274

The Pyramids of Egypt.

VOL. 1.

On the south of this chamber is a passage hollowed out, just high and wide enough for a man to creep along upon his hands and knees, which continues in the rock for fiftyfive feet, and then suddenly ends. Another at the east end commences with a kind of

Mr. Salt, the late intelligent British Consul to Egypt, was so struck by this discovery, as to express his belief that the under-ground rooms were used for "the performance of solemn and secret mysteries."

very of a new chamber and passages, about ten years ago. "After that Almamon the Caliph (A. D. 820,) entered Egypt and saw the Pyramids, he desired to know what was within, and therefore would have them opened. He was told it could not possibly be done.He replied, I will have it certainly done.arch, and runs about forty feet into the solid And that hole was opened for him, which body of the Pyramid. stands open to this day, with fire and vinegar. Two smiths prepared and sharpened the iron and engines, which they forced in: and there was a great expense in the opening it; and the thickness of the wall was found to be twenty cubits. Within they found a square well, and in the square of it, there were doors: every door of it opened into a house (or vault,) in which there were dead bodies wrapped up in linen. Towards the upper part of the Pyr-thorities are silent. But the enterprising amid, they found a chamber, in which was a hollow stone; in it was a statute of stone, like a man, and within it a man, upon whom was a breast-plate of gold, set with jewels, and on him were written characters with a pen, which no man can explain.

Greaves, an Englishman, who visited the Great Pyramid in 1648, described the passages thus opened, and then open, very accurately, and suspected that at the bottom of a well in the Pyramid, was the passage to those secret vaults mentioned by Herodotus; but he made no new discovery. Davison, who visited it in the middle of the eighteenth century, discovered some secret chambers and passages connecting the largest gallery with the central room, and an apartment four feet high over it. He descended the well 155 feet, but found further progress blocked up. Caviglia was the first to discover the above suspected passage. After much trouble in clearing the narrow opening at the end of the first or entrance gallery of the pyramid, he found that it did not terminate at that point, as hitherto supposed, but proceeded downwards to the distance of 200 feet. It ended in a door-way on the right, which was found to communicate with the bottom of the well. But the new passage did not terminate here: it went beyond the door-way twenty-three feet, and then took a horizontal direction for twenty-eight more, where it opened into a spacious chamber immediately under the central room.

As to the Second Pyramid of Giseh, the ancients knew less about it than they did of the first. Herodotus says it has no underground chambers, and the other ancient au

Belzoni found its entrance, in the north front, in 1818, and discovered at the same time, that it had been previously forced open by the Arabian Caliph, Ali Mehemet, A. D. 782, more than a thousand years before. After forcing an entrance, and advancing along a narrow passage, one hundred feet long, he found a central chamber, forty-six feet long by sixteen wide, and twenty-three high, cut out of the solid rock. It contained a granite sarcophagus, (a tomb) half sunk in the floor, with some bones in it, which, on inspection by Sir Everard Home, proved to be those of a cow. An Arabic inscription on the walls implies, that it had been opened in the presence of the Sultan Ali Mehemet.

The utmost uncertainty exists in all that concerns these gigantic, unwieldly, and mysterious buildings. Their builders, origin, date, and purposes, are entirely lost in the night of ages. As the sides of all the pyramids face the cardinal points, and of course give the true meridian of places where they are situated, it would seem that their builders had made some progress in scientific knowledge; and the buildings themselves, under all circumstances, notwithstanding their plain exterior, clearly show the advanced state of art in those very early times.

The Sphynx which is near the pyramids is almost buried in 'sand; the head and neck only appear. Caviglia, however, caused it to be excavated, temporarily, and measured.— The form is that of a woman's head and This new chamber is twenty-seven feet breast, on the body of a lion, in a recumbent .broad, and sixty-six feet long. The floor is posture; the paws stretched out 50 feet in irregular; nearly one half of the length from advance of the body. The whole, except the the eastern, or entrance end, being level, paws, which are of masonry, was cut from and about fifteen feet from the ceiling; while, the solid rock. The features have the Nuin the middle, it descends five feet lower, in bian cast, and a very placid expression. The which part there is a hollow space bearing all head and neck, all that is above ground, are the appearance of the commencement of a 27 feet high. The breast was found to be 33 well, or shaft. From thence it rises to the west-feet wide, and the entire length of the Sphynx ern end, so that there is scarcely room between about 130. The back is now covered with the floor and the ceiling to stand upright." sand.

The Pyramids of Saccara, are numerous,|| This multitude of pyramids scattered over and very interesting on account of the pecu- the district of Saccara, DENON observes, proves liarities of their structure. The largest of that this territory was the Necropolis (city them is of an irregular form, the line of the of the dead) to the south of Memphis, and terminating angle being sloped like a buttress that the village opposite to this, in which the reversed. Another of a midlding size is com- pyramids of Djiza are situated, was another posed of stages rising one above another.-Necropolis, which formed the northern exThe smaller ones are greatly decayed; but tremity of Memphis. the whole occupy an extent of two leagues.

THE BRIDE.

