Chapter XIX: Front Matter (19)

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._

From this Pyramid we went to the second, being scarce distant the flight of an arrow from it; where by the way, I observed on the west side of the first, the ruins of a pile of building, all of square and polished stone; such as _Pliny_ calls _Basaltes_, and describes to be _ferrei coloris, & duritiæ_;—_of an iron colour and hardness_. Formerly it may be some habitation of the Priests, or some monument of the dead. To the right hand of this, tending to the south, stands this second Pyramid, of which besides the miracle, the ancient and modern writers have delivered little. _Herodotus_ relates, that _Cephron_, in imitation of his brother _Cheops_, built this, but that he fell short in respect of the magnitude. _For_ (saith he) _we have measured them._ It were to be wished, for fuller satisfaction of the reader, he had expressed the quantity, and also the manner how he took his measure. He adds, _It hath no subterraneous structures, neither is the ~Nilus~ by a channel derived into it, as in the former_. _Diodorus_ somewhat more particularly describes it thus: That _for the architecture, it is like unto the former, but much inferior to it in respect of magnitude: Each side of the basis contains a ~Stadium~ in length._ That is, to comment on his words, of _Grecian_ feet, six hundred; of _Roman_, six hundred and twenty-five. So that by this computation, each side should want an hundred _Grecian_ feet of the former Pyramid. _Pliny_ makes the difference to be greater, for assigning eight hundred eighty-three feet to the former, he allows to the side of the basis of this, but seven hundred thirty-seven. By my observation, the stones are of colour, white, nothing so great and large, as those of the first and fairest Pyramid; the sides rise not with degrees like that, but are smooth and equal, the whole fabrick (except where it is opposed to the south) seeming very entire, free from any deformed ruptures or breaches. The height of it, taken by as deliberate a conjecture as I could make (which it was easy to do, by reason of the nearness of this and the former, being both upon the same plain) is not inferior to it; and therefore _Strabo_ hath rightly judged them to be equal. The sides also of the basis of both are alike, as, besides the authority of _Strabo_, the _Venetian_ doctor assured me, who measured it with a line.

There is no entry leading into it, and therefore what may be within, whether such spaces and compartments, as I observed in the former; or whether different, or none, I must leave to every man’s private conjecture, and to the discovery of after-times.

This is bounded on the north and west sides, with two very stately and elaborate pieces, which I do not so much admire, as that by all writers they have been pretermitted. About thirty feet in depth, and more than a thousand and four hundred in length, out of the hard rock these buildings have been cut in a perpendicular, and squared by the chessel, as I suppose, for lodgings of the Priests. They run along at a convenient distance, parallel to the two sides we mentioned of this Pyramid, meeting in a right angle, and making a very fair and graceful prospect. The entrance into them is by square openings, hewn out of the rock, much of the same bigness with those I described in the first Pyramid. Whether these were symbolical, as the theology of the _Egyptians_ consisted much in mysterious figures, and the depressure and lownes of these were to teach the Priests humility, and the squareness and evenness of them, an uniform and regular department in their actions, I leave to such as have written of their Hieroglyphics to determine. The hollow space within of them all, is somewhat like to a square and well proportioned chamber, covered and arched above with the natural rock: In most of which, as I remember, there was a passage opening into some other compartment, which the rubbage and darkness hindered me from viewing. On the north side without, I observed a line, and only one, engraven with sacred and _Egyptian_ characters, such as are mentioned by _Herodotus_ and _Diodorus_, to have been used by the Priests, and were different from the vulgar characters in civil affairs: In which former kind _Justin Martyr_ makes _Moses_ to have been skilful, as the Scripture makes him to have been learned in all the wisdom of the _Egyptians_. These ran not downwards, as the _Chinese_ in our times write, but were continued in a straight line, as we use to write; and are to be read (if any understand those mysterious sculptures) by proceeding from the right hand to the left, and, as it were imitating the motion and course of the planets: For so _Herodotus_ expressly informs us, That the _Grecians_ write and cast account, going from the left hand to the right, the _Egyptians_ from the right hand to the left. And this is that which in an obscure expression is also intimated by _Pomponius Mela_: _Egyptii suis literis perverse utuntur._ A manner practised by the _Hebrews_, _Chaldeans_, and _Syrians_ to this day, and not unlikely to have been borrowed by them from the _Egyptians_, to whom the _Chaldeans_ also owed their first skill in astrology, as the _Grecians_ did their knowledge in geometry, the former being attested by _Diodorus_, and the latter confessed by _Proclus_ and other _Grecians_. And surely in imitation of these, or of the _Jews_, the _Arabians_ neighbouring upon both, have taken up this manner of writing, and continued it to our times, communicating it also by their conquests, to the _Persians_ and _Turks_.

