Part 17 (1/2)
Their hands were crossed upon their breast, Their eyes were closed as if for sleep, The naked foot that beat the floor, To keep them spinning more and more, Was careless of all need for rest.
Soon every flowing skirt began Its milk-white spinning plane to keep, Each brother of the holy band Spun in and out with lifted hand, A Teetotem no longer man.
The gray old man, their leader, went Throughout his spinning fellows.h.i.+p, And reverently to the ear, Of every dervish circling near, He spake a soft encouragement.
The piper piped a shriller psalm, The dancers thro' their mystery moved, Untouched, untouching, and the twirl That set our giddy heads awhirl, Served but to give their faces calm.
We drove from Cairo to the Pyramids of Gizeh, a distance of ten miles, over a substantial macadamized avenue. This broad highway, elevated eight or ten feet above the adjoining lands in order to protect it from the flood of water during the time of inundation, was bordered for seven miles with large shade trees, and was in perfect condition. On one side of the avenue an electric tramway extended from the bridge at Cairo to the Mena House Hotel near the Pyramids.
”We might have reached our destination more quickly in the cars,” said our manager as an electric car sped by us, ”but at such speed we should have missed much that is strange and curious. We thought it preferable to take the trip in open carriages.”
The scenes along the way as we drove to the Pyramids were indeed novel.
In the gardens in the environs of the city, the cabbage, onions, beans, and strawberries were in readiness for the market, and in the fields, the clover and forage plants, dark in color and luxuriant in growth, were ready for the sickle, but the wheat was yet green. The fellahs--the Egyptian farm-laborers--were cutting the rank clover in square patches and stacking it on the backs of camels or donkeys. Along the road stalked camels beneath huge stacks of fragrant clover, and donkeys so laden with newly-cut forage that only their heads and feet could be seen. A crooked-horned ox with an Arab farmer on his back ambled by. A caravan of camels laden with blankets, tents, and military supplies, accompanied by a guard of white-helmeted English soldiers, almost blocked the road as they marched past. Bronzed-faced natives seated in the shade dealt in sugar-cane stalks, cutting pieces of cane from the pile of stalks beside them as they were sold. Turbaned Arabs sauntered by, chewing with evident enjoyment the sweet stalks which they had purchased. Bedouins from the desert rode past on camels bedecked with ta.s.seled trappings, swaying back and forth as they rode. Women, partly veiled, coming from the wells, balanced on their heads large earthen bottles filled with water.
”There are many pyramids,” said the guide, as our carriage emerged from the shade of the trees and the Pyramids were seen in the distance, ”but Cheops is the greatest, and it is the one that is ascended by visitors; the other Pyramids are viewed at a distance but are visited by few.
Cheops is four hundred and fifty feet in height and each side of the base measures seven hundred and fifty feet. It was originally much larger and higher but the outer layers of stone were torn down and carried away to Cairo to build mosques and palaces. The adjacent Pyramid of Chepren is almost as large but as some of the steps are cased, it is more difficult to ascend. When we arrive at the pyramids you may take camels or donkeys and ride around the base of Cheops. Or if you prefer to go on foot, you may walk around it, but walking in the sand is tiresome. Then we will proceed to the Sphinx and, after viewing it, descend to the excavated temple near the Sphinx. Afterwards, those who feel equal to the exertion may climb to the summit of Cheops. As this Pyramid is built of huge blocks of stone about three feet in thickness each step upward requires some effort. The Bedouins, however, will a.s.sist you in the ascent, two of them mounting the step ahead and drawing you up while a third pushes behind.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TOMB MOSQUE OF THE KHALIF KAIT BEY WAS THE FINEST.]
As we neared them, the Pyramids, which at first had seemed small and hazy in the distance, became distinct and grew in size. When very close to them they appeared enormous, but their magnitude was not fully appreciated until some hours later, after we had tramped through the sand around the four sides of great Cheops. After that walk, a distance of more than half a mile, we could judge with greater exactness the immense proportions of the extensive base. The slope of the sides prevented a fair conception of their height when looking upward at them; but after reaching the top of Cheops, panting with the exertion of the laborious climb in which we had been a.s.sisted by three Bedouins, we looked down at the midgets moving on the sand below, and were convinced that the alt.i.tude stated by the guide was not exaggerated.
The Pyramids of Gizeh stand upon a plateau about four hundred acres in extent, which appeared to be thirty or more feet above the level of the surrounding country. The surface of this plateau is a barren sandy tract, bordered by cultivated land on the side toward the Nile and merging on the west into the Libyan desert which stretches to the distant hills. Just as far as the inundation of the Nile spreads or the irrigating water was pumped, the land was fertile; where the surface rose above the height reached by the water, the land was a barren waste.
Almost as suddenly as landing from an emerald sea on to a desert sh.o.r.e, we stepped from a rich growth of verdure to a bare slope of yellow sand.
