CHAP. LIII. CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANCIENT BUILDINGS, TEMPLES, & OTHER MONUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY. EGYPTIAN CURIOSITIES:-Pompey's Pillar-Buildings, and If glorious structures and immortal deeds With arts and arms, so boundless is its fame.. Young. PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT-From Cabillia's Researches, as recorded in Belzoni's Narrative. "The enterprise of Captain Cabillia was hazardous and bold, and nothing but an enthusiasm for discovery could induce a man to take such a step. The consul, with Mr. Briggs, Mr. Beechey, and myself, went to see the operations that were going on. Captain Cabillia's circumstances were much better than mine; but he had no superfluous wealth at command, to continue what he had begun, which required a supply beyond his means. Mr. Briggs was the first who generously offered to furnish money for this purpose; and, after a consultation with Mr. Salt, they agreed to support the work to any extent that might be required. This gentleman not only encouraged the undertaking at the pyramid, but has exerted his influence with Mohammed Ali, for the general advantage of the commerce of Europe. "The enterprise of Captain Cabillia is worthy the attention. of every one interested in antiquities, as he had solved a question by which the learned world has been puzzled for many centuries. The famous well, which has given rise to so much conjecture, turns out to be a communication with a lower passage, leading into an inferior chamber, discovered and opened by himself. He first descended the well to the depth of thirty-eight feet, where his progress was stopped by four large stones. Three of these being removed, there was space enough for a man to pass through; but the fourth he could not stir, though he had the help of Mr. Kabitsch, a voung man in the employment of Mr. Baghos, who bore a share of the expense with the captain. Twenty-one feet below this place they found a grotto, seventeen feet long and four high; and seven feet below this, a platform, from which the well descended two hundred feet lower. The captain went down, and at the bottom found earth and sand; but from the hollow sound under his feet, he judged that the passage must communicate with some other apartment below. He then set some Arabs at work to remove the sand; but the heat was so great, and the candles so incapable of burning, for want of oxygen, that they were compelled