_A description of the third Pyramid out of Mr ~Belon~ and ~Greaves~._

Amongst many modern writers, none deserves to be placed before _Bellonius_, or rather before _P. Gillius_. For _Thuanus_ makes the other to have been a _plagiarius_, and to have published in his own name the observations of _P. Gillius_, a man very curious, and inquisitive after truth, as appears by his _Typography_ of _Constantinople_, and his _Bosphorus Thracius_, to whom _Bellonius_ served as an _Amanuensis_: ‘The third Pyramid is much less than the former two, but is a third part greater than that which is at _Rome_, near the _Mons testaceus_, as you pass to St _Paul_’s in the _Ostian_ way. It is still perfect, and no more corrupted, than as if it had been newly built; for it is made of a kind of marble, called _Basaltes_, or _Ethiopic_ marble, harder than iron itself.’

It will be in vain to repeat the traditions and descriptions of several others; all which by a kind of confederacy agree in the same tale for substance, only differing in some circumstances: So that I shrewdly suspect that _Diodorus_ hath borrowed most of his relation from _Herodotus_; and _Strabo_ and _Pliny_ from _Diodorus_, or from them both; and the more learned Neoterics from them all. For else how can it be imagined they should so constantly agree in that, which if my eyes and memory extreamly fail me not, is most evidently false? And therefore I have a strong jealousy, that they never came near this third Pyramid; but that they did, as I have observed all travellers in my time in _Egypt_ to do, fill themselves so full, and, as it were, to surfeit with the sight of the greater and fairer Pyramid, that they had no appetite to be spectators of the rest, where they should only see the same miracle, for the Pyramids are all of the same figure, the farther they went, decreasing, and presented as it were in a less volume. Or if they did view this, it was _quasi per transennam_, very perfunctorily and slightly, and that through a false and coloured glass; for they have mistaken both in the quality of the stone and colour of the Pyramid. I begin with _Herodotus_, who, by a notable piece of forgetfulness, if it be not a σφάλμα in the copies, makes the dimensions of each of the sides, in the basis of this, to be three hundred feet, and yet want but twenty of the first Pyramid, to which he assigns before eight hundred feet; an impossibility in arithmetic; and therefore it will be no preemption to correct the place, and instead of ἐείκοσι ποδῶν καταδέουσαν, to write, πεντεκοσίων ποδῶν καταδέουσαν. I know not how to palliate or excuse his other error, where he makes this Pyramid to be built as far as to the middle of it, with _Ethiopic_ marble. If this sort of marble be _ferrei coloris_, as it is described by _Pliny_, and granted by _Diodorus_ and _Strabo_, both of them expressing the colour to be black, and the latter bringing it from the remotest mountains of _Ethiopia_, where the marble hath the same tincture and colour with the inhabitants, then can this relation of _Herodotus_ no way to be admitted; for the whole Pyramid seems to be of clear and white stone, somewhat choicer and brighter than that in either of the two other Pyramids. And therefore I wonder that _Diodorus_, _Strabo_, and _Pliny_, and amongst later authors, _Bellonius_, _Gillius_, and several others, should have all followed _Herodotus_, when with a little pains and circumspection, they might have reformed his, and their own error. It may perhaps be alledged in their defence, that they mean the buildings within are erected with black and _Ethiopic_ marble; and yet if this be granted, since there is no entrance leading into this, no more than is into the second Pyramid, what may be within depends upon the uncertainty of tradition or conjecture, both which are very fallible; though it cannot be denied, but that close by this, on the east side of it, there are the ruins of a pile of building, with a sad and dusky colour, much like that we described in passing to the second Pyramid, which might be the ground and occasion of this error. I cannot excuse the ancients, but _Bellonius_ or _Gillius_, for it is no matter which of them owns the relation, when both of them have erred, are far more inexcusable, because it might have been expected from them what _Livy_ supposes, _Novi semper scriptores, aut in rebus certius aliquid allaturos se, aut scribendi arte rudem vetustatem superaturos credunt_. Whereas these on the contrary have depraved what hath been in this particular with truth delivered by the ancients; for whereas _Herodotus_ and _Diodorus_ equal the side of the basis to three hundred feet, and _Pliny_ extends it to three hundred sixty-three, these make it only a third part greater than the Pyramid at _Rome_ of _C. Cæstius_, near the _Mons testaceus_. So that either they have much enlarged that at _Rome_, or shrunk and contracted this; for the Pyramid at _Rome_, exactly measured on that side which stands within the city, is compleatly seventy-eight feet _English_ in breadth, to which if we add a third part of it, the result will be an hundred and four; which should be equal to this _Egyptian_ Pyramid in the notion and acception of _Bellonius_.

