LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC. 295 



In the middle of the height of the sides is a stone which, when taken out, discloses 

 an oblique passage leading direct to the B-nxn : there is, however, some difficulty in 

 this passage, as the word vUypmv occurs in the plural ; and it is to this stone con- 

 cealing the entrance cut into the side of the pyramid that I think Diodorus alludes. 

 That this entrance was known to Herodotus there can be but little doubt, as he 

 could not otherwise have referred to the subterranean chambers. ' There is one 

 thing, continues Strabo, we saw at the pyramids which must not pass unnoticed ; in 

 the heaps of stones lying amongst the ruins, little petrefactions are found, in form 

 and size resembling the natural appearance of lentils, barley, &c. which aie said to 

 be the petrified remains of the food of the workmen. Pliny, after speaking of the 

 pyramids generally, characterises them as ' Regum pecuniae otiosa ac stulta 

 ostentatio,' and gives it as his opinion that their erection was a matter of state policy, 

 partly by employment to keep the people from mutiny, and partly to dissipate that 

 enormous wealth which would otherwise have proved a temptation to the heirs of the 

 monarch. The three pyramids which ai*e so famous throughout the world are 

 situated on a barren rocky mountain between Memphis and the Delta, near the 

 village of Busiris, from which men are accustomed to ascend them. This is con- 

 firmatory of the explanation of the word ncvoim^n as coated, for if they weie 

 originally as they now are, it would have been no feat for persons to have ascended 

 them ; and that they can be so now very easily is apparent from the number of our fair 

 countryv/omen who have recorded their names on the summit. So far, I think, I 

 am borne out in the objection I have taken to the translators of Diodorus. After 

 reciting the names of twelve authors who had written upon the subject, he states 

 the utter impossibility of deciding upon the founder of them — a just punishment for 

 the vanity of the work. Within the largest is a pit 86 cubits deep, which is sup- 

 posed to have served for the ingress of the Nile. Manetho, a priest of Heliopolis, 

 who compiled the dynasties of Egypt under Ptolemy Philopater 284 B.C., ascribes 

 them to Suphis, Sensuphis, and Mencheres ; and the era of these monarchs 2090 

 B. C. is much more to be trusted than the date given by Herodotus to Chaeops, who 

 is greatly in error in placing this king after Sesostris, whose name occurs in very 

 secondary positions to the pyramids. 



"The silence of the sacred historians is no proof of the non-existence of these 

 pyramids in their time : we might with equal claims assert that the £x*ro/M,*oX/f, the 

 seat of the Theban dynasties, the more ancient capital of Egypt, existed not, 

 because Nopt is mentioned more early in sacred writ — and that they were not the 

 works of the children of Israel is plainly proved. Their labour was in brick and 

 mortar, and service of the field, and had they been employed on these buildings, 

 taking them to have served mythological or other purpose, the grievance would have 

 been greater, and it would have been recorded as an additional punishment. But I 

 must not launch on the sea of chronology. There is, however, one point upon 

 which these ancient authors agree, that whether Chaeops, Chemonis, Surphis or 

 others, they were the work of brothers. 



" Leaving the classic authors, I will glance for a moment at the speculative 

 accounts of the Arabians. The author of the Morat Alzenidn writes that much 

 diflFerence of opinion exists about the builders of the pyramids — some say Joseph, 

 some Nimrodj some Dalukah — whilst others affirm that the Egyptians foreseeing 

 the flood, built them to preserve their treasure, but it profited them not — others that 

 Saurid built the first for his tomb, Hougit his brother the second, and Fazfarinoun 

 the son of Hougit, the third. The Sabeans relate that the first was the tomb of 

 Seth, the second of Hermes, and the third of Sat, from whom they take their name. 

 Ibn Abd Alhokm, another Arabian historian, says he could find no certain history 

 of the pyramids amongst the learned men of Egypt, from which he deduces this 

 conclusion — what is more reasonable than that they were built before the flood — for 

 had they been erected after that event, there would have been some memory of 

 them amongst men. The Coptites mention in their books, that he who built the 

 pyramids was Saurid Ibn Salhouk, who lived 300 years before the flood ; and that 

 he engraved upon them the following inscription : — ' I, Saurid the King, built the 

 pyramids, and finished them in six years. Let him that comes after me, and says 

 he is my equal, destroy them if he can in 600 years ; and yet it is known how much 

 easier it is to pull down than to build up. When I had finished them, I covered 

 them with satin — let him cover them with mats.' 



" Unwilling to weary you with further quotations, I will now attempt to describe 



NO. IV. 2 Q 



