Note 17 — CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE.

Built by Ouenephes, the fourth king of the first dynasty. Mr. Bayle St. John says of it:—“This structure has a very peculiar form, and as it rises on its vast pedestal of rocky desert, seems totally distinct in character from all the other pyramids that break the horizon to the north and south. It has five steps only, five vast steps, that together rise to the height of nearly 300 feet. It looks like a citadel with a quintuple wall, five towers of gradually increasing elevation, one within the other.”