Part 25

Having observed a small aperture at the upper part of the portcullis, I thrust a long piece of barley straw into it, and it entered upwards of three feet, which convinced me, that there was a vacuum ready to receive the portcullis. The raising of it was a work of no small consideration. The passage is only four feet high, and three feet six inches wide. When two men are in it abreast of each other they cannot move, and it required several men to raise a piece of granite not less than six feet high, five feet wide, and one foot three inches thick. The levers could not be very long, otherwise there was not space in the four feet height to work with them; and if they were short, I could not employ men enough to raise the portcullis. The only method to be taken was, to raise it a little at a time; and by putting some stones in the grooves on each side, to support the portcullis while changing the fulcrum of the levers, it was raised high enough for a man to pass. An Arab then entered with a candle, and returned saying, that the place within was very fine. I continued to raise the portcullis, and at last made the entrance large enough to squeeze myself in; and after thirty days exertion I had the pleasure of finding myself in the way to the central chamber of one of the two great pyramids of Egypt, which have long been the admiration of beholders. The Chevalier Frediani followed me, and after passing under the portcullis we entered a passage not higher or wider than the first. It is twenty-two feet seven inches long, and the works including the portcullis occupy six feet eleven inches in all. Where the granite work finishes at the end of this passage, there is a perpendicular shaft of fifteen feet, and at each side of the passage, an excavation in the solid rock, one of which, on the right as you enter, runs thirty feet in an upward direction, approaching the end of the lower part of the forced passage, as will be seen in Plates 9 and 10. Before us we had a long passage running in an horizontal direction toward the centre. We descended the shaft by means of a rope. At the bottom of it I perceived another passage running downward at the same angle of 26° as that above, and toward the north. As my first object was the centre of the pyramid, I advanced that way, and ascended an inclined passage which brought me to an horizontal one, that led toward the centre, I observed, that after we entered within the portcullis, the passages were all cut out of the solid rock. The passage leading toward the centre is five feet eleven inches high, and three feet six inches wide.

As we advanced farther on we found the sides of this passage covered with arborizations of nitre; some projecting in ropes, some not unlike the skin of a white lamb, and others so long as to resemble an endive-leaf. I reached the door at the centre of a large chamber. (See Plate 12). I walked slowly two or three paces, and then stood still to contemplate the place where I was. Whatever it might be, I certainly considered myself in the centre of that pyramid, which from time immemorial had been the subject of the obscure conjectures of many hundred travellers, both ancient and modern. My torch, formed of a few wax candles, gave but a faint light; I could, however, clearly distinguish the principal objects. I naturally turned my eyes to the west end of the chamber, looking for the sarcophagus, which I strongly expected to see in the same situation as that in the first pyramid; but I was disappointed when I saw nothing there. The chamber has a pointed or sloping ceiling; and many of the stones had been removed from their places, evidently by some one in search of treasure. On my advancing toward the west end, I was agreeably surprised to find, that there was a sarcophagus buried on a level with the floor.

By this time the Chevalier Frediani had entered also; and we took a general survey of the chamber, which I found to be forty-six feet three inches long, sixteen feet three inches wide, and twenty-three feet six inches high. It is cut out of the solid rock from the floor to the roof, which is composed of large blocks of calcareous stone, meeting in the centre, and forming a roof of the same slope as the pyramid itself. The sarcophagus is eight feet long, three feet six inches wide, and two feet three inches deep in the inside. It is surrounded by large blocks of granite, apparently to prevent its removal, which could not be effected without great labour. The lid had been removed at the side, so that the sarcophagus was half open. It is of the finest granite; but, like the other in the first pyramid, there is not one hieroglyphic on it.

Looking at the inside, I perceived a great quantity of earth and stones, but did not observe the bones among the rubbish till the next day, as my attention was principally bent in search of some inscription that would throw light on the subject of this pyramid. We examined every part of the walls, and observed many scrawls executed with charcoal, but in unknown characters, and nearly imperceptible. They rubbed off into dust at the slightest touch; and on the wall at the west end of the chamber I perceived the annexed inscription in Arabic.

‏و فتحم المعلم محمد احمد احجار و ذلك المعلم‎ ‏عثمان حض والملك علي محمد اولا ولعلاك‎

The various interpretations given of it compel me to explain some points, which will perhaps lead to a satisfactory explanation. It appears to me, that all the difficulty lies in the last letters of the inscription, which are supposed to be obscure. This indeed is the fact; but I must say, that these letters were so blotted on the wall, that they were scarcely visible. The transcriber was a Copt, whom I had brought from Cairo for the purpose, as I would not trust to my own pen; and not being satisfied of his protestations of accuracy, though it was copied under my own eyes, I invited many other persons, who were considered as the best skilled in the Arabic language of any in Cairo, and requested them to compare the copy with the original on the wall. They found it perfectly correct, except the concluding word, which indeed appeared obscure; but if it be considered how much that word resembles the right one, we shall find a correct sense, and the whole inscription made out.