At the foot of the Pyramid of Cheops a gesticulating, vociferous throng of Bedouins crowded about us, shouting in Arabic mixed with a few intelligible English words. Camel-drivers and donkey boys offered the services of their animals to make the circuit; helpers, almost dragging us away in their eagerness, insisted that we should climb to the summit; and guides with candles in their hands importuned us to accompany them into the gloomy interior. After a selection of camels and donkeys had been made by those who desired to ride, the clamorous crowd of natives separated, and we were allowed to start accompanied by but a few, who followed in case they should be needed. ”Madam might drop her shawl, or want her umbrella carried, or need an arm to steady her in the saddle,”
explained the guide.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ASTRIDE ITS MOTHER'S SHOULDERS.]
”For scores of centuries,” remarked the professor, as we stood before the Sphinx, ”the strong winds from the west have carried particles of sand from the desert and deposited them around the Pyramids. Now the original base of Cheops lies twenty or thirty feet beneath banks of sand and debris that have collected around it. In the same manner the encroaching particles, drifting like the light dry snows of the prairies, have almost engulfed the Sphinx. Many times in the past the sand has been shoveled away to prevent the Sphinx from being hidden from sight, and if this excavation in which it now stands should be neglected for a time, the desert winds would fill the pit again and gradually cover the monument. The Granite Temple adjacent to the Sphinx was covered over so completely in the progress of centuries that its location was forgotten. It is but fifty years since the French archaeologist Mariette discovered and excavated the interior of this large structure, the exterior of which, as you see, yet remains embedded in sand as far as the capstone on the walls.”
After descending the steps that led down to the floor of the buried temple and pa.s.sing through rooms constructed of blocks of alabaster, we stood in the main hall, surrounded by monolithic pillars of granite which supported enormous blocks of the same material overhead. The guide said that these huge blocks of granite had been brought from quarries at a.s.suan, far up the Nile, but he could not tell how the ancient Egyptians had been able to handle the monoliths.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ENTERED THE FAMILY BURIAL MOSQUE OF MOHAMMED ALI.]
”My theory may not be correct,” said the professor, as we turned to him for a reply to the query ”but I will state it. We know how the great blocks of limestone that were used in the erection of the Pyramids were brought from the Libyan mountains; for the father of history, Herodotus, relates the story. He says that the Egyptians constructed a solid road sixty feet wide of polished stone from the quarry in the Lybian mountains and over this smooth roadbed dragged or rolled the huge blocks. He also states that as the work progressed, these blocks were lifted by machines from step to step and imbedded in their places in the pyramid. When granite or other stone had to be brought from a great distance for the erection of temples and palaces, as for this granite and alabaster temple of the Sphinx, the Egyptians probably adopted the simplest way of conveying the material in a land where task-masters drove tens of thousands of slaves to labor on the public works. That is, they probably excavated ca.n.a.ls from the Nile to the quarries, supplementing these, where necessary, with stone roadways or slides, and made other ca.n.a.ls from the Nile to the location selected for the buildings, and transported the unwieldy ma.s.ses of stone on barges to their destination.”
”I made some calculations for comparison last night,” continued the professor, seeing that we were interested in his statements. ”Professor Petrie, the archaeologist, says that there are over two million large blocks of stone in the Pyramid of Cheops, or ninety-two million cubic feet.”
”Now, Professor,” said one of the ladies, interrupting him, ”you are getting above our comprehension when you soar into millions.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: BEARING ON HIS BACK AN UNWIELDY GOATSKIN.]
”Am I?” he replied. ”Well, I will leave the millions and give you something more familiar. The Capitol at Was.h.i.+ngton is seven hundred and fifty feet long,--just the length of each side of the base of Cheops,--but the Capitol is not half that in width. The Capitol covers an area of three and one-half acres; the Pyramid spreads over thirteen acres. The apex of the Pyramid is one hundred and sixty feet higher than the head of Freedom on the dome at Was.h.i.+ngton. The Capitol is a hollow structure; the Pyramid, a solid ma.s.s, excepting the comparatively small chamber of the tomb and pa.s.sage ways. The stone used in the construction of Cheops would be sufficient to build the Capitol and the Library of Congress, and there would be enough material left over for capitol buildings in each of the states in the Union. When you have time, calculate how many miles of stone wall might be constructed with ninety-two million cubic feet of stone. It is only by comparison that we can comprehend the stupendous bulk of these magnificent monuments, and realize the prodigious amount of labor that was required for their erection.”
It was but a short drive from the Hotel Grand Continental to the Muski, the narrow street that is the centre of the bazaar district, a district which every visitor is sure to find soon after his arrival in Cairo.
When we entered the crowded Muski, we left the broad avenues of the modern city behind and walked in narrow Oriental streets through which carriages are not allowed to go.