Still, as we approached them, we watched to see whether they would not at last appear in that magnitude and grandeur which we had always connected with them; but it was all in vain. Each one indulged in some epithet of dissatisfaction, and even of contempt; and thus we reached the bottom of the eminence on which they stand. But when we had wound up its sides, and reached the piece of table land on which they are erected; when we checked our animals at the foot of the first of them, the Pyramid of Cheops, and looked up; there, they were again the Pyramids, and grander far than our fancy had ever pictured them. The effect, indeed, is almost overpowering. Their simplicity contributes to this as well as their vastness. There is nothing to break up and confuse the attention. The mind, without effort, embraces the whole object; one single idea occupies the attention; a single impression is made, but it is astounding; and we feel all the sublimity of the object, because by this single impression so great an effect is produced. We cast our eyes upward; we look again at ourselves, and we wonder that we are so diminutive; we who just now were passing sentence of condemnation, and looking with contempt on this mighty work! We sink into nothingness beside it, and wish to dismount and get yet lower, and from an humbler place yield it the deep homage that the mind willingly pays to greatness. “This is great, this is very grand,” was the language from the lips of many, and I believe from the hearts of all, as we passed along the base of these stupendous monuments. There are three of them at this place, called, after their reputed founders, the Pyramids of Cheops, Cephrenes, and Mycerinus. They stand on a natural platform, or piece of table land, one hundred and fifty feet in height, projected from the adjoining range of mountains. That of Cheops is the largest, and has been repeatedly measured; but on account of the rubbish that has accumulated along the sides, it is difficult to do this correctly; and there is great discrepancy in the results. English feet. Feet. Herodotus makes its height 800, and length of each side 800. Strabo 625, 600. Le Brun 616, 704. Thevenot 520, 612. Davison 461, 746. French Sçavans 470, 704.