Part 41

Having finish’d the description of the superficies of the greater Pyramid, with the figure and dimensions of it, as they present themselves to the view without; I shall now look inwards, and lead the reader into the several spaces, and partitions within; of which if the ancients have been silent, we must chiefly impute it to a reverend and awful regard, mixed with superstition, in not presuming to enter those chambers of death, which religion and devotion had consecrated to the rest and quiet of the dead. Wherefore _Herodotus_ mentions no more, but only in general, ‘That some secret vaults are hewn in the rock under the Pyramid.’ _Diodorus Siculus_ is silent, though both enlarge themselves in other particulars less necessary. _Strabo_ is also very concise, whose whole description both of this and the second Pyramid is included in this short expression: ‘Forty stadia, or furlongs, from the city _Memphis_, there is a certain brow of an hill, in which are many Pyramids, the sepulchres of Kings, three of them are memorable, two of these are accounted amongst the seven miracles of the world; each of these are a furlong in height; the figure is quadrilateral, the altitude somewhat exceeds each side, and the one is somewhat bigger than the other. On high, as it were in the midst, between the sides, there is a stone that may be removed, which being taken out, there is an oblique, or shelving, entrance, for so I render that which by him is termed σῦριγξ σκολία leading to the tomb.’ _Pliny_ expresses nothing within, but only a well, (which is still extant) of 86 cubits in depth, to which he probably imagines, by some secret aqueduct, the water of the _Nile_ to be brought. _Aristides_ in his oration entituled Αἰγύπτιος, upon a misinformation of the _Egyptian_ Priests, makes the foundation of the structure to have descended as far below, as the altitude ascends above. Of which I see no necessity, seeing all of them are founded upon rocks; his words are these: ‘Now as with admiration we behold the tops of the Pyramids, but that which is as much more under ground opposite to it, we are ignorant of, I speak of what I have received from the Priests.’ And this is that which hath been delivered to us by the ancients, which I was unwilling to pretermit, more out of reverence of antiquity, than out of any special satisfaction. The _Arabian_ writers, especially such as have purposely treated of the wonders of _Egypt_, have given us a more full description of what is within these Pyramids; but that hath been mix’d with so many inventions of their own, that the truth hath been darkn’d, and almost quite extinguish’d by them. Which traditions of theirs are little better than a _Romance_; and therefore leaving these, I shall give a more true and particular description out of my own experience and observations.

