discovery of the tomb. They were delighted when they saw it; and as his
Lordship was anxious to find a tomb, I pointed out two likely spots of
ground in the valley of Beban el Malook, but they turned out to be two
small mummy pits. This proves, that small tombs were permitted to be dug
out in that valley, where it was supposed, that none but the tombs of
the kings of Egypt were to be found; and agrees with my former opinion,
that it was not in this valley alone the tombs of the kings were
excavated. During his stay, his Lordship made many researches, and was
pleased to send down the Nile two of the lion-headed statues I
discovered in Carnak. Thus, with what was found and brought by the
Arabs, he accumulated a vast quantity of fragments, which, when in
Europe, will form a pretty extensive cabinet of antiquities.
The consul was so enraptured with the sight of the tomb, and, I suppose,
of the sarcophagus, that he also began making excavations in the valley
of Beban el Malook, in order to find some more of the depositories of
kings. He continued his research four months; and what he has found he
will of course describe himself with more minuteness than I could do.
Lord Belmore and his family proceeded to Nubia a few days after; and I
prepared to descend the Nile, as I had business in Cairo. Such however
was the impression made on me by that beautiful tomb, that I resolved to
return to Thebes, and form a complete model of it, of which I shall
speak hereafter.
Having embarked all that was found this season, I left Thebes with
another accumulation of antiquities. I shall not describe this voyage,
as I think it useless to repeat almost the same things over again. We
arrived at Boolak on the twenty-first of December, after ten months
absence. My business in Cairo detained me longer than I wished, as I was
anxious to return to Thebes. Finding I could not immediately despatch my
little business there, I sent up the boat, with the intention of going
myself by land. I had engaged Signor Ricci, a young man from Italy, who
was very clever at drawing, and who with a little practice became quite
perfect in his imitations of the hieroglyphics. He was to begin the
drawings of the tomb on his arrival at Thebes. Mrs. Belzoni resolved to
visit the Holy Land, and wait for me at Jerusalem, to which place I
intended to go after finishing my model of the tomb. My purse was now
pretty well exhausted; for all my former stock of money was spent, and
very little remained of the present I received from Mr. Burckhardt and
the consul after my first voyage with the colossal head. Mrs. Belzoni
set out for Jerusalem, accompanied by James the Irish lad and a
Janizary, who went to meet a traveller in Syria, to escort him to Egypt.
At this time the celebrated and veracious Count de Forbin arrived at
Cairo. I then lodged at the consulate; and the Count visited the house,
to see the collection I had just brought down with me, as well as what
had been brought the year before. The Count was not a little confounded
at the sight of so many valuable things; and being Director of the
French Museum, they could not fail to be interesting to him. The
colossal head, the altar with the six deities, the colossal arm, and the
various statues, particularly attracted his attention.
I was then in possession of some statues, which I had brought from
Thebes on my own account, according to an understanding with the consul.
I intended to send them to my native town; for which purpose I had
arranged for their embarkation at Alexandria. The Count made a proposal
to purchase them; and being told they were destined for Europe
immediately, he urgently requested that I would dispose of them to him,
saying he should be under great obligations to me if I would comply with
his request. I recollected that I might find more, and accordingly
consented to gratify him. What he paid me for them was not one fourth of
their value; but I was fully satisfied, as I never was a dealer in
statues in my life.
At this time I received several journals from Europe; and found, to my
great surprise, that all my former discoveries and labours had been
published in the names of other people, while mine was not even
mentioned. I must confess, I was weak enough to be a little vexed at
this; for, after such exertions as I had made in Upper Egypt, it was not
pleasant to see the fruits and the credit of them ascribed to others,
who had no more to do with them than the governor of Siberia, except as
far as related to supplying me with money. Thinking all was not right,
and that people were by some means misinformed, I drew up a statement of
the facts. I gave this account of my operations in Egypt to the Count de
Forbin in the shape of a letter, which he promised to have published in
France; but it would have been better, if I had never entrusted it to
him, as the use he made of it was quite the reverse of what was
intended. Every thing was again thrown into confusion by the French
journals, who confounded one thing with another, so that the public knew
but little of the truth from that quarter; and some others of the
European journals, which copied and extracted from them, were also
misled. I had despaired of correcting these mis-statements; but the many
travellers who afterwards visited that country, and were impartial
spectators, wrote to Europe an account of what they saw and heard; and
by these means the real facts in time came out.
