DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0203
164
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEII.
it was difficult to believe it, or to comprehend an adequate
motive for the construction of these magnificent buildings
merely as sepulchral monuments over a tomb, unless it
was the all-powerful influence of superstitious feelings.
The rubbish had been nearly removed from the base
of the Second Pyramid. The two grooves in the port-
cullis were finished, and another was begun across them.
I measured the chasms on the northern front of the
Third Pyramid, and directed that the excavations should
be carried on by piece-work; and that, instead of daily
pay, the men should receive a thousand piastres on
arriving at the centre of the pyramid. There was a
difficulty, however, in making this arrangement, because
the same people did not regularly attend, and because
those, who were employed, from their extreme poverty,
required money for their daily subsistence.5 Mr. Ash-
burner returned to Cairo.
5 Whatever may have been the result of these operations, the villages
of Koum el Eswith and of Cafr el Batran have been greatly benefited,
not only by the daily receipt of more money than they ever before
obtained, but by their exemption from public labour at an adjacent
canal. In the present state of the population all labour must be com-
pulsory, but the mode in which it is exacted is often extremely cruel,
and the cause of great distress. When a public work is to be carried
on, the people, or a considerable portion of them, are demanded by the
Madyr of the district from the Sheiks of the villages, who make a
selection at their own discretion, and are also obliged to attend in
person. A system of injustice, bribery, and extortion is the natural
consequence : the Mamoor (the officer under the Madyr), oppressing
the Sheiks; and the Sheiks, in their turn, the defenceless people, who
are reduced to the lowest state of misery. In many instances a guard
is stationed to prevent the return of the people to their homes before
the completion of the work; and as no respect is paid to age, sex,
sickness, or poverty, the consequences on the infirm, from age or
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEII.
it was difficult to believe it, or to comprehend an adequate
motive for the construction of these magnificent buildings
merely as sepulchral monuments over a tomb, unless it
was the all-powerful influence of superstitious feelings.
The rubbish had been nearly removed from the base
of the Second Pyramid. The two grooves in the port-
cullis were finished, and another was begun across them.
I measured the chasms on the northern front of the
Third Pyramid, and directed that the excavations should
be carried on by piece-work; and that, instead of daily
pay, the men should receive a thousand piastres on
arriving at the centre of the pyramid. There was a
difficulty, however, in making this arrangement, because
the same people did not regularly attend, and because
those, who were employed, from their extreme poverty,
required money for their daily subsistence.5 Mr. Ash-
burner returned to Cairo.
5 Whatever may have been the result of these operations, the villages
of Koum el Eswith and of Cafr el Batran have been greatly benefited,
not only by the daily receipt of more money than they ever before
obtained, but by their exemption from public labour at an adjacent
canal. In the present state of the population all labour must be com-
pulsory, but the mode in which it is exacted is often extremely cruel,
and the cause of great distress. When a public work is to be carried
on, the people, or a considerable portion of them, are demanded by the
Madyr of the district from the Sheiks of the villages, who make a
selection at their own discretion, and are also obliged to attend in
person. A system of injustice, bribery, and extortion is the natural
consequence : the Mamoor (the officer under the Madyr), oppressing
the Sheiks; and the Sheiks, in their turn, the defenceless people, who
are reduced to the lowest state of misery. In many instances a guard
is stationed to prevent the return of the people to their homes before
the completion of the work; and as no respect is paid to age, sex,
sickness, or poverty, the consequences on the infirm, from age or