The great pyramid passages and chambers

PLATE CXXXII. Little of it remains, but a part of the lower course of casing-stones is still in positionPlate CXXVII. We were interested to see some small stone huts erected on top of this ruined pyramid. A few of the people, who had formerly taken part in the work of excavating, live in these huts, and their duty is evidently that of care-takers of the

The Step Pyramid of Sakkara.

excavated pyramid and temple. On request they kindly supplied us with a refreshing drink of water, and were duly awarded with bakshish.

511 Before continuing our journey southward, we took advantage of the slight eminence on which this pyramid is built to look back northward in the direction of the Pyramids of Gizeh, and secure a photographic record of the scene. We had traversed a considerable distance, and away over the flat plain the Great Pyramid and its companions looked very small and dim—Plate CX XVIII.

512 All the Pyramids of Abusir and Sakkara are very ruinous. It will be seen by our photographs of some of them, that they are little more than large mounds of rubbish —Plates CXXX & CXXXI. The “Step” Pyramid of Sakkara is almost the only one which presents anything like a definite form—Plate CXXXII. This structure, which is not truly a pyramid, possesses four entrance passages, and has a complicated system ot small passages leading in all directions. These are mostly cut in the rock below the pyramid’s base-line.

513 We visited the interior of one of the Pyramids of Sakkara. It has only one simple entrance passage leading to a few subterranean chambers cut in the rock not far below the base of the pyramid. The walls of the chambers are covered with decorative scroll-work and hieroglyphics, and one of them contains a sarcophagus.

514 A noteworthy distinction between the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, and all the other pyramids throughout Egypt, is the fact that in it alone are passages and chambers

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