At this period Major Moore arrived in Cairo with despatches from India;
and, as he could not set off on the same day for Alexandria for want of
a cangiar, he came with me to visit the pyramids inside and out. While
on the top of the first pyramid, I descanted to him on the various
opinions entertained concerning the second, and what a pity it was,
that, in an intelligent age like the present, it had not been opened, so
that the interior remained quite unknown. On Major Moore’s departure for
England, he took with him the account of my operations in Egypt, and
some of the plans of the newly discovered places, which he faithfully
delivered to Lord Aberdeen, president of the Society of Antiquaries,
agreeably to my request; and this was one source by which the truth
began to be known.
The Count de Forbin made much inquiry about Upper Egypt, and expressed
his wish to see that country. I know not whether it were my persuasions,
or his own inclinations, but he took the resolution to go up, though the
whole of his journey, from his departure to his return, occupied only
one month. Having done so, he gave an account of the country, the city
of Thebes, its monuments, tombs, temples, colossi, scarabæi, Europeans,
&c. But he said his enterprising spirit of penetrating into Africa
failed him, when he saw European women walking about Luxor. A very
pretty excuse for a traveller! At the time of Norden, European women
could not go about in Alexandria as they can now in Thebes, yet Norden
continued to make his way as far as Deir. If the Count wanted to
signalize himself as a traveller, he should not have scorned to enter
the extensive sandy ocean of Africa, merely because he saw a European
family walking freely at Luxor in Egypt. If the Count look at the map of
that unknown country, he will find, that the civilization of Egypt will
diminish very little of the glory he seems to wish to acquire by
penetrating into Africa.
The Count mentions having found a colossal arm in Thebes; and that I, by
advice of the British consul, had it taken away, though it belonged to
him. Such an arm never existed. But if the Count be ashamed to say, that
he has been in Egypt without finding a single piece of antiquity, and
returned without bringing any thing to France except the statues he
obtained from me, I think he might have been more candid, and have
confessed, that the attraction of a more easy life did not permit him to
proceed any farther into Africa. The Count abuses almost every one who
comes in his way, merely because he did not succeed in making any thing
of Egypt himself; but I should not have mentioned his name, had he not
impelled me to it by the falsehoods inserted against me in his journal.
One thing more I must observe respecting the Count. On his return from
Thebes I met him at Cairo, in the house of the Austrian consul. I had
begun the task of opening the pyramids, and had already discovered the
false passage. The Count requested in a kind of sarcastic manner, when I
had succeeded in opening the pyramid, which no doubt he supposed I never
would, that I would send him the plan of it, as he was about setting off
for Alexandria the next day, and thence to France. I thought the best
retaliation I could make was to send him the desired plan, and I did so,
as soon as I opened the pyramid, which was in a few days after his
departure. Would any one believe, that the noble Count, on his arrival
in France, gave out, that he had succeeded in penetrating the second
pyramid of Ghizeh, and brought the plan of it to Paris? Whether this be
the fact or no will appear from the following paragraph, taken from a
French paper now in my possession.
