OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. 681 



passage from a different side, by digging into another's property; and even then 

 it is still the same order of arrangement), — this one principle or feature, we say, 

 exists also in the Great Pyramid (see fig. 4) ; and is exemplified in the one 

 descending entrance-passage, and the subterranean chamber marked c. 



That particular portion, and that portion only, of the internal arrangement of the 

 Great Pyramid, is a common Egyptian institution ; and there are proofs in fact that 

 the Romans were once inside that chamber. (Col. Howard Vyse, 2d vol. p. 290. ) 



But all the upper parts of the arrangements of the interior (see the same 

 fig. 4), all that is gained by the ascending passages, are absolutely peculiar to the 

 Great Pyramid alone ; and there are no proofs whatever that Romans, Greeks. 

 Persians, or the Egyptians themselves, subsequent to 2130 e.g., knew anything 

 whatever about the existence of that part of the interior. Its builders had in 

 fact sealed it up carefully ; and their stone-seal remained on, and kept its secret 

 faithfully, until it fell off, of its own accord, or in a manner rather more than 

 accidental, in the time of Caliph Al Mamoun, about 820 a.d. 



Then it was that the first symptoms of there being an ascending passage were 

 perceived : It could not, however, be rushed straight into by the eager beholders, 

 because an unliftable portcullis of granite stopped the way ; but by breaking a 

 path through the smaller masonry, Al Mamoun and his people succeeded in 

 entering the same ascending passage further on ; and from thence pushing forward, 

 fired by the hope of seizing " on the wealth deposited by the antediluvian kings 

 of the earth," they passed through the " Grand Gallery," the little ante-chamber, 

 and then entered the so-called King's Chamber, evidently the principal chamber 

 of the whole Pyramid, the last of its series of rooms and passages, and the one 

 for which the entire structure had been erected. 



A magnificent room it was, 84 feet long, 17 broad, and 19 high, formed on 

 every side, floor, walls, and ceiling, of enormous blocks of granite, perfectly flat, 

 admirably polished, and fitting to each other so closely, that the smallest needle 

 could not be introduced into any of the joints. But there was nothing in the 

 chamber ! The eager visitors looked about (by torchlight, for all of the interior 

 of the Pyramid, save the entrance passage, is necessarily unvisited by the light 

 of day), and could find absolutely nothing ; unless indeed a stone trough, as they 

 called it. or a granite chest ; but if a chest, it had no lid and was entirely empty ! 

 The Caliph and his companions were thunderstruck ; their treasure theory had 

 so completely failed ; and though they afterwards quarried holes in different parts 

 of the exquisite building, they found no jewels of silver or jewels of gold, beyond 

 the one particular pot of money which Al Mamoun himself had just previoush' 

 buried, to encourage the workmen. 



Previous to Al Mamoun's entrance into the Pyramid, the Arabian writers had 

 indulged in every kind of rhapsody as to the extraordinary treasures Avhich it 

 contained ; and soon after his signal failure, they recovered somewhat of their 

 spirits, and began, in their patron's praise, to chaunt his astonishing findings : 



