DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1033#0007
INTRODUCTION.
IU
westwards, as will be seen on PI. II where the dotted
line of the tunnel turns toward the middle of the
chamber. Soon we found the rock drop straight
down, and knew that the pit and chamber were now
before us. Then a brick arch was cut through ; this
gave further proof and fresh hope. And at last by
half-past one in a dark night, one of the boys of the
night gang came running down to the tents, and
shouting, " The stone is found, the stone is found."
I went up at once and saw that we had reached the
sloping roof stone of the chamber. In the next few
days we cleared and examined it, and made a slight
trial on it which showed that skilled masons would
be needed.
As in all the other pyramids, of which I knew the
construction, the sepulchre was covered by three suc-
cessive layers of gigantic pent-roof stones, I concluded
it would be the same here. And as in other pyramids
the end walls of the chamber are quite independent of
the sides and roof, and bear only their own weight, I
hoped that here I might find a thin end wall easier to
cut through than the three layers of roof which I
anticipated. So the next step was to measure the
distance from the dwarf wall to the chamber, and then
to find the north end of the dwarf wall, and measuring
off a similar distance south of that to make a second
branch from my tunnel to reach the end of the cham-
ber. In this I succeeded, and the second branch will
be seen in PL II, pointing to the well chamber. But
in this second cut I met with such immense blocks, that
supposing they were buttresses against the end of the
triple pent-roof I gave up all idea of cutting through
them. I then got over some masons on the 16th
April from Medinet, but they were quite helpless in
the face of such a job. And as no good ones were
then to be had, and the season was late to begin such
a task, I reluctantly left it, after earthing over the
mouth of the tunnel.
5. On returning there after my exhibition in London
of the portraits and other antiquities, I began on the
pyramid on the 12th November. But before cutting
into the chamber, I made further search on the sides ;
clearing a long space of the east, west, and south
sides, down to the very base. This work went on for
a fortnight, but all in vain ; and I saw that either the
entrance must be at some indeterminate distance out
from the pyramid, or else not anywhere near the
middles of the sides. Opening the tunnel again, then,
I had some Fayum masons over; but they only did
six inches depth of stone cutting, and then threw it
up in despair. So at last on December 18th I got
two masons from Cairo to attack the stone roof. I
kept a close watch over them, to see how much they
did, and after a few days tried to induce them to take
it by contract. But they would not agree, and were
evidently intending to make a long job of it. So I
announced that the agreement at per diem was to
stand exactly as settled ; and that, moreover, I should
make them a present of so many pounds per metre
cut through (the fair amount for a liberal contract)
less exactly as much as their wages for every day
occupied from that time forward. They could not
object as the agreement was untouched, but they saw
that they would get as much for quick work as for
going very leisurely, and mended their rate accord-
ingly.
6. It is, however, slow work in any case to cut with
hammer and chisel a tunnel through solid stone ; and
it was disheartening that we could not find the under
side of the beam after cutting seven feet into it. On
the twenty-first day, however, a boy ran down with
the welcome news of a hole found. I had just been
all the morning at work in the water in Horuta's
tomb, and had come out for wash and breakfast; but
I went up, as I was, to see to the matter. There was
a black hole in the floor of the masons' cutting, and
they were chipping away the edges scrap by scrap.
Soon I managed to squeeze through, and found that
I was in a little forced passage cut by ancient treasure
seekers, which led to the super-chamber. Searching
around it I saw the top of the entrance passage on the
north side, on a level with the floor I was on. Jump-
ing down, I found the passage was blocked; but
there was a hole under the stone I had been standing
on. Into this I squeezed, sloping head downwards,
on the mud which partly filled it, and managed to see
that there was a chamber beneath with something in
it, and a deal of water. Get back I could not, for I
was jammed tight at the shoulders ; and the masons
had to drag me up out of the hole by my legs. Then
clearing the mud and earth away, I asked a thin and
active lad if he would undertake to go in ; and having
sounded the depth of water, and found it not more than
chest deep, he slid through feet foremost with a rope-
ladder to hold by, and I watched him through the
hole, which would not let my shoulders pass. I then
saw the sarcophagi, the large one in the middle, and
the curious added one at the side.
