PYRAMIDS OF DJIZA. I79 
to be a composition of the second century, may chap. 
rather allude to the Serapcum at Memphis^ than ' 
to the temple at Alexandria, by the situation he 
assigns to Serapis^. 
Immediately beneath our view, upon the 
eastern and western side, we saw so many 
tombs, that we were unable to count them; 
some being half buried in the sand, others rising 
considerably above it. All these are of an 
oblong form, with sides sloping, like the roofs 
of European houses. A plan of their situation 
and appearance is given in Pocockes Travels*. 
The second pyramid, standing to the south- 
west, has the remains of a covering near its 
vertex, as of a plating of stone which had once 
invested all its four sides. Some persons, 
deceived by the external hue of this covering, 
have believed it to be of marble ; but its white 
appearance is owing to a partial decomposition, 
affecting the surface only. Not a single frag- 
ment of marble * can be found anywhere near 
(3) KaJ trv "Si^avi, x'lSois WtKii/*.in. " Tuque Serapi sedans in saxis." 
SibijUina Oractda, lib. v. ad Jin. 
(4) Description of the East, vol.1. Plate xvi. p. 41. Lond.\~'i^,. 
(5) Marble was not used for buildings in very autient times. " Jt 
does not appear," says Shaiv, " that marble was used by the Grecian 
artists, either in sculpture or building, before the 15th Oli/»ipiady 
X 2 ^- ^- 
