from India are obliged to make, if able to visit the pyramids at all:
some arrived during our stay, ran up the Great Pyramid, descended as
rapidly, spent a few minutes within it, and disappeared in little more
than an hour.[39]
Footnote 39:
Most visitors to Niagara do the same thing to their great loss. From a
single hurried visit, the true impression of the grandeur of the falls
is never obtained; the first impression is almost uniformly that of
disappointment.—ED.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LETTER XXIV.
February, 1844.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
The entrance of the Great Pyramid[40] is over the sixteenth course, or
layer of stone, about fifty feet above the base; a slope of rubbish, as
I said before, leading up to it.[41] It is nearly in the centre, or
equidistant from either angle of the northern side of the pyramid: the
eye would hardly discover that it is not _exactly_ so; though really
twenty feet, or rather more, to the eastward of the centre. The opening
of the pyramid seems to have been attended with considerable difficulty;
a vast number of stones having been torn down above and before the
aperture. An inclined plain before the entrance forms an angle of
twenty-six degrees and a half with the horizon, being in the same place
with the floor of the first passage. The size of the stones above the
entrance, and the manner in which they are disposed, are worthy of
remark. There is no granite at the entrance of the pyramid; all the
blocks are of limestone. Before the traveller enters the pyramid, he
should divest himself of some of his clothes (for the heat of the
interior is oppressive) and resume them immediately on coming out, to
prevent any check of perspiration. The passage by which we enter the
Great Pyramid is only four feet high, and three feet six inches (almost
exactly two ancient Egyptian cubits) in width, and we are consequently
obliged to descend in a crouching position. It is lined above and below
and on each side with blocks of limestone,[42] of a more compact kind
than that of which the pyramid is mainly constructed. This superior kind
of stone appears to have been brought from the quarries on the eastern
side of the Nile, directly opposite the site of Memphis; for stone of
the same quality is not found nearer; and Herodotus, and several other
ancient writers, inform us that the quarries of the Arabian
mountains[43] supplied materials for the construction of the pyramid.
Indeed, they assert that the pyramid was entirely built of stones from
these quarries; but this, evidently, was not the case: the stone of
which the structure is mainly composed was quarried from the rock in its
neighbourhood. The nicety with which the stones are united in the sides
of the first passage is very remarkable. In some parts the joint cannot
be discerned without a close and minute examination. In the flooring of
this passage, and of all the sloping passages in this pyramid, notches
have been roughly cut, like steps, to prevent the feet from slipping;
but I found them very far from producing the desired effect, being now
polished by the naked feet of the guides. These notches have been the
work of modern explorers. At the distance of nearly seventy feet
(measuring from the outer surface of the huge block above the entrance)
we find that one of the stones which form the roofing of the passage has
been hewn away precisely at the point where the second passage branches
off in an ascending direction (see the letter _c_ in the section). Here
we discover the square end of a granite block, which closes the entrance
of the second passage, being exactly fitted to fill up the aperture. The
persons who opened the pyramid, being unable to remove this obstacle,
have made a forced communication with the ascending passage. At the
distance of eighty feet (from the entrance of the pyramid) is the forced
aperture, on the right side of the passage (see _d_ in the section). It
has been made by hollowing out the roofing, and cutting away the upper
part of the side of the lower passage.
Footnote 40:
See _b_ in the accompanying section.
Footnote 41:
See _a_ in the section.
Footnote 42:
Some travellers, their memories deceiving them, have described this
passage as lined with _granite_; others have asserted that it is of
_white marble_.
Footnote 43:
The mountains on the east of the Nile are so called by ancient Greek
and Roman writers, and those on the west the “Lybian mountains.”
Here the explorer must light his candle (if he have not done so before),
and having ascended through this opening, finds himself in a large
place, which appears like a natural cavern in a rock. We now see the
upper end of the granite block before mentioned, or of a second block.
