DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4794#0212
second gallery 120 feet in length, and still as-
cending. This gallery is very narrow, and at
its top has a kind of landing place about ir
feet square. Here three avenues present them-
selves. The first sunk in a perpendicular di-
rection, forming a kind of well, with an orifice
of which the diameter is about two feet by
eighteen inches. There is also a horizontal
gallery to the right of this about 170 feet in
length, leading to the center of the pyramid,
and at the head of it is the apartment called the
Queen’s Chamber. Its form is an oblong;
about 18 feet 2 inches by 15 feet eight. Its
original height was probably greater, because
it is now concealed by the rubbish which has
fallen from its sides, through the curiosity of
some persons who had dug up the flooring.
This royal chamber, as it is termed, has neither
ornament, hieroglyphic, or sarcophagus; though
the masonry is extremely curious and elaborate.
On exploring the third avenue, a large mag-
nificent gallery or flight of stairs, is discovered
18© feet in length, leading horizontally like the
others, to the centre of the building. It is a
little more than 6 feet wide, including two para-
pets of 19 inches diameter, perforated with
holes 22 inches long, and 3 wide. This slope
is supposed to have been invented for elevating
the sarcophagus,' and the holes made to assist
some machine in raising the mass up a place so
rapidly inclined. The whole height of the
vault, formed in the center of this pyramid, is
60 feet from the floor immediately beneath.
At the top of it, there is a small platform, upon
cending. This gallery is very narrow, and at
its top has a kind of landing place about ir
feet square. Here three avenues present them-
selves. The first sunk in a perpendicular di-
rection, forming a kind of well, with an orifice
of which the diameter is about two feet by
eighteen inches. There is also a horizontal
gallery to the right of this about 170 feet in
length, leading to the center of the pyramid,
and at the head of it is the apartment called the
Queen’s Chamber. Its form is an oblong;
about 18 feet 2 inches by 15 feet eight. Its
original height was probably greater, because
it is now concealed by the rubbish which has
fallen from its sides, through the curiosity of
some persons who had dug up the flooring.
This royal chamber, as it is termed, has neither
ornament, hieroglyphic, or sarcophagus; though
the masonry is extremely curious and elaborate.
On exploring the third avenue, a large mag-
nificent gallery or flight of stairs, is discovered
18© feet in length, leading horizontally like the
others, to the centre of the building. It is a
little more than 6 feet wide, including two para-
pets of 19 inches diameter, perforated with
holes 22 inches long, and 3 wide. This slope
is supposed to have been invented for elevating
the sarcophagus,' and the holes made to assist
some machine in raising the mass up a place so
rapidly inclined. The whole height of the
vault, formed in the center of this pyramid, is
60 feet from the floor immediately beneath.
At the top of it, there is a small platform, upon