further the impressions that came flooding in at the moment; there, at the aim and end of my wishes of many long years, and yet at the actual commencement of our expedition-there, on the apex of the pyramid of Cheops, to which the first link of our whole monumental history is immovably fastened-there, where I beheld beneath me the remarkable grave-field, whence the Moses-rod of science summons forth the shades of the ancient dead, and lets them pass in array before us in the mirror of history, according to each one's rank and age, name and title, and with all their respective peculiarities, customs, and associations."

In order to convey some notion of the size and extent of the great pyramid, it may be said that the base is 550,000 square feet, or about the area of Lincon's-Inn-Fields; and its height 474 feet, or, 114 feet higher than the top of the cross surmounting St. Paul's Cathedral at London; the height, in its complete state, was 502 feet. The pyramid consists of a series of platforms, each smaller than the one on which it rests, and consequently presenting the appearance of steps, which diminish in length from the bottom to the top. Of these steps there are 203, and the height of them decreases, but not regularly, from the bottom to the top, the greatest height being nearly 4 feet 8 inches and the least rather more than 1 foot 8 inches. The horizontal lines of the platforms are perfectly straight, and the stones are cut and fitted to each other with the greatest nicety, and joined by a cement of lime with but little sand in it. It has been ascertained that a bed, 8 inches deep, must have been cut in the rock to receive the lowest external course of stones. The vertical height, measured from this base in the rock to

the top of the highest platform now remaining, is 456 feet. This platform has an area of about 1067 square feet, each side being 32 feet 8 inches; it consists of six square blocks of stone, irregularly disposed, on which the knives of visitors have been ambitiously and vulgarly employed in sculpturing their names; among which, there are some in Greek, a few in Arabic, many in French, and two or three in English. It is supposed that eight or nine of the layers of stone have been thrown down, although there is now no trace of cement on the surface of the highest tier; but Gemelli, about 150 years since, gave the number of steps 208, the height 528, feet, and the area of the summit 16 feet 8 inches square.

The entrance of the great pyramid is on the north face, 47 feet above the base; it is nearly in the centre. The sands of the Desert have encroached upon it, and, with the fallen stones and rubbish, have buried it to the sixteenth step. Climbing over this rubbish, we reach the entrance to a narrow passage of 3 feet square, lined with broad blocks of polished granite, descending, in the interior, at an angle of 27 degrees, for about 100 feet; the passage then turns to the right, and winds up a steep ascent of 8 or 9 feet, falling into a natural passage, 5 feet high and 100 feet long, forming a continuous ascent to a sort of landing-place; in a small recess of this is the orifice, or shaft, called the well; it was by this shaft that the workmen descended, after they had closed the lower end of the upper passage, which was done with blocks of granite; and having gone down by the well, and reached the lower passage, they followed it upwards to the mouth, which they also closed in the same manner. But those who

opened the pyramid, in order to avoid the granite blocks at the junction of the two passages, forced a way through the side; and it is by this you now ascend in going to the great gallery. The quality of the granite was carefully concealed by a triangular piece of limestone fitted into the ceiling of the passage; its falling, however, betrayed the secret, by exposing the granite. Moving onward through a long passage, the explorer comes to what is called the Queen's Chamber, 17 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 12 feet high. From this chamber, or crypt, there is, by another way, an entrance to another opening, now cumbered with fallen stones. Ascending above this, by a gallery or an inclined plane, lined with highly-polished granite, and about 120 feet in length, you enter the King's Chamber, 37 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 20 feet in height. The walls of this chamber are of red granite, highly polished, each stone reaching from the floor to the ceiling; and the ceiling is formed of nine large slabs of polished granite, extending from wall to wall. At one end of the chamber stands a sarcophagus, also of red granite; its length is 7 feet 4 inches by 3 feet, being only 3 inches less than the doorway. Here is supposed to have slept one of the great rulers of the earth, the king of the then greatest kingdom of the world, the proud mortal for whom this mighty structure was raised. Where is he now? Even his dry bones are gone! torn away by rude hands, and scattered by the winds of heaven. There is something curious about this sarcophagus; it being so near the size of the orifice which forms the entrance of the pyramid, it could hardly have been conveyed to its place by any of the nowknown passages; we must, consequently, conclude it

D

was deposited during the building, or before the passage was finished in its present state.

It is not the least interesting part of a visit to the interior of the pyramids, as you are groping your way after the Arab guide, to feel your hand running along the sides of an enormous shaft, smooth and polished to the highest state of art, and to see by the light of a flowing torch chambers of red granite from the cataracts of the Nile, the enormous blocks of which, prepared with so much care, were then carefully sealed up, as not to be visited by mortal eyes.

In 1817, Captain Caviglia, an Italian, thoroughly investigated the interior of the great pyramid, and also some of the adjoining tombs. He describes the shaft as being lined with masonry, both above and below the grotto, "to support, as was supposed, one of those insulated beds of gravel which are frequently found in rock, and which the masons call flaws." Mr. Caviglia was, however, by no means satisfied with the result of his supposed discovery of the bottom of the well. The ground was perceived to give a hollow sound beneath his feet, and he was persuaded that there must be some concealed outlet. He therefore determined to set about excavating the bottom of the well. The offer of enormous wages, backed by an order from the Kiaya-bey, procured the reluctant assistance of the Arabs in drawing up the rubbish; but, after he had succeeded so far in subduing their indolence and their prejudices, the suffocating heat and impurity of the air in so confined a place, where after the first hour a light would not burn, rendered it impracticable to proIceed in the excavation. The further progress of his researches we give in the words of a narrative drawn

up from information communicated by Mr. Salt, the British consul-general.

"Thus discouraged, Mr. Caviglia next turned his attention to the clearing of the principal entrance or passage of the pyramid, which, from time immemorial, had been so blocked up as to oblige those who entered to creep on their hands and knees; hoping by this to give a freer passage to the air. He not only succeeded in carrying his purpose into effect, but in the course of his labours made the unexpected discovery, that the main passage, leading from the entrance, does not terminate in the manner asserted by Maillet. Having removed several large masses of calcareous stone and granite, apparently placed there to obstruct the passage, he found that it still continues in the same inclined angle downwards, is of the same dimensions, and has its sides worked with the same care as in the channel above, though filled up nearly to the top with earth and fragments of stone. Having proceeded to the length of 150 feet in clearing out this passage, the air began to be so impure, and the heat so suffocating, that he had the same difficulty again to encounter with regard to the working Arabs. Even his own health was at this time visibly impaired, and he was attacked with a spitting of blood; nothing, however, could induce him to desist from his researches.

"By the 14th March, he had excavated as low down as 200 feet in the new passage without anything particular occurring; when, shortly afterwards, a door on the right side was discovered, from which, in the course of a few hours, a strong smell of sulphur was perceived to issue. Mr. Caviglia now recollected,

that when at the bottom of the well, in his first enter