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[Page 61]
toeholds the ascent is very dangerous. By the time 300 feet has been climbed one needs a rest naturally, so we sat down on one the ledges & gazed down on the great desert below. Five minutes blow [indecipherable] & then we faced the sky again. From this point we had to branch on diagonally towards the southern corner so as to take advantage of a particular wide ledge. However this was not making much headway & the limestone cap had still to be scaled; this is, alas, too smooth & unbroken for rapid progress. Here the toe holds were few – mere cracks between the stones & four feet apart. Progress was dangerous, also slow. Pains in the chest through the necessity of keeping close to the masonry & continually throwing the body foward were slowly suffocating us. We could not descend so had to stick to it & advance. The last 50 feet was hell but we succeeded in doing it. Lying on top almost exhausted, with sore feet, & throats full of mummy dust, we looked in vain for Pyramid coffee which is dispensed by Egyptians on Cheops. Nothing was on top, however, so we had to remain thirsty. We gazed around at our leisure. The view obtained, from this pyramid, is, I consider, superior from that