LETTER XVII.

The lovely Osiria's legend of King Saurid--Stately Hebrew woman--Tradition of the construction of the larger pyramid--Its foundations--Its gates--Its covering of silk--Its treasure-chambers and magical guardians of stone and agate--Miriam, the papyrus-copier--Her striking resemblance to Prince Remeses--The pyramid penetrated by a Phœnician conqueror--Discovery of treasures--Mighty sarcophagus of the dead monarch of two worlds, Noah--Chamber of the precession of the equinoxes--Hall of the Universe--Pyramids built before the Deluge--Configuration of the seven planets as at the Creation--Astrology-- Enigma of the Phœnix--The riddle solved--Nelisa--Interview with the stately Miriam in the Hall of Books--pp. 277-293.