roken the
stones in search for treasure; and Sir G. Wilkinson thinks, that "if the
pit where the king's body was deposited does exist in any of these
rooms, it should be looked for beneath this niche." He remarks besides,
that this chamber stands under the apex of the pyramid. At the base of
the great gallery, to which we now return, is the mouth of what is
called the well, a narrow funnel-shaped passage, leading down to the
chamber at the base of the edifice, hollowed in the rock, and if the
theory of Dr. Lepsius is correct, originally containing the body of the
founder. The long ascending slope of the great gallery, six feet wide,
is formed by successive courses of masonry overlaying each other, and
thus narrowing the passage toward the top.

[Illustration]

Advancing 158 feet up this impressive avenue, we come to a horizontal
passage, where four granite portcullises, descending through grooves,
once opposed additional obstacles to the rash curiosity or avarice which
might tempt any to invade the eternal silence of the sepulchral chamber,
which they besides concealed, but the cunning of the spoiler has been
there of old, the device was vain, and you are now enabled to enter
this, the principal apartment in the pyramid, and called the King's
Chamber, entirely constructed of red granite, as is also the
sarcophagus, the lid and contents of which had been removed. This is
entirely plain, and without hieroglyphics; the more singular, as it
seems to be ascertained that they were then in use. The sarcophagus
rests upon an enormous granite block, which may, as suggested by Mrs.
Poole, in her minute account of the interior, have been placed to mark
the entrance to a deep vault or pit beneath. There are some small holes
in the walls of the chamber, the purpose of which was for ventilation,
as at length discovered by Col. Howard Vyse.

Above the King's Chamber, and only to be reached by a narrow passage,
ascending at the south-east corner of the great gallery, having notches
in which pieces of wood were formerly inserted, and from the top of
that, along another passage, is the small chamber discovered by Mr.
Davison; its height is only three feet six inches; above it are four
other similar niches, discovered by Colonel Howard Vyse, the topmost of
which is angular. Wilkinson supposes that the sole purpose of these
chambers is to relieve the pressure on the King's Chamber, and here was
discovered the cartouche containing the na