clay. In the mean while I had searched through the remains of a small pyramid, which lay at the foot of a little hill. When I came to the base of the hill, I found that it consisted of black, flat stones, which seemed to have been laid there by the hand of man. I tried to come nearer the foundation by the help of the pickaxe; and after I had cleared away a little earth, I plainly saw a step. It was the first stair of a flight, which led into the interior of a monument. After this I discovered a second stair, then a third, and so on. Night surprised us; we must desist from our labors; but the next day I summoned Sig. Stefani, his people, and the Arabs who were with him; we were in all three hundred and fifty persons; that was just the number of people that we needed, to dig out and carry away the earth. The Arabs, who saw that we paid our people daily, (to which they had hitherto not been accustomed,) were now eager to pitch their tents in the neighborhood of the work. These tents are made of long in woven straw; the Arabs call them Birs.

"I uncovered the staircase by degrees, till I came to the ninth step, which was the last. It led to a little vaulted grotto, where I found at first only bones of camels, horses, and other smaller skeletons, which I took to be hounds. I next found two different sorts of riding-gear; one seemed to be the packsaddle of a camel, the other a horse-saddle; finally, some pieces of metal also, in the form of bells, upon which birds and deities were engraved.

"In the depths of the grotto I saw a large stone, which formed the entrance to a burial-monument. I ordered it to be raised, and found an oval opening wrought in the rock by means of the chisel. It was filled up with earth kneaded with water. I had it dug out and carried away. But the heat and dampness in this opening were so stifling, that even the workmen, though accustomed to extreme heat, could not remain in the grotto longer than five minutes. I let them work by turns. After we had wholly cleared out this burial place, I found opposite the door of entrance a grave like that just described. It contained a heap of human bones, thrown one upon another, and no weapons, nor any other ornaments were found among them.

"During this time Sig. Stefani, who had employed himself with demolishing the other pyramid, had only come to the top of the portico. Some days later he succeeded in finding the staircase to the vault. Among the corpses one was found covered with a stone. They dug at the side of the head to remove the stone, when a laborer, as he struck with his mattock upon a round body, as large as an ostrich egg, brought to light a number of objects made of glass, which were of firm, white, and transparent quality.

"While Sig. Stefani superintended this work, I had explored the ruined pyramid, from which I obtained no good result, finding nothing but a block of stone in the portico, upon which two figures were engraven. It will perhaps be surprising to hear with what patience and constancy I prosecuted my search, in so very doubtful hope of seeing the fruit of my labor. I openly confess, that I was often overcome by sorrow, when I after long days of labor returned into my tent with my friend, and the laborers who followed us, springing and uttering a frightful howling, held out their hands to us to receive the reward of a labor which I must regard as lost. Our food too was wretched, and, considering our continued night-watches to secure our lives from the plots, which might threaten us at any moment, (Sig. Stefani and I were obliged to watch half the night by turns, through fear of the treachery of our people and the malice of the negroes;) withal an intolerable heat, and finally, the fear of losing in a moment all prospect of a fortunate issue to so expensive an undertaking, which I had prosecuted with the greatest constancy it must be confessed, that these circumstances were fitted to depress a stronger spirit than mine. At least they had so great effect upon me, that I was on the point of giving up my plan. But when I saw the workmen with their miserable sustenance digging with the greatest perseverance in the mere expectation of a trifling reward, I took courage again, and to such a degree, that I determined either to return without a sous, or as the possessor of a treasure. And so when I had dug through one building without success, I passed

on to another.

"When Sig. Stefani had ended his labors in the pyramid, I proposed to him to begin another work elsewhere, namely, between the village and the west side of the pyramid, where, upon a hill, are standing the remains of an old town. This attempt produced no favorable result; but the natives encouraged me, and assured me, that they certainly knew from an old tradition of their country, that treasures were there concealed worth more than forty Ardeb of Gold, (about four thousand livres). I saw in this declaration only a design to induce me to prosecute my labors, to afford food and money to these wild men ; and I was the more confirmed in this design, because the excavations of Sig. Stefani were still fruitless, since he found nothing but a wooden figure, of which the right cheek and right arm were half colored red.

"I had no greater success than my companion. I searched through the fourth Pyramid without finding anything worth carrying away. As I was retiring, I found a large ferule of sap

phire-like chalcedony, conically prolonged and flattened at the end.

"Vexed at the ill success of my researches in the small Pyramids, I determined to make a last attempt with one of the large ones, which lay at the end of the hill, and preferred that which seemed to me still untouched. This Pyramid was the same, which Mons. Caillaud of Nantes describes, in the account of his journey to the White and Blue rivers. It is therefore unnecessary that I should stop to describe this beautiful monument; I will only remark that it consists of 64 steps, each half a fathom high, so that it thus had a height of 32 ells or 28 metres. On each side it was about 48 ells long, thus having an area of 1764 square metres. When I had climbed with four laborers to the summit of the Pyramid, to begin the work, I saw at the first glance that the removal would be easy, since the right hand of Time had already been busy there. After the first stones were taken away, I encouraged my laborers anew. While they were