_Translation of the Inscription by Mr. Salame._

“The Master Mohammed Ahmed, lapicide, has opened them; and the Master Othman attended this (_opening_); and the King Alij Mohammed at first (_from the beginning_) to the closing up.”[7]

Footnote 7:

The Arabic to which I gave the meaning of these last words, “_to the closing up_,” is not spelled correctly in the paper I saw, a fault which I attribute to the transcriber from the stone. It ought to be ‏ولَلعلاق‎ instead of ‏؛ولعلاك‎ the latter word not being found in the Arabic language.

The words between the parentheses in the translation are not in the original. A. S.

I must add, that the circumstance of the pyramid having been again closed up agrees with what I have said of my finding it so.

On several parts of the wall the nitre had formed many beautiful arborizations like those in the passage, but much larger and stronger. Some were six inches long, resembling in shape a large endive-leaf, as I mentioned before. Under one of the blocks that had been removed, I found something like the thick part of a hatchet, but so rusty, that it had lost its shape. At the north and south sides are two holes, which run in an horizontal direction, like those that are seen in the first pyramid, but higher up.

Returning out of this chamber we reached the passage below. At the bottom of the perpendicular shaft were so many stones as nearly to choke up its entrance, and after removing these we found the passage running to the north, at the same inclination as above, an angle of 26°, as is to be seen in Plate 10. This passage is forty-eight feet six inches in length, when it joins an horizontal passage of fifty-five feet still running north. Half-way up this passage on the right is a recess eleven feet long and six feet deep. On the left, opposite to it, is another passage, running twenty-two feet with a descent of 26° towards the west. Before we proceeded any farther toward the north, we descended this passage, and entered a chamber thirty-two feet long, nine feet nine inches wide, and eight feet six inches high. This chamber contains many small blocks of stone, some not more than two feet in length. It has a pointed roof like that before mentioned, though it is cut out of the solid rock; for it is to be understood, as I before observed, that, after we entered through the portcullis, all the passages, and the large chamber, as high as the roof, are cut out of the solid rock of calcareous stone. On the wall and roofs of this chamber are several unknown inscriptions, as there are in the upper chamber. They are perhaps Coptic. Reascending into the horizontal passage, at the end of it we found grooves for a portcullis like the former; but the stone of granite which served for this purpose had been taken down, and is to be seen under the rubbish and stones near the place. Passing the portcullis we entered into a passage, which ascended in a direction parallel with that above, as in Plate 10. This passage runs up forty-seven feet six inches. Here we found a large block of stone, placed there from the upper part; and by calculation I found, that this passage ran out of the pyramid at its basis, as, from the upper part of this square block, I could perceive other stones, which filled up the passage to the entrance, so that this pyramid has two entrances to it. Half-way up the horizontal passage, which leads into the large chamber, is some mason’s work; but I believe it to be only the filling up of a natural cavity in the rock.

Having made all my observations, we came out of the pyramid with no small degree of satisfaction; and I was highly gratified with the result of my labour, of very little more than a month, the expense of which did not amount in all to 150_l._, though I had accomplished a task, which was supposed would have required several thousands.

The Chevalier Frediani went to Cairo the same day, and the news of the opening of the pyramid soon brought the Franks to visit its interior. As I had no fear that the Arabian women would break the pyramid, I left the entrance open (_pro bono publico_); and in that place where the perpendicular descent, just inside the portcullis, is, I made a stone step for the accommodation of visitors, leaving half of the passage to enter into the lower chamber.

A young man of the name of Pieri, employed in the counting-house of Briggs and Walmas in Cairo, came the next day to visit the pyramid, and, having rummaged the rubbish inside of the sarcophagus, found a piece of bone, which we supposed to belong to a human skeleton. On searching farther, we found several pieces, which, having been sent to London, proved to be the bones of a bull. Some consequential persons, however, who would not scruple to sacrifice a point in history, rather than lose a _bon mot_, thought themselves mighty clever in baptizing the said bones those of a cow, merely to raise a joke. So much for their taste for antiquity. It has been stated also, that it might be supposed these large sarcophagi were made to contain the bones of bulls, as the sarcophagus which we found in the tombs of the kings at Thebes was of enormous size, and more fit for a bull than a human body. I cannot agree in this opinion, however, for if the person who made the observation had an opportunity of seeing and examining the cases and sarcophagi in which the Egyptians were buried, he would find, that the better classes of people had cases within cases, some nearly double the size requisite to contain one person; and it is natural therefore to suppose, that the kings of Egypt had more cases than one or two, consequently the sarcophagus, which was the outer case, must have been much larger than the rest, to contain them all.

