Year: 1876

ness-Sandy Sea and the sphinx


Scenes and Reveries.


IFrom the San Francisco Chronicle.
I HOTEL DU NIL, CAIRO, July oath


lS'6.-The day of pilgrimage is abou
lover. A half dozen years ago the pyra


mlds OF GheeZeh were approached by ;


winding trail that led through marshes


and across a branch of the Nile. YoU


were obliged to go out by donkey, fol
only a donkey could have made his way


IN safety along the slippery margins d


the standing water-pools left by the in.


undation. You were at times driven to
| boats, and had numerous ventures by


Hood and fieldn before you came at last


to the pyramid platform, and sank


down IN the shadow of Cheops to con-


template nature. But nowl Your


dragoman calls you in the cool at the


morning. Coffee and rolls await you
IN the breakfast-room. A carriage and
span with a champagne luncheon Sc
creted under the seat is at the door.


You light your cigar, sink back in the
luxurious cushions, roll swiftly over a
splendid macadamized road that is built
above high-water mark and threads an
avenue shaded by trees, leap all the
streams with the aid of excellent
bridges, and in one hour and half are
set down at the foot of the steep ascent,
only ten minutes walk from


THE GREAT PyRAMIDi


For long way out of Cairo, as long
as the land feels the pulse of the life
bestowing Nile, your eye feasts upon the
deliciously green meadows where the
ibises in the distance shine like snow
flakes. Groves of palm are scat cred
along the horizon, the road winds
through the edges of some of these
groves, and from the mud hut of the
fallaheen swarms of half-naked chill
dren buzz after you like BEES 1t is al
ways the cry of "Bac6shcesh, " but the
ear gets accustomed to it, and Egypt
would be intolerably lonesome but for
the hum of her two million slaves. The
old business of climbing Cheops is be-
gun as early in the day as possible: not
that it is long or difficult task, but
because the sun pourS his hottest beams
in baptism of fire over the desert, and
there is no shade, no breath of fresh
and fragrant air, no cooling draught at
hand. You alight at the base of Che.
ops, and are Immediately besieged by
an army of Bedawees, who are famous
bores. For more than forty centuries
these Bedawees have besieged the pyr-
amid-climbers from every quarter of
the earth; they have smattering of all
languages at their tongues end, and
their hands are filled with old coins
and new scaraph8I, which they swear
are old. The sheik is your only hope:
every village, every community, has its
sheik, and his word is law Purchase
his friendship-you can do it with a
couple of francs-and you are perfectly
safe. He orders three of his g ''howling
saVages " to take you in hand and con-
duct you to


THE SUMMIT OF CHEOPS.


According to the agreement with the
sheik, you were to pay 50 much into
his hands upon your return to earth,
after having reposed as long as you
think fit at the top of the pyramid.
Meanwhile no fee is to be given to the
three fierce and athletic fellows who
help you up and down, nor are they to
ask for any, on pain of the bastinadO
in case any complaint is made against
them. This being considered satisfac-
tory by all parties concerned, you are
seized under the arms by two of the
while the third gives you a
gentle poke in the small of the back
from time to time. Once started on
the novel ascent, it is quite impossible
to abandon it before it is completed to
the letter. You may repent and grow
dizzy and shortwinded, but the strong
grip on your arms brings you to your
feet again, and you are swung up from
one terrace to another, hurried to the
right and to the left by a zigzag trail
that has evidently been searching for
low steps and crevices in the stones,
and found them in many eases. Each
stone is about the height of a table; it
is 400 perpendicular feet to the top of
the pyramid, and you are permitted to
rest about three times ON the way up
At first the Badawee touches your right
arm, and asks you if you would like to
rest. You scorn the idea, and


LEAP LIKE A CHAMOIS


from rock to rock, to show him how
very far you are from feeling fatigued.
He praises your powers of endurance,
feels of your muscles and says your legs
are splendid. You realize that they
must be, for you have evidently aston
ished him with your strength and. agil
ity. By and by he insists upon you
resting for a moment only. You rest
for his sake as much as your own, for
you are little out of breath, and fear
that he, that all three of the attendants,
must feel fatigued. At this moment
small boy makes his appearance with a
Jug of brackish water in his hand. He
climbs like u cat, and is so little that
his head is lost below the edge of each
stair as he climbs toward you. That
boy follows you to the top and pours
water over your head and hands and
gives you drink at the slightest provo
cation, and all for half-dozen sous.
He is getting his muscles in training for
the ascents he hopes to make in years
to come, for he is born under the pyra-
mid and will die under it, some day,
unless he happens to breathe his last at
the top of it. Before you are quite ready
to start afresh the Bedawees clutch you
and you go bounding from step to step,
sometimes finding foothold for yourself,
but oftener dangling in mid-air, with
the fellow behind clinging to you in
stead of lending his aid. When you
propose a second rest you are put off
with the promise of one little further
up, and you nearly perish before you
come to the spot. There is no pride of
muscle, no ambition, no wind left in
you now! You sink into a corner of
the rock and shut your eyes, for you
have caught


GLIMPSE OF THE SANDY SEA,


that is all aglow in the fierce sunshine,
and away down at the foot of the pyra-
mid there are multitudes of black OBJ
jects creeping about like ants, and you
know these are men and women, and
then you feel as if you could never get
to the top of Cheops, and, if you did,
you know you could never get to the
bottom again unless you were to tumble
head foremost down all those frightful
stairs, and you grow faint, and call on
the water-boy, and find life good deal
of a bOre You don't iOOk down after