_Of the rest of the Pyramids in the ~Lybian~ desart._

I have done with these three Pyramids, each of them being very remarkable, and the two first reckoned amongst the miracles of the world. The rest in the _Lybian_ desart, lying scattered here and there, are, excepting one of them, but lesser copies, and, as it were, models of these: And therefore I shall neither much trouble my self, nor the reader, with the description of them. Though to speak the truth, did not the three first, standing so near together, obscure the lustre of the rest, which lie far scattered, some of them were very considerable. And therefore I cannot but tax the omission of the ancients, and the inadvertency of all modern writers and travellers, who with too much supineness have neglected the description of one of them; which in my judgment is as worthy of memory, and as near a miracle as any of those three which I have mentioned. And this stands from these south and by west, at twenty miles distance, more within the sandy desart, upon a rocky level like these, and not far from the village whence we enter the Mummies. This as the _Venetian_ doctor assured me, and as I could judge by conjecture at a distance, hath the same dimensions that the first and fairest of these hath, graduations, or assents without, and of the same colour like that, but more decayed, especially at the top, and an entrance into it on the north side, which is barred up within; and therefore whatsoever is spoken of the first, in respect of the exterior figure, is applicable to this. _Bellonius_ exceeds in his computation of the number of them, who thus writes: _Above an hundred others are seen dispersed up and down in that plain._ I could not discover twenty. And long since, _Ion Almatoug_, in his book of the _Miracles of ~Egypt~_, reckons them to be but eighteen: _There are in the west side no more famous buildings than the Pyramids, the number of them is eighteen; of these there are three in that part which is opposite to ~Fostat~, or ~Cairo~._