On the north side ascending thirty eight feet, upon an artificial bank of earth, there is a square and narrow passage leading into the Pyramid, through the mouth of which (being equidistant from the two sides of the Pyramid) we enter as it were down the steep of an hill, declining with an angle of twenty six degrees. The breadth of this entrance is exactly three feet, and 463 parts of 1000 of the English foot; the length of it beginning from the first declivity, which is some ten palms without, to the utmost extremity of the neck, or streight within, where it contracts it self almost nine feet continued, with scarce half the depth it had at the first entrance, (though it keep still the same breadth) is ninety two feet and an half. The structure of it hath been the labour of an exquisite hand, as appears by the smoothness and evenness of the work, and by the close knitting of the joints; a property long since observed, and commended by _Diodorus_, to have run through the fabric of the whole body of this Pyramid. Having passed with tapers in our hands this narrow streight; though with some difficulty (for at the farther end of it we must Serpent-like creep upon our bellies) we land in a place somewhat larger, and of a pretty height, but lying incomposed: Having been dug away, either by the curiosity or avarice of some, in hope to discover an hidden treasure; or rather by the command of _Almamon_, the deservedly renowned Calife of _Babylon_. By whomsoever it were, it is not worth the enquiry, nor doth the place merit describing, but that I was unwilling to pretermit any thing, being only an habitation for batts, and those so ugly, and of so large a size, (exceeding a foot in length) that I have not elsewhere seen the like. The length of this obscure and broken space containeth eighty nine feet, the breadth and height is various, and not worth consideration. On the left hand of this, adjoining to that narrow entrance through which we passed, we climb up a steep and massy stone, eight or nine feet in height, where we immediately enter upon the lower end of the first gallery. The pavement of this rises with a gentle acclivity, consisting of smooth and polish’d marble, and where not smeared with dust and filth, appearing of a white and alabaster colour; the sides and roof, as _Titus Livius Burretinus_, a _Venetian_, an ingenious young man, who accompanied me thither, observed, was of impolish’d stone, not so hard and compact as that on the pavement, but more soft and tender; the breadth almost five feet, and about the same quantity the height, if he have not mistaken. He likewise discovered some irregularity in the breadth, it opening a little wider in some places than in others; but this inequality could not be discerned by the eye, but only by measuring it with a careful Hand. By my observation with a line, this gallery contained in length an hundred and ten feet. At the end of this begins the second gallery, a very stately piece of work, and not inferiour, either in respect of the curiosity of art, or richness of materials, to the most sumptuous and magnificent buildings. It is divided from the former by a wall, through which stooping, we passed in a square hole, much about the same bigness as that by which we entred into the Pyramid but of no considerable length. This narrow passage lieth level, not rising with an acclivity, as doth the pavement below and roof above of both these galleries. At the end of it, on the right hand, is the well mentioned by _Pliny_, the which is circular, and not square, as the _Arabian_ writers describe: The diameter of it exceeds three feet, the sides are lined with white marble, and the descent into it is by fastening the hands and feet, in little open spaces, cut in the sides within, opposite and answerable to one another in a perpendicular. In the same manner are almost all the wells and passages into the cisterns at _Alexandria_ contrived, without stairs or windings, but only with inlets and square holes on each side within, by which, using the feet and hands, one may with care descend. Many of these cisterns are with open and double arches, the lowermost arch being supported by a row of speckled and _Thebaic_ marble pillars, upon the top of which stands a second row, bearing the upper and higher arch: The walls within are covered with a sort of plaister for the colour white, but of so durable a substance, that neither by time, nor by the water is it yet corrupted and impaired. But I return from the cisterns and wells there to this in the Pyramid, which in _Pliny_’s calculation is eighty six cubits in depth, and it may be was the passage to those secret vaults mentioned, but not described by _Herodotus_, that were hewn out of the natural rock, over which this Pyramid is erected. By my measure sounding it with a line, it contains twenty feet in depth. The reason of the difference between _Pliny_’s observation and mine, I suppose to be this, that since his time it hath almost been dammed up, and choaked with rubbage, which I plainly discovered at the bottom, by throwing down some combustible matter set on fire. Leaving the well, and going on strait upon a level, the distance of fifteen feet, we entered another square passage, opening against the former, and of the same bigness. The stones are very massy, and exquisitely jointed, I know not whether of that glistering and speckled marble I mentioned in the columns of the cisterns at _Alexandria_. This leadeth (running in length upon a level an hundred and ten feet) into an arched vault or little chamber, which by reason it was of a grave-like smell, and half full of rubbage, occasion’d my lesser stay. This chamber stands east and west; the length of it is less than twenty feet, the breadth about seventeen, and the height less than fifteen. The walls are entire, and plaister’d over with lime; the roof is covered with large smooth stones, not lying flat, but shelving and meeting above in a kind of arch, or rather an angle. On the east side of this room, in the middle of it, there seems to have been a passage leading to some other place, whither this way the Priests went into the hollow of that huge _Sphynx_, as _Strabo_ and _Pliny_ term it, or _Androsphynx_, as _Herodotus_ calls such kinds (being by _Pliny_’s calculation 102 feet in compass about the head, in height 62, in length 143, and by my observation made of one entire stone) which stands not far distant without the Pyramid, south-east of it, or into any other private retirement, I cannot determine; and it may be too this served for no such purpose, but rather as a _Theca_ or _Nicchio_, as the _Italians_ speak, wherein some idol might be placed; or else for a piece of ornament (for it is made of polish’d stone) in the Architecture of those times, which ours may no more understand than they do the reason of the rest of those strange proportions that appear, in the passages and inner rooms of this Pyramid. Returning back the same way we came, as soon as we are out of this narrow and square passage, we climb over it, and going straight on, in the trace of the second gallery, upon a shelving pavement (like that of the first) rising with an angle of twenty six degrees, we at length come to another partition. The length of the gallery from the well below to this partition above, is an hundred fifty and four feet; but if we measure the pavement of the floor, it is somewhat less, by reason of a little vacuity (some fifteen feet in length) as we described before, between the well and the square hole we climbed over. And here to re-assume some part of that, which hath been spoken, if we consider the narrow entrance at the mouth of the Pyramid, by which we descend, and the length of the first and second galleries, by which we ascend, all of them lying as it were in the same continued line, and leading to the middle of the Pyramid, we may easily apprehend a reason of that strange eccho within, of four or five voices, mentioned by _Plutarch_, in his fourth book _De placitis philosophorum_; or rather of a long continued sound, as I found by experience, discharging a musquet at the entrance; for the sound being shut in, and carried in those close and smooth passages, like as in so many pipes or trunks, finding no issue out, reflects upon it self, and causes a confused noise and circulation of the air, which by degrees vanishes, as the motion of it ceases. This gallery or _Corridore_, or whatsoever else I may call it, is built of white and polish’d marble, the which is very evenly cut in spacious squares or tables. Of such materials as is the pavement, such is the roof, and such are the side-walls that flank it; the co-agmentation, or knitting of the joints is so close, that they are scarce discernable by a curious eye; and that which adds a grace to the whole structure, though it makes the passage the more slippery and difficult, is the acclivity and rising of the ascent. The height of this gallery is 26 feet, the breadth is 6 feet, and 870 parts of the foot divided into a thousand of which three feet, and 435 of 1000 parts of a foot, are to be allowed for the way, in the midst; which is set, and bounded on both sides with two banks (like benches) of sleek and polish’d stone; each of these hath one foot 717 of 1000 parts of a foot in breadth, and as much in depth. Upon the top of these benches near the angle, where they close, and join with the wall, are little spaces, cut in right angled parallel figures, set on each side opposite to one another, intended, no question, for some other end than ornament. In the casting and ranging of the marbles in both the side-walls, there is one piece of Architecture, in my judgment very graceful, and that is, that all the courses or ranges, which are but seven, (so great are those stones) do set and flag over one another about three inches, the bottom of the uppermost course oversetting the higher part of the second, and the lower part of this overflagging the top of the third, and so in order the rest, as they descend.

