such an undertaking was regarded as equally romantic and impracticable. The French philosophers, who accompanied the invading army led by Bonaparte, made several endeavours to find an entrance, but, perceiving no trace in the building which could encourage the belief that it had ever been perforated, they left it in despair. The resolution of Belzoni, however, a private unassisted individual, achieved a conquest over the mystery of ancient art, which the power and ingenuity of a great nation had relinquished as beyond the reach of human means. His success in detecting the sepulchral labyrinths of Thebes inflamed him at once with the desire and the confidence of discovering a passage into the secret chambers of Cephrenes, the reputed founder of the second Pyramid.

His first attempt was not attended with an adequate degree of success, while the labour and expense which it entailed upon him were so great as would have cooled the ardour of a less zealous antiquary. He began by forcing a passage, which he was soon obliged to abandon as equally hopeless to himself and dangerous to the persons employed. But this disappointment only increased his desire to accomplish an object on which he had staked his happiness as well as his reputation. Observing minutely the exterior of the Great Pyramid, he satisfied himself that the passage was not placed exactly in the middle of the building, but that it ran in a straight line to the eastern side of what is called the king's chamber; which being in the centre of the Pyramid, he conjectured that the entrance must be as far from the middle of the face as is the distance from the centre of the chamber to the east end of it. Having

made this clear and simple observation, he concluded, that, if there were any chamber in the second Pyramid, the orifice could not be at the spot where he had begun his excavation, but, calculating by the position of the passage in the first, nearly thirty feet farther east.

Encouraged by these new views, he returned to his task, and was immediately delighted to observe that, at the very place where he intended to recommence operations, there was a hollow on the surface of the building. Any traveller, says he, who shall hereafter visit the Pyramids, may plainly perceive this concavity above the true entrance. Summoning his Arabs, he forthwith resumed his toils; and so correct was his measurement that he did not deviate more than two feet from the mouth of the passage which was to admit him into the recesses of this vast edifice. The native workmen were indeed as sceptical as ever, entertaining not the slightest expectation that any approach would ever be discovered, and occasionally muttering their opinion of him in the expressive term magnoon, which, in their language, denotes madman or fool.

After clearing away a great deal of rubbish, and cutting through massy stones, he had the satisfaction to see the edge of a block of granite,-the material used for casing the passages in the Pyramid of Cheops,-inclining downward at the same angle as in the latter building, and pointing towards the centre. On the following day three large slabs were discovered, one on each side, and the third on the top,-indicating very distinctly that the object of his search was now about to be realized. In a few hours, accordingly, the right entrance into the Py.

ramid was opened,-proving to be a passage four feet high, and three feet six inches wide, formed of granite, and descending a hundred and four feet towards the centre, at an angle of twenty-six degrees. Nearly all this passage was filled with large stones which had fallen from the upper part, and, as the floor slopes downwards, they had slid on till some larger than the rest stopped the way.

The next portion of his task was to remove this rubbish, which had extended even to the entrance of the chamber. At length he reached a portcullis, which, being a fixed block of stone, at first sight appeared to obstruct all farther progress into the interior. "It stared me in the face," says Mr Belzoni," and said ne plus ultra,-putting an end, as I thought, to all my projects;" for it made a close joint with the groove at each side, and on the top it seemed as firm as the rock itself which formed the passage. On a close inspection, however, he perceived that, at the bottom, it was raised about eight inches from the lower part of the groove which was cut beneath to receive it; and he found by this circumstance that the large slab before him was nothing more than a barrier of granite, one foot three inches thick. Having observed a small aperture at the top, he thrust a straw into it upwards of three feet, -a discovery which convinced him that there was a vacuum prepared to receive the portcullis. The raising of it, indeed, was a work of no small difficulty. As soon, however, as it was elevated high enough for a man to pass, an Arab entered with a candle, and announced that the place within was very fine. A little more room enabled our adventurer to squeeze his person through, when he ex

claims," After thirty days I had the pleasure of finding myself in the way to the central chamber of one of the two great Pyramids of Egypt, which have long been the admiration of beholders."*

As his main object was to reach the centre of the building, he advanced, in that direction, along a passage cut out of the solid rock, six feet in height, and six feet six inches broad. At length he reached a door, at the centre of a large chamber. "I walked slowly two or three paces, and then stood still to contemplate the place where I was. Whatever it might be, I certainly considered myself in the centre of that Pyramid which, from time immemorial, had been the subject of the obscure conjectures of many hundred travellers, both ancient and modern. My torch, formed of a few wax candles, gave but a faint light; I could, however, clearly distinguish the principal objects. I naturally turned my eyes to the west end of the chamber, looking for the sarcophagus, which I strongly expected to see in the same situation as that in the first Pyramid; but I was disappointed when I saw nothing there. The chamber has a pointed or sloping ceiling, and many of the stones had been removed from their places evidently by some one in search of treasure. On my advancing toward the west end, I was agreeably surprised to find that there was a sarcophagus buried on a level with the floor."

Upon examining more minutely the chamber into which he had entered, he found it to be fortysix feet in length, sixteen feet three inches wide,

* Researches and Operations in Egypt and Nubia, vol. i. p. 417

and twenty-three feet six inches high. It is hewn out of the solid rock from the floor to the roof, which last is composed of large slabs of calcareous stone meeting in the centre at an angle corresponding to that of the Pyramid itself. The sarcophagus is eight feet long, three feet six inches wide, and two feet three inches deep in the inside. It is surrounded by large blocks of granite, apparently to prevent its removal, which could not be effected without great labour. The lid had been drawn to one side; so that the receptacle, be it fount or grave, was halfopen. It is manufactured of the very finest granite; but, like the other in the Pyramid of Cheops, it presents not a single hieroglyphic. Inspecting the inside solely with the view of finding some inscription which would throw light on the history and intention of this mighty edifice, he did not at first observe that there were bones mixed with the sand and gravel which it contained. These fragments of an animal body being afterwards sent to London, were ascertained to belong to the bovine species, and have been very generally supposed to be the remains of a sacred bull,-an object of veneration among the ancient Egyptians. On the sides of the chamber, which were carefully examined, Mr Belzoni observed many scrawls executed with charcoal; all of which, however, were in a character quite unknown to him, and already become so faint that they were in some places nearly illegible, and rubbed off on the slightest touch.

On the wall at the west end of the chamber he perceived an inscription, which has been translated as follows:

"The Master Mohammed Ahmed, lapicide, has