_In what manner the Pyramids were built._

We had ended our discourse of the Pyramids, but that I find one scruple touched upon by _Herodotus_, _Diodorus_, and _Pliny_, which is worth the discussion as a point of some concernment in architecture; and that is, in what manner these Pyramids were built; and with what art and contrivance the stones, especially those vast ones in the first were conveyed up. _Herodotus_, who first raised the doubt, gives this solution: ‘They carried up the rest of the stones with little engines made of wood, raising them from the ground upon the first row: When the stone was lodged upon this row, it was put into another engine, standing upon the first step, from thence it was conveyed to the second row by another: For so many rows and orders of steps as there were, so many engines were there; or else they removed the engine, which was one, and easy to be carried to every particular row, as often as they moved a stone. We will relate that which is spoken of either part; therefore those in the Pyramid were first made, which were the highest, then by degrees the rest, last of all, those which are nearest to the ground, and are the lowest.’ The first part of this solution of _Herodotus_ is full of difficulty. How in the erecting and placing of so many machines, charged with such massy stones, and those continually passing over the lower degrees, could it be avoided, but that they must either unsettle them, or in danger the breaking of some portions of them; which mutually would have been like scars in the face of so magnificent a building? His second answer is the sounder; but I conceive the text to be imperfect. _Diodorus_ hath another fancy: ‘The stones, (saith he) at a great distance off were prepared in _Arabia_, and they report, that by the help of _Aggeres_ (engines not being then invented) the work was erected. And that which begets the greatest admiration is, that so vast a structure was perfected in that place, which is all about replenished with sand, where there appears not any relics, either of the _Aggeres_, or of the hewing and polishing of the stones; so that it seems not piecemeal by the industry of men, but altogether, and at once, the whole pile, as it were by some God, was erected in the midst of the sands. Some of the _Egyptians_ relate wonders of it, and endeavour to obtrude I know not what fables; namely, That these _Aggeres_ consisting of salt and nitre, were dissolved by letting in the river, which wholly consumed them without the labour of hands, leaving this structure entire. But the truth of the business is not so, but that those multitudes of men which were employed in raising the _Aggeres_, carried them away unto their former places: For, as they report three hundred and sixty thousand men were employed in these offices, and the whole work was scarce finished in the space of twenty years.’ _Pliny_ partly agrees with him, and partly gives another answer, _the question is, by what means the cement is conveyed up to such a height_ (he rather might question how those vast stones were conveyed up,) _some say, that banks of nitre and salt were made up as the work rose, which being finished, they were washed away by the river ~Nilus~. Others imagine that bridges were made with brick; which, the work being ended, were distributed into private houses: for they conceive that the ~Nilus~ being much lower, could not come to wash them away._ If I may assume the liberty of a traveller, I imagine that they were erected, neither as _Herodotus_ describes, nor as _Diodorus_ reports, nor as _Pliny_ relates, but that first they made a large and spacious tower in the midst reaching to the top; to the sides of this tower, I conceive, the rest of the building to have been applied, piece after piece, like so many buttresses or supporters, still lessening in height, till at last they came to the lower-most degree. A difficult piece of building taken in the best, and easiest projection; and therefore it is no wonder if it were not often imitated by the ancients, and no where expressed or commended by the great Master of architecture _Vitruvius_. Yet surely if we judge of things by the events, and if we reflect upon the intention of monuments, which are raised by the living, to perpetuate the memory of the dead, then is this as commendable a way as any. And therefore we see at _Rome_, that though by the revolution of so many ages the _Mausoleum_ of _Augustus_ be almost decayed, and the _Septizonium_ of _Severus_ be utterly lost, both intended for lasting and stately sepulchres, yet the Pyramid of _C. Cæstius_ stands fair and almost entire; which is no more to be compared, either for the vastness of the stones or the whole bulk and fabric of it, with these, than are the limbs and body of a dwarf to the demensions of a giant, or some large _Colossus_.

I have done with the work, but the Artizans deserve not to be pretremitted; concerning whom the observation of _Diodorus_ is as true, as it is boldly delivered by him. ‘It is confessed, that these works, (speaking of the Pyramids) far excel the rest in _Ægypt_, not only in the massiness of the structures, and in the expences, but also in the industry (and skill) of the artificers.’ The _Egyptians_ think the Architects are more to be admired than the Kings, who were at the expence; for they by their abilities and study, these by their wealth received by inheritance, and by the labours of others erected them.

_The Conclusion._

And thus much of the _Sciography_, or of the artificial and architectonical part; I shall shut up all with one observation in nature for the recreation of the reader, recited by _Strabo_ in these words. ‘We ought not to omit one of the strange things seen by us at the Pyramids: Some heaps of stone, being fragments hewn off, lie before the Pyramids, amongst these are found little stones, some in the similitude and bigness of lentils, some as grains of barley, which appear half unscaled; They report these are some relics of the provisions, which were given to the workmen, and have been petrified; which seems probable enough.’

These, if they were ever any such, are either consumed by time, or scattered by the winds, or buried with those tempests of sand, to which the desarts are perpetually exposed: But _Diodorus_, who not long preceded him, was not so curious as to deliver this relation. And were not _Strabo_ a writer of much gravity and judgment, I should suspect that these petrified grains (though I know such petrefactions to be no impossibility in nature; for I have seen at _Venice_ the bones and flesh of a man, and the whole head entirely transmuted into stone; and at _Rome_ clear conduit water, by long standing in Aqueducts, hath been turned into perfect alabaster) are like those loafs of bread, which are reported to be found by the Red Sea converted into stone, and by the inhabitants supposed to be some of the bread the _Israelites_ left behind them, when they passed over for fear of _Pharoah_. They are sold at Grand _Cairo_, handsomely made up in the manner of the bread of these times, which is enough to discover the imposture; for the Scripture makes them to have been unleavened cakes: _And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought fourth out of ~Egypt~._ Or else _Strabo_’s relation may be like the tradition of the rising of dead mens bones every year in _Egypt_[28]; a thing superstitiously believed by the Christians and by the Priests, either out of ignorance or policy, maintain’d as an argument of the resurrection. The possibility and truth of it, _Metrophanes_, the Patriarch of _Alexandria_ thought, but very illogically; might be proved out of the Prophet _Esaiah_: ‘And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me, for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.’

