DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0210
APPENDIX.
171
ducted him to the summit of a small bill, he there laid open to
view the base of a pyramid, of about 300 feet square, surrounded
by small pyramids of granite, which had nearly crumbled to dust
beneath the hand of time. There is little doubt but these monu-
ments had a much earlier origin than the Pyramids of Gizeh—
the granite that covers the smallest of which is still in a tolerable
state of preservation. Having suspended his labours in the
neighbourhood of the Great Pyramids, he went, in 1821, to the
vicinity of Memphis, where his labours were that year rewarded
by the discovery of the colossal statue of the great Sesostris,
the magnitude and beauty of which are known throughout the
scientific world.
In 1836, Captain Caviglia resumed his labours at the Great
Pyramids, with the hope of finding some additional chambers.
He discovered in the second of these monuments, at the point
where the passages of the two entries unite to conduct to the
chamber discovered by Belzoni in the centre, a third passage,
which, in the circumstance of its communicating with the other
entries of Belzoni, by means of a small well, presents a feature of
interest to the scientific student of the principles of Egyptian
architecture. After considering as to the best mode of prosecut-
ing further investigations in the interior of the above pyramid, it
was determined to open its exterior entry, situated at the base;
when it was found, at the distance of forty-three feet from this
entrance, that the rocky foundation had been plastered or painted
red, in the same manner as the Andro-Sphinx; and a similar
circumstance was observed with reference to a step, situated at
eleven feet nearer the sought-for entrance. As this red plaster
or paint is of the same kind as that which is found upon the
stones which have crumbled from the faces of the pyramids, there
is reason to conclude that the whole of the exterior surface of
those monuments, as well as the principal part of their founda-
tions, was painted or plastered red. Another incident tends to
confirm this supposition: having picked up, at the eastern base
of the Great Pyramid, a stone covered with a coat of red paint,
which he accidentally shewed to an English traveller, Mr. H. B.
Agnew ; that gentleman produced a stone of the same kind,
covered also with a red paint or plaster, which he had found on
the west side of the same monument. Prom that time there was
no longer reason to doubt that the two Great Pyramids, as well as
the Andro-Sphinx, had been originally covered with a surface of
171
ducted him to the summit of a small bill, he there laid open to
view the base of a pyramid, of about 300 feet square, surrounded
by small pyramids of granite, which had nearly crumbled to dust
beneath the hand of time. There is little doubt but these monu-
ments had a much earlier origin than the Pyramids of Gizeh—
the granite that covers the smallest of which is still in a tolerable
state of preservation. Having suspended his labours in the
neighbourhood of the Great Pyramids, he went, in 1821, to the
vicinity of Memphis, where his labours were that year rewarded
by the discovery of the colossal statue of the great Sesostris,
the magnitude and beauty of which are known throughout the
scientific world.
In 1836, Captain Caviglia resumed his labours at the Great
Pyramids, with the hope of finding some additional chambers.
He discovered in the second of these monuments, at the point
where the passages of the two entries unite to conduct to the
chamber discovered by Belzoni in the centre, a third passage,
which, in the circumstance of its communicating with the other
entries of Belzoni, by means of a small well, presents a feature of
interest to the scientific student of the principles of Egyptian
architecture. After considering as to the best mode of prosecut-
ing further investigations in the interior of the above pyramid, it
was determined to open its exterior entry, situated at the base;
when it was found, at the distance of forty-three feet from this
entrance, that the rocky foundation had been plastered or painted
red, in the same manner as the Andro-Sphinx; and a similar
circumstance was observed with reference to a step, situated at
eleven feet nearer the sought-for entrance. As this red plaster
or paint is of the same kind as that which is found upon the
stones which have crumbled from the faces of the pyramids, there
is reason to conclude that the whole of the exterior surface of
those monuments, as well as the principal part of their founda-
tions, was painted or plastered red. Another incident tends to
confirm this supposition: having picked up, at the eastern base
of the Great Pyramid, a stone covered with a coat of red paint,
which he accidentally shewed to an English traveller, Mr. H. B.
Agnew ; that gentleman produced a stone of the same kind,
covered also with a red paint or plaster, which he had found on
the west side of the same monument. Prom that time there was
no longer reason to doubt that the two Great Pyramids, as well as
the Andro-Sphinx, had been originally covered with a surface of