PRECESSION: AND THE PYRAMIDS 455 



astrologic. Tliat thcv were astronomic constructions they themselves 

 reveal, and the only rational explanation of the power the strangers 

 gained over the mind of the king lies in the astrologic art the Chaldeans 

 are known to have possessed, and which is also known to have been 

 eagerly sought after by all the peoples of the east. 



Both without and within they testify to a very heavenly regard on 

 the part of their builders. In the first place their situation is expressive. 

 They stand within a mile of the thirtieth parallel of latitude and un- 

 doubtedly were only prevented from standing nearer that astronomic 

 line by the fact that the plateau shelf on which they were erected here 

 falls abruptly to the plain. At this point on the earth the north pole is 

 30° high, and thirty degrees has this commendation to geometers, which 

 the pyramid builders emphatically were, that a perpendicular from it 

 to the line of sight is at that elevation exactly half as long as the line of 

 sight itself. 



In the next place the base of the building is four-square, its sides 

 being oriented to the compass points with surprising accuracy. Just as 

 Christian churches face the east, that is Jerusalem, and Mohammedan 

 ones Mecca, so the pyramids faced the north. Here then we have sur- 

 mise of both religion and astronomy, to wit astrology, embodied in the 

 mere outward aspect of these constructions. 



This is, however, as nothing to what the interior reveals. Upon the 

 north face of the Great Pyramid a passage opens, descending for 350 

 feet through tiers of stone at first, then through the solid rock. This 

 passage points to the north within 4' or 5' in azimuth, is perfectly 

 straight and is inclined to the horizontal at an angle of 26° 26'. The 

 long straight hole suggests that it was used for looking at a star, for 

 down it a bright star might even be seen by day. Its direction, more- 

 over, hints that the pole-star was the one in question. Now the lati- 

 tude of the pyramid is 29° 58' 51". The subterranean tube, therefore, 

 does not look directly at the pole ; but when we take refraction into ac- 

 count we find that it would look exactly at a star distant 3° 34' from 

 the pole when that star was at its lower culmination, that is, passing 

 the meridian directly south of the pole. 



iSTow if in latitude 30°, a man wished to observe the north or south 

 passage of a circumpolar star, in order, for example, to ascertain true 

 north, the best means of doing so would be to dig a subterranean pas- 

 sage-way pointing approximately northward and then mark through 

 it when the star ceased to rise or sink; and since either culmination 

 would suit him he would naturally choose that one in which the slant 

 of his tunnel would be the least, both because he could dig it easier and 

 because he could descend it best. An incline of twenty-six degrees is 

 distinctly preferable to one of thirty-four. Now 645 years before or 

 after the date when a Draconis was approximately ujDon the pole, it 