But I have digressed too far; the confutation of these, and the description of the Mummies, or of the rest of the _Egyptian_ sepulchres, for from thence comes the matter of this their supposed resurrection, and that infinite mass and variety of hieroglyphics, which I have either seen there, or bought or transcribed elsewhere, may be the argument of another discourse[29].

_Of the ~Pyramids~, ~Sphynx~, ~Mummies~, &c. By Father ~Vansleb~ and others._

In my first voyage to _Egypt_ I had seen the Pyramids, but having another opportunity offer’d to me, I went thither to view again these rare monuments of antiquity, to see whether I might not observe something more than I have taken notice of in my first relation.

On the 27th of _April_ I went thither in the company of the _French_ Consul and many other Merchants, and with almost all his houshold; we had with us three Janizaries to guard us, so that we were in all about fifty Cavaliers well mounted upon asses, taking with us provisions sufficient for three days.

1. When we were come to the Pyramids, and had observed exactly every thing, I took notice that the place where they stood was a burying-place. This is plain to any that see the place; and doubtless it was the burying-place of the old city of _Memphis_; for all the _Arabian_ history inform us, that this city stood where the Pyramids now are, over-against old _Cairo_.

2. I took notice, that all the Pyramids have an entrance that leads to a low alley, which is very long, and at the end is a chamber, where the ancient _Egyptians_ did place the bodies of those persons for whom the Pyramids were built. This entrance is not to be seen in every one of the Pyramids, because the wind hath stopt them with sand. I saw upon some of them some Hierogliphic characters, but I had not time to write them out.

3. I took notice, that all the Pyramids were built in very good order; and that each of the three greatest were at the head of ten lesser, which are not well to be distinguish’d, because of the heaps of sand; one may yet imagine, to see the place, that in former ages there have been here one hundred Pyramids little and great.

4. I took notice, that they are all built upon an even rock cover’d over with white sand; so that it is very probable that the stones have been taken from the place, and not brought from far, as some travellers imagine, and old writers, for the greatest is nothing but a rock cut as a Pyramid, and cover’d over with a wall of stone.

5. I took notice, that of all the stones of the greatest there is scarce one intire, but either worn out with the weather and time, or broken by some other accident; so that tho’ one may ascend on all sides to the top, yet not in all places with the same ease.

6. I have taken notice, that none of the Pyramids are alike, or perfectly square, but that all have two sides longer than the others. I intended to measure the greatest; for that purpose I had with me a string of about thirty land-yards, but because the winds have heaped about it mountains of sand, I could not possibly draw a line straight from one angle to the other.

On the 28th of _December_ I went to see the Pyramids the third time with some strangers. In our way we were mightily troubled with a very thick mist, which lasted till ten in the morning; and we found a great deal of mud in the trenches and ditches, which was not yet dry since the retreat of the river, so that we were carry’d over upon the _Moors_ backs that were with us.

At this time I went up to the top of the great Pyramid, and I observed as at the first, that the place where the Pyramids stand is a pure rock, cover’d over with white sand, which appears sufficiently by the ditches and caves round about the Pyramids cut in the rock.

2. The rock is to be seen, upon which stands the greatest Pyramid, by a hole at one of the angles, between the east and the north sides.

3. The Pyramids are not built with marble, as some say, but with a white sandy stone very hard.

4. The greatest hath but two hundred and six steps; and tho’ Monsieur _Thevenot_ saith that it hath two hundred and eight, this proceeds from his not taking notice that two steps are broken into four.

