Passing this, we had now the Pyramids in full view before us, nine miles distant, but separated from us only by the level plain. The morning air was cool and pleasant, our animals travelled well, and we left the ground rapidly behind us. But as we journeyed on, disappointment took possession of every one of us. The fabrics of which we had been reading with wonder and admiration from our childhood, were before us; there were the Pyramids; but how diminutive!
Still, as we approached them, we watched to see whether they would not at last appear in that magnitude and grandeur which we had always connected with them; but it was all in vain. Each one indulged in some epithet of dissatisfaction, and even of contempt; and thus we reached the bottom of the eminence on which they stand. But when we had wound up its sides, and reached the piece of table land on which they are erected; when we checked our animals at the foot of the first of them, the Pyramid of Cheops, and looked up; there, they were again the Pyramids, and grander far than our fancy had ever pictured them. The effect, indeed, is almost overpowering. Their simplicity contributes to this as well as their vastness. There is nothing to break up and confuse the attention. The mind, without effort, embraces the whole object; one single idea occupies the attention; a single impression is made, but it is astounding; and we feel all the sublimity of the object, because by this single impression so great an effect is produced. We cast our eyes upward; we look again at ourselves, and we wonder that we are so diminutive; we who just now were passing sentence of condemnation, and looking with contempt on this mighty work! We sink into nothingness beside it, and wish to dismount and get yet lower, and from an humbler place yield it the deep homage that the mind willingly pays to greatness. “This is great, this is very grand,” was the language from the lips of many, and I believe from the hearts of all, as we passed along the base of these stupendous monuments.
There are three of them at this place, called, after their reputed founders, the Pyramids of Cheops, Cephrenes, and Mycerinus. They stand on a natural platform, or piece of table land, one hundred and fifty feet in height, projected from the adjoining range of mountains. That of Cheops is the largest, and has been repeatedly measured; but on account of the rubbish that has accumulated along the sides, it is difficult to do this correctly; and there is great discrepancy in the results.
English feet.Feet.
Herodotus makes its height 800, and length of each side 800.
Strabo 625,600.
Le Brun 616,704.
Thevenot 520,612.
Davison 461,746.
French Sçavans 470,704.
As the angles are exposed to view quite down to the foundation, there is less difficulty in ascertaining the number of layers, which is said to be two hundred and six; each layer being of smaller dimensions than the next lower. A series of steps is thus formed, each about thirty inches in height and twenty in width. The Pyramid of Cheops is truncated, terminating above in a platform of about twenty feet square; that of Cephrenes is continued up to a sharp point, and is coated from this about one fifth of the way down, with triangular blocks, so as to present, at this part, a perfectly smooth surface. It is supposed that the whole of this Pyramid was originally coated in this manner; and that it was covered with hieroglyphics. I ascended to the smooth portion of its surface, but could discover no traces of such inscriptions. The three Pyramids stand nearly in a straight line, running north and south, and face exactly the four cardinal points. Belzoni measured that of Cephrenes, and found it to be six hundred and eighty-four feet on each side at the base, and four hundred and fifty-six in height; that of Mycerinus is much smaller, and has been mutilated so as to be rather an unsightly object. They are composed chiefly of secondary limestone taken from the adjoining mountains. As the angles of the Pyramids have suffered from the weather, and probably also from human violence, and have thus been broken into smaller steps, we were able, without much difficulty, to ascend to the summit of that of Cheops. The natives, many of whom had been attracted from a neighboring village by the sight of strangers, when seen from this elevation appeared dwindled into the merest pigmies. A visit into the interior was a matter of greater difficulty. I had been over to examine the Pyramid of Cephrenes, and on returning to that of Cheops, found that the party had entered, carrying with them all the candles; so that I had to choose between remaining without or groping my way along in the dark. Taking a couple of Arabs, who professed to know the way, I clambered over a quantity of rubbish, rolled down from the upper portions of the Pyramid, and reaching to the entrance. This is on the northern side, about thirty feet above the base, and at an equal distance from each of the angles. We here entered a square passage, three and a half feet on each side; and inclining at an angle of 26°, which, it is worthy of remark, is the inclination of the entrance passage in each of the Pyramids yet explored. This passage was lined quite around with polished granite; and the descent would have been dangerous, but for rude steps or holes for the feet, cut in the lower flags in more modern times. This passage is about one hundred feet in length; and by the time we reached its extremity, daylight had quite deserted us. I found myself now in a place where I could stand upright; and after stumbling over some rocks, was brought to a stand by a rough wall, where the hand of violence had been at work, probably endeavoring to force a passage into some of the chambers. Here an Arab got before to drag, and another behind to push me, and by their good help I soon found myself swinging in mid air, in the blackness of darkness; but presently reached a ledge about eighteen inches wide, regularly formed, and ascending at the angle already noticed. Following this up, I at length began to hear voices, and soon after, to my great satisfaction, found myself in a lighted chamber, and once more among my companions. This was what is called the King’s chamber; a name given to it on account of a sarcophagus of red granite, seven feet six inches in length, and of proportionate width and depth, highly polished, but entirely plain. This apartment is thirty-seven feet long, seventeen wide, and about twenty in height; and is cased in every part with polished Egyptian granite.
