according to the advice from the travel book, the ascent of
the great pyramid could be made in 10-15 minutes with two
or three helpers. later that afternoon i climbed the pyramid
from the north-west corner, taking the suggested ten minutes
without any helper to push, pull and support me. (a) the
easiest way is from the north-east corner, but as it is now
forbidden to climb it from any corner i wanted to be out of
sight of the pyramids police station, which is situated on the
edge of the plateau below the east face. (b) the top,
truncated by the removal of the limestone, is about twelve
yards square, and i was the only one on it. (c) the view
could scarcely have been more extensive. (d) across the
river, below the cliffs of the mokattam hills, from where
much of the 6,000,000 tons of stone used to build this single
pyramid were quarried, were the mosques and spectacular
minarets of muslim cairo, the largest city in africa, and the
great labyrinthine cemeteries.

여기서 the viewcould scarcely have been more extensive. 이문장이
그 장면이 extensive 했다는 건지 아니면 아니라는지 알려주세요
그리고 왜 colud have been 형태를 썼는지도 알려주세요
colud have been은 가정법 시제로 할 수 있었는데~ (그러지 않았다)
이런 의미인데 그 의미대로 해석하자면
그 광경은 많이 광활하지 말았어야 했는데 광활했다 이런 뜻인가여?
알려주세요!