I saw the Nile flowing far beneath me, and a few Bedouins, whom curiosity had attracted to the spot, looked like very pigmies.
In ascending I had seen the immense blocks of stone singly, and ceased to marvel that these monuments are reckoned among the seven wonders of the world.
On the castle the view had been fine, but here, where the prospect was bounded only by the horizon and by the Mokattam mountains, it is grander by far.

I could follow the windings of the river, with its innumerable arms and canals, until it melted into the far horizon, which closed the picture on this side.

Many blooming gardens, and the large extensive town with its environs; the immense desert, with its plains and hills of sand, and the lengthened mountain-range of Mokattam,--all lay spread before me; and for a long time I sat gazing around me, and wishing that the dear ones at home had been with me, to share in my wonder and delight.
But now the time came not only to look down, but to descend.

Most people find this even more difficult than the ascent; but with me the contrary was the case.

I never grow giddy, and so I advanced in the following manner, without the aid of the Arabs.