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and I climbed the pyramid of Cheops, which is very well preserved and is built
of huge blocks of stone. Each of us was pulled up by the hand by two Arabs and
pushed from behind by 2 others; this made the ascent quite easy.”
Schliemann has an eye for detail but does not always pay attention and has an ac-
cident. After his visit to the pyramids, he visits the Turkish baths:
[page 76-77, French] “The walls are covered with a sort of salt. I am astonished to
see a large number of small birds in this chamber and I am lost in thought, wonder-
ing where they find their food. The air in the pyramid is very hot and stuffy. I banged
my head on the granite while climbing the passage and the wound bled copiously.
One of the Arabs ground up some stone and threw the powder on the wound, which
stopped the bleeding. One of my travelling companions, a certain Underdown,
sketched all the objects that caught his attention. When we got back to town I went
to the Turkish baths, which were the dirtiest and worst I have ever seen.”
Near the Nubian border, Schliemann witnesses a (female) circumcision:
[page 85, Greek] ”In Nubian territories, which we are about to reach in a few days,
I came across a strange custom according to which Nubian female new-borns have
their vulvae stitched but for a tiny hole, left to enable the act of urination. After the
stitches are complete, the new-born is kept in bed till the wound is healed. When
the time comes for a young woman to become engaged, her parents or, in case
there are no parents, the relatives take responsibility in measuring the penis of her
fiancé when in erection, and depending on the width of the penis they cut off the
stitches again. In my opinion, this measure can drastically help eliminate any acts
of adultery prior to the wedding, and it is recommended that they follow the same
measure in Paris as well.”
The conditions during his trip up and down the Nile are tough and Schliemann is
happy to return to Cairo:
[page 163, Greek] “At last, we arrived at Cairo the day before yesterday around
nine o’clock in the morning and I stayed at the same apartment in the same hotel as
the first time I came here. I cannot describe in words how happy I felt away from
the harsh conditions of the river life and the poor quality of the food prepared by
our interpreter whose hands used to be awfully dirty.”
Schliemann departs for Jerusalem, visits the Gardens of Gethsemane, tours vari-
ous mosques and follows the route that Christ is supposed to have taken to his
crucifixion. In Jaffa Schliemann suffers severe stomach aches: