Ohfervations in Egypt. 415- 



there being alfo a large Space left on each Side of it, by dif- 

 continuing feveral of the parallel Rows of Steps, which, in other 

 Places, run quite round the Tyramid ; thefe Circumftances, I 

 fay, in the Archite^ure of this Building, leem to point out 

 to us fome further Defign, and that originally there might 

 have been intended a large and magnificent Por/ico. Neither T'-^^^^/f/'j to 

 were the Steps or little Altars, as Herodotm ' calls them, to with pnCm^- 

 remain in the fame Condition they have been in from the earli- 

 eft Records of Time. For thefe were all of them to be filled 

 up, in fuch a Manner, with prifmatical Stones, that each Side 

 of the Tjramid, as in That of Cejlms at Rome, was to be 

 fmooth and upon a Plane. Kow^ nothing of this Kind appears to 

 have been ever attempted in the lefTer or greater of thefe 

 Tyramids, (the latter of which wants likewife a great Part of 

 the Point, where this filling up was probably to commence;) 

 but in the fecond, commonly called Chephreness Tyrnm'id, which 

 may hint to us what was intended in them all, we fee near a 

 Quarter of the whole Pile, very beautifully filled up, and end- 

 ing, at the Top, like the Point of a Diamond. Thefe Stones, 

 agreeable perhaps to the Depth of the Strata from whence 

 they were hewn, are from five to thirty Foot' long; and from 

 three to four Foot high. Yet, notwithftanding the Weight 

 and MaflTmefs of the greateft Part of them, they have all been 

 laid in Mortar, which, at prefent, is eafily crumbled to Pow- 

 der, though originally perhaps it mightbeof greaterTenacity, as 

 the Compofition of it feems to be the fame with That olBarhary ?. 



The Antients' inform us, that the Stones of the Tyramidsne pyrami- 

 were brought from the Mountains of Arabia. Yet, notwith- £4^7//!' 

 Handing the great Extravagance and furprizing Undertakings ^^'' tS" 

 of the Egyptian Kings, it doth not feem probable, that they ^^'"'^"^''""• 

 would have been at the vaft Labour and Expence of bringing 

 Materials from fo great a Diftance , when they might have 

 been fupplyed from thofe very Places , where they were to 

 employ them. Now the Stone which makes the Bulk and 



I E'a-o;»3« 3 MTU « n^fUfAi ivaSaSr/uZv c?07n)v, w*- (UTl^tTie^i Xfaostts, oj Si Cuf^S'ai oyofM^'isfi. Herod. 



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hf„l4ivay <5tT ixHV« rif xd""- Diod. S'tc. 1. I. p. 40. Pyramis ampliffima ex JraOkis lapidicinis 

 conftar. Plin. ].^6. cap. 12. 



M m m m m 2 Outfide 



