198 On tke Pyramids ofEgy(it. 



Sore;, in such a manner, that it is impossiVjle to obtain, in fewer 

 words, a more accurate description*. It seems also true, that 

 this opening had been made before the time of Herodotus, al- 

 though his testimony be less decisive. He speaks onh of sub- 

 terraneous chambers f ; I)ut it were impossible to know any 

 thing of their existence, unless the pyramid had first been en- 

 tered. 



Hence it is evident that a passage to the interior had been 

 open from the earliest times in which any account was given of 

 this pvramid ; and perhaps it never was so completely closed, 

 but that with a little difficulty an access might l)e effected. Pro- 

 ceeding down this passage [minutely described by Grca^es]. and 

 ascending a second sloping channel to the distance of 1 10 feet, 

 we came to a horizontal passage, leading to a chamber with an 

 angular roof. In this passage we found on our right baud the 

 mysterious well, which has been so often mentioned. [Pliny makes 

 the depth 129 feet — Greaves and others 20 feet ; but the latter 

 were deceived by the plunnnet resting on some projection.] On 

 getting a large stone, almost as wide as the mouth of the well, 

 we were agreeably surprised by hearing, after some seconds, a 

 loud and distinct report, seeming to come from a spacious sub- 

 terraneous apartment, accouipanied by a splashing noise, as if 

 the stone had been broken into a number of pieces, and had fallen 

 into a reservoir of water at an amazing depth 



We examined the chamber at the end of this passage, men- 

 tioned by all who have described the interior of this building. Its 

 roof is angular ; that is to saj', it is formed by the inclination 

 of large masses of stone leaning towards each other. Quitting 

 the passage altogether, we climbed the slippery and difficult ascent 

 Avhich leads to the principal chamber. The workmanship, from 

 its perfection, and its immense proportions, is truly astonishing. 

 All about the spectator, as he proceeds, is full of majesty, and 



mystery, and wonder Presently we entered that ^' glorious 



room," as it is justly called by Greaves, where, " as within some 

 consecrated oratory. Art may seem to have contended with Na- 

 ture." It stands " in the very heart and centre of the pyramid, 

 equidistant from all its sides, and almost in the midst between 

 the basis and the top." The floor, the sides and roof are com- 

 posed of that most beautiful variety of granite which Linnaeus 

 distinguished by the epithet of diirus rubesce/is, called by the 

 Italians granito rosso, composed essentially of feldspar, ijuartz, 



and mica It differs in no respect from European granite, 



except that the red feldspar enters more largely as a constituent 

 into the mass than is usual in the granite of Europe. So ex- 



* Strab. Geog. lib. xvii. p. Ili5. Ed. Oxon. 

 t Herodot. Euterpe, c. 125. 



quisitely 



