414. Vhyjical and Mifcellaneous 



Neither the THc Dimcnfions of the great Tyramid^ have given Occalion 

 Mod7rn77- to one Difpute. Herodotus ' makes the Bafe of it to be eight 

 ^thejyJm- hundred Foot long ; 'Diodorm * feven hundred ; and Straho ' 

 §reafpy- only fix hundred. Among the Moderns, Sandys^ found it to be 

 ramid. ^^qq hundred Paces; Bellon'ius' three hundred and twenty 

 four; our ProfeflTor Grea'ues^, fix hundred and ninety three 

 Englijh, and Le Brun ^ feven hundred and four Feet, ( as 

 we may fuppofe,) of France, which make about feven hundred 

 and feventy of our Meafure. There is no Way, I prefume, to 

 reconcile thefe Differences, and it would be unjuft to charge 

 any of thefe Authors with a defigned Miftake. Thus much 

 then, in general, may be il\id, in Defence and Vindication of 

 None of the Etrors and Difagreements of this Kind, that none of the Sides 

 upon an exaa oi this Tyram'td are exadlly upon a Level. For there is a 

 Defcent in palTing, from the Entrance into it, all along by 

 the eaftern Corner, to the fouthern ; there is again an Afcent 

 from This to the weftern Point ; at the fame Time the Sides, 

 which regard the Weft and theNorth,have been encroached upon 

 by fuch Drifts of Sand, as the Etefian Winds, from Time to 

 Time, have brought along with them. As therefore it will be 

 difficult to find a true Horizontal Bafe ; it being like wife un- 

 certain, (which is the chief Thing to be confidered,) how far 

 thefe Drifts of Sand may have been accumulated above the 

 Foundation of it ; all Calculations of this Kind muft be exceed- 

 ingly precarious, agreeable only to the Time, and to the parti- 

 cular Circumftances of the Situation, when they were made. 

 None of the Ncithct doth it appear that either This, or any other of the 

 three greater Tyramids, was ever finiftied. For the Stones^ 

 in the Entrance into the greateft, being placed archwife and 

 to a greater Height than feems neceflary for fo fmall a Paflage ; 



I 'tis Tlv^A^S^Qf TiavluKyi ytk-m-mi 'ii'S'^ov oKia Tiki^ct^ iirnS ■nitd-yevv, 1^ ^4®' '"•'• Herodot. Eut. 

 5- 124. 2 H |mW 5«J /t5>'?l) Wu^afUf ~T?a7T^&Vf@' «3a tiJ ^ifxav, 7»v S^ 4 ficLnaf rr\<M^a,v iyg.'mv ly^H 

 'r?iSrpav iWTti, li ^ u-\-Qr ^X" '"''^f'*' '^i' '^? 'ttm^v. D'tod. S'tcul. Bibl. 1. I. p. 40- 3 ^"'' Tiiw 

 rit/pctji^afev 1(57 m^idutu n 24®*' Tliii-yniol tS <^fMV, -f 'jhcMfO.s lyj.^s ixiKfu (J.f<^ov li u4-& iy^<!M. Strab. 

 Geogr. 1.17. p.jyy. 4 Tlie greateft of the three Pyramids, being Square at the bottom, is 

 fuppofed to take up eight Acres of Ground ; every Square being 300 fingle Paces in Length. 

 Siind.Triv. p. 99. Ed.vi. j Nos raaximas Pjramidh bafim dimenfi fumus, qus quatuor an- 

 gulorum paribus intervallis cum fit, trecentos viginti quatuor paflbs habet in fingula lacera, 

 paululum extenfis cruribus, gradiendo fingulos paflus numerantes. Bellon. Oblervat. 1.2. 

 p. 2^9. 6 See his Pyramidographta. 7 Je contai trois cens bons pas d'un coin a I'autrc du 

 grand Pyramide. Plus je donnai a deux Arabes une corde que j'avois pour cet effet prife 

 avec moi &c je lour fis mefurer la diftance de ces coins de I'un a I'autre, qu'ils trouverent qui 

 montoit a cent vingc braflfes qui font fcpt cens & quatre pieds. La Hauteur par devant cent 

 douze braffes f. fix cent feize pieds : un braiTe cinque pieds & demi. Je Brtin. Voyag. 

 cap. 36. 



there 



Pyramids 

 were ever 

 jfnijheif. 



