eir gigantic size became evident." When
Savary first visited these pyramids, he left Jizeh at one o'clock in the
morning, and soon reached them. The full moon illuminated their summits,
and they appeared to him "like rough, craggy peaks piercing the
clouds." Herodotus gives 800 feet as the height of the great pyramid,
and says this is likewise the length of its base, on each side; Strabo
makes it 625, and Diodorus 600. Modern measurements agree most nearly
with the latter.

The pyramid of Cheops consists of a series of platforms, each of which
is smaller than the one on which it rests, and consequently presents the
appearance of steps which diminish in length from the bottom to the top.
There are 203 of these steps, and the height of them decreases, but not
regularly, the greatest height being about four feet eight inches, and
the least about one foot eight inches. The horizontal lines of the
platforms are perfectly straight, the stones are cut and fitted to each
other with the greatest accuracy, and joined with a cement of lime, with
little or no sand in it. It has been ascertained that a bed has been cut
in the solid rock, eight inches deep, to receive the lowest external
course of stones. The vertical height, measured from this base in the
rock to the top of the highest platform now remaining, is 456 feet. This
last platform is thirty two feet eight inches square, and if to this
were added what is necessary to complete the pyramid, the total height
would be 479 feet. Each side of the base, measured round the stones let
into the rock, is 763 feet 5 inches, and the perimeter of the base is
about 3,053 feet. The measurements of travelers differ somewhat, but
the above are very nearly correct. The area of the base is 64,753
square yards, or about 13-1/3 acres. The surface of each face, not
including the base, is 25,493 square yards; and that of the four faces
is consequently 101,972 square yards, or more than 21 acres. The solid
contents of the pyramid, without making deductions for the small
interior chambers, is 3,394,307 cubic yards. Reckoning the total height
at 479 feet, the pyramid would be 15 feet higher than St. Peter's at
Rome, and 119 higher than St. Paul's, London. The entrance to the great
pyramid is on the north face, 471/2 feet above the base, and on the level
of the fifteenth step from the foundation. The entrance is easily
reached by the mass of rubbish which has fallen or been thrown down from
the top. T