"
"I am willing," said the prince, "to see all that can deserve my
search." "And I," said the princess, "shall rejoice to learn something
of the manners of antiquity."
"The most pompous monument of Egyptian greatness, and one of the most
bulky works of manual industry," said Imlac, "are the pyramids; fabricks
raised, before the time of history, and of which the earliest narratives
afford us only uncertain traditions. Of these, the greatest is still
standing, very little injured by time."
"Let us visit them to-morrow," said Nekayah. "I have often heard of the
pyramids, and shall not rest, till I have seen them, within and without,
with my own eyes."
CHAP. XXXI.
THEY VISIT THE PYRAMIDS.
The resolution being thus taken, they set out the next day. They laid
tents upon their camels, being resolved to stay among the pyramids, till
their curiosity was fully satisfied. They travelled gently, turned aside
to every thing remarkable, stopped, from time to time, and conversed
with the inhabitants, and observed the various appearances of towns
ruined and inhabited, of wild and cultivated nature.
When they came to the great pyramid, they were astonished at the extent
of the base, and the height of the top. Imlac explained to them the
principles upon which the pyramidal form was chosen for a fabrick,
intended to coextend its duration with that of the world: he showed,
that its gradual diminution gave it such stability, as defeated all the
common attacks of the elements, and could scarcely be overthrown by
earthquakes themselves, the least resistible of natural violence.
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