the outward parts, that is thefe degrees or rows of ftone, have been much wafted and impaired by both. And therefore they cannot conveniently now be afcended, but either at the fouth fide, or at the eaft angle on the north. They are well ftiled by Herodotus Bauides, that is, little altars, for in the form of altars they rife one above another to the top; and thefe are all made of mafly and polish'd ftones, hewn according to Herodotus and Diodorus, out of the Arabian mountains, which bound the upper part of Egypt, or that above the Delta, on the eaft, as the Lybian mountains terminate it on the west, being so vaft, that the breadth and depth of every ftep is one fingle and entire ftone. The relation of Herodotus and Pomponius Mela is more admirable, who make the least stone in this Pyramid to be thirty feet. And this I can grant in fome, yet furely it cannot be admitted in all, unless we interpret their words, that the leaft ftone is thirty fquare, or to fpeak more properly, thirty cubi.. cal feet; which dimenfion, or a greater, in the exteriour ones, I can without any difficulty admit. The number of thefe fteps is not mentioned by the ancients, and that caufed me and two that were with me, to be the more diligent in computing them, because by modern writers, and fome of thofe too of repute, they are described with much diverfity and contrariety. The degrees, faith Bellonius, are two hundred and fifty, each of them fingle contains in height forty five digits, at the top it is two paces broad; for this I take to be the meaning of what Clufius renders thus: Abafi autem ad cacumen ipfius fupputationem facientes, comperimus circiter, 250 gradus, finguli altitudinem habent 5 folearum calcei 9 pollicum longitudinis, in faftigio duos paffus habet. Where I conceive his paffus is in the fame fense to be understood here above, as not long before he explains himself in defcribing the Bafis below, which in his account is 324 paffus paululum extenfis cruribus. Albertus Lewenftainius reckons the fteps to be 260, each of them a foot and an half in depth. Johannes Helfricus counts them to be 230. Sebaftianus Serlius, upon a relation of Grimano the Patriarch of Aquileia, and afterwards Cardinal, who in his travels in Egypt mea fured fured thefe degrees, computes them to be 210, and the height of every step to be equally three palms and a half. It would be but loft labour to mention the different and repugnant relations of feveral others; that which by experience and by a diligent calculation I and two others found, is this, that the number of degrees from the bottom to the top is 207, tho' one of them in defcending reckoned 208. Such as please, may give credit to thofe fabulous traditions of fome, that a Turkifo archer ftanding at the top, cannot fhoot beyond the bottom, but that the arrow will neceffarily fall upon thefe fteps. If the Turkifh bow (which by thofe figures which I have feen in ancient monuments, is the fame with that of the Parthians, fo dreadful to the Romans) be but as fwift and ftrong as the English; as furely it is much more, if we confider with what incredible force fome of them will pierce a plank of fix inches in thickness, (I speak what I have seen) it will not feem ftrange, that they should carry twelve fcore in length, which diftance is beyond the Bafis of this Pyramid. The defcription of the infide of the first Pyramid. H AVING finifh'd the defcription of the fuper ficies of the greater Pyramid, with the figure and dimenfions of it, as they prefent themselves to the view without; I fhall now look inwards, and lead the reader into the feveral fpaces, and partitions. within; of which if the ancients have been filent, we muft chiefly impute it to a reverend and awful regard, mixed with fuperftition, in not prefuming to enter those chambers of death, which religion and devotion had confecrated to the reft and quiet of the dead. Wherefore Herodotus mentions no more, but only in general, That fome fecret vaults are hewn in the rock under the Pyramid.' Diodorus Siculus is filent, though both enlarge themfelves in other particulars lefs neceffary Strabo is alfo very concife, whofe whole defcrip Ee 4 tion tion both of this and the fecond Pyramid is included in this fhort expreffion: Forty ftadia, or furlongs, from the city Memphis, there is a certain brow of an hill, in which are many Pyramids, the fepulchres of Kings, three of them are memorable, two of these are accounted amongst the feven miracles of the world; each of these are a furlong in height; the figure is quadrilateral, the altitude fomewhat exceeds each fide, and the one is fomewhat bigger than the other. On high, as it were in the midft, between the fides, there is a ftone that may be removed, which being < taken out, there is an oblique, or shelving, entrance, < for fo I render that which by him is termed pu 6 oxoxía) leading to the tomb.' Pliny expreffes nothing within, but only a well, (which is ftill extant) of 86 cubits in depth, to which he probably imagines, by fome fecret aqueduct, the water of the Nile to be brought. Ariftides in his oration entituled 'Anyúl, upon a misinformation of the Egygtian Priests, makes the foundation of the ftructure to have defcended