Having passed this gallery, we enter another square hole, of the same dimensions with the former, which brings us into two _Anticamerette_, as the _Italians_ would call them, or _Anticlosets_, (give me leave in so unusual a structure to frame some unusual terms) lined with a rich and speckled kind of _Thebaic_ marble. The first of these hath the dimensions almost equal to the second; the second is thus proportioned, the Area is level, the figure of it is oblong, the one side containing seven feet, the other three and an half, the height is ten feet. On the east and west sides, within two feet and an half of the top, which is somewhat larger than the bottom, are three cavities, or little seats, in this manner,

This inner _Anticloset_ is separated from the former, by a stone of red speckled marble, which hangs in two mortices, like the leaf of a sluce, between two walls, more than three feet above the pavement, and wanting two of the roof. Out of this closet we enter another square hole, over which are five lines cut parallel and perpendicular.

Besides these, I have not observed any other sculptures or engravings in the whole Pyramid, and therefore it may justly be wondered whence the _Arabians_ borrowed those vain traditions I before related, _That all Sciences are inscribed within in Hieroglyphics_. And as justly it may be questioned, upon what authority _Dio_, or his epitomizer _Xiphilinus_, reports that _Cornelius Gallus_ (whom _Strabo_ more truly names _Ælius Gallus_, with whom he travelled into _Egypt_, as a friend and companion) _ingraved in the Pyramids his victories_, unless we understand some other Pyramids not now existent. This square passage is of the same wideness and dimensions as the rest, and is in length near nine feet, (being all of _Thebaic_ marble, most exquisitely cut) which lands us at the north end of a very sumptuous and well proportion’d room. The distance from the end of the second gallery to this entry, running upon the same level, is twenty four feet. This rich and spacious chamber, in which art may seem to have contended with nature, the curious work being not inferiour to the rich materials, stands as it were in the heart and center of the Pyramid, equidistant from all the sides, and almost in the midst between the basis and the top. The floor, the sides, the roof of it are all made of vast and exquisite tables of _Thebaic_ marble, which if they were not vailed, and obscured by the steam of tapers, would appear glittering and shining. From the top of it descending to the bottom, there are but six ranges of stone, all which being respectively sized to an equal height, very gracefully in one and the same altitude, run round the room. The stones which cover this place are of a strange and stupendious length, like so many huge beams lying flat, and traversing the room, and withal supporting the infinite mass and weight of the Pyramid above. Of these there are nine which cover the roof, two of them are less by half in breadth than the rest, the one at the east end, the other at the west. The length of this chamber[21] on the south-side, most accurately taken at the joint or line, where the first and second row of stones meet, is thirty four _English_ feet, and 300 and 80 parts of the foot divided into a thousand (that is 34 feet and 380 of 1000 parts of a foot). The breadth of the west side at the joint or line, where the first and second row of stones meet, is seventeen feet, and an hundred and ninety parts of the foot divided into a thousand (that is 17 feet, and 190 of 1000 parts of a foot). The height is nineteen feet and an half.

