Few places, then, have such varied interest as Hawara; the twelfth dynasty pyramid, the labyrinth, the amulets of Horuta, the portraits, the botany, and the papyri, are each of special interest and historical value. In this year also I visited the other side of the lake of the Fayum, now known as the Birket Kerun. There, at some miles back in that utter solitude, stands a building of unknown age and unknown purport. It is massively constructed, but without any trace of inscription, or even ornament, which would tell its history. That it cannot be as late as the Kasr Kerun, is probable from its being at a much higher level. There would be no object in making a building at some miles distant in the desert, as it now is; and we must rather suppose it to belong to the age when the lake was full, and extended out so far. But where it comes before the Ptolemaic age we cannot say. The front doorway leads into a long court, which has a chamber at each end, and seven recesses in the long [Illustration: 78. BUILDING NORTH OF BIRKET KERUN.] [Illustration: 79. INTERIOR OF BUILDING.] side opposite the entrance. These recesses have had doors, of which the pivot holes can be seen. There are no traces of statues or of sarcophagi about; and the place has been keenly tunnelled and explored by treasure-seekers. [Illustration: 80. TOY BIRD ON WHEELS, HAWARA.] [Illustration: 81. PYRAMID OF ILLAHUN.] CHAPTER VIII. ILLAHUN. 1889-90. Having finished opening the pyramid of Hawara, the next attraction was that of Illahun, a few miles to the east of it, in the Nile valley, at the entrance to the Fayum. This pyramid differs from all others in that the lower part is a natural rock cut into shape; upon that a mass of mud-brick rises, like that of Hawara, and around the base lie the fragments of the fine limestone casing which originally covered it. As almost all the pyramids had their chambers built in a sort of well in the rock base, I tried this pyramid on such an hypothesis, and therefore cleared the edge of its rocky portion all round as far as possible, to search for the cut into it, expected to lead to the excavation for the chamber. At the south-east corner this was difficult, as the rock was there deficient, and the core had been made up by layers of chips. Still, for months we went on clearing the sides and searching. Much other work was going on meanwhile, and by different sources I had found that the pyramid belonged to Usertesen II, as we shall notice presently. Amongst other work, I searched along a ledge in the rock at the base, where the pavement had originally been placed. While doing this we found a well, which I did not clear, as I was near the end of my season for work; but, on Mr. Fraser coming to secure the place during my absence, I commended this well to his notice as a possible entrance. He cleared it out, and at forty feet deep found a passage leading up into the pyramid.