Page:H. D. Traill - From Cairo to the Soudan Frontier.djvu/84

66 comparison disables you from appreciating its dimensions. You perceive, of course, that it is considerably bigger than its two adjacent companions; but then how big are its two companions? They also are set in this sandy desert with no building on the same level to dwarf with their stature.

To be sure, it is open to you to adopt the desperate expedient of climbing the Great Pyramid. There are more, many more, Arabs ready to help you up its face for a consideration than you "have any use for." This method, however, like a drawn battle between two brave enemies, is heroic, but inconclusive. The "personal equation" comes in to impair its validity in a quadruple form; in the "form," first, of the traveller himself, which varies considerably as between one traveller and another; and secondly, thirdly, and fourthly, in the form of the three Arabs, who—one on your right hand, the other on your left, and their companion using the peculiar means described in the outspoken