DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4023#0136
9o REMARKS ON M\ G REAVE S'S
enced at Meschie a very violent rain, accompanied with thunder, sor the fpace
os a whole hour.
Page 103. Hewn (according to Herodotus ^WDiodorus) out of the Ara-
bian mountains.
A g r e at part os the stones, that have been employed in the building os the
pyramids, were taken out os the grottos, that we see in great numbers near those
pyramids. The reft was drawn directly opposite, srom the other fide of the
Nile; and when the waters os that river were high, they conveyed thofe ftones
to the bridge, which Herodotus mentions; and afterwards, by means os the
same bridge, they transported them to the mountain, where they defigned to
erect the pyramid.
Page 104. 'The relation os Herodotus <m/PoMPONius Mela is more admira-
ble, who make the leafi fione in this pyramid to be thirty seet.
The temples, which we see in the east, and quite near the pyramids, have
been built with very great ftones. It is furprizing, that few travellers have fpoken
of them, though they are in fact extremely remarkable. They feem to have been
uncovered at the top. Their great circumserence did not permit the finding
ftones large enough to reach from one wall to another. Neither is there the leaft
mark of columns; and I dare fay, that they did not know how to make ufe of
them, at the time os building the pyramids. Who knows likewife, whether the
invention of the pyramids was not owing to that ignorance they were in ; fmce
they had not any other method for covering a great circumference, besore the
art of arching, and that of employing columns, to fupport a roof, were in-
vented d ?
Page 115. On the north side, upending thirty-eight seet, upon an artisicial
bank ofi earth, there is afquare and narrow pajfage leading into the pyramid.
This bank os earth on the north side, is not made by the hands os men.
Time and wind have sormed it, by means of the fands, that have been driven
againft the pyramid. The three other sides, and those os the other pyramids,
have the like elevations, which are not however so high. That of the north side
os the firft pyramid, is superior to the others, on account os the north wind,
which prevails there the most, and because the entrance is exposed to that wind.
Is it be afked, why this elevation does not rise ftill higher, and even to fhut up the
entrance os the pyramid ? I shall answer, that the Arabs, who are fent commonly
to clean the entrance, take care to hinder this progress: befides, the pasiage is
too much frequented, sor the sand to gain any more.
d It is a mortisying confideration, that the moft present times, were owing to their ignorance, that
durable works in architecture have been owing to water would rise up nearly to the fame height as
ignorance: thus the samous aqueducts os the anci- that srom which it salls,
ents, the remains of which are the wonder of the
Page
enced at Meschie a very violent rain, accompanied with thunder, sor the fpace
os a whole hour.
Page 103. Hewn (according to Herodotus ^WDiodorus) out of the Ara-
bian mountains.
A g r e at part os the stones, that have been employed in the building os the
pyramids, were taken out os the grottos, that we see in great numbers near those
pyramids. The reft was drawn directly opposite, srom the other fide of the
Nile; and when the waters os that river were high, they conveyed thofe ftones
to the bridge, which Herodotus mentions; and afterwards, by means os the
same bridge, they transported them to the mountain, where they defigned to
erect the pyramid.
Page 104. 'The relation os Herodotus <m/PoMPONius Mela is more admira-
ble, who make the leafi fione in this pyramid to be thirty seet.
The temples, which we see in the east, and quite near the pyramids, have
been built with very great ftones. It is furprizing, that few travellers have fpoken
of them, though they are in fact extremely remarkable. They feem to have been
uncovered at the top. Their great circumserence did not permit the finding
ftones large enough to reach from one wall to another. Neither is there the leaft
mark of columns; and I dare fay, that they did not know how to make ufe of
them, at the time os building the pyramids. Who knows likewife, whether the
invention of the pyramids was not owing to that ignorance they were in ; fmce
they had not any other method for covering a great circumference, besore the
art of arching, and that of employing columns, to fupport a roof, were in-
vented d ?
Page 115. On the north side, upending thirty-eight seet, upon an artisicial
bank ofi earth, there is afquare and narrow pajfage leading into the pyramid.
This bank os earth on the north side, is not made by the hands os men.
Time and wind have sormed it, by means of the fands, that have been driven
againft the pyramid. The three other sides, and those os the other pyramids,
have the like elevations, which are not however so high. That of the north side
os the firft pyramid, is superior to the others, on account os the north wind,
which prevails there the most, and because the entrance is exposed to that wind.
Is it be afked, why this elevation does not rise ftill higher, and even to fhut up the
entrance os the pyramid ? I shall answer, that the Arabs, who are fent commonly
to clean the entrance, take care to hinder this progress: befides, the pasiage is
too much frequented, sor the sand to gain any more.
d It is a mortisying confideration, that the moft present times, were owing to their ignorance, that
durable works in architecture have been owing to water would rise up nearly to the fame height as
ignorance: thus the samous aqueducts os the anci- that srom which it salls,
ents, the remains of which are the wonder of the
Page