Leaving this chamber, and returning part of the way, I found that the ledge on which I had ascended, had at its side a passage to another apartment lower down than the King’s chamber; this is seventeen feet long, fourteen wide, and twelve feet in height; and is also cased with polished granite. There are other chambers in this Pyramid, but of irregular shape; and it is uncertain whether they were part of the original design, or are accidental; a pit, descending, with several offsets, to a depth of one hundred and fifty-five feet, or to a level with the Nile, with which it probably had a communication, has also been explored. It is probable that there are several other passages not yet discovered, and among them one by which there was a subterranean entrance to the Pyramid, a passage, apparently of this character, having been recently discovered in the Pyramid of Cephrenes.
For what we know of the interior of this latter Pyramid, which stands within one hundred yards of that of Cheops, we are indebted to the most enterprising of all modern travellers, the patient and yet acute Belzoni. Herodotus had declared that there were no chambers in this Pyramid; and, except a few lazy efforts of the Sçavans of the French invading army, no attempt had been made to ascertain whether this writer was correct or not. The ambition of Belzoni having been fired by his success amid the monuments of Thebes, he determined to make an effort upon this Pyramid; and he began first by attempting to force a passage into the northern side. This still remains as when he abandoned it; and on examining it, I was struck with astonishment at the perseverance and determined resolution of the operator. He has cut a large passage (in many places nine or ten feet square), for a distance of one hundred feet, into the heart of the Pyramid; the whole being through a solid mass of stones, often of prodigious size. The danger, as well as the expense of this mode of operating, compelled him at length to abandon it; but his resolution was not to be overcome. He examined again the Pyramid of Cheops, and, after careful admeasurements, discovering that in this of Cephrenes, at a point corresponding exactly with the entrance into the former, the surface of the Pyramid was sunk a little, he commenced here anew, the native workmen looking on in wonder, and calling him magnoon, or fool. Having removed a quantity of rubbish and cut through the outer rocks, he at length found his toils rewarded; slabs of granite, like those lining the entrance into the other Pyramid, began to appear; and to his joy he found at length a similar passage open here before him. It is four feet in height, and three feet six inches in width. Having removed the rubbish which had fallen into it, he reached, at the bottom, a portcullis of stone, “which,” he says, “stared me in the face, and said ne plus ultra; putting an end to all my projects.” With great labor this was raised at length sufficiently to allow him to creep under; and “after thirty days,” he adds, “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.” A passage cut out of the solid rock, brought him from this to the entrance of a large chamber.
“I walked,” he says, “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 obscure conjectures of many hundred travellers, both ancient and modern. My torch, formed of a few wax candles, gave but a glimmering 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 towards the west end, I was agreeably surprised to find that there was a sarcophagus buried on a level with the floor.” A closer examination led him to the discovery of bones in this sarcophagus, which, on being sent to London, were pronounced to be those of a bull, or of that species of animal; a fact which strengthens the opinion that the Pyramids were erected by the Egyptians, not for the burial of their kings, but for religious purposes. The enterprising traveller, however, found that he was not the first that had penetrated these mysterious recesses. The covering of the sarcophagus had been partly removed; and on going further, he discovered both Roman and Arabic inscriptions; the latter stating that “the Master Mohammed Achmed had opened them.” This chamber is hewn out of the solid rock, and is forty-six by sixteen feet at the sides, and twenty-three feet six inches in height. He discovered some other chambers, and numerous passages, together with a well, as in the other Pyramid.
Adjoining the Pyramid of Cephrenes on the south, are the ruins of a large enclosure, formed of huge stones; while on the north and west are scattered a great number of tombs, of heavy and solemn architecture, forming entire streets. In these the stones are also large; they had flat roofs, above which rose a parapet with heavy mouldings; some are in good preservation, but most have suffered greatly from the hand of time, or, more probably, of human violence; the roofs having fallen in, and the sands of the desert having entered and filled them up. Their inner walls are covered with stucco, on which are painted numerous figures of men and beasts, in procession or engaged in religious sacrifices, or in agriculture. We opened a passage into one of them, and were glad to find in it a refuge from the fierce sun, which now seemed to be shedding fire upon us and upon the glowing sands all around. The tomb consisted of three chambers—two in good preservation, and one uncovered; all of them ornamented in the manner just described; it was large enough for all our party, except the Arabs, who seemed to care little for the sun. Our hampers being dragged in, we enjoyed here a comfortable meal; after which, retiring to the outer chamber and making a pillow of the sand, I gazed on the dim figures traced on the wall, and indulged in antiquarian reveries.