Outside of the pyramid I observed the rock surrounding it on the north and west sides to be on a level with the upper part of the chamber; and, as the rock is evidently cut all round, it appeared to me, that the stones taken from it must have been applied to the erection of the pyramid. Accordingly I am of opinion, that the stones which seem to form these enormous edifices were not all taken from the east side of the Nile, as is supposed and mentioned by ancient writers. I cannot conceive why the Egyptians should be thought so simple as to fetch stones at seven or eight miles distance, and across the Nile, when they could have them from much nearer points; indeed from the very spot where the pyramids stand. It is evident, that stones of an enormous size have been cut out of the very rocks around the pyramids; and for what purpose were these stones extracted? It might as well be asserted, that they were cut to build old Babylon of Egypt, or to fill up the vacancies in the quarries of the Mokatam. If any traveller will go within less than half a mile of the pyramids, particularly on the east and south sides, he may see many places, where the rock has been formerly quarried to a great length; and he will find that there is stone enough to build many other pyramids if required. It is true, that Herodotus says, the stones to erect the pyramids were brought from quarries on the other side of the Nile; but I firmly believe he was misinformed on this subject, unless what he asserts is to be understood of the granite alone which must have been brought from Syene. And as to the causeways in front of the pyramids, said to have been made to convey the stones for the erection of these masses, I believe they were intended for the accommodation of visitors, particularly at the time of high Nile; for if they were only to convey stones, the labour of making them must have been nearly equal to the erection of the pyramids.

So much has been already said about the pyramids, that very little is left to observe respecting them. Their great appearance of antiquity certainly leads us to suppose, that they must have been constructed at an earlier period than any other edifices to be seen in Egypt. It is somewhat singular, that Homer does not mention them; but this is no proof, that they did not exist in his time; on the contrary, it may be supposed they were so generally known, that he thought it useless to speak of them. It appears, that in the time of Herodotus as little was known of the second pyramid as before the late opening, with this exception, that in his time the second pyramid was nearly in the state in which it was left when closed by the builders, who must have covered the entrance with the coating so that it might not be perceived. But at the time I was fortunate enough to find my way into it, the entrance was concealed by the rubbish of the coating, which must have been nearly perfect at the time of Herodotus: notwithstanding this we were as much in the dark in this present age, as he was in his. We know, however, now, that it has been opened by some of the rulers or chiefs of Egypt; a fact that affords no small satisfaction to the inquirer on the subject of these monuments. Some persons, who would rather let this circumstance remain in obscurity, regretted, that I should have found the inscription on the wall, which proved it to have been opened at so late a period, as very little more than a thousand years ago; but I beg them to recollect, that the present opening has not only made known this very interesting circumstance, but has thrown much light on the manner in which these enormous masses were erected, as well as explained the purposes for which they were made.

The circumstance of having chambers and a sarcophagus (which undoubtedly contained the remains of some great personage), so uniform with those in the other pyramid, I think leaves very little question, but that they were erected as sepulchres; and I really wonder, that any doubt has ever existed, considering what could be learned from the first pyramid, which has been so long open. This contains a spacious chamber with a sarcophagus; the passages are of such dimensions as to admit nothing larger than the sarcophagus; they had been closely shut up by large blocks of granite from within, evidently to prevent the removal of that relic. Ancient authors are pretty well agreed in asserting, that these monuments were erected to contain the remains of two brothers, Cheops and Cephren, kings of Egypt. They are surrounded by other smaller pyramids intermixed with mausoleums on burial-grounds. Many mummy pits have been continually found there; yet with all these proofs, it has been asserted, that they were erected for many other purposes than the true one, and nearly as absurd as that they served for granaries.

Some consider them as built for astronomical purposes, but there is nothing in their construction to favour this supposition. Others maintain, that they were meant for the performance of holy ceremonies by the Egyptian priests. Any thing, in short, for the sake of contradiction, or to have something new to say, finds its advocate. If the ancient authors had advanced, that they were erected for treasuries, the moderns would have agreed perhaps more in conformity with the truth, that they were made for sepulchres; and they would not have failed to see plainly those circumstances, which clearly prove the facts, and which are not noticed as they ought to be. I will agree with others thus far, that the Egyptians, in erecting these enormous masses, did not fail to make their sides due north and south, and consequently, as they are square, due east and west. Their inclination too is such as to give light to the north side at the time of the solstice. But even all this does not prove in the least, that they were erected for astronomical purposes; though it is to be observed, that the Egyptians connected astronomy with their religious ceremonies, as we found various zodiacs, not only among the temples, but in their tombs also.

