The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-08-27

eaten by those 1oO.ooo men polluted
this diEsert-
And 50 the world is not old. and
IL is not hard 70 realize that those
troubles, the same worries n the
same lasts as We. I can take you
through tSmbs not far from Cairo
upon whose walls are rainted the life
work O. the men Of ancient EGYPT
1ou may see them using the same
farm tools that the feilahs use now.
Iney pioW. they reap and tnre@h- They
drink wine and gorge themselves with
rood In one Of the tombs saw the
picture or a w0rnA milking a COW
while her daughter held the calf back
by the knees To prevent 1t from suck
Ing. II another painting Jaw the
method or cooking. and In another
observed those old Egyptians stuhing
live geese with food to enlarge their
livers- They were making pate de
fole gras, Just as the Germans stun
geese for the same purpose today
The Pyramid Plateau
Leaving the Pyramid OF Cheops |
crossed Owe and took a look al the
other two which form the rest Of the
been UP TO the site OF old Memphis
where are the Pyramids OF SAkkara.
eleven In humble About this pla-
teau. running " the Nile. are 10 be
found the remains OF a large number
of Pyramids. There are also some
Of the Fayum and others far up Se
river in ancient Ethiopia The latter
are taller IN proportion 70 their base
han the Egyptian Pyramids. and they
generally have a hall with sculptures
facing the east to commemorate the
dead.
The most OF the stones Of these Ply
ramids here came from the plateau.
,ran which +hat- r+ar71 and from the
MokottaG 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 by the runners Of the siedges
carrying these great blocks are still
to be seen. There are pictures on
some Of the monuments which show
how the stone were drawn on siedSes
by oxen and men, and in one or the
pictures a man is pouring oil on the
roadbed. ON the Island of Madeira.
the natives drag sleds by hand
up and down the hills they grease their
sled but the ancient Egyptian
creased not only the sledges, but the
roads as we'll
Inside the Pyramid.
was much Interested in the interior
IF the Great Pyramid. The mighty
is supposed TO be sold, with
the exception Of three chambers. con-
nected with the outside by passage
ways and ventilated by a~ir-shafts-
These chambers undoubtedly once
contained great treasures Of gold ana
silver. but they were robbed IN the
first instance 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 old
It was with three ~half-naked Be
douins that I climbed up to the en-
trance which leads into old Cheops-
There is q hole o forty-ive feet
above the desert on the north side
Going in here, we came into a narrow
stone passage so low that / a to
crawl on my hands and knees. The
passage first sloped downward and
then up. and finally, pushed and pulleu
bv my black guides, [ got into a great
narrow hall and after passing through
i into the room where old CheOps,
the king. rested undiSturbed for a
thousand years or so before the hooters
came. / had some matches and a
piece of magnesium wire and by this
! was able to examine the in
terror. h masonry Is wonderfully
fine. The places where the stones are
joined are almost imperceivable and
you cannot put a knife blade between
this room is the great granite sarco-
phagus OF King Cheops and the cover
to it has disappeared.
BY going back through the hall one
reaches another ~paSSageWay which
slopes downward to the queens cham
Der, which is much smaller than that
Of the king. Down below this, reached
by another passage connecting with
that which I first entered, there is a
subterranean chamber which is far UNI
der the base of the Pyramid itself.
The whole structure IS intensely in
teresting and if it 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
DEAR OLD NORTH CAROLINA.