Above it is another, of which a part has been broken off. Above this the
passage (_e_ _f_) is seen clear of other incumbrances, running upwards,
but in the same southern course as the first, or descending passage. It
is of the same dimensions as the first, and has the same inclination;
but its sides and roofing are very rough, and consequently it has the
appearance of having been cut through solid rock, which is not really
the case. It is a hundred and nine feet long (measuring from the
southernmost of the granite blocks above mentioned), and the flooring
projects a foot and a half in the same direction. The ascent of this
passage is rather fatiguing. On emerging from it, we find ourselves at
the foot of the Grand Passage (see _f_ _m_ in the section).
This great passage, ascending to the principal chamber, is, in
comparison with those which lead to it, wide and lofty. Its length being
great, and its sides and every part of it blackened, as if by smoke, the
further extremity was invisible to us as we stood at the lower end; and
its whole appearance singularly imposing. On our right, as we stood
here, we observed the entrance, or mouth, of what has been called “the
well” (_g_). There we also, at the lower end of the Grand Passage,
remarked some Arabic inscriptions, rudely cut with a chisel. These, I
believe, were first noticed by Sir Gardiner Wilkinson. My brother read
them to me thus—“Ezbek and Beybars have been here.” “Beybars and Kalaoon
El-Elfee have been here.” “Sultán Mohammad ... Sa’eed.” These three
persons were Memlook sultans of Egypt, who reigned in the latter half of
the thirteenth century, at which period, it appears, the Great Pyramid
was open; if these inscriptions be genuine, which my brother is a little
inclined to doubt.
Under the grand, ascending passage, runs another, which is horizontal,
low, and narrow. The entrance of the latter (_h_) is fifteen feet three
inches from the projection of a foot and a half before mentioned. This
passage is three feet eleven inches high, and three feet five inches
wide. I found almost as much difficulty in proceeding here as I had in
ascending and descending the sloping passages; the dust and the heat
together being here especially oppressive. It continues of the same
dimensions to the distance of ninety-three feet. Here we find a descent
of one foot eight inches in the floor; so that the remainder of the
passage is nearly high enough for a person of middling stature to walk
along it without bending down the head. At the distance of a hundred and
ten feet nine inches (from its entrance) it terminates (see _i_ in the
section) at the eastern corner of the north side of a chamber, which is
nineteen feet long, and seventeen feet broad (see _k_). This has been
called by some travellers the “Queen’s Chamber;” from the supposition
that the queen of the founder of the pyramid was buried in it. The roof
is formed of long bricks of stone, leaning against each other. The
height of the chamber, to the commencement of the roof, is thirteen feet
and a half; and to the summit, about seven feet more. The floor, sides,
and roof are constructed of the same kind of limestone as the passages.
In the eastern end (not in the middle, but rather to the right) is a
high and narrow recess, five feet wide at the bottom, but becoming
narrower towards the top, like the sides of the Grand Passage. It is
three feet five inches deep. Within it, four feet from the floor, is the
entrance of a forced passage, four feet wide. At the commencement it is
square, and smoothly cut; but further on it becomes irregular; and at
the distance of fifty feet it terminates at a hollow space, wider and
more irregular than the rest. In this chamber and forced passage there
is little to detain us. We return to the Grand Passage.
Above the entrance of the horizontal passage which leads to the chamber
above described, is a perpendicular (marked _h_ in the section). This
perpendicular, together with the height of the said passage, is seven
feet three inches. The flooring then ascends in the same direction as
the other ascending passage; at an angle of twenty-six degrees and a
half. At the distance of three feet five inches is another perpendicular
or step of only eight inches, above which the floor has the same
inclination again; and notches have been cut in it to facilitate the
ascent, which is not easily performed unless without shoes. There is a
bench of stone on each side all along the passage, and in the tops of
these benches are oblong holes at short intervals: their use is unknown.
