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Egypt's catacombs and pyramids. 289
soon follow. " Bravo ! a third of the way up : take a rest,"
shout the guides. Another start, but not so gay and gritty
as the first.' Up, and still upward ; the air seems too light
for breathing. Pity be to the short-winded ! blessings to the
long-legged ! all deformities have their uses. 'Tis done !
Our feet press the summit ! Hallelujah ! The apex, seen
at a distance as a point, proves to be an area full twelve
feet square, from which the view is absolutely magnificent
Northward, you look down the river upon the Delta, with its
patches of green, groups of palms, and long files
of patient
camels. Southward, you gaze up the river, fringed with
waving date-palms, penciled in gold against the delicate sky
fields of vegetation, green and yellow ; flocks of black and
brown sheep, with attending shepherds ;
peasant-women
bearing water-jars upon their heads ; and, farther on, the
ashes of the ancient Memphis. Eastward, upon Cairo, with
its glittering domes, minarets, labyrinthine streets, dazzling
bazaars, public squares, coffee-houses, three hundred mosques
for Mahometan prayers, and the gracefully-towering citadel,
grand and gorgeous, crowning the whole. Westward
stretches in the clear distance the African Sahara, undefinable
and immeasurable ; while at your feet, seemingly, rolls
the majestic Nile, great river-god of the old Egyptians,
whose sculptured figures they wreathed with lotus-flowers,
and filled his extended arms with their ripened fruits and
grains. Let us linger upon this desert Mount of Transfiguration,
and meditate. But where — Where's the doctor?
A seance on the pyramids.
Sunny and joyous. Dr. Dunn and his Arab aids started
first to make the ascent ;
but for some unaccountable reason
they have not yet reached the pinnacle. Looking over the
precipitous stone terraces, there he was, full a third of the
way down. " What's the matter ? " we inquired. " Why
those gesticulations, and why the delay ? — " " Dun no," was
the Arab response in broken English.
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" Well, go down and