Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 2, July, 1850.Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 2, July, 1850.
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
Advancing 158 feet up this impressive avenue, we come to a horizontal
passage, where four granite portcullises, descending through grooves,
once opposed additional obstacles to the rash curiosity or avarice which
might tempt any to invade the eternal silence of the sepulchral chamber,
which they besides concealed, but the cunning of the spoiler has been
there of old, the device was vain, and you are now enabled to enter
this, the principal apartment in the pyramid, and called the King's
Chamber, entirely constructed of red granite, as is also the
sarcophagus, the lid and contents of which had been removed. This is
entirely plain, and without hieroglyphics; the more singular, as it
seems to be ascertained that they were then in use. The sarcophagus
rests upon an enormous granite block, which may, as suggested by Mrs.
Poole, in her minute account of the interior, have been placed to mark
the entrance to a deep vault or pit beneath. There are some small holes
in the walls of the chamber, the purpose of which was for ventilation,
as at length discovered by Col. Howard Vyse.
Above the King's Chamber, and only to be reached by a narrow passage,
ascending at the south-east corner of the great gallery, having notches
in which pieces of wood were formerly inserted, and from the top of
that, along another passage, is the small chamber discovered by Mr.
Davison; its height is only three feet six inches; above it are four
other similar niches, discovered by Colonel Howard Vyse, the topmost of
which is angular. Wilkinson supposes that the sole purpose of these
chambers is to relieve the pressure on the King's Chamber, and here was
discovered the cartouche containing the name of the founder, Suphis,
identical with that found upon the tablets in Wady Maghara, in the
desert of Mount Sinai.
The second pyramid, generally attributed, though without hieroglyphical
confirmation, to Cephrenes, is more ancient and ruder in its masonry
than that of Cheops. Standing on higher ground, it has from some points
an appearance of greater height than that of the great pyramid, and its
dimensions are hardly less stupendous. It is distinguished by having a
portion of the smooth casing yet remaining, with which all the pyramids
were once covered, and it is a great feat to climb up this dangerous,
slippery surface to the summit. Yet there are plenty of Arabs who for a
trifling beckshish will dash "down Cheops and up Cephrenes" with
incredible celerity. Its interior arrangements differ from those of the
great pyramid, in that in accordance with Lepsius's theory, the
sarcophagus of the builder is sunk in the floor, and not placed in the
centre of the edifice. The glory of opening this pyramid is due to the
enterprising Belzoni.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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