informed me amounted to no less a sum than one thousand six hundred talents. If this be true, how much more must it have cost for iron tools, food, and clothes for the workmen!-particularly when we consider the length of time they were employed in the building itself, besides what was spent on the quarrying and carriage of the stones, and the construction of the subterraneous apartments.

"According to the account given to me by the Egyptians, this Cheops reigned fifty years. He was succeeded on the throne by his brother Cephrenes, who pursued a policy similar in all respects. He also built a pyramid, but it was not so large as his brother's, for I measured them both. It has no subterraneous chambers, nor any channel for the admission of the Nile, which, in the other pyramid, is made to surround an island where the body of Cheops is said to be deposited. Thus, for the space of one hundred and six years, the Egyptians were exposed to every species of oppression and calamity; not having had, during this long period, permission to worship in their temples. Their aversion for the memory of these two monarchs is so great, that they have the utmost reluctance to mention even their names. They call their pyramids by the name of Philitis, who, at the epoch in question, fed his cattle in that part of Egypt."

It is from the last circumstance mentioned by Herodotus that the very reasonable conclusion has been formed by Bryant, Dr. Hales, and others, in regard to the people by whom the Pyramids are supposed to have been erected. We have already explained the connexion which subsists between the term Pales, Phalis, or Philitis, and the Shepherd kings who, having invaded Egypt from the east, possessed that country as masters during more than a hundred years, and who, upon being expelled by the indignant natives, settled on the adjoining coast of Syria under the denomination of Philistines. It is manifest, at first sight, that the dynasty of princes to whom these stupendous works are ascribed were foreigners, and also that they professed a religion hostile to the animal worship of the Egyptians; for it is recorded by the historian, with an emphatic distinctness, that, during the whole period of their domination, the temples were shut, sacrifices were prohibited, and the people subjected to every species of oppression and calamity. Hence it follows that the date of the Pyramids

must synchronise with the epoch of the Shepherd kings,→→ those monarchs who were held as an abomination by the Egyptians, and who, we may confidently assert, occupied the throne of the Pharaohs during some part of the interval which elapsed between the birth of Abraham and the captivity of Joseph.

The reasoning now advanced will receive additional confirmation, when we consider that buildings of the pyramidal order were not uncommon among the nations of the East, having probably some connexion with the principles of that more refined and lofty adoration which directed the feelings of its votaries to the magnificence of the heavenly host, and to the influence supposed to be exercised by their aspect and movements on the destiny of man. At the present day there are pyramids in India,-and more especially in Be nares, where there is one formed of earth and covered with bricks. An edifice of the same kind has been observed at Medun in Egypt, constructed in different stories or platforms, diminishing in size as they rise in height, until they termi nate in a point,-the exact pattern, it is said, which was supplied by the followers of Budha in the plan of their ancient pyramids, as these have been described by European travellers, on the banks of the Indus and the Ganges. Such, too, is understood to have been the form of the Tower of Babel, the object of which may have been to celebrate the mysteries of Sabaism, the first and purest superstition of the untaught mind. Mr. Wilford informs us, that on his describing the great Egyptian Pyramid to several very learned Brahmins, they declared it at once to have been a temple; and one of them asked if it had not a communication with the river Nile. When he answered that such a passage was mentioned as having existed, and that a well was at this day to be seen, they unanimously agreed that it was a place appropriated to the worship of Padma Devi, and that the supposed tomb was a trough which; on certain festivals, her priests used to fill with the sacred water and lotusflowers.*

The most probable opinion respecting the object of these vast edifices is that which combines the double use of the sepulchre and the temple,—nothing being more common in

* Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. p. 439,

all nations than to bury distinguished men in places con secrated by the rites of divine worship. If Cheops, Suphis, or whoever else was the founder of the great Pyramid, intended it only for his tomb, what occasion was there, says Dr. Shaw, for such a narrow sloping entrance into it, or for the well, as it is called, at the bottom, or for the lower chamber with a large niche or hole in the eastern wall of it, or for the long narrow cavities in the sides of the large upper room, which likewise is incrusted all over with the finest granite marble, or for the two antechambers and the lofty gallery, with benches on each side, that introduce us into it? As the whole of the Egyptian theology was clothed in mysterious emblems and figures, it seems reasonable to suppose that all these turnings, apartments, and secrets in architecture were intended for some nobler purpose,-for the catacombs or burying-places are plain vaulted chambers hewn out of the natural rock-and that the deity rather, which was typified in the outward form of this pile, was to be worshipped within.*