throwing the stones of this step to the ground, I went with Sig. Stefani to rest in the shade of a neighboring pyramid, since I could no longer bear the heat of the sun, which had reached a height of 48 degrees. Suddenly I was called by my faithful servant. I immediately re-ascended the pyramid with my friend, and felt my heart already beat with joyful expectation. I saw my servant lying flat, so as to cover with his body the opening which they had just made. The blacks, tormented with curiosity, would have driven away my servant by force, and have thrust their covetous hands into the inside of the opening. We resisted them firmly, and with arms in our hands forced them to descend. We now called our other servants upon whom we could rely, and let them go on with the removal of the stones in our presence. The opening showed us a wide room, containing objects which we could not yet distinguish. This room was formed of great stones irregularly laid. We caused the great stones which covered the top, to be removed, and saw a cell, which formed a long parallelogram, and consisted of large stones fitted to each other, which formed the four side walls answering to the sides of the pyramid. This cell was four feet high, and from six to seven feet long. The first thing we noticed was an object covered with a cotton cloth of dazzling whiteness, which fell into dust at a touch. It was a sort of table or altar, (mensa sacra, or ara domestica,) supported by four column-like feet, and surrounded by an elegant enclosure, which consisted of high and low wooden railing. This railing was carved, and represented symbolic figures. Under this table was a bronze vase, which contained the most valuable articles of the prize, golden bracelets, rings, scarabæi, amulets,

clasps, &c., which were wrapped in a cloth similar to that just described. Near the vase, on the floor of the cell, were necklaces, glass ornaments, colored stones, &c., arranged regularly by means of strings. I found also some talismans, little idols, a cylindrical étui, of metal, little turned boxes, filled with a powdered substance, whose analysis I will give hereafter; a saw, a chisel, and various other articles.

"I secured all these things immediately in little leather sacks, and so withdrew the gold from the sight of the Arabs. As I came down from the Pyramid, all the workmen thronged round me to see what I had found. But I showed myself firm, and after I had taken my arms, I sternly bid them go on with their work. When the blacks saw my weapons, they quickly drew back, since they believed the very sight of the arms might be deadly. At evening, when the blacks had withdrawn into their huts, and our servants were fast asleep, Sig. Stefani and I examined more at leisure the interesting collection of valuable objects, the sight of which filled my heart with inexpressible joy. (This rich collection takes up the greater part of my catalogue.) I was surprised at the quantity and beauty of the gold work, and saw directly that they far surpassed in value everything of the kind hitherto in the different European museums. As to carved stones, I could quickly see that they were not only equal to the best of such work among the Greeks, but that these were even surpassed by mine. While I surrendered myself thus to the sweet feelings, which such an occurrence, as fortunate as unexpected, must naturally awaken in me, I observed that my friend appeared very melancholy. I remarked upon it to him, and he communicated his anxiety to me, that he believed we should do well to flee with our treasures, since we had everything to fear from the avarice of the blacks. I on the contrary, who had been accustomed for five years to rule these savages, and hence knew their cowardice, rejected this proposal, and determined to try my fortune in still farther discoveries. I thus quieted my friend, and proposed to bury our treasures in the sand. We made a pit at a little distance from our tents, concealed our valuable articles in it, and covered them with earth and sand. The next morning at sunrise we returned to the Pyramid; all our laborers had already gone to work; there were no less than five hundred. Although I did not now need so many people, yet I considered that it would not be wise to offend these men by sending back the new laborers. I ordered new excavations in the vicinity, but they were altogether without result.

"In continuing my account of the farther removal of the Pyramid, I must first remark, that it appeared, after we had demol

ished the little cell in which the table and the treasure were found, that the rest of the structure was composed of large stones which were united by a cement. This made the demolition very difficult; we were fourteen days in removing the Pyramid to about half the height. At this height we found nothing but straw plaited into cords, and pieces of wood in the form of mallets. All these objects were nearly destroyed. In the centre of the pyramid was a niche, or cell, formed of three blocks of stone. We removed these blocks, and found first cotton cloth, which seemed to cover other objects — my heart beat quickly; I believed that we should again find articles made of gold — but although we found nothing of this precious metal, I was yet in a measure rewarded by the discovery of two bronze vases of the most elegant form, and so well preserved, that it might be supposed they had just come from the hand of the workman. These vases contained a black powdered substance, of which we shall hereafter give the analysis. From the height above given, I had in twenty days come so far as to have removed the pyramid to the level of the hill. I found nothing but large flat pieces of a kind of black stone, which is called in Numidia, Gallah. The vestibule was yet uninjured, and below and on one side, the name of Caillaud was engraved upon the stone. This vestibule was covered with many rows of carved hieroglyphics. Opposite the door of entrance was seen a majestic, manly form, sitting upon a lion, and holding something in his hand, the exact form of which I could not discern. For the benefit of science I wished very much to bring away with me one of these interesting stones, but their weight was so considerable, that it was impossible to transport them over these immense deserts. I satisfied myself with taking a piece of the stone which was opposite the door, and which I thought the most remarkable for the designs which were engraved upon it. I hoped to find a staircase in the interior of the pyramid, like that which I had found in the smaller ones, and by which the descent was made to the burial-hall, but I was deceived in my hope, being withheld by the significant position of the stones called "Gallah." I tried to open a way for myself by following the traces of a footpath, which led under the vestibule into a space of about eight feet, and descended to the declivity of the hill. I directed them to dig under the vestibule; but we could advance but a little way, since we came again to blocks of stone united by cement. Still I wished to prosecute my researches in this region, and since I no longer needed so many workmen, I sent away a great number of them; but notwithstanding this they came to work though not wanted, and looked upon our labors with threatening gestures, and armed with their lances.