“On the 24th of April, Mr. Le Comte de Forbin, Director General of the
Royal Museum of France, landed at the lazaretto of Marseilles. He came
last from Alexandria, and his passage was very stormy. He has visited
Greece, Syria, and Upper Egypt. By a happy chance, some days before his
departure from Cairo, he succeeded in penetrating into the second
pyramid of Ghizeh. Mr. Forbin brings the plan of that important
discovery, as well as much information on the labours of Mr. Drouetti,
at Carnak, and on those which Mr. Salt, the English consul, pursues with
the greatest success in the valley of Beban el Malook, and in the plain
of Medinet Aboo. The Museum of Paris is going to be enriched with some
of the spoils of Thebes, which Mr. Forbin has collected in his travels.”
Was this written in ridicule of the Count de Forbin by some person in
France? or is it an attempt to impose on the public by a tissue of
falsehoods?
Before my departure for Thebes, I visited the pyramids in company with
two other persons from Europe. On our arrival at these monuments they
went into the first pyramid, while I took a turn round the second. I
seated myself in the shade of one of those stones on the east side,
which form the part of the temple that stood before the pyramid in that
direction. My eyes were fixed on that enormous mass, which for so many
ages has baffled the conjectures of ancient and modern writers.
Herodotus himself was deceived by the Egyptian priests, when told there
were no chambers in it. The sight of the wonderful work before me
astonished me as much, as the total obscurity in which we are of its
origin, its interior, and its construction. In an intelligent age like
the present, one of the greatest wonders in the world stood before us,
without our knowing even whether it had any cavity in the interior, or
if it were only one solid mass. The various attempts which have been
made by numerous travellers to find an entrance into this pyramid, and
particularly by the great body of French savans, were examples so
weighty, that it seemed little short of madness, to think of renewing
the enterprise. Indeed, the late researches made by Mr. Salt himself,
and by Captain Cabillia, during four months, round these pyramids, were
apparently sufficient to deter any one. A short time before this period
the few Franks who resided in Egypt had some idea of obtaining
permission from Mahomed Ali, and by the help of a subscription, which
was to be made at the various Courts in Europe to the amount of at least
£20,000, were to force their way into the centre of this pyramid by
explosions, or any other means that could be suggested. Mr. Drouetti was
to have had the superintendence of this work. Indeed it had created some
difference among themselves who was to have had the direction of the
whole concern. Was not this enough to show the difficulties I had to
encounter, and to make me laugh at myself, that the thought of such an
attempt should cross my mind? Besides, there was another obstacle to
overcome. I had to consider, that in consequence of what I had the good
fortune to do in Upper Egypt, and under the circumstances above
mentioned, it was not likely that I should obtain permission to make
such an attempt: for if it could be supposed, that there was any
possibility of penetrating into the pyramid, the operation would
certainly be given to people of higher influence than myself.
With all these thoughts in my mind I arose, and by a natural impulsion
took my walk toward the south side of the pyramid. I examined every
part, and almost every stone. I continued to do so on the west,—at last
I came round to the north. Here the appearance of things became to my
eye somewhat different from that at any of the other sides. The constant
observations I made on the approach to the tombs at Thebes perhaps
enabled me to see what other travellers did not: indeed, I think this
ought to be considered as a standing proof, that in many cases practice
goes farther than theory. Other travellers had been also in various
places where I had been, and came often to the same spot where I was,
but perhaps did not make the observations I did. I certainly must beg
leave to say, that I often observed travellers, who, confident of their
own knowledge, let slip opportunities of ascertaining whether they were
correct in their notions; and if an observation is made to them by any
one, who had not the good fortune of having received a classical
education, they scorned to listen to it, or replied with a smile, if not
a laugh of disapprobation, without investigating whether the observation
were just or not. I had often the satisfaction of seeing such travellers
mortified by the proof of being wrong in their conjecture. I do not mean
to say, that a man, who has had a classical education, should think
himself under a disadvantage in regard to knowing such things, compared
with him who has not; but, that a man, who thinks himself well informed
on a subject, often does not examine it with such precision as another,
who is less confident in himself.
