DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0342
290 OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
and the extraordinary manner in which they were worked
and put together. (See page 11.) The custom of de-
positing treasures in mausolea seems to have prevailed
universally in the earliest times, and to have been at once
the cause of the solidity of their construction, and of the
violation to which they have been in all countries sub-
ject ; for some more powerful motive than mere curiosity
must have caused, in former times, the great labour and
expense attending these researches, particularly at the
pyramids, where it was necessary to cut through and
remove the blocks of granite and solid masonry, which
closed the passages and chambers. It would also appear
that, besides the wealth contained in the chambers, some
object of peculiar interest was supposed to be concealed
in or about the sarcophagi, as all of them in the pyramids
at Gizeh, and many at Thebes, have been broken into,
and various excavations have been made around them;
and it is singular that the only instance in which success
appears to have attended these excavations, is the secret
passage beneath the sarcophagus in Belzoni's Tomb at
Thebes : in none of the others do any cavities, or traces
of a communication appear.
I happened to be employed at Campbell's Tomb when
the southern Air-channel was opened, and I heard with
great satisfaction Mr. Hill's three English cheers on the
occasion, as I fully expected that we should have had as
much trouble with that, as we had with the northern.
Some green idols, broken jugs, coarse red paterae, cups,
and other pieces of earthenware, together with a small
quantity of leaf-gold, were found in the southern fosse of
Campbell's Tomb. Similar patera; and cups had been
and the extraordinary manner in which they were worked
and put together. (See page 11.) The custom of de-
positing treasures in mausolea seems to have prevailed
universally in the earliest times, and to have been at once
the cause of the solidity of their construction, and of the
violation to which they have been in all countries sub-
ject ; for some more powerful motive than mere curiosity
must have caused, in former times, the great labour and
expense attending these researches, particularly at the
pyramids, where it was necessary to cut through and
remove the blocks of granite and solid masonry, which
closed the passages and chambers. It would also appear
that, besides the wealth contained in the chambers, some
object of peculiar interest was supposed to be concealed
in or about the sarcophagi, as all of them in the pyramids
at Gizeh, and many at Thebes, have been broken into,
and various excavations have been made around them;
and it is singular that the only instance in which success
appears to have attended these excavations, is the secret
passage beneath the sarcophagus in Belzoni's Tomb at
Thebes : in none of the others do any cavities, or traces
of a communication appear.
I happened to be employed at Campbell's Tomb when
the southern Air-channel was opened, and I heard with
great satisfaction Mr. Hill's three English cheers on the
occasion, as I fully expected that we should have had as
much trouble with that, as we had with the northern.
Some green idols, broken jugs, coarse red paterae, cups,
and other pieces of earthenware, together with a small
quantity of leaf-gold, were found in the southern fosse of
Campbell's Tomb. Similar patera; and cups had been