1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



79 



GRESHAM COLLEGE. 





Scale 12 feet to 1 incti. 

 In our last voUiniP, p. 27G, we gave a plate sliowiug the Basingliall 

 Street front of Gresli.un College, at wliicli time we made some obser- 

 vation? on the merits and demerits of the building. We now exhibit 

 the minor front in Cateaton Street, which has less pretensions to dis- 

 play. 



ON THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT. 



By J. J. ScoLES, Esq., Fellow. 



(Read at the Royal Institute of Britiih Architects.) 



About three years shice the two first parts of the magnificent work 

 of Colonel Vyse on the Pyramids of Egypt, were presented to the 

 Institute, and Mr. Scoles then read a paper on the subject of the dis- 

 coveries made by Colonel Vyse, and described the pyramids atGhizeh. 

 On the presentation of the concluding number of the work, he took 

 the opportUEiity, on the last meeting of the Institute, to resume the 

 subject and to describe the further discoveries which have been made 

 in the pyramids situated at Sakkarah, Dashhour, and other places in 

 the"Faioum;" and which are delineated in the third number from 

 drawings by Mr. Perring, the civil engineer, under whose direction the 

 various excavations were made at the, expense of the gallant Colonel. 



There appear to be thirty-nine pyramids in Middle and Lower 

 Egypt, all of which have been explored by Mr. Perring. They are 

 situate on the western side of the Nile, cliiefiy on the desert hills, 

 occupying a space measuring from north to south of fifty-three English 

 miles. 



The first pyramid described by Col. Vyse is known by the name of 

 Abou Roash; the base is 320 ft. square. The bulk of it is built of 

 the mountain rook, (a sort of hard cbalk,) which has been reduced to 



a level around it, and the defective places have been made good with 

 masonry. No part of the external casing is to be found ; indeed the 

 edifice was not probably ever completed or raised to a considerable 

 height. A passage about KiO ft. long, commencing on the north and 

 descending at an angle of 22° 35' leads to an apartment about 4U ft. 

 by 15 ft.; above it smaller chambers appear the have been constructed 

 similar to those in the king's chamber in the great pyramid of Ghizch, 

 called "Chambers of Construction," because they relieve the lower 

 part from the superincumbent weight. Near to the pyramid are 

 lieaps of broken granite, which may be the chips of tile blocks for 

 the extreme casing; the blocks tliemselves probablv have been re- 

 used in modern times, as the pyramids have been a sort of quarry for 

 ages past. The fragments, though granite, crumble to pieces upon 

 being handled, and are much decomposed, either from great antiquity 

 or from an exposure not merely to the corroding air of the desert, 

 but also to the moist winds of the Delta. The common saying that 

 it never rains in Egypt, only applies to the upper country. In the 

 Delta, extending from the sea to the district of the pyramids, rain 

 is frequent and copious, and it was noticed that persons have arrived 

 at Alexandria and remained there some time, subject to continual 

 rain, and have left with the impression that it always rained in Egypt, 

 although their idea before visiting the country was, that there it never 

 rained. 



The next pyramid is situate at Rhtgah. Mr. Scoles here re- 

 marked that the names given to the pyramids and by which they are 

 known, are derived from the villages nearest these monuments, and 

 have no reference to their ancient names, though frequently the site 

 of an ancient city is to be traced in the modern name of the villages 

 in the vicinity. This pyramid of Rhegah is curious, on account of 

 being carried up in two inclines, like a pyramid at Dashhour. 

 Mr. Perring did not succeed in discovering any entrance to it; 

 but in the course of his excavation he discovered fragments of stone 

 sculptured and coloured, and some marked with golden stars upon a 

 dark blue ground, as if belonging to the ceiling of an apartment. 



At ./ibouseer are five pyramids, some tolerably perfect; Mr. Perring 

 experienced great difficulty in exploring the interiors, as large masses 

 of rubble masonry constantly fell in and seriously injured some of the 

 explorers. The interior of three of these pyramids are similar in 

 their arrangement. The entrance passages leading from the centre of 

 the northern fronts are at first inclined and afterwards horizontal. The 

 apartments in the centre, range from east to west, and are covered by 

 inclined roofs, formed of several courses of stones. The bulk of the 

 northern building has been in the first instance carried up in degrees 

 or steps, and afterwards completed in the pyramidal form. The 

 masonry in general is very rude, consisting of rough blocks of various 

 sizes put together like rubble work with Nile earth instead of mortar. 

 The passages are lined with granite and were closed by portcullis of 

 granite; this material was apparently introduced to give strength to 

 the masonry where its solidity was weakened by passages, &c., and 

 as an additional security there had been three tiers of roof blocks 

 over the chamber, and the base of the upper tier had been carried 

 beyond those of the lower, in order to distribute the pressure over as 

 great a base as possible. These blocks were of immense size, some 

 45 ft. long, 9ft. wide, and 12 ft. thick, and yet so completely had they 

 been destroyed by the indefatigable exertions of the people who 

 broke into these pyramids, that only two perfect blocks and fragments 

 of two others remain. The marks of wedges were every way visible, 

 but Mr. Perring observes, it is difficult to imagine any power but that 

 of gunpowder could have effected so much destruction. A recess in 

 the casing above the entrance appears to have been intended to re- 

 ceive an inscription like that, as we are informed by Diociorns, was 

 placed over the entrance of tlie third pyramid of Ghizeli; and this 

 circumstance may account for the inscription said by Herodotus and 

 by other authors to have been seen upon the great pyramids. In one 

 of the Abouseer pyrandds blocks of granite filled up the entrance 

 passage and remained in their original positions, clearly proving that 

 the interior of the pyrunids was not inteniled for any astronomical 

 purposes. The pyramids of Ghizeli had the passages similarly filled 

 up, and the violators of these monuments of the dead had in the first 

 instances forced a way down to the chambers through the solid 

 masonry. 



The larger of these Abouseer pyramids was built insteps or degrees 

 covered over with flat stones, and the space between these and the 

 pyranddal casing was perhaps filled up with a rubble work of smaller 

 stones. The murtar used in this pyramid was composed of Nile earth 

 mixeil with a small quantity of lime or pounded limestone. In this py- 

 ramid we have a specimen of the durability of wood, lor a long piece 

 of this material had been worked into the masonry, which though rather 

 shaky, was completely sound, and must have been built in the masonry 

 at the time of the original creation of the building, a considerable 



