DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0028
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEII.
17
under the side of it. It was difficult, therefore, to imagine
why a wall had been built precisely over the part which
required to be searched. It had the appearance of con-
siderable antiquity, but it had evidently been built against
the mound of sand and stone. Like the works in the
Fourth, the shaft in the interior of this pyramid had
not been attended with any success; it was concluded,
therefore, that the Chambers were excavations in the
rock, and that the entrance was concealed by the pave-
ment without the pyramid; for it was naturally supposed
that the lower part of the building had been carefully
examined before the chasms had been begun by the
Mamelucs. I therefore determined, not only to take up
the pavement at the bottom of the pit, but also to ascer-
tain whether it was continued on each side of it, and
towards the pyramid; — operations that were attended
with great labour and difficulty, on account of the vast
accumulations of sand, and of the number of blocks that
were to be removed — several of them of granite, and
four or five tons in weight.
Some more broken bottles, similar to those already
described, a large copper nail, pieces of coarse pottery,
a few idols, and one or two beads, were found in the
south-eastern corner of the foss in Campbell's Tomb.
On my return to Cairo with Mr. Mash, I received a
letter from Colonel Campbell by Baron Gunzerode and
Captain Gibser, two German officers, with whom I had
the pleasure of becoming acquainted.
June 11th. — A number of articles were sent to the
consulate for Colonel Campbell.
VOL. II. c
17
under the side of it. It was difficult, therefore, to imagine
why a wall had been built precisely over the part which
required to be searched. It had the appearance of con-
siderable antiquity, but it had evidently been built against
the mound of sand and stone. Like the works in the
Fourth, the shaft in the interior of this pyramid had
not been attended with any success; it was concluded,
therefore, that the Chambers were excavations in the
rock, and that the entrance was concealed by the pave-
ment without the pyramid; for it was naturally supposed
that the lower part of the building had been carefully
examined before the chasms had been begun by the
Mamelucs. I therefore determined, not only to take up
the pavement at the bottom of the pit, but also to ascer-
tain whether it was continued on each side of it, and
towards the pyramid; — operations that were attended
with great labour and difficulty, on account of the vast
accumulations of sand, and of the number of blocks that
were to be removed — several of them of granite, and
four or five tons in weight.
Some more broken bottles, similar to those already
described, a large copper nail, pieces of coarse pottery,
a few idols, and one or two beads, were found in the
south-eastern corner of the foss in Campbell's Tomb.
On my return to Cairo with Mr. Mash, I received a
letter from Colonel Campbell by Baron Gunzerode and
Captain Gibser, two German officers, with whom I had
the pleasure of becoming acquainted.
June 11th. — A number of articles were sent to the
consulate for Colonel Campbell.
VOL. II. c