"You could build a wall four feet high and two feet thick--a good wall for a farm or yard--all the way from New York to Salt Lake City; in round figures, two thousand miles! If you wanted a good solid wall, twelve feet high and four feet thick, from Cincinnati to St. Louis (three hundred and forty miles), you would find the stone for it in this Great Pyramid! And if New York City is in danger of an attack, and wants to surround the whole of Manhattan Island (twenty-one miles around) with a wall forty feet high and twenty feet thick, here is the material to do it with. And remember that all this stone was hewn from the quarries, and moved and set up, centuries before the power of steam was known! [Illustration: REMOVING STONE FROM THE QUARRIES.] "Of course we asked the Doctor to tell us how the pyramids were built, but he says it is a conundrum he cannot answer. Various engineers have made theories as to the mode of building the pyramids; but no sooner does one demonstrate how the work was done than somebody else shows how the theory is incorrect. Doctor Bronson says it is generally conceded that the Egyptians must have had a knowledge of some mechanical power of which we are ignorant. One of the most convenient theories is, that as fast as a course of stone was laid, the earth was heaped up so as to form an inclined plane or road, and that this road was repeatedly increased till the top was reached. Then, as the top was finished, and the granite casing placed in position, the earth was taken away, and the pyramid stood out in all its glory. "But we've kept you waiting while we talked about the size of the pyramid. We've been resting from the fatigue of the ascent, so you must not be impatient. "One of the Arabs proposed to run from where we were to the top of the Second Pyramid in ten minutes; it seemed impossible for him to do it, but on our offering him five francs he started. How he jumped down from block to block, ran across the open space, and then mounted to the top of the Second Pyramid! Of course he has been practising every day, at least during the season of visitors, and knows just what he can do. The Doctor says this is one of the regular performances of the Arabs at the pyramids; everybody who has written about the place in the last fifty years speaks of it, and the only reason why Herodotus does not mention it is that in his day it was impossible to ascend the pyramids, their granite casing being complete and uninjured, and there were no Arabs in existence. These Arabs are the most impudent fellows in the world, and Herodotus didn't lose anything by their absence. They have always had a bad reputation, and not unfrequently have been guilty of downright robbery; their demands for backsheesh are extremely insolent, and if they do not always threaten violence with words, they do so in their manner.