5. On the top of the greatest Pyramid there was anciently a statue or _Colosse_. This appears, because it is not sharp as the others but plain; and there are yet to be seen great pits, which were to keep fast the _Colosse_ from falling.

At present there is nothing on the top but many letters of the names of persons of all nations, who have left them to witness that they had been there. There is no sign of the play at _Manacala_, which a _Coptie_ told me was there imprinted in the days of the _Pharaohs_.

6. The Stones of the biggest Pyramid are not equal, for some of the undermost are four foot high, some three foot and an half, and five foot long. The stones of the middle are three foot and five inches high, and the uppermost stones are but two foot high, and three and an half long.

7. The sides of the Pyramids are not equal; for in the greatest it is visible, and so in the others, that the north side is longer than that which stretches from east to west.

8. In all the Pyramids there are very deep wells cut in the rock square; as I have seen in more than ten.

On the 26th day of _June_ I went the fourth time to see the Pyramids, in the company of Monsieur _Sabatery_ Vice-consul of _Alexandria_.

In the passage to old _Cairo_, on the other side of the river, I took notice of one thing very remarkable in it’s channel; the water was perfectly green, as a cake cover’d over with green grass. This was the first time that I saw it of this colour; which caused me to ask of the boatmen what this green colour was; they told me, that the river _Nilus_ did then putrify, that it had continued so fifteen days, and would be so five more. Some of them said, that there was none could remember to have seen the river so green as that year, 1672.

To return again to the Pyramids, I went up this time to the top of the highest Pyramid, I entered into the chamber, but saw no new thing which could cause me either to change or add to my former observation. It is needless to speak of it’s dimensions, seeing so many travellers have already publish’d them, as Monsieur _Thevenot_ in his _Levant_ travels.

From the Pyramids we went to take a view of the caves that are adjoining. There are many, all cut in the side of a rock; their outsides are out of order, without any proportion, but their inside very equal and polish’d. In every one there is a deep square well, cut in the rock, where the _Egyptians_ did put the body of that person for whom the cave was made; for it was their sepulchre. The walls of many of these caves are full of hieroglyphic figures carved in the rock. In some they are but small, in others very lively. In one I numbered sixteen great figures, that represented eight men and eight women, holding one another by the hands, with many other small figures or shapes, on both sides.

The great Pyramid is five hundred and twenty foot high upon a base of six hundred and eighty two foot square; the platform at top is sixteen foot and two thirds square, and is composed of twelve large stones, yet this from below appears to the eye a sharp point. A strong man cannot throw a stone from the top, so as to make it fall beyond the steps or basis of the Pyramid.

_Of the SPHYNX._

We saw next the _Sphynx_, near the Pyramids, on the east side. On the top stands the head of a woman of an extraordinary bigness and height. The _Arabians_ call it _Abul-hon_, or _Abul-houl_.

_Pliny_ saith, that it was the tomb of King _Amasis_. I imagine that this _Sphynx_ was a sepulchre, but we cannot understand that it belonged to _Amasis_; for all the records and traditions of this _Sphynx_ are lost.

That it is a tomb may appear, first by it’s situation, which is in a place that was in former ages a burying place; and near the Pyramids and mortuary caves. Secondly, it is to be imagined that it was a sepulchre from it’s building. In the hinder part is a cave under ground, of a bigness answerable to that of the head, into which I have look’d by an entrance that leads into it, so that it could serve to no other purpose, but to keep a dead corps.

Some _Franks_ have, out of an excess of curiosity, climb’d up by the means of rope-ladders, to see whether this head was hollow, or massy, and they have found it to be hollow, but filled at present with sand.

The neck is worn out round about, which causeth men to imagine that it will not be able to support the weight of that great head.

_Of the wells where the ~Mummies~ are._

When we had fully view’d this _Sphynx_, we took the road that leads to _Saccara_, a village, at four hours travelling from the Pyramids, and about eight from _Cairo_ towards the south. The burying-place of the Mummies is near adjoining to this village.

And because it was very late, and that we were to agree with the _Arabians_ of the village about the price, the number and quality of the wells that they were to open for us, we stopt there all night, and the next morning we took with us twelve horsemen, to guard us, of the _Arabians_; with them we went to this burying place, where the Mummies are in caves under ground.