but when we had reached these, they appeared to stand under a village; and at the village we found that a distance must still be traversed. The Arabs left their work in the fields, as we went along, and came upon us from all points, anxious to be employed, and to gain a small sum of money. Two of them carried us over a swamp, or canal, immersed to the middle. We were soon joined by five or six more. As we passed the last village, a quarter of a mile from the base of the rocks, the children were let loose upon us, their mothers urging them on, and calling out "Backshish.' for We at length entered the desert, and in a few moments stood before the Sphynx. The ridge of the back is seen rough and time-worn; the head dress is made to project behind so as to counterbalance the chin and face; in front, between the paws, a temple has been discovered, for a drawing of which, see No. 38 of the Quarterly Review. The sand has now covered up the temple, and in time the head only of the Sphynx will be visible, as before. Much has been done to prevent this by Mr. Caviglia, who erected a wall round his excavations; but the position of the Sphynx, considerably below the level of the pyramids themselves, heaped up a hundred feet by the sands, renders all attempts of this kind hopeless. No effort can save the excavation from being filled up by the sands. Passing to the right, we visited a small chamber;

and, having gone past the smaller pyramids, we came to the great one, or Pyramid of Cheops. This is formed in layers, and thus presents steps to the summit. It was formerly covered, so as to be quite plain. As to the other great pyramid having been covered, there can be no question, for one hundred and twenty feet of the covering still remain, from near the summit downwards. The stones are ruinous and broken all over-a proof that the pyramid was cased, for had it not been so, the whole structure would have presented a

finished appearance. The general breaking of the stones arises, most probably, from the carrying away of the casing. Sand has collected round the base. We mounted the pyramids by the north-east angle, and with some difficulty, from the height of the stones, each step being from two to three feet. When half way up, we were struck anew with the vastness of the structure. How immense the whole side appeared, as compared with the single stone on which we stoodand this latter, how immense as compared with the size and power of man!

Flocks of hawks and vultures were soaring round the pyramids. Half way up was the name of a traveller, marked 1628. A platform of about thirty-three feet square, at the top, is much worn away and destroyed. There are the names of innumerable travellers, many of which are English. The steepness of the sides of the pyramids

is greater than would be supposed, by a comparison of the base and the height.

Four or five rows of tombs are seen on the west side, each row having seven or eight tombs. The second pyramid is to the south-west of the first, and there is a smaller one to the south of the second. From the summit there is a view of Saccara. Five small pyramids appear on the edge of the desert to the eastward. The Nile is seen winding in the distance. To the right are three other pyramids, two very large. Beyond Saccara half of the horizon is embraced by the desert: brown, endless plains, in the line of the north-west, stretch where the desert ends. In that direction, along its edge, are great plantations of palms. The desert, in one part, has run far into the fields, or level plains, which are immense, and of wonderful fertility, being intersected by numerous canals. The plains are, generally, laid out in square and oblong fields, green, yellow, or brown, according to the state of tillage. Scattered over them are some twenty villages, each having its ornament of palm-trees, and each environed by the drifted sands. Far beyond is the Nile, and Cairo, with its hundred minarets, and its citadel on the heights of the Mokattam, which rises in precipices behind.

The sands have made irresistible progress in the course of ages. The pyramids were, no doubt, on the bare rock the body of the Sphynx must have

also been uncovered. Now, not only are these encumbered, but the rocks, and all along the edges of the fields below them, are covered with the sandsthe tide of an ocean that shall never know reflux !

Egypt, the parent of art and science, is viewed by the modern traveller with a feeling somewhat similar to that with which the Egyptian looks on the Nile. Its waters fertilize his fields, but its source is to him unknown. His ignorance magnifies the power which he cannot comprehend, and his gratitude is mixed up with awe, and, perhaps, with terror. From the summit of the pyramids man, from the noblest monument of man, views the grandest works of nature.

Was

it vanity that erected the pyramids, or the wish of some pious monarch to teach mankind humility? If the former, the ruler may have said, "I will exhibit the strongest energies of man-countless numbers shall assemble, and shall toil together for the period of a generation, to rear on the borders of this desert an eternal edifice, vast beyond the powers of thought." How little, in the boastful pride of his gigantic enterprize, could such a king have dreamt that the barren desert would one day drift its sandy waves to overwhelm the mightiest monument of his mortal toil!

Throughout the world there is a continual conflict between good and evil, and the creeds of various countries have personified these two principles, and represented them as labouring, each for

its own extension. This war is like the struggle of the Nile and the desert, for the possession of Egypt: the latter is the genius of evil, insidiously spreading his pollution; while the former, rising at times in anger, rescues and restores the devoted country. It would, however, augur ill for human destiny to pursue this similitude farther; for the desert is victorious, and in the course of ages, there may perhaps remain nor city, nor village, nor verdant field, to recall the thought of what has been in this immemorial country.

We entered the pyramid on the north side. This entrance, over which there are immense stones, is a square passage from three to four feet each way, descending, and cased with granite finely polished. Our Arabs led the way to a forced passage on the right, by which we entered into an ascending passage similar to the former, communicating with it, and leading to the level of the well of the pyramid. There is a large high passage continuing to ascend in the same line, and ending in the sepulchral chamber, which is in the centre of the pyramid. This still contains a sarcophagus without hieroglyphics. We descended to the level of the well, where there is a horizontal passage, leading to a chamber below the former. In it is a niche, where it is said that a mummy formerly stood. We went to one of the tombs on the right, or west side, where were two chambers containing figures, hierogly