The width of the passage (including the benches, which are one foot
eight inches and a half square), is six feet ten inches; about four
ancient Egyptian cubits. The sides of the passage are composed of nine
courses of stone from the benches upwards. The stone is of the same kind
as that of which the lower passages are constructed. Some travellers
have supposed it to be _white marble_, but no marble is found in any
part of the pyramid. The two lower courses are even with each other, but
each course above projects three inches beyond that below it; and so
does each corresponding course at the upper and lower ends of the
passage. The length of the whole passage is a hundred and fifty-eight
feet. At the distance of five feet and one inch before we reached the
upper end, we ascend another perpendicular of two feet eleven inches.
The floor beyond is horizontal, forming a small platform (see _l_ in the
section). From this commences a horizontal passage three feet seven
inches and a half in height, and three feet five inches and a half in
width (see _m_). Within it, on the right, is the entrance of a _forced_
passage, made in search for other chambers than those already known. At
the distance of four feet five inches (from the entrance of the _true_
passage), commences an open space above (see _n_), the upper part of
which is nearly twice as wide as the passage, and nine feet eight inches
in length: but the passage below is contracted again to its former
height by a kind of portcullis, formed of two blocks of granite one
above another, each one foot three inches thick; these have been let
down from the space above between two small projections on each side
which form a pair of grooves. Beyond this, the passage (which is here of
_granite_), is open as before, to the space above, and there are grooves
for the reception of three other portcullises of granite, by which the
architect thought that he should for ever prevent access to the
mysterious chamber which contains the sarcophagus; but these have been
broken and their fragments carried away. The passage beyond (see _o_),
is of its former dimensions, and continues so to the distance of eight
feet five inches, its whole length, from the top of the Grand Passage,
being twenty-two feet and a half. It terminates at the eastern extremity
of the north side of the Grand Chamber (see _p_ in the section).
The dimensions of the Great Chamber are especially worthy of remark: the
length is thirty-four feet four inches and a half; just twenty ancient
Egyptian cubits; the width exactly half that measure. The height is
about two feet more than the width. It is entirely constructed of red
granite. Near the western end is the sarcophagus; which is also of red
granite. It is seven feet and a half in length, three and a half in
breadth, and the sides are half a foot thick. No hieroglyphics nor
sculpture of any kind adorn it either within or without; its sides are
perfectly plain and polished, and its form is simply that of an oblong
chest, in every way rectangular. Its lid has been carried away, as well
as its original contents; and we find in it nothing but dust and small
fragments of stone. It has been much injured at one of its corners by a
number of travellers, who have broken off pieces to carry away as
memorials. When struck with any thing hard, or even with the hand, it
sounds like a bell. It rests upon a block of granite considerably larger
than any of the other blocks of which the floor is composed.
Why was such an enormous mass placed there? The alabaster sarcophagus in
the great tomb opened by Belzoni in the valley of Beebán-el-Mulook, at
Thebes, closed the entrance of a deep descent of steps, which has never
been explored to its termination: the soft and crumbling nature of the
rock through which it is cut rendering any attempt to clear it out
extremely dangerous. The enormous mass of granite under the sarcophagus
in the Great Pyramid may have been placed there for a similar purpose,
or to cover the mouth of a vault or pit; so that, in case any violater
of the sacred edifice should succeed (notwithstanding the portcullises
of granite), in effecting an entrance into the Great Chamber, he might,
on discovering the sarcophagus, believe the object of his search to be
accomplished. An excavation has been made (I believe by Col. Howard
Vyse), beneath this huge stone, but it seems hardly to have been carried
sufficiently far. The sides of the chamber are formed of six regular
courses of granite blocks, which are united with the greatest exactness,
and their surfaces are perfectly even and polished, without
hieroglyphics or any other inscriptions or ornaments. In the northern
side near the corner of the entrance is a small aperture, and opposite
to it on the southern side is another. Col. Vyse discovered the
termination of each of these, in the exterior of the pyramid: they seem
to have been designed for the purpose of ventilation. The roof of the
chamber consists of nine long granite blocks which extend from side to
side. The half only of the stone at each end is seen, the other half
resting on the wall.