By the measurement I took of the second pyramid I found it to be as follows:

Feet. The basis 684 Apotome or central line down the front, from the top to the basis 568 Perpendicular 456 Coating from the top to the place where it ends 140

The circumstance of not finding hieroglyphics in or out of it makes it appear, that they were erected before this mode of writing was invented; for, strange as it may seem, not a single hieroglyphic is found in all these enormous masses. Yet I must beg leave to remark a circumstance, which perhaps will lead to the conjecture, that it might not have been the custom of the Egyptians in that part of the country, who might perhaps be even of a different religion from their countrymen, to put hieroglyphics on their monuments; for there are many mausoleums round the pyramids, and some of them very extensive, without an hieroglyphic to be seen within or without them; and I observed, that those which contain chambers with hieroglyphics are evidently of a later date than the former. All this would seem to prove, that till a certain period subsequent to the building of the pyramids hieroglyphics were not known. But what can be said when I assure the reader, that in one of these mausoleums, which stands on the west of the first pyramid, and which is so decayed that it has fallen in, and is in a very ruinous state, I saw and made others observe some hieroglyphics and figures reversed in one of the blocks, which formed that mausoleum; and the hieroglyphics so preserved within, as if they were to be hidden from the view? It certainly must be concluded, that this stone had been employed in a building, which was adorned with hieroglyphics, and consequently proves that they were known previous to the erection of these mausoleums, though they were without any of these ornaments or inscriptions. This being the case, it may be supposed, that the people, who built the pyramids, were of the same way of thinking as those, who built the mausoleums; consequently nothing can be inferred respecting the age of the pyramids from the circumstance of their not having any hieroglyphics.

It has been supposed, that the first pyramid, or that of Cheops, was not coated. I must agree in this opinion, for there is not the slightest mark remaining of any coating. As to the coating of the second pyramid, I had an opportunity of investigating this subject in the excavation I made on the east side of it, where I found the lower part as rough as any of the upper, below the remaining coating, which confirms the account of Herodotus in this respect, who says, that the coating was begun from above; and I believe myself that it never was quite finished to the basis, for if it had, I should have met with some below, as the accumulation of rubbish over the basis would have kept the stones in their places, or at least enough of them to show there was a coating, as was the case in the third pyramid, of which I shall have to speak presently.

It is supposed, that the inundation of the Nile surrounded the pyramids, so that they remained like islands. I cannot say that it was not so, for the situation of the pyramids is like an island of rocks, separated from those on the west only by a valley of sand, which might naturally have been accumulated by the wind in the course of so many centuries. I think we cannot have a stronger proof of this than the sphinx itself, the basis of which is so much below the present surface, that if all the sand around the pyramids were removed on a level with it, I have no doubt the Nile must run round them, which probably was the case in the early ages.

Having thus finished my operation on the second pyramid, I felt a great inclination to have a cursory view of the third. I observed, that some one had made an attempt to penetrate it by excavations on the east side. I commenced my labours on the north side, and, after removing a great quantity of materials, found a considerable accumulation of enormous blocks of granite, which had evidently formed the coating.—Proceeding yet lower, as I cleared away the rubbish I found that part of the coating still remained in its place down to the bases. The removal of these blocks would evidently have brought me to the entrance into the pyramid, but it required more money and time than I could spare.

By this time the consul, who was at Thebes, hearing of the opening of the pyramid, wrote to me, that he was coming down the Nile; and at the same time Lord Belmore and family arrived at Cairo. It is somewhat singular, and I mention it with much satisfaction, that his Lordship arrived at Thebes one month after my discovery of the celebrated tomb of Psammuthis, and was the first British traveller who entered it. On his return from Nubia, he arrived at Cairo a little more than a month after my opening the second pyramid, and was the first British traveller who entered this also. His Lordship and family had been at Thebes for some time, and had accumulated no small collection of antiquities; indeed, I esteem it the largest ever made by any occasional traveller. Dr. Richardson had taken the opportunity of observing the ruins of ancient Thebes at leisure; and I believe, by his minute remarks, he must have made himself well acquainted with many interesting points not yet explained, and I have no doubt his account will be highly interesting.