The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1907-06-05
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Redwood 0u9ctte
WEDNESDAY,, JUNE S, 1907.
CLIMBS THE PYRAMIDS.
Dr.. Cowgirl Describes His Adventures
Among the Tombs of Egypt.
Continued from last week

Continued from last week.
Minneapolis Journal.
The great pyramid is the most
massive, the most enormous tomb
ever built by the hand Of man; but
the great granite sarcophagus at
the heart of it is mutilated and
empty. A tradition says that Cheops,
who had it built for himself and
family, was not permitted to lie in
| it; that priests and people refused
sculpture here to a man who for
thirty years held 10000 men to aw-
full toll to build himself tomb. Let
US hope the tradition true, tho it is,
perhaps, more creditable, that the
kings mummy here buried was
dragged into the light of day and
stripped of its cerements by treas
ure-hunters who suspected or knew
that the pyramids were tombs.
And how impressive do these
mighty tombs speak of the fallen
pride of Egypt's ancient kings. The
great pyramid is one of the group,
any one Of which would be one of
the wonders of the world, if not
dwarfed by comparison with that of
Cheops. This is royal cemetery.
When the pyramids were building.
5000 years ago. people must have
been slaves. and persisted like flies,
in this effort of the kings to furnish
themselves tombs. These enormous
blocks of limestone were brought
for miles from the quarries beyond
Cairo, and the immense slabs of red
granite in the pyramids and the un-
foreground tombs, were quarried at
Assouan. nearly 600 miles up the
Nile.
Connected with the royal GEM
etery by an elaborate pavement
now buried deep in desert sand lis
the temple where the kings wor-
SHIPPED. Here are great halls foored
and rooted with alabaster, and
mighty columns Of red granite from
Assouan. 1t was for ages buried
under desert sand. AS was fitting,
this graveyard is not destitute of
religious symbolism. The god Horus
is represented by great lion with a
human head-the great sphinx. It
is carved out of the limestone ledge
on which the pyramids rest. 1t is
70 feet high, and $50 feet long, the
human face being IA feet long, the
mouth u feet wide, the ear Al feet
high. It was made about 1900
years ago and is partly buried in the
sand.
From the pyramids Of Gizeh we
gave ourselves the novelty of ride
on dromedaries eight or nine miles
to Sakkara, another ancient GEM
etery. | think this was the worst
shaking up | ever had in my life. 1t
is fun for little while, then it gets
serious, then toward the end of a
fourteen mile trip, it becomes, for
one not accustomed to it, agonizing.
For two or three days you are re-
minded of it every time you try to
move.
On the way to Sakkara company
of bedouin damsels crossing the edge
of the desert, greeted us at long
range, dancing, shouting, laughing
and waving their arms. This led us
to ask Mahmoud our bedouin guide.
some questions about the domestic
life of the Egyptians. He says the
laws allow Mohammedan to have
four wives, but if man marries a
woman of prominence and respect
ability, and then is mean to her, he
gets into trouble, her relatives will
fix him." We asked Mahmoud how
many wives he had, and he said he
had only one, and was sorry he had
any. We were shocked by such a
blunt statement, and he explained
by saying that it cost good deal to
take care of a wife. and if he had
none. he could make trips to Europe
and perhaps to America. He said
he could divorce her and go, but he
liked her and she did not like to
have him go away. When | asked
him how many children he had and
he said three, DIR. Kerfoot said,
You'd better hurry up, I'm ahead
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