Returning from this chamber we stop at the platform at the upper end of
the Grand Passage (see _l_ in the section).[44] Here we observe at the
top of the eastern wall (that is on the left of a person facing the end
of the passage), at the height of twenty-four feet, a square aperture
which is the entrance of another passage (_q_). Small notches have been
cut at the corner all the way up, for the reception of the ends of short
pieces of wood, which were thus placed one above another so as to form a
kind of ladder. These have been taken away, and the ascent without them
is difficult and dangerous. When my brother was here alone some years
ago, two Arabs contrived to climb up by means of the little notches, and
took with them a strong rope, the end of which he tied round him, and so
they drew him up to the top. As soon as he was freed from the rope they
demanded of him a present, threatening that if he refused they would
descend and leave him there. Though my brother laughed at their threats,
they would not for some minutes confess that they were joking. The
passage in which he found himself is only two feet four inches square.
It turns immediately to the right, and to the distance of a few feet it
continues square and of the same dimensions as before, but much clogged
with dirt; afterwards it becomes irregular both in direction and in the
construction of its sides, and it was difficult for my brother to drag
himself along it, while numbers of bats escaped from within and flew
against his face. At the distance of twenty-four feet the passage
terminates at the northeast corner of a large but low place (_r_). This
chamber (if such it may be called) was discovered by Mr. Davison, who
was British Consul at Algiers, and who visited Egypt with Mr. Wortley
Montague in 1763 and 4, and it is called by the discoverer’s name. It is
directly above the Grand Chamber, and is of the same width as that
chamber, but four feet longer. The long granite blocks which compose the
roof of the lower chamber form the floor of this, and the first and last
of these blocks are here seen entire. The upper surface of each of them
is very rough, and they are not all of the same thickness. The roof also
of this place is formed of long blocks of granite eight in number. The
height is scarcely more than three feet. In the southeast corner is a
small forced passage which ascends a few feet. The second roof above the
Grand Chamber was made to secure the lower roof, which otherwise might
have been broken down by the superincumbent masses. Col. Vyse discovered
over Davison’s chamber three others similar to it one above another, and
above the uppermost of these another with a pointed roof; and in making
this discovery he made one of much greater importance, that of two
hieroglyphic names, rudely inscribed as quarry-marks; one of them
certainly the name of the founder, as before mentioned; the other,
according to some, a variation of the same name; according to others,
the name of a predecessor or successor of the founder.
Footnote 44:
There is a remarkable echo in this passage, on account of which it is
a custom of travellers to fire a pistol or gun here.
I scarcely need tell you that I did not descend what is called the well.
It was explored by Mr. Davison, and afterwards in 1801 by Col. Coutelle;
but its termination and use remained involved in uncertainty and
mystery, until it was cleared out in 1817 by Caviglia. On the right of
the lower end of the Grand Passage two feet below the floor, are three
low steps occupying a space of four feet and a half in length. Beyond
them is the mouth of the first shaft which is two feet two inches
square. Here are little notches roughly cut in the sides in which to
place the fingers and toes, and as the space is narrow, a person _may_
descend without the aid of a rope, as my brother did, but he found it
difficult and dangerous to do so. The ascent is attended with less
danger, and seems precisely like climbing a chimney. At the depth of a
few feet it becomes very rugged and irregular, and continues so for
nearly fifty feet. After descending rather more than sixty feet, an
aperture is seen on the southern side, which is the entrance of a kind
of grotto (_s_) between five and six feet high, and about three times as
long, turning to the right. It is hollowed out in a vein of coarse but
compact gravel, and the well in consequence of this vein, is lined with
masonry for the space of a few feet above and below the grotto. Where
the masonry ceases (_t_) the well takes a sloping direction and
continues so to the bottom; but towards the bottom (see _u_ in the
section) the slope becomes more steep. All the sloping part is cut
through the solid rock below the foundation of the pyramid, and is of a
square form. At the bottom of the well (_v_) is a horizontal passage six
feet long, communicating with the first passage, two hundred and twelve
feet below the aperture by which one ascends to the second passage.
