Page:Collection of notable things worth knowing.pdf/3

3 of the Pyramids, an opportunity would then be obtained of forming a correct idea of the astonishing size of those justly celebrated wonders of the world.

Those who have not been exposed to the dangers and inconveniences of a long journey, through sandy deserts infested with hordes of ferocious plundering Arabs, may, however, be able to form an idea (here at home) of the magnitude of these ancient structures, from the following measurement.

Height, estimated about 650 feet; width of one of the sides, about 650; layers of stone which form it, about 200.

T soil of Rhodes is so fertile and rich, that it produces every delicacy which man can wish to enjoy; and the air is the most pure and serene that he could desire to breathe. Such is the beauty of the country, and salubrity of the climate, as to give occasion to the poets to feign that Apollo rained golden showers upon it. Here the inhabitants erected the celebrated Colossus, one of the wonders of the world, to the honour of Apollo, or the Sun. This prodigious statue was made of, 70 cubits, or 130 feet in height, proportionably big in every part. It stood astride over the haven, so that ships could sail in and out between its legs. In one hand it held a lighthouse, and in the other