DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0256
APPENDIX.
217
then went to the Second Pyramid, which was closed. Its base
was six hundred and thirty-one feet. The Third was much
smaller and of less importance, and appeared to have been cased
With the same sort of stone as that with which the chamber of the
Great Pyramid is lined, as a numher of blocks were lying around
it. He quotes from Pliny, that three hundred and seventy thousand
men were employed on the Great Pyramid for twenty years, and
that one thousand eight hundred talents were expended upon
vegetables alone for their food. He took notice of the three
temples near the Pyramids, and says that near that of the Second
there was a subterraneous passage, reported to communicate
With the Sphinx, which was supposed to have been the tomb of
Amasis; or, according to other accounts, to have been raised by
Amasis in honour of Rhodope, and to have contained an oracle.
The Bedoweens attacked the people he had left to guard his pro-
visions and baggage at the entrance of the Great Pyramid, during
the time he was employed in the interior of it.
MR. MELTON (1GG1),
An Englishman, travelled from 1660 to 1G77; and his notes
were published in the Dutch language, owing, probably, to the
unsettled state of England at that time.
He visited the Pyramids, called, by the Arabs, the Mountains
of Pharaoh, on the 27th of April, and says, that three were much
more considerable than the rest, and could be seen at a great
distance ; that some of the others were like those of the Mummies,
which he would afterwards describe and that the rest, although
numerous, were of no great size. He adds, that one of the three
largest was much smaller than the other two, which were nearly
°f equal bulk; that the Great Pyramid was the only one which
could be ascended or entered ; and that the passage was said
to have been effectually concealed by a stone, until a pacha
opened it. He ascended at the north-eastern angle, and observed
the chasm half way up, which he calls a chamber. He found
that the ranges of stones were two hundred and six in number, and
°* an average height of two feet six inches, but that some were
more than three feet high. He says, in another place, that some
1 He appears to allude to tlie Pyramids of Succara.
217
then went to the Second Pyramid, which was closed. Its base
was six hundred and thirty-one feet. The Third was much
smaller and of less importance, and appeared to have been cased
With the same sort of stone as that with which the chamber of the
Great Pyramid is lined, as a numher of blocks were lying around
it. He quotes from Pliny, that three hundred and seventy thousand
men were employed on the Great Pyramid for twenty years, and
that one thousand eight hundred talents were expended upon
vegetables alone for their food. He took notice of the three
temples near the Pyramids, and says that near that of the Second
there was a subterraneous passage, reported to communicate
With the Sphinx, which was supposed to have been the tomb of
Amasis; or, according to other accounts, to have been raised by
Amasis in honour of Rhodope, and to have contained an oracle.
The Bedoweens attacked the people he had left to guard his pro-
visions and baggage at the entrance of the Great Pyramid, during
the time he was employed in the interior of it.
MR. MELTON (1GG1),
An Englishman, travelled from 1660 to 1G77; and his notes
were published in the Dutch language, owing, probably, to the
unsettled state of England at that time.
He visited the Pyramids, called, by the Arabs, the Mountains
of Pharaoh, on the 27th of April, and says, that three were much
more considerable than the rest, and could be seen at a great
distance ; that some of the others were like those of the Mummies,
which he would afterwards describe and that the rest, although
numerous, were of no great size. He adds, that one of the three
largest was much smaller than the other two, which were nearly
°f equal bulk; that the Great Pyramid was the only one which
could be ascended or entered ; and that the passage was said
to have been effectually concealed by a stone, until a pacha
opened it. He ascended at the north-eastern angle, and observed
the chasm half way up, which he calls a chamber. He found
that the ranges of stones were two hundred and six in number, and
°* an average height of two feet six inches, but that some were
more than three feet high. He says, in another place, that some
1 He appears to allude to tlie Pyramids of Succara.