Reuben kept silence and listened. "Speak on!" he said at last.

Amram therefore continued: "The tombs of the Pharaohs have also
grown out of the earth on which they rest. The first or Great
Pyramid is built after the pattern of sea-salt when it crystallises
in the warmth of the sun. If you could look through a dewdrop into a
salt-crystal, you would find it built up of an infinite number of
squares just like the Great Pyramid. But if you let alum
crystallise, you will see a whole field of pyramids. Alum is the
salt deposited in clay. There you have the salt of the earth and of
the sea.

"But there is another kind of pyramid with blunted corners. That is
the original form of sulphur when found in chalk. Now we have water,
earth, and chalk with its fire-stone. There is still a third kind of
pyramid with blunted edges; these resemble crystallised flint or
rock crystal. There you have the foundation of the mountains. A
closer examination of the Nile-mud will discover all these primary
forms and substances--clay, salt, sulphur, and flint. Therefore the
Nile is the blood of the earth. And the mountains are the flesh, not
the bones."

Reuben, whose Egyptian name was Phater, had regarded Amram while he
spoke with alarm and amazement. When the latter had ceased to speak,
he began, "You are not Amram the worker in ebony and cabinet-maker."

"I am certainly a worker in ebony and cabinetmaker, but I am also of
Israel's priestly line. I am the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the
son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. I am a Levite