Howard-Vyse, Richard William Howard: Operations carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837: with an account of a voyage into upper Egypt, and Appendix (Band 2) (London, 1841)

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OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.

As I had at length discovered the entrance of the
Third Pyramid, I was anxious to finish my operations as
soon as possible, and employed parties by day and by
night at the Third and Eighth Pyramids. A number of
parallel ridges, to the westward of the Second Pyramid,
however, excited my attention, and I conceived that they
might have been the burial-places of the common people,
like those at Tarquinia, in Italy. Some of them were in
consequence cut through, but they were found to be com-
posed of stones and sand, and their origin was not
discovered.

I sent Ibrahim, the Copt, to inform the Shereef of
Mecca, that the Third Pyramid was opened, and, as I
have already mentioned, to request the assistance of the
Cadi to read the inscription. The Shereef returned for
answer, that the Cadi was at Alexandria, but that he
himself would come on the following day to the Pyramids.
I also sent to Cairo for people who understood antient
Arabic characters, but I could not prevail upon them to
attend.

Mr. Brettel arrived. We examined the interior of the
Third Pyramid, and also measured the subterraneous
passage near the temple of the Second. — (See July 31.)

In the course of the day, the entrance into the Eighth
Pyramid was found eight feet nine inches above the base,
in the centre of the northern front. It had an incline of
34-5 ; but was choked up with sand, so that the candles
would not burn, and the examination of it was necessarily
postponed. I then entered the Ninth, which has been
already described.—(See July 29.)