raohs build them for themselves, but the princes and princesses
belonging to the family of the Pharaohs constructed theirs, each one
according to his resources; three of these secondary mausoleums are
ranged opposite the eastern side of "the Horizon," three opposite the
southern face of "the Supreme," and everywhere else--near Abousir, at
Saqqara, at Dahshur or in the Fayum--the majority of the royal pyramids
attracted around them a more or less numerous cortege of pyramids of
princely foundation often debased in shape and faulty in proportion. The
materials for them were brought from the Arabian chain. A spur of the
latter, projecting in a straight line towards the Nile, as far as
the village of Troiu, is nothing but a mass of the finest and whitest
limestone. The Egyptians had quarries here from the earliest times. By
cutting off the stone in every direction, they lowered the point of this
spur for a depth of some hundreds of metres. The appearance of these
quarries is almost as astonishing as that of the monuments made out of
their material. The extraction of the stone was carried on with a skill
and regularity which denoted ages of experience. The tunnels were so
made as to exhaust the finest and whitest seams without waste, and the
chambers were of an enormous extent; the walls were dressed, the pillars
and roofs neatly finished, the passages and doorways made of a regular
width, so that the whole presented more the appearance of a subterranean
temple than of a place for the extraction of building materials.*

* The description of the quarries of Turah, as they were at
the beginning of the century, was somewhat briefly given by
Jomard, afterwards more completely by Perring. During the
last thirty years the Cairo masons have destroyed the
greater part of the ancient remains formerly existing in
this district, and have completely changed the appearance of
the place.

Hastily written graffiti, in red and black ink, preserve the names of
workmen, overseers, and engineers, who had laboured here at certain
dates, calculations of pay or rations, diagrams of interesting details,
as well as capitals and shafts of columns, which were shaped out on the
spot to reduce their weight for transport. Here and there true official
stelas are to be found set apart in a suitable place, recording that
after a long interruption such or such an illustrious sovereign had
resumed the excavations, and open