A clock
is also shown that came from the same source. The pulpit is a platform
at the head of a stairway, and the place for reading the Koran is a
small platform three or four feet high, also ascended by steps. Within
an inclosure in one corner of the building is the tomb of Mohammed Ali,
which, I was told, was visited by the Khedive the day before I was
there.

The most interesting part of the day was the afternoon trip to the nine
pyramids of the Gizeh group. They may be reached by a drive over the
excellent carriage road that leads out to them, or by taking one of the
electric cars that run along by this road. Three of the pyramids are
large and the others are small, but one, the pyramid of Cheops, is built
on such magnificent proportions that it is called "the great pyramid."
According to Baedeker, "the length of each side is now seven hundred and
fifty feet, but was formerly about seven hundred and sixty-eight feet;
the present perpendicular height is four hundred and fifty-one feet,
while originally, including the nucleus of the rock at the bottom and
the apex, which has now disappeared, it is said to have been four
hundred and eighty-two feet. * * * In round numbers, the stupendous
structure covers an area of nearly thirteen acres."

It is estimated that two million three hundred thousand blocks of stone,
each containing forty cubic feet, were required for building this
ancient and wonderful monument, upon which a hundred thousand men are
said to have been employed for twenty years. Nearly all of the material
was brought across from the east side of the Nile, but the granite that
entered into its construction was brought down from Syene, near Assouan,
five hundred miles distant. Two chambers are shown to visitors, one of
them containing an empty stone coffin. The passageway leading to these
chambers is not easily traversed, as it runs at an angle like a stairway
with no steps, for the old footholds have become so nearly worn out that
the tourist might slip and slide to the bottom were it not for his
Arab helpers. A fee of one dollar secures the right to walk about the
grounds, ascend the pyramid, and go down inside of it. Three Arabs go
with the ticket, and two of them are really needed. Those who went
with me performed their work in a satisfactory manner, and while not
permitted to ask for "backshish," they let me know that they would
accept anything I might have for them. The ascent was rather difficult,
as s