I observed on the north side of the pyramid three marks, which
encouraged me to attempt searching there for the entrance into it. Still
it is to be remarked, that the principal signs I discovered there were
not deduced solely from the knowledge I had acquired among the tombs of
the Egyptians at Thebes; for any traveller will acknowledge, that the
pyramids have little in common with the tombs, either in their exterior
appearance, or in any shape whatever:—they are two different things,—one
is formed by avast accumulation of large blocks of stones;—the other is
entirely hewed out of the solid rock. My principal guide, I must own,
was the calculation I made from the first pyramid, and such was my
assurance on this point, that I then almost resolved to make the
attempt. I had been at the pyramids various times before, but never with
any intention of examining into the practicability of finding the
entrance into them, which was deemed almost impossible. The case was now
different,—I saw then what I had not seen before.—I observed, that just
under the centre of the face of the pyramid the accumulation of
materials, which had fallen from the coating of it, was higher than the
entrance could be expected to be, if compared with the height of the
entrance into the first pyramid, measuring from the basis. I could not
conceive how the discovery of the entrance into the second pyramid could
be considered as a matter to be despaired of, when no one had ever seen
the spot, where it must naturally be presumed to exist, if there were
any entrance at all. I farther observed, that the materials which had
fallen exactly in the centre of the front were not so compact as those
on the sides; and hence concluded, that the stones on that spot had been
removed after the falling of the coating. Consequently I perceived the
probability of there being an entrance into the pyramid at that spot.
Encouraged by these observations, I rejoined my companions in the first
pyramid. We visited the great sphinx, and returned to Cairo the same
evening.
I resolved to make a closer examination the next day, which I did
accordingly, without communicating my intention to any one, as it would
have excited great inquiry among the Franks at Cairo, and in all
probability I should not have obtained permission to proceed in my
design. The next day’s examination encouraged me in the attempt. I was
confident, that, if my purpose had been known to certain persons, who
had influence at the court of the Bashaw, I should never succeed in
obtaining permission. On the following day therefore I crossed the Nile
to Embabe, as the Cacheff who commanded the province which includes the
pyramids resided there. I introduced myself to him, and acquainted him
with my intention to excavate at the pyramids, if it met his
approbation. His answer was, as I expected, that I must apply to the
Bashaw, or to the Kakia Bey, for a firman, without which it was not in
his power to grant me permission to excavate at the harrans, or
pyramids. I asked him, whether he had any other objection, provided I
obtained the firman from the Bashaw; he replied, “none whatever.” I then
went to the citadel, and as the Bashaw was not in Cairo, I presented
myself to the Kakia Bey, who knew me from the time I was at Soubra, and
who, on my request for permission to excavate at the pyramids, had no
other objection, than that of not being certain, whether round the
harrans there were any ploughed grounds, on which he could not grant
permission to dig. He sent a message to the above Cacheff at Embabe, who
assured him, that round the harrans there was no cultivated land, but
that on the contrary it was solid rock.
With such an assurance I obtained a firman to the Cacheff, to furnish me
with men to work at the pyramids. My undertaking was of no small
importance: it consisted of an attempt to penetrate into one of the
great pyramids of Egypt, one of the wonders of the world. I was
confident, that a failure in such an attempt would have drawn on me the
laughter of all the world for my presumption in undertaking such a task:
but at the same time I considered, that I might be excused, since
without attempting we should never accomplish any thing. However, I
thought it best to keep my expedition as secret as possible; and I
communicated it only to Mr. Walmas, a worthy Levantine merchant of
Cairo, and partner in the house of Briggs. It is not to be understood,
that I intended to conceal the attempt I wished to make on the pyramids,
for the effects of my work would plainly show themselves; but being near
the capital, where many Europeans resided, I could not prevent myself
from being interrupted during my operations; and as I knew too well how
far the influence and intrigues of my opponents could be carried, I was
not certain, that the permission I had procured might not have been
countermanded, so as to put an end to all my proceedings. Accordingly
having provided myself with a small tent, and some provision, that I
might not be under the necessity of repairing to Cairo, I set off for
the pyramids.
