Above the entrance of the horizontal passage which leads to the chamber above described, is a perpendicular (marked h in the section). This perpendicular, together with the height of the said passage, is seven feet three inches. The flooring then ascends in the same direction as the other ascending passage; at an angle of twenty-six degrees and a half. At the distance of three feet five inches is another perpendicular or step of only eight inches, above which the floor has the same inclination again; and notches have been cut in it to facilitate the ascent, which is not easily performed unless without shoes. There is a bench of stone on each side all along the passage, and in the tops of these benches are oblong holes at short intervals: their use is unknown. The width of the passage (including the benches, which are one foot eight inches and a half square), is six feet ten inches; about four ancient Egyptian cubits. The sides of the passage are composed of nine courses of stone from the benches upwards. The stone is of the same kind as that of which the lower passages are constructed. Some travellers have supposed it to be white marble, but no marble is found in any part of the pyramid. The two lower courses are even with each other, but each course above projects three inches beyond that below it; and so does each corresponding course at the upper and lower ends of the passage. The length of the whole passage is a hundred and fifty-eight feet. At the distance of five feet and one inch before we reached the upper end, we ascend another perpendicular of two feet eleven inches. The floor beyond is horizontal, forming a small platform (see l in the section). From this commences a horizontal passage three feet seven inches and a half in height, and three feet five inches and a half in width (see m). Within it, on the right, is the entrance of a forced passage, made in search for other chambers than those already known. At the distance of four feet five inches (from the entrance of the true passage), commences an open space above (see n), the upper part of which is nearly twice as wide as the passage, and nine feet eight inches in length: but the passage below is contracted again to its former height by a kind of portcullis, formed of two blocks of granite one above another, each one foot three inches thick; these have been let down from the space above between two small projections on each side which form a pair of grooves. Beyond this, the passage (which is here of granite), is open as before, to the space above, and there are grooves for the reception of three other portcullises of granite, by which the architect thought that he should for ever prevent access to the mysterious chamber which contains the sarcophagus; but these have been broken and their fragments carried away. The passage beyond (see o), is of its former dimensions, and continues so to the distance of eight feet five inches, its whole length, from the top of the Grand Passage, being twenty-two feet and a half. It terminates at the eastern extremity of the north side of the Grand Chamber (see p in the section).
The dimensions of the Great Chamber are especially worthy of remark: the length is thirty-four feet four inches and a half; just twenty ancient Egyptian cubits; the width exactly half that measure. The height is about two feet more than the width. It is entirely constructed of red granite. Near the western end is the sarcophagus; which is also of red granite. It is seven feet and a half in length, three and a half in breadth, and the sides are half a foot thick. No hieroglyphics nor sculpture of any kind adorn it either within or without; its sides are perfectly plain and polished, and its form is simply that of an oblong chest, in every way rectangular. Its lid has been carried away, as well as its original contents; and we find in it nothing but dust and small fragments of stone. It has been much injured at one of its corners by a number of travellers, who have broken off pieces to carry away as memorials. When struck with any thing hard, or even with the hand, it sounds like a bell. It rests upon a block of granite considerably larger than any of the other blocks of which the floor is composed.
Why was such an enormous mass placed there? The alabaster sarcophagus in the great tomb opened by Belzoni in the valley of Beebán-el-Mulook, at Thebes, closed the entrance of a deep descent of steps, which has never been explored to its termination: the soft and crumbling nature of the rock through which it is cut rendering any attempt to clear it out extremely dangerous. The enormous mass of granite under the sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid may have been placed there for a similar purpose, or to cover the mouth of a vault or pit; so that, in case any violater of the sacred edifice should succeed (notwithstanding the portcullises of granite), in effecting an entrance into the Great Chamber, he might, on discovering the sarcophagus, believe the object of his search to be accomplished. An excavation has been made (I believe by Col. Howard Vyse), beneath this huge stone, but it seems hardly to have been carried sufficiently far. The sides of the chamber are formed of six regular courses of granite blocks, which are united with the greatest exactness, and their surfaces are perfectly even and polished, without hieroglyphics or any other inscriptions or ornaments. In the northern side near the corner of the entrance is a small aperture, and opposite to it on the southern side is another. Col. Vyse discovered the termination of each of these, in the exterior of the pyramid: they seem to have been designed for the purpose of ventilation. The roof of the chamber consists of nine long granite blocks which extend from side to side. The half only of the stone at each end is seen, the other half resting on the wall.
Returning from this chamber we stop at the platform at the upper end of the Grand Passage (see l in the section).[[44]] Here we observe at the top of the eastern wall (that is on the left of a person facing the end of the passage), at the height of twenty-four feet, a square aperture which is the entrance of another passage (q). Small notches have been cut at the corner all the way up, for the reception of the ends of short pieces of wood, which were thus placed one above another so as to form a kind of ladder. These have been taken away, and the ascent without them is difficult and dangerous. When my brother was here alone some years ago, two Arabs contrived to climb up by means of the little notches, and took with them a strong rope, the end of which he tied round him, and so they drew him up to the top. As soon as he was freed from the rope they demanded of him a present, threatening that if he refused they would descend and leave him there. Though my brother laughed at their threats, they would not for some minutes confess that they were joking. The passage in which he found himself is only two feet four inches square. It turns immediately to the right, and to the distance of a few feet it continues square and of the same dimensions as before, but much clogged with dirt; afterwards it becomes irregular both in direction and in the construction of its sides, and it was difficult for my brother to drag himself along it, while numbers of bats escaped from within and flew against his face. At the distance of twenty-four feet the passage terminates at the northeast corner of a large but low place (r). This chamber (if such it may be called) was discovered by Mr. Davison, who was British Consul at Algiers, and who visited Egypt with Mr. Wortley Montague in 1763 and 4, and it is called by the discoverer’s name. It is directly above the Grand Chamber, and is of the same width as that chamber, but four feet longer. The long granite blocks which compose the roof of the lower chamber form the floor of this, and the first and last of these blocks are here seen entire. The upper surface of each of them is very rough, and they are not all of the same thickness. The roof also of this place is formed of long blocks of granite eight in number. The height is scarcely more than three feet. In the southeast corner is a small forced passage which ascends a few feet. The second roof above the Grand Chamber was made to secure the lower roof, which otherwise might have been broken down by the superincumbent masses. Col. Vyse discovered over Davison’s chamber three others similar to it one above another, and above the uppermost of these another with a pointed roof; and in making this discovery he made one of much greater importance, that of two hieroglyphic names, rudely inscribed as quarry-marks; one of them certainly the name of the founder, as before mentioned; the other, according to some, a variation of the same name; according to others, the name of a predecessor or successor of the founder.
