indeed. the world Is not old. and II is not
hard to realize that those people of the
past had the same troubles. the same wor-
ries and the same tastes We | can take
you through tombs not far from Cairo
upon whose walls are painted the life work
of the men OF ancient Egypt. You may see
them using the same farm tools that the
fellahs use now. They piow, they reap and
thresh. They drink wine and gorge them
selves with food. In one OF the tombs
saw ;he picture of woman milking n cow
while her daughter held the calf back by
the knees to prevent I from sucking. In
another painting saw the method OF cook
ing, and in another observed those old
Egyptians stufing live geese with food to
enlarge their lvers They were making
pate de foie gras just as the Germans stun
geese for the same purpose today.
The Pyramid Plateau.
Leaving the Pyramid of Cheops I crossed
over and took a look at the other two which
form the rest of the great trio at Gizeh.
and | have since been up to the site OF old
Memphis. where the Pyramids of Sak-
kara. eleven in number. Along this pla-
teau, running up the Nile. are to be found
the remains of a large number of Pyra-
mids. There are also some of the Fayum.
and others far up the river in ancient Ethi-
opia. The latter are taller in proportion to
their base than the Egyrtian Pyramids.
and they generally have hal with sculp-
lures facing the east to commemorate the
dead.
The most OF the stones OF these Pyramids
here came from the plateau upon which
they stand and from the Mokottan hills
about twelve miles away on the other side
of the Nile. There was an Inclined plane
leading to the river. and the ruts In the
stone road cut out by the runners of the
sledges carrying these great blocks are still
to be seen. There are pictures on some of
the monuments which show how the stones
were drawn sledges by oxen and men.
and in one OF the pictures man is pour
ing oil on the roadbed. On the Island OF
Madeira. where the natives drag sleds by
hand up and down the hills they grease their
sled runners. but he ancient Egyptians
creased not only the sledges. but the roads
well.
1 was much interested in the interior OF
the Great Pyramid The mighty structure
is supposed to be solid, with the exception
of three chambers, connected with the OUT
side by passageways and ventilated by air
contained great treasures of gold and sill
ver but they were robbed in the first in
stance over three thousand years ago and
it is known that the Persians, the Romans
and the Arabs all tried to dig into them to
find the valuables they were supposed to
hold.
1t was with three half-naked BedouIns
that 1 climbed up to the entrance which
leads into old Cheops. There is a hole
about forty-fve feet above the desert on
the north side. Going in here. we came into
a narrow stone passage so low that l had
to crawl on my hands and knees. The
passage first sloped downward and then up,
and finally, pushed and pulled by my black
guides, / got into a great narrow hall and
| after passing through 1t into the room
where old Cheops, the king. rested undis-
turbed for a thousand years or so before
the looters came. ! had some matches and
| piece OF magnesium wire and by this
means / was able to examine the interior.
The masonry is wonderfully fine. The
places where the stones are Joined al
most imperceivable and you cannot put a
knife blade between the cracks. The only
thing left in this room is the great granite
sarcophagus Of King Cheops and the cover
to 1t has disappeared.
By going back through the hall one
aches another passageway which slopes
downward to the queens chamber, which
Is much smaller than that of the king.
Down below this reached by another pas
sage connecting with that which I first
entered, there Is a subterranean chamber
which is far under the base of the Pyra-
mid itself. The whole structure is intensely
interesting and IL II could be explored by
diamond drills or in some other way other
chambers might possibly be found in the
parts now looked upon as solid.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.