MISCELLANIES. 



605 



work, probably to fill up some 

 vacancy in the rock ; the walls of 

 this passage are in several parts 

 covered with incrustations of salts. 

 •' On entering the great cham- 

 ber, I found it to be 46 feet S 

 inches long, 16 feet 3 inches wide, 

 and 23 feet 6 inches high ; for 

 the most part cut out of the rock, 

 except that part of the roof to- 

 wards the western end. In the 

 midst we observed a sarcophagus 

 of granite, partly buried in the 

 ground to the level of the floor, 8 

 feet long, 3 feet 6 inches wide, 

 and 2 feet 3 inches deep inside, 

 surrounded by large blocks of 

 granite, being placed apparently 

 to guard it from being taken away, 

 which could not be effected with- 

 out great labour ; the lid of it had 

 been opened ; I found in it only a 

 few bones of a human skeleton, 

 which merit preservation as curi- 

 ous relics, they being, in all pro- 

 bability, those of Cephrenes, the 

 reported builder of this pyramid. 

 On the wall of the western side of 

 the chamber is an Arabic inscrip- 

 tion, a translation of which has 

 been sent to the British Museum.* 

 It testifies that "this pyramid was 

 opened by the Masters Mahomet 

 El Aghar and Otman, and that it 

 was inspected in presence of the 

 Sultan Ali Mahomet the first, 

 Ugloch.''t There are also several 

 otherinscriptions onthewalls sup- 

 posed to be Coptic. Part of the 

 floor of this chamber had been 

 removed in different places, evi- 

 dently in search of treasure, by 

 some of those who had found 



* We cannot find that this in- 

 scription has yet reached its destina- 

 tion. — Quarterly Review- 



t A Tartaric title, as Uleg Bey, 

 Sic. 



their way into it. Under one of 

 the stones I found a piece of metal 

 something like the thick part of 

 an axe, but it is so rusty and de- 

 cayed that it is almost impossible 

 to form a just idea of its form. 

 High up and near the centre there 

 are two small square holes, one on 

 the north and the other on the 

 south, each one foot square ; they 

 enter into the wall like those in 

 the great chamber of the first 

 pyramid. I returned to the be- 

 fore-mentioned perpendicular, and 

 found a passage to the north in 

 the same inclination of 26 deg. as 

 that above : this descends 48 feet 

 6 inches, where the horizontal 

 passage commences, which keeps 

 the same direction north 55 feet, 

 and half-way along it there is on 

 the east a recess of 11 feet deep. 

 On the west side there is a passage 

 20 feet long, which descends into 

 a chamber 32 feet long and 9 feet 

 9 inches wide, 8 and 6 feet high : 

 this chamber contains a quantity 

 of small square blocks of stone, 

 and some unknown inscriptions 

 written on the walls. Returning 

 to the original passage, and 

 advancing north, near the end of 

 it is a niche to receive a portcullis 

 like that above. Fragments of 

 granite, of which it was made, are 

 lying near the spot. Advancing 

 still to the north I entered a pass- 

 age which runs in the same incli- 

 nation as that before mentioned, 

 and at 47 feet six inches from the 

 niche it is filled up with some 

 large blocks of stone put there to 

 close the entrance which issues 

 out precisely at the base of the 

 pyramid. According to the mea- 

 surements, it is to be observed 

 that ali the works below the base 

 are cut into the living rock, as 



well 



