CATACOMBS OF ALEXANDRIA. 



373 



to us what was intended in them all, we see near a quarter of the whole 

 pile very beautifully filled up and ending at the top in a point." As 

 the upper parts are certainly not now covered with marble as some 

 suppose, or with granite as Norden asserts, the passage of this 

 traveller quoted by Larcher, ii. 244. should be erased in any future 

 edition of the French Herodotus. Niebuhr supposes, that the last 

 work of the builders was to give a smooth and regular appearance to 

 the four sides of this pyramid, beginning at the summit. 



The third pyramid, Mr. Davison says, appears to have been covered 

 with red granite. The remains of granite were seen by Niebuhr, and 

 by some of the members of the French Institute. " Les beaux mor- 

 ceaux de granit d'Elephantine sont disperses et abondamment entasses 

 pres de sa base." — Grobert. This pyramid is called by the Arabic 

 writers the coloured pyramid, and must have preserved its covering 

 until the time of Abdallatif, who speaks of it as, construite en granit 

 rouge. S. de Sacy's version, lib. i. c. 4. — Ed.] 



CATACOMBS OF ALEXANDRIA. 



[CONTINUATION OF MR. DAVISON'S PAPERS.] 



Nov. 7th, 1763. — This morning before sunrise we rode out at 

 Pompey's pillar gate, with a great number of Janissaries ; we turned 

 to the right leaving the column on our left, and after a ride of an hour 

 and a half, arrived at the catacombs. At the entrance we fired three 

 or four pistols, as well to clear the air a little as to drive out the jack- 

 alls and other animals that generally take shelter there. We were 

 obliged to creep in on our faces for a few yards, then getting on our feet 

 we could walk, but not upright, except in some parts. As there is no 



