The pyramids stand on the first rise after leaving the river flats. The ridge of that place may be from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. The ground on which the large one stands (the Cheops) is nearly level. The pyramid is square, and stands to the four cardinal points. Each side, its base is said to be seven hundred feet, while its height is only six hundred. It seems to be a solid mass of rock, excepting the small rooms which I shall presently mention. The plan on which it is built is singular. A large platform is laid down, seven hundred feet square--this is the first row; the stone is nearly three feet in thickness. A second row is laid on of a similar size. This row is not laid out to the edge of the other, but falls back all round about eighteen inches. The third and fourth and following rows are laid in the same manner--forming stairs. There are about two hundred rows of stones, which average nearly three feet in thickness, and terminate in a small flat at the top of about thirty feet square. The ascent is usually made at the north-east corner. About half-way up there is a small room, which seems designed as a resting place. There have evidently been some stones thrown from the top, a part of one row being left, and possibly one stone of a second row at the south-east corner. It took me not quite half an hour to ascend; this included the several stops in order to rest. From the top I had a most splendid view, as to space--Grand Cairo and all the villages and gardens about it; the valley of the Nile far to the north; the several groups of pyramids, and the palm trees that lay to the south, and in the region of ancient Memphis. The descent required about as much time, but was attended with less difficulty than the ascent. The whole, with the time spent on the top, occupied about an hour, and did not seem to have half the peril or labour that some have represented. The entrance to the interior is on the north side. We went to the mouth and examined it, but, on the whole, concluded we would not go in; the descent is long, and nothing to be seen within, but one or two empty rooms. While the rocks of which the pyramids are built, are limestone of the secondary formation, as is manifest from the shells in it, the passage is lined with polished Egyptian granite; the same is said to be the case with the rooms. The entrance of the passage may be fifty feet above the ground, but it descends as one enters.