id) 'drew gorgeous pictures of the contents of
the pyramid's interior.... All the treasures of Sheddad Ben Ad the great
Antediluvian king of the earth, with all his medicines and all his
sciences, they declared were there, told over and over again. Others,
though, were positive that the founder-king was no other than Saurid Ibn
Salhouk, a far greater one than the other; and these last gave many more
minute particulars, some of which are at least interesting to us in the
present day, as proving that, amongst the Egypto-Arabians of more than
a thousand years ago, the Jeezeh pyramids, headed by the grand one,
enjoyed a pre-eminence of fame vastly before all the other pyramids of
Egypt put together; and that if any other is alluded to after the Great
Pyramid (which has always been the notable and favourite one, and
chiefly was known then as the East pyramid), it is either the second one
at Jeezeh, under the name of the West pyramid; or the third one,
distinguished as the Coloured pyramid, in allusion to its red granite,
compared with the white limestone casings of the other two (which,
moreover, from their more near, but by no means exact, equality of size,
went frequently under the affectionate designation of "the pair").'

The report of Ibn Abd Alkohm, as to what was to be found in each of
these three pyramids, or rather of what, according to him, was put into
them originally by King Saurid, runs as follows: 'In the Western
pyramid, thirty treasuries filled with store of riches and utensils, and
with signatures made of precious stones, and with instruments of iron
and vessels of earth, and with arms which rust not, and with glass which
might be bended and yet not broken, and with strange spells, and with
several kinds of _alakakirs_ (magical precious stones) single and
double, and with deadly poisons, and with other things besides. He made
also in the East' (the Great Pyramid) 'divers celestial spheres and
stars, and what they severally operate in their aspects, and the
perfumes which are to be used to them, and the books which treat of
these matters. He put also into the coloured pyramid the commentaries of
the priests in chests of black marble, and with every priest a book, in
which the wonders of his profession and of his actions and of his nature
were written, and what was done in his time, and what is and what shall
be from the beginning of time to the end of it.' The rest of this
worthy's report relates to certain tr