Then they poured melted
lead upon the joints and set the blocks in geometrical order,
till the building was complete. The height of each pyramid was
a hundred cubits, of the measure of the time, and it was four-
square, each side three hundred cubits long, at the bottom, and
sloping upward thence to a point. The ancients say that, in the
western Pyramid, are thirty chambers of vari-coloured granite,
full of precious stones and treasures galore and rare images
and utensils and costly arms, which latter are anointed with
magical unguents, so that they may not rust till the day of
Resurrection. Therein, also, are vessels of glass, that will
bend and not break, containing various kinds of compound drugs
and medicinal waters. In the second Pyramid are the records of
the priests, written on tablets of granite,--to each priest his
tablet, on which are set out the wonders of his craft and his
achievements; and on the walls are figures like idols, working
with their hands at all manner crafts and seated on thrones. To
each pyramid there is a guardian, that keeps watch over it and
guards it, to all eternity, against the ravages of time and the
vicissitudes of events; and indeed the marvels of these
pyramids astound all who have eyes and wit.
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