{98 THE PYRAMIDS. 



have been only one, which being easily manageable could be raised from 

 one layer to the next in succession; both modes were mentioned to me, 

 but I know not which of them deserves most credit. The summit of the 

 pyramid was first finished and coated, and the process was continued 

 downwards till the whole was complete. Upon the exterior were 

 recorded, in Egyptian characters, the various sums expended in the 

 progress of the work for the radishes, onions, and garlic consumed by 

 the artificers. This, as I well remember, my interpreter informed me 

 amounted to no less a sum than one thousand six hundred talents. If 

 this be true, how much more must it have cost for iron tools, food and 

 clothes, for the workmen ! particularly when we consider the length of 

 time they were employed in the building itself, besides what was spent 

 on the quarrying and carriage of the stones, and construction of the 

 subterraneous apartments. According to the accounts," he adds, "given 

 to me by the Egyptians, this Cheops reigned fifty years. He was su^ 

 ceeded on the throne by his brother Cephrenes, who pursued a policy 

 similar in all respects. He also built a pyramid, but it was not so large 

 as his brother's, for I measured them both. It had no subterraneous 

 chambers, nor any channel for the admission of the Nile, which in the 

 other pyramid is made to surround an island, where the body of Cheops 

 is said to be deposited. Thus, for the space of one hundred and six 

 years, the Egyptians were exposed to every species of oppression and 

 calamity, not having had, during this long period, permission to worship 

 in their temples. Their aversion for the memory of these two monarchs 

 is so great, that they have the utmost reluctance to mention even their 

 names. They call their pyramids by the name Philitis, who, at the epoch 

 in question, fed his cattle in that part of Egypt." With the exception of 

 there being " no subterraneous chambers" in the pyramid of Cephrenes, 

 which Belzoni has proved to be incorrect, this account may be received 

 as that of any modern traveller. That the pyramids were built with 

 higher objects than that of being made catacombs or tombs there can 

 be no question, and the reasonable conclusion is, that they were erected 

 as temples of worship. 



As we have before said, there are a number of pyramids in Egypt; the 

 chief ones are those we have named. The first is situate on the west 

 side of the Nile, about ten miles from its banks; and others more 

 distant. Though removed several leagues from the spectator they 

 appear to be quite at hand, and it is not until he has travelled some 

 miles in a direct line with their bearing, that he becomes sensible of their 

 vast bulk, and also of the pure atmosphere through which he had viewed 