Within this glorious room (for so I may justly call it) as within some consecrated oratory, stands the monument of _Cheops_, or _Chemnis_, of one piece of marble, hollow within, and uncovered at the top, and sounding like a bell. Which I mention not as any rarity, either in nature or in art; (for I have observed the like sound in other tombs of marble[22] cut hollow like this) but because I find modern authors to take notice of it as a wonder. Some write, that the body hath been removed hence, whereas _Diodorus_ hath left above sixteen hundred years since, a memorable passage concerning _Chemnis_ the builder of this Pyramid, and _Cephren_ the founder of the next adjoining. ‘Although (_saith he_) these Kings intended these for their sepulchres, yet it happened that neither of them were buried there: For the people being exasperated against them, by reason of the toilsomness of these works, and for their cruelty and oppression, threatened to tear in pieces their dead bodies, and with ignominy to throw them out of their sepulchres. Wherefore both of them dying, commanded their friends privately to bury them in an obscure place.’ This monument, in respect of the nature and quality of the stone, is the same with which the whole room is lined; as by breaking a little fragment of it I plainly discover’d, being a speckled kind of marble, with black, and white, and red spots, as it were equally mix’d, which some writers call _Thebaic_ marble; though I conceive it to be that sort of porphyry which _Pliny_ calls _Leucostictos_, and describes thus: _Rubet Porphyrites in eadem Egypto, ex eo candidis intervenientibus punctis Leucostictos appellatur. Quantislibet molibus cædendis sufficiunt lapidicinæ[23]._ Of this kind of marble there were, and still are, an infinite quantity of columns in _Egypt_; but a _Venetian_, a man very curious, who accompanied me thither, imagined that this sort of marble came from mount _Sinai_[24], where he had lived amongst the rocks, which he affirmed to be speckled with party colours, of black and white, and red, like this. And to confirm his Assertion, he alledged, that he had seen a great column left imperfect amongst the cliffs, almost as big as that huge and admirable _Corinthian_ pillar[25] standing to the south of _Alexandria_, which by my measure is near four times as big as any of those vast _Corinthian_ pillars in the _Porticus_ before the _Pantheon_ at _Rome_, all which are of the same coloured marble with this monument, and so are all the obelisks with hieroglyphics, both in _Rome_ and _Alexandria_. Which opinion of his doth well correspond with the tradition of _Aristides_, who reports, that in _Arabia_ there is a quarry of excellent porphyry. The figure of this tomb without is like an altar, or more nearly to express it, like two cubes finely set together and hollowed within: It is cut smooth and plain, without any sculpture and engraving, or any relevy and imbossment. The exteriour superficies of it contains in length seven feet three inches and an half. _Bellonius_ makes it twelve feet, and Monsieur _de Breves_ nine; but both of them have exceeded. In depth it is three feet three inches and three quarters, and is the same in breadth. The hollow part within is in length, on the west side, six feet and four hundred eighty eight parts of the _English_ foot divided into a thousand parts, that is[26] 6 feet and 488 of 1000 parts of a foot, in breadth, at the north end two feet, and two hundred and eighteen parts of the foot divided into a thousand parts, (that is[27] 2 feet, and 218 of 1000 parts of a foot.) The depth is 2 feet and 860 of 1000 parts of the _English_ foot. A narrow space, yet large enough to contain a most potent and dreadful monarch, being dead, to whom living all _Egypt_ was too straight and narrow a circuit. By these dimensions, and by such other observations, as have been taken by me from several embalmed bodies in _Egypt_, we may conclude, that there is no decay in nature; (though the question is as old as _Homer_) but that the men of this age are of the same feature, they were near three thousand years ago; notwithstanding St _Augustine_ and others are of a different opinion, _Quis jam ævo isto non minor suis parentibus nascitur?_ Saith _Solinus_.

It may justly be questioned how this monument could be brought hither, since it is an impossibility that by those narrow passages before described, it should have entered. Wherefore we must imagine, that by some _Machina_ it was raised, and conveyed up without, before this oratory or chamber was finished, and the roof closed. The position of it is thus, it stands exactly in the _Meridian_, north and south, and is as it were equidistant from all sides of the chamber, except the east, from whence it is doubly remoter than from the west. Under it I found a little hollow space to have been dug away, and a large stone in the pavement removed, at the angle next adjoining to it; which _Sands_ erroneously imagines to be a passage into some other compartiment, dug away, no doubt, by the avarice of some, who might not improbably conjecture an hidden treasure to be reposited there.

The ingenious reader will excuse my curiosity, if before I conclude my description of this Pyramid, I pretermit not any thing within, of how light a consequence soever. This made me take notice of two inlets or spaces, in the south and north sides of this chamber, just opposite to one another; that on the north was in breadth 700 of 1000 parts of the _English_ foot, in depth 400 of 1000 parts; evenly cut, and running in a straight line six feet, and farther, into the thickness of the wall. That on the south is larger and somewhat round, not so long as the former; and by the blackness within seems to have been a receptacle for the burning of lamps. _T. Livius Burretinus_ would gladly have believed that it had been an hearth for one of those eternal lamps, such as have been found in _Tulliola_’s tomb in _Italy_, and, if _Cambden_ be not misinformed in _England_, dedicated to the urns and ashes of the dead; but I imagine the invention not to be so ancient as this Pyramid.

_A description of the second Pyramid._