as far below, as the altitude afcends above. Of which I fee no neceffity, feeing all of them are founded upon rocks; his words are thefe: Now as with admiration we behold the tops of the Pyramids, but that which is as much more under ground oppofite to it, we are 6 ignorant of, I fpeak of what I have received from the Priefts.' And this is that which hath been delivered to us by the ancients, which I was unwilling to pretermit, more out of reverence of antiquity, than out of any special fatisfaction. The Arabian writers, efpecially fuch as have purpofely treated of the wonders of Egypt, have given us a more full defcription of what is within thefe Pyramids; but that hath been mix'd with fo many inventions of their own, that the truth hath been darkn'd, and almoft quite extinguish'd by them. Which traditions of theirs are little better than a Romance; and therefore leaving thefe, I fhall give a more true and particular description out of my own experience and obfervations. On On the north fide afcending thirty eight feet, upon an artificial bank of earth, there is a fquare and narrow paffage leading into the Pyramid, through the mouth of which (being equidiftant from the two fides of the Pyramid) we enter as it were down the steep of an hill, declining with an angle of twenty fix 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 firft declivity, which is fome ten palms without, to the utmost extremity of the neck, or ftreight within, where it contracts it felf almost nine feet continued, with fcarce half the depth it had at the firft entrance, (though it keep ftill the fame breadth) is ninety two feet and an half. The ftructure of it hath been the labour of an exquifite hand, as appears by the fmoothnefs and evenness of the work, and by the clofe knitting of the joints; a property long fince obferved, and commended by Diodorus, to have run through the fabric of the whole body of this Pyramid. Having paffed with tapers in our hands this narrow ftreight; though with fome difficulty (for at the farther end of it we must Serpent-like creep upon our bellies) we land in a place fomewhat larger, and of a pretty height, but lying incompofed: Having been dug away, either by the curiofity or avarice of fome, in hope to discover an hidden treasure; or rather by the command of Almamon, the defervedly renowned Calife of Babylon. By whomfoever it were, it is not worth the enquiry, nor doth the place merit defcribing, but that I was unwilling to pretermit any thing, being only an habitation for batts, and thofe fo ugly, and of fo large a fize, (exceeding a foot in length) that I have not elsewhere seen the like. The length of this obfcure and broken space containeth eighty nine feet, the breadth and height is various, and not worth confideration. On the left hand of this, adjoining to that narrow entrance through which we paffed, we climb up a steep and maffy ftone, eight or nine feet in height, where we immediately enter upon the lower end of the firft gallery. The pavement of this rifes with a gentle acclivity, confifting of fmooth and polish'd marble, and where not fmeared with duft and filth, appearing of a white and alabafter colour; the fides and roof, as Titus Livius Burretinus, a Venetian, an ingenious young man, who accompanied me thither, obferved, was of impolifh'd ftone, not fo hard and compact as that on the pavement, but more soft and tender; the breadth almost five feet, and about the fame quantity the height, if he have not mistaken. He likewife difcovered fome irregularity in the breadth, it opening a little wider in fome places than in others; but this inequality could not be difcerned by the eye, but only by measuring it with a careful Hand. By my obferva tion with a line, this gallery contained in length an hundred and ten feet. At the end of this begins the second gallery, a very ftately piece of work, and not inferiour, either in refpect of the curiofity of art, or richness of materials, to the moft fumptuous and magnificent buildings. It is divided from the former by a wall, through which ftooping, we paffed in a fquare hole, much about the fame bignefs as that by which we entred into the Pyramid but of no confiderable length. This narrow paffage licth level, not rifing 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 defcribe: The diameter of it exceeds three feet, the fides are lined with white marble, and the defcent into it is by fastening the hands and feet, in little open fpaces, cut in the fides within, oppofite and anfwerable to one another in a perpendicular. In the fame manner are almost all the wells and paffages into the cifterns at Alexandria contrived, without stairs or windings, but only with inlets and fquare holes on each fide within, by which, ufing the feet and hands, one may with ease defcend. Many of these cifterns are with open and double arches, the lowermoft arch being fupported by a row of fpeckled and Thebaic marble pillars, upon the top of which ftands a fecond row, bearing the upper and higher arch: The walls within are covered with a fort of plaifter for the colour white, but of fo durable a fubftance, that neither by time, nor by the water is it yet corrupted and impaired. But I re turn |