7. Next day, after loosening and bringing down a
heap of small blocks of stone which filled up the
passage to the well chamber, and part of that chamber
itself, I pressed through into the well chamber. Thence
IU
westwards, as will be seen on PI. II where the dotted
line of the tunnel turns toward the middle of the
chamber. Soon we found the rock drop straight
down, and knew that the pit and chamber were now
before us. Then a brick arch was cut through ; this
gave further proof and fresh hope. And at last by
half-past one in a dark night, one of the boys of the
night gang came running down to the tents, and
shouting, " The stone is found, the stone is found."
I went up at once and saw that we had reached the
sloping roof stone of the chamber. In the next few
days we cleared and examined it, and made a slight
trial on it which showed that skilled masons would
be needed.
As in all the other pyramids, of which I knew the
construction, the sepulchre was covered by three suc-
cessive layers of gigantic pent-roof stones, I concluded
it would be the same here. And as in other pyramids
the end walls of the chamber are quite independent of
the sides and roof, and bear only their own weight, I
hoped that here I might find a thin end wall easier to
cut through than the three layers of roof which I
anticipated. So the next step was to measure the
distance from the dwarf wall to the chamber, and then
to find the north end of the dwarf wall, and measuring
off a similar distance south of that to make a second
branch from my tunnel to reach the end of the cham-
ber. In this I succeeded, and the second branch will
be seen in PL II, pointing to the well chamber. But
in this second cut I met with such immense blocks, that
supposing they were buttresses against the end of the
triple pent-roof I gave up all idea of cutting through
them. I then got over some masons on the 16th
April from Medinet, but they were quite helpless in
the face of such a job. And as no good ones were
then to be had, and the season was late to begin such
a task, I reluctantly left it, after earthing over the
mouth of the tunnel.
5. On returning there after my exhibition in London
of the portraits and other antiquities, I began on the
pyramid on the 12th November. But before cutting
into the chamber, I made further search on the sides ;
clearing a long space of the east, west, and south
sides, down to the very base. This work went on for
a fortnight, but all in vain ; and I saw that either the
entrance must be at some indeterminate distance out
from the pyramid, or else not anywhere near the
middles of the sides. Opening the tunnel again, then,
I had some Fayum masons over; but they only did
six inches depth of stone cutting, and then threw it
up in despair. So at last on December 18th I got
two masons from Cairo to attack the stone roof. I
kept a close watch over them, to see how much they
did, and after a few days tried to induce them to take
it by contract. But they would not agree, and were
evidently intending to make a long job of it. So I
announced that the agreement at per diem was to
stand exactly as settled ; and that, moreover, I should
make them a present of so many pounds per metre
cut through (the fair amount for a liberal contract)
less exactly as much as their wages for every day
occupied from that time forward. They could not
object as the agreement was untouched, but they saw
that they would get as much for quick work as for
going very leisurely, and mended their rate accord-
ingly.
6. It is, however, slow work in any case to cut with
hammer and chisel a tunnel through solid stone ; and
it was disheartening that we could not find the under
side of the beam after cutting seven feet into it. On
the twenty-first day, however, a boy ran down with
the welcome news of a hole found. I had just been
all the morning at work in the water in Horuta's
tomb, and had come out for wash and breakfast; but
I went up, as I was, to see to the matter. There was
a black hole in the floor of the masons' cutting, and
they were chipping away the edges scrap by scrap.
Soon I managed to squeeze through, and found that
I was in a little forced passage cut by ancient treasure
seekers, which led to the super-chamber. Searching
around it I saw the top of the entrance passage on the
north side, on a level with the floor I was on. Jump-
ing down, I found the passage was blocked; but
there was a hole under the stone I had been standing
on. Into this I squeezed, sloping head downwards,
on the mud which partly filled it, and managed to see
that there was a chamber beneath with something in
it, and a deal of water. Get back I could not, for I
was jammed tight at the shoulders ; and the masons
had to drag me up out of the hole by my legs. Then
clearing the mud and earth away, I asked a thin and
active lad if he would undertake to go in ; and having
sounded the depth of water, and found it not more than
chest deep, he slid through feet foremost with a rope-
ladder to hold by, and I watched him through the
hole, which would not let my shoulders pass. I then
saw the sarcophagi, the large one in the middle, and
the curious added one at the side.
7. Next day, after loosening and bringing down a
heap of small blocks of stone which filled up the
passage to the well chamber, and part of that chamber
itself, I pressed through into the well chamber. Thence