My sudden departure from Cairo was supposed to be an expedition to the
mountain of Mokatam, for a few days, as I had given out. At the pyramids
I found the Arabs willing to work, and immediately set about the
operation.
My purse was but light, for very little remained of what I received as a
present from Mr. Burckhardt, and the consul; and though it had been a
little strengthened by the two statues I lately disposed of to the Count
de Forbin, who had paid me one third of the money on account, my whole
stock did not amount to two hundred pounds, and if I did not succeed in
penetrating the pyramid before this was exhausted, I should have been at
a stand, before the accomplishment of my undertaking, and perhaps
prepared the way for others stronger than myself in purse.
Two points principally excited my attention: the first was on the north
side of the pyramids, and the second on the east. There is on the latter
side part of a portico of the temple which stood before the pyramid, and
which has a causeway descending straight towards the great sphinx. I
thought, that by opening the ground between the portico and the pyramid
I should necessarily come to the foundation of the temple, which in fact
I did. I set eighty Arabs to work, forty on the above spot, and forty in
the centre of the north side of the pyramid, where I observed the earth
not so solid as on the east and west. The Arabs were paid daily one
piastre each, which is sixpence English money. I had also several boys
and girls to carry away the earth, to whom I gave only twenty paras, or
three pence, a day. I contrived to gain their good will by trifles I
gave as presents, and by pointing out to them the advantage they would
gain, if we succeeded in penetrating into the pyramid, as many visitors
would come to see it, and they would get bakshis from them. Nothing has
so much influence on the mind of an Arab as reasoning with him about his
own interest, and showing him the right way to benefit himself. Any
thing else he seems not to understand. I must confess, at the same time,
that I found this mode of proceeding quite as efficacious in Europe.
The works on each side continued for several days without the smallest
appearance of any thing. On the north side of the pyramid, the materials
which were to be removed, consisting of what had fallen from the
coating, notwithstanding the appearance of having been removed at a
later period than the first, were so closely cemented together, that the
men could scarcely proceed. The only instrument they had to work with
was a kind of hatchet or spade, which being rather thin, and only fit to
cut the soft ground, could not stand much work among stones and mortar,
which latter I suppose, as it fell from the pyramid, had been moistened
by the dew[6], and gradually formed itself almost into one mass with the
stones.
Footnote 6:
In spring and summer, very heavy dews fall at night.
On the east side of the pyramid, we found the lower part of a large
temple connected with the portico, and reaching within fifty feet of the
basis of the pyramid. Its exterior walls were formed of enormous blocks
of stone, as may now be seen. Some of the blocks in the porticoes are
twenty-four feet long. The interior part of this temple was built with
calcareous stones of various sizes, but many finely cut at the angles,
and is probably much older than the exterior wall, which bears the
appearance of as great antiquity as the pyramids. In order to find the
basis of the pyramid on this side, and to ascertain whether there were
any communication between it and the temple, I had to cut through all
the material there accumulated, which rose above forty feet from the
basis, and consisted of large blocks of stone and mortar, from the
coating, as on the north side. At last we reached the basis, and I
perceived a flat pavement cut out of the solid rock. I caused all that
was before me to be cut in a right line from the basis of the pyramid to
the temple, and traced the pavement quite to the back of it, so that
there was evidently a spacious pavement from the temple to the pyramid;
and I do not hesitate to declare my opinion, that the same pavement goes
all round the pyramid. It appeared to me, that the sphinx, the temple,
and the pyramid, were all three erected at the same time, as they all
appear to be in one line, and of equal antiquity. On the north side the
work advanced towards the basis; a great number of large stones had been
removed, and a great part of the face of the pyramid was uncovered, but
still there was no appearance of any entrance, or the smallest mark to
indicate that there ever had been one.