great pyramids of Giza, the largest of which is still one of the wonders
of the world. Its huge granite blocks are planed with mathematical
exactitude, and, according to Professor Flinders Petrie, have been
worked by means of tubular drills fitted with the points of emeralds or
some equally hard stone. It was left for the nineteenth century to
re-discover the instrument when the Mont Cenis tunnel was half
completed. The copper for the bronze tools employed by the workmen was
brought from the mines of Sinai, where the Egyptian kings had kept an
armed garrison for many generations; the tin mixed with the copper must
have come from India and the Malayan Peninsula, or else from Spain and
Britain.

While the Fifth and Sixth dynasties were reigning, exploring expeditions
were sent into the lands of the Upper Nile. The two dynasties had sprung
from the island of Elephantinê, opposite Assuan; it was, therefore,
perhaps natural that they should take an interest in the country to the
south. One expedition made its way into the land of Punt, to the north
of Abyssinia, and brought back a Danga dwarf, whose tribal name still
survives under the form of Dongo. Later expeditions explored the banks
of the Nile as far south as the country of the Dwarfs, as well as the
oases of Libya.

The Old Empire was followed by a period of decline. Egypt was overrun by
barbarians, its kings lost their power, and the whole land suffered
decay. The pyramid tombs of the Old Empire were entered and despoiled;
the bodies of the monarchs within them were torn to pieces, and the
precious objects that had been buried with them were carried away. As
the power of the kings diminished, that of the great landowners and
nobles increased; a feudal aristocracy grew up, which divided Egypt
between its members, and treated the royal authority with only nominal