The present aspect of the Pyramids renders it doubtful whether they were ever fully completed, or whether the apparent dilapidation of the external parts ought not to be altogether ascribed to the injuries of the atmosphere and the hands of barbarian conquerors. It is presumed, that a pile of this description was not regarded as entirely finished until it was coated over with polished stone, so as to fill up the vacancies occasioned by the diminution of the successive layers of the building, and to render the surface quite smooth and uniform from the foundation to the summit. Herodotus states, in the clearest terms, that, after the structure was raised to its full height, the artisans began to finish it from the top downwards. In the second Pyramid, accordingly, which bears the name of Cephrenes, a considerable portion of the original casing still remains; confirming the accuracy of the ancient historian as to the general plan of all such edifices, and affording, at the same time, the means of understanding that part of his narrative in which he asserts that a great quantity of the stone was brought from the Arabian side of the Nile, and even from the neighbourhood of the Cataracts. It has been ascertained by several modern

* Travels, vol. ii. p. 201.

travellers that the main body of the huge masses now under consideration is composed of rocks still found in the immediate vicinity; we must therefore infer that the granite and porphyry used for casing the exterior, as well as for the decorations of the chambers within, are to be identified with the materials described by the Halicarnassian, and which Strabo and Pliny more usually designate as precious stones and marble.*

The number of pyramids scattered over Egypt is very great; but by far the most remarkable are those at Djizeh, Sakhara, and Dashour. The first of these places, which is situated on the west side of the Nile, about ten miles from its bank, and nearly in the latitude of Grand Cairo, is distinguished by possessing the three principal edifices described by Herodotus, and which are still regarded as the finest monuments of this class that are to be seen in any part of the world. It is noticed by every author who from personal observation has described these wonderful works of art, that the sense of sight is much deceived in the first attempt to appreciate their distance and their magnitude. Though removed several leagues from the spectator, they appear to be quite at hand; and it is not until he has travelled some miles in a direct line with their bearing that he becomes sensible both of their vast bulk and also of the pure atmosphere through which he had viewed them. They are situated on a platform of rock about a hundred and fifty feet above the level of the surrounding desert,—a circumstance which at once contributes to their being well seen, and also to the discrepancy that still prevails among the most intelligent travellers as to their actual height.

The effect now alluded to is well described by Dr. Richardson. "We had viewed them from several points of observation on the opposite side of the river, and all along the whole course of the canal kept constantly looking at them; but our recollections were so occupied with exaggerated descriptions of their enormous dimensions that every look was followed by disappointment; the eye always encountered something less than the mind expected it to see;

*It is worthy of notice that every stone which admitted of a fine polish and shone in the light was called marble, from μapμaipsiv, to glisten or shine.

and, now that we were, comparatively speaking, at their base, and looking up from the low sandy bank to the Pyramids on the rocky elevation above, our idea of their magnitude was not increased. Even those of the party who exercised the greatest self-control, and scarcely cast a look on those ancient piles during the whole time of our approach, felt disappointed with the diminished grandeur of their appear

ance."*

It was not, in short, until their eyes became accustomed to the outline of the stupendous pile of masonry that they could form an estimate of its real dimensions; after which they were hardly able to convince themselves that such enormous structures were really the work of human hands. In most parts of Europe, the refraction occasioned by a moist climate raises distant objects above the true angle of vision, and confers upon them an apparent magnitude, which a nearer inspection never fails to correct. Egypt, on the contrary, the air of which is extremely dry and transparent, the atmospherical effect is reversed, and, accordingly, the first glance of the Pyramids from the banks of the Nile is usually felt to form a striking contrast to all the preconceived notions of the traveller.

But in

The largest Pyramid stands on an elevation free all round, on which account the accumulation of sand in contact with it is less than might have been apprehended. It has, however, suffered much from human violence, immense heaps of broken stones having fallen down on each side, which form a high mound towards the middle of the base. The corners are pretty clear, where the foundation is readily discovered, particularly at the north-west angle; but it is. impossible to see straight along the line of the base on account of these heaps of rubbish. Hence, as has been already suggested, the difficulty of making an exact measurement, and the frequent disagreement of the results; it being impracticable, without removing the sand and fallen stones, to run a straight line all the way in contact with the building. Dr. Richardson paced one side at a little distance from the wall, and found it two hundred and fortytwo steps; whence he conjectures that the extent of seven hundred feet, usually assigned to it, is not far from the truth.

* Travels along the Mediterranean and Parts Adjacent, vol. i. p. 119.