DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0307
258
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEII.
Several pieces of broken pottery, a quantity of red
stucco, or mortar composed of pounded granite, and of
a red stone (some of which was found near it), were dug
out near the base of the northern front of the Great Py-
ramid. This red stone is still used for the same purpose
in Egypt.
A number of blocks which formed part of the casing
were likewise discovered. As it was not then ascertained
that the pyramid had been cased, these stones were at
first supposed, from their angular shape, to have been
employed in filling up, and in concealing the cavity near
the entrance. They were extremely hard, and remark-
ably well worked ; but contrary to the testimony of
Abdallatif, and of other Arabian authors, they did not
shew the slightest trace of inscription, or of sculpture.
Nor, indeed, was any to be found upon any stone belong-
ing to the pyramid, or near it (with the exception of the
quarry-marks already described, of a few lines drawn in
red upon a flat stone, apparently intended for a lining),
and of part of the cartouche of Suphis, engraved on a
brown stone, six inches long by four broad. This frag-
ment was dug out of the mound at the northern side
on June 2d; but it did not appear to have belonged to
the pyramid. Mr. Perring states, that he has not observed
inscriptions upon stones quarried upon the spot, but only
upon those brought from the Mokattam, and that the
same red colouring, called moghrah, is now used in the
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEII.
Several pieces of broken pottery, a quantity of red
stucco, or mortar composed of pounded granite, and of
a red stone (some of which was found near it), were dug
out near the base of the northern front of the Great Py-
ramid. This red stone is still used for the same purpose
in Egypt.
A number of blocks which formed part of the casing
were likewise discovered. As it was not then ascertained
that the pyramid had been cased, these stones were at
first supposed, from their angular shape, to have been
employed in filling up, and in concealing the cavity near
the entrance. They were extremely hard, and remark-
ably well worked ; but contrary to the testimony of
Abdallatif, and of other Arabian authors, they did not
shew the slightest trace of inscription, or of sculpture.
Nor, indeed, was any to be found upon any stone belong-
ing to the pyramid, or near it (with the exception of the
quarry-marks already described, of a few lines drawn in
red upon a flat stone, apparently intended for a lining),
and of part of the cartouche of Suphis, engraved on a
brown stone, six inches long by four broad. This frag-
ment was dug out of the mound at the northern side
on June 2d; but it did not appear to have belonged to
the pyramid. Mr. Perring states, that he has not observed
inscriptions upon stones quarried upon the spot, but only
upon those brought from the Mokattam, and that the
same red colouring, called moghrah, is now used in the