[44]. There is a remarkable echo in this passage, on account of which it is a custom of travellers to fire a pistol or gun here.
I scarcely need tell you that I did not descend what is called the well. It was explored by Mr. Davison, and afterwards in 1801 by Col. Coutelle; but its termination and use remained involved in uncertainty and mystery, until it was cleared out in 1817 by Caviglia. On the right of the lower end of the Grand Passage two feet below the floor, are three low steps occupying a space of four feet and a half in length. Beyond them is the mouth of the first shaft which is two feet two inches square. Here are little notches roughly cut in the sides in which to place the fingers and toes, and as the space is narrow, a person may descend without the aid of a rope, as my brother did, but he found it difficult and dangerous to do so. The ascent is attended with less danger, and seems precisely like climbing a chimney. At the depth of a few feet it becomes very rugged and irregular, and continues so for nearly fifty feet. After descending rather more than sixty feet, an aperture is seen on the southern side, which is the entrance of a kind of grotto (s) between five and six feet high, and about three times as long, turning to the right. It is hollowed out in a vein of coarse but compact gravel, and the well in consequence of this vein, is lined with masonry for the space of a few feet above and below the grotto. Where the masonry ceases (t) the well takes a sloping direction and continues so to the bottom; but towards the bottom (see u in the section) the slope becomes more steep. All the sloping part is cut through the solid rock below the foundation of the pyramid, and is of a square form. At the bottom of the well (v) is a horizontal passage six feet long, communicating with the first passage, two hundred and twelve feet below the aperture by which one ascends to the second passage.
The first passage of the pyramid from the aperture last mentioned, continues in the same direction, and is of the same dimensions, but is cut through the solid rock, and is not lined with masonry. The aperture which communicates with the bottom of the well is two feet ten inches broad. It is on the right of a person descending the first passage. This passage continues in the same direction to the distance of twenty-three feet further (see w in the section), beyond which it is horizontal, and so low and encumbered with rubbish, that the explorer is obliged to drag himself in a prostrate position. At the distance of sixteen feet nine inches there is a recess (x) on the right side three feet four inches deep, and six feet five inches wide. Four feet and a half beyond this, the passage terminates at the eastern extremity of the north side of a large excavated chamber (y).
The Great Excavated Chamber is nearly under the centre of the pyramid. It is twenty-seven feet broad, and sixty-six feet long. The roof is flat, but the floor is very uneven. At the entrance the chamber is fifteen feet high; towards the western end the rock rises perpendicularly half-way towards the ceiling, and there are masses of strange forms, but not altogether irregular, rising still higher, and nearly touching the top of the chamber. In the floor at the lower end is a wide hollow space nearly filled with rats’ dung. Immediately opposite the entrance is a level passage (z), low and narrow, running towards the south; it terminates abruptly at the distance of fifty-five feet. The floor of the chamber is just a hundred feet below the level of the external base of the pyramid. It appeared evident to my brother that this great chamber was an unfinished excavation. Mr. Salt thought otherwise: “He had flattered himself that it would turn out to be that described by Herodotus as containing the tomb of Cheops, which was insulated by a canal from the Nile; but the want of an inlet, and its elevation of thirty feet above the level of the Nile at its highest point, put an end to this delusive idea.” This great chamber was discovered by Caviglia, of whose operations in the Great Pyramid, and in the neighbouring tombs, an interesting account is given in the 19th vol. of the “Quarterly Review.” After having explored the well, and endeavoured, in vain, to draw up the rubbish with which the lower end was filled, he turned his attention to the clearing of the first passage of the pyramid, which, until that time, had been supposed to terminate just below the aperture which communicates with the second passage. In the prosecution of this work (which was one of much difficulty, as the passage was choked with large fragments of stone), he discovered the communication with the bottom of the well, and, continuing his operations, soon after entered the Great Excavated Chamber.
Such is the description of all that is now known of the interior of the Great Pyramid. It has been calculated that there might be within this stupendous fabric, three thousand seven hundred chambers, each equal in size to the Sarcophagus Chamber, allowing the contents of an equal number of such chambers to be solid, by way of separation.[[45]] Yet this enormous pile seems to have been raised merely as a sepulchral monument, to contain, perhaps, one single mummy, not a particle of which now remains in the place in which it was deposited with so much precaution:[[46]] unless there be yet undiscovered any other receptacle for the royal corpse than the sarcophagus in the Granite Chamber. Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus assert that the building of the Great Pyramid occupied about twenty years, and according to the former, a hundred thousand men—according to the latter three hundred and sixty thousand men—were employed in its construction.
[45]. Quarterly Review—vol. 19, page 401.