The first passage of the pyramid from the aperture last mentioned,
continues in the same direction, and is of the same dimensions, but is
cut through the solid rock, and is not lined with masonry. The aperture
which communicates with the bottom of the well is two feet ten inches
broad. It is on the right of a person descending the first passage. This
passage continues in the same direction to the distance of twenty-three
feet further (see _w_ in the section), beyond which it is horizontal,
and so low and encumbered with rubbish, that the explorer is obliged to
drag himself in a prostrate position. At the distance of sixteen feet
nine inches there is a recess (_x_) on the right side three feet four
inches deep, and six feet five inches wide. Four feet and a half beyond
this, the passage terminates at the eastern extremity of the north side
of a large excavated chamber (_y_).
The Great Excavated Chamber is nearly under the centre of the pyramid.
It is twenty-seven feet broad, and sixty-six feet long. The roof is
flat, but the floor is very uneven. At the entrance the chamber is
fifteen feet high; towards the western end the rock rises
perpendicularly half-way towards the ceiling, and there are masses of
strange forms, but not altogether irregular, rising still higher, and
nearly touching the top of the chamber. In the floor at the lower end is
a wide hollow space nearly filled with rats’ dung. Immediately opposite
the entrance is a level passage (_z_), low and narrow, running towards
the south; it terminates abruptly at the distance of fifty-five feet.
The floor of the chamber is just a hundred feet below the level of the
external base of the pyramid. It appeared evident to my brother that
this great chamber was an unfinished excavation. Mr. Salt thought
otherwise: “He had flattered himself that it would turn out to be that
described by Herodotus as containing the tomb of Cheops, which was
insulated by a canal from the Nile; but the want of an inlet, and its
elevation of thirty feet above the level of the Nile at its highest
point, put an end to this delusive idea.” This great chamber was
discovered by Caviglia, of whose operations in the Great Pyramid, and in
the neighbouring tombs, an interesting account is given in the 19th vol.
of the “Quarterly Review.” After having explored the well, and
endeavoured, in vain, to draw up the rubbish with which the lower end
was filled, he turned his attention to the clearing of the first passage
of the pyramid, which, until that time, had been supposed to terminate
just below the aperture which communicates with the second passage. In
the prosecution of this work (which was one of much difficulty, as the
passage was choked with large fragments of stone), he discovered the
communication with the bottom of the well, and, continuing his
operations, soon after entered the Great Excavated Chamber.
Such is the description of all that is now known of the interior of the
Great Pyramid. It has been calculated that there might be within this
stupendous fabric, three thousand seven hundred chambers, each equal in
size to the Sarcophagus Chamber, allowing the contents of an equal
number of such chambers to be solid, by way of separation.[45] Yet this
enormous pile seems to have been raised merely as a sepulchral monument,
to contain, perhaps, one single mummy, not a particle of which now
remains in the place in which it was deposited with so much
precaution:[46] unless there be yet undiscovered any other receptacle
for the royal corpse than the sarcophagus in the Granite Chamber.
Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus assert that the building of the Great
Pyramid occupied about twenty years, and according to the former, a
hundred thousand men—according to the latter three hundred and sixty
thousand men—were employed in its construction.
Footnote 45:
Quarterly Review—vol. 19, page 401.
Footnote 46:
Most ancient authors who have described this monument assert, in
opposition to Diodorus, that its founder was buried in it.
The Great Pyramid is surrounded, on three sides, by almost innumerable
tombs. On the east are three small pyramids; and on the same side, and
on the west and south, are many oblong tombs, flat-topped, and with
sides inclining inwards. Some persons who have been unreasonable enough
to doubt whether the pyramids are sepulchral monuments, must, I think,
be convinced of their error by the discoveries of Colonel Vyse: long
before which, my brother found bones and mummy-rags in the principal
pyramid of Sakkárah.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LETTER XXV.
February, 1844.
MY DEAR FRIEND,