She stood before the altar screen,
Beneath the gray arched temple pile,
And o'er her fell the chrystal sheen

Of morning's richest sunny smile:
Zoned in the golden flood of light,

To earth she seem'd not to belong; Or if to earth, her form was bright

As seraphs loved when earth was young.

Yet she was pale-and sooth a tear
Was trembling in her lucent eye,
As though some thought, to memory dear,
Was rising with a rising sigh:

And thoughts most dear were there that rose;
For though her love was sealed on one,
Yet never can the heart's leaves close

On kindness past, or mem'ry shun.

For she had left the home of years,
The nestling place of infant days,
And she had set her foot where tears

Too often mar sweet woman's ways;
And she had laid a fond warm heart

As ever beat at love's bright shrine, With murmured vows, "till death do part, Devotedly thine-only thine."

The chain of gold around her flung,

The clustered jewels on her hand,
Were gathered where hot tears are wrung,
From toil at wealth's untamed comman.

No. 15.

Song of the Bells.-To Young Females.

277

Slowly o'er the midnight gloom,
Hark, the funeral bell is tolling!
Sable cloak, and hearse, and plume,
Towards the village churchyard rolling?
Such the record of the bells,

Such the song they'll sing to-morrow;
Mourning in their music dwells-
In their sweetest note is sorrow!

TO YOUNG FEMALES.
BY MRS. SIGOURNEY.

The increasing privileges which an age of high illumination have conferred upon our sex, exceedingly heighten their responsibilities. Formerly, to be "faithful over a few things" was all that their limited sphere required; now, they are both qualified and expected to be made "rulers over many things." The treasures of their own minds are revealed to them, and they are summoned forth as laborers in the wide field of benevolence.

chamber, which contains four square pillars, two on each side. The sanctuary is 234 feet long and 12 wide, with a pedestal in the centre, and at the end of it four colossal sitting figures, the heads of which are in good preservation.* "The outside of this temple is magnificent. It is 117 feet wide and 86 high; the height from the top of the cornice to the top of the door being 66 feet 6 inches, and the height of the door 20 feet. There are four enormous sitting colossi, the largest in Egypt or Nubia, except the great sphynx at the pyramids, to which they approach in the proportion of near two-thirds. From the shoulder to the elbow they measure 15 feet 6 inches; the ears, 3 feet 6 inches; the face, 7 feet; the beard, 5 feet 6 inches; across the shoulders, 25 feet 4 inches; their height is about 50 feet, not including the caps, which are about 14 feet. There are only two of these colossi in sight, one is still buried under the sand, and the other, which is near the door, is half fallen down, and buried also. On the top of the The temple of science is no longer inacdoor is a colossal figure of Osiris, 20 feet high, cessible to the foot of woman. From its pawith two colossal hieroglyphic figures, one vilion whence with Moslem jealousy she was on each side, looking towards it. On the top for ages excluded, a voice addresses herof the temple is a cornice with hieroglyphics" enter in and live." Of treasures, which a torus (moulding) and frieze under it. had been from ancient times accumulating, Above the cornice is a row of sitting monkeys, yet strictly sealed from her eye, she is invited 8 feet high and 6 inches across the shoulders; to partake. they are 21 in number. This temple was nearly two-thirds buried under the sand, of which we removed 31 feet before we came to the upper part of the door. It must have had a very fine landing-place, which is now totally under the sand. It is situated upon a rock, buried about 100 feet above the Nile, facing the south-east by east, and about one day and a half's journey from the second cataract inity, her own initiation, her own proficiency Nubia, or Wady Halfa.

SONG OF THE BELLS.

BY CHARLES SWAIM.

Soft upon the summer air,

Hark the village bells are ringing! For an infant-sweet and fair

To the holy font we're bringing, Gems upon a bank of snow

Seem the drops upon her brow; Prayers are said, and praises flow, For the little Christian now!

Sweetly o'er the summer time,

Hark, the joyous notes are breathing,
For a young and beauteous bride!
Flowers around her path we're wreathing;
While upon the village plain

Meet the friends that loved her long;
Blessings wait the bridal train!

Wake the song!-the bridal song!

*Belzoni, p. 213.

It remains to be proved, in what manner this invitation will be received, this admission valued. Will she loiter at the threshold of this magnificent temple? Will she amuse herself in its courts, by gathering the brief flowers that spring up where there is "no deepness of earth?" Will she just enter the gate, and proclaim with the shrillness of van

in the mysteries of knowledge? Or will she press to its innermost shrine, among those true-hearted, and meek-souled worshippers, whose "candle goeth not out by night?"

Young Females, these interrogatories are emphatically for you. With you i is the time of culture, the day of hope. Suffer not the allurements of dress, the gayeties of amusement, the temptations of indolence, to prevent your oblation on the altar of wisdom. Come, while the dews of morning are fresh about you. The meridian sun may absorb your vigor, or find you toiling in different and more sterile fields. May you not be constrained to adopt the lamentation, "mine own vineyard have I not kept.".

A time will come, should your days be prolonged, when life may seem like a "twice told tale," when the present and the future disrobed of novelty, the mind will turn for its enjoyment to the past. Lay then a deep foundation, and collect a store of imperishable fruits for this season of retrospection.Convinced that "knowledge is power," seek