[(][16]) Still more conclusive is the fact that in the greatest of the pyramids the passages are such that it would have been impossible to build it by successive coats of enlargement.
[(][17]) In only one case (that of Menkara) has a pyramid been clearly enlarged, and that was done at one step and not by many stages.
[(][18]) The earliest-- at Gizeh--are very accurate.
[(][19]) These slabs of pavement do not extend beneath the pyramid, but only around it.
[(][20]) Only fragments of the finest limestone casing have been found; the variety of colour was probably due to weathering.
[(][21]) This would be impossible with the exquisitely fine joints of the masonry; a temporary staging of stone built up over part of the finished face would easily allow of raising the stones.
[(][22]) There is no evidence that the facing block which covered the granite plugs was of granite; it was more probably of limestone.
[(][23]) The entrance to the upper passages was never forced from the entrance passage, but was accidentally found by the Arabs, after they had forced a long tunnel in the masonry, being in ignorance of the real entrance, which was probably concealed by a hinging block of stone.
[(][24]) Or rather it rose at an angle of 23-1/2°, like the descent of the entrance passage, thus making angles of 47° and 133° with it.
[(][25]) This gallery has obtained a great reputation for the fineness of its joints, perhaps because they are coarse enough to be easily seen; but some joints of the entrance passage, and the joints in the queen's chamber, are hardly visible with the closest inspection.