DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0198
APPENDIX.
159
southern air-channel, it is manifest that instead of excavating
downwards and towards the centre of the pyramid, he would
have worked upwards in the calcareous stone on either the eastern
or western side of that apartment.3 The exact spot was of no
consequence, excepting as it afforded greater facility for cutting
through the stone, which was the sole reason why the one at the
end of the passage was fixed upon; hut if any great merit is to
be attached to its selection, Mr. Perring should he immortalised ;
and it should be named, according to the ideas of the anonymous
correspondent, " Perring's Hole, or Passage."
With regard to the northern air-channel, it appears, by M. Ca-
viglia's Italian expose, that in 1820 he tried to ascertain its direc-
tion (as many other people have done), by the insertion of long
sticks, which led him to the conclusion that "there were other
3 Since this statement was written, Lord Lindsay's book has been published,
and the following passage will remove all further doubt on the subject. His lord-
ship visited the Pyramids in December 1836, and, after describing the King's
Chamber, and M. Caviglia's excavation along the course of the northern air-channel,
he says: "' Now,' says Caviglia, ■' I will shew you how I hope to find out
where the southern passage leads to.' Returning to the landing-place at the top of
the grand staircase, we mounted a ricketty ladder to the narrow passage that leads to
Davison's Chamber (so named after the English consul at Algiers, who discovered
it seventy years ago); it is directly above the King's Chamber, the ceiling of the
one forming the floor of the other. The ceiling of Davison's Chamber consists of
eight stones, beautifully worked ; and this ceiling, which is so low that you can only
sit cross-legged under it, Caviglia believes to be the floor of another large room
above it, which he is now trying to discover. To this room he concludes the little
passage leads that branches from the south side of the King's Chamber. He has
accordingly dug down into the calcareous stone at the further end of Davison's
Chamber, in the hopes of meeting it; once found, it will probably lead him to the
place he is in quest of. And now, I am sure, if I have been happy enough to in-
spire you with a tithe of the interest with which I followed every winding of the
Pyramid, and of our cicerone's mind (itself a most extraordinary labyrinth), you will
be glad to hear that there seems every probability of his soon reaching the little
passage. Leaving a servant in the excavation, descending to the King's Chamber,
and shouting at the hole, the man answered by striking on the stone distinct strokes,
as satisfactory a reply as could be wished for." With respect to the latter part
of this quotation, I can only say that, believing upon M. Caviglia's authority that
the air-channel was vertical, and that the excavation was consequently near it, I
nave repeatedly endeavoured to ascertain its direction, by listening in Davison's
Chamber to noises made high up in the passage, but always without success; and
the accompanying plan laid down by Mr. l'erring will shew that it is impossible
I could have done so. The sounds, therefore, mentioned by Lord Lindsay, must
have been conveyed through the passage by which his lordship had ascended to
Davison's Chamber.
159
southern air-channel, it is manifest that instead of excavating
downwards and towards the centre of the pyramid, he would
have worked upwards in the calcareous stone on either the eastern
or western side of that apartment.3 The exact spot was of no
consequence, excepting as it afforded greater facility for cutting
through the stone, which was the sole reason why the one at the
end of the passage was fixed upon; hut if any great merit is to
be attached to its selection, Mr. Perring should he immortalised ;
and it should be named, according to the ideas of the anonymous
correspondent, " Perring's Hole, or Passage."
With regard to the northern air-channel, it appears, by M. Ca-
viglia's Italian expose, that in 1820 he tried to ascertain its direc-
tion (as many other people have done), by the insertion of long
sticks, which led him to the conclusion that "there were other
3 Since this statement was written, Lord Lindsay's book has been published,
and the following passage will remove all further doubt on the subject. His lord-
ship visited the Pyramids in December 1836, and, after describing the King's
Chamber, and M. Caviglia's excavation along the course of the northern air-channel,
he says: "' Now,' says Caviglia, ■' I will shew you how I hope to find out
where the southern passage leads to.' Returning to the landing-place at the top of
the grand staircase, we mounted a ricketty ladder to the narrow passage that leads to
Davison's Chamber (so named after the English consul at Algiers, who discovered
it seventy years ago); it is directly above the King's Chamber, the ceiling of the
one forming the floor of the other. The ceiling of Davison's Chamber consists of
eight stones, beautifully worked ; and this ceiling, which is so low that you can only
sit cross-legged under it, Caviglia believes to be the floor of another large room
above it, which he is now trying to discover. To this room he concludes the little
passage leads that branches from the south side of the King's Chamber. He has
accordingly dug down into the calcareous stone at the further end of Davison's
Chamber, in the hopes of meeting it; once found, it will probably lead him to the
place he is in quest of. And now, I am sure, if I have been happy enough to in-
spire you with a tithe of the interest with which I followed every winding of the
Pyramid, and of our cicerone's mind (itself a most extraordinary labyrinth), you will
be glad to hear that there seems every probability of his soon reaching the little
passage. Leaving a servant in the excavation, descending to the King's Chamber,
and shouting at the hole, the man answered by striking on the stone distinct strokes,
as satisfactory a reply as could be wished for." With respect to the latter part
of this quotation, I can only say that, believing upon M. Caviglia's authority that
the air-channel was vertical, and that the excavation was consequently near it, I
nave repeatedly endeavoured to ascertain its direction, by listening in Davison's
Chamber to noises made high up in the passage, but always without success; and
the accompanying plan laid down by Mr. l'erring will shew that it is impossible
I could have done so. The sounds, therefore, mentioned by Lord Lindsay, must
have been conveyed through the passage by which his lordship had ascended to
Davison's Chamber.