DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0013
2
OPERATIONS CARRIED 0~if AT GIZEH.
found, which had formed a pavement, and the rock had
been levelled, but not to so great a width as at the centre.
The ground was also cleared in front of the north-eastern
angle, that the round holes and grooving already mentioned
might be surveyed. Several green idols were found at
the depth of fifty-five feet in the southern foss of Camp-
bell's Tomb, also a round knob of yellow stone, apparently
the stopper of a vase, and a rectangular oblong piece of
the same material, two inches by one inch and a half,
and half an inch thick. It was highly polished, but was
perfectly plain, without carving or inscription. These
articles were afterwards sent to the consulate. I again
examined the ruins to the eastward of the Great Pyra-
mid, and went round the works with Mr. Raven.
An Englishman (Goodman), whom I had sent to Alex-
andria with the packet for Mr. Hamilton, returned with
a letter from Colonel Campbell, and entered my service.
He informed me that the w7eather had been unusually
stormy at Alexandria. We had also experienced at the
pyramids heavy showers and strong gusts of wind chiefly
about sunset. The ground at Gizeh, and also at Thebes,
is in many places broken up by ravines, or channels, which
are supposed to have been caused by heavy rains. Mr.
Wilkinson and also Mr. Hamilton mention periodical
showers; and pits have been formed near the entrances
of some of the tombs at Thebes, apparently to secure them
from damp. Yet, although heavy showers do occasionally
occur, continued rain is exceedingly rare, and it can
hardly be supposed to have fallen in sufficient quantities
to have made these deep channels, which are probably,
therefore, the repeated effects of violent winds.
OPERATIONS CARRIED 0~if AT GIZEH.
found, which had formed a pavement, and the rock had
been levelled, but not to so great a width as at the centre.
The ground was also cleared in front of the north-eastern
angle, that the round holes and grooving already mentioned
might be surveyed. Several green idols were found at
the depth of fifty-five feet in the southern foss of Camp-
bell's Tomb, also a round knob of yellow stone, apparently
the stopper of a vase, and a rectangular oblong piece of
the same material, two inches by one inch and a half,
and half an inch thick. It was highly polished, but was
perfectly plain, without carving or inscription. These
articles were afterwards sent to the consulate. I again
examined the ruins to the eastward of the Great Pyra-
mid, and went round the works with Mr. Raven.
An Englishman (Goodman), whom I had sent to Alex-
andria with the packet for Mr. Hamilton, returned with
a letter from Colonel Campbell, and entered my service.
He informed me that the w7eather had been unusually
stormy at Alexandria. We had also experienced at the
pyramids heavy showers and strong gusts of wind chiefly
about sunset. The ground at Gizeh, and also at Thebes,
is in many places broken up by ravines, or channels, which
are supposed to have been caused by heavy rains. Mr.
Wilkinson and also Mr. Hamilton mention periodical
showers; and pits have been formed near the entrances
of some of the tombs at Thebes, apparently to secure them
from damp. Yet, although heavy showers do occasionally
occur, continued rain is exceedingly rare, and it can
hardly be supposed to have fallen in sufficient quantities
to have made these deep channels, which are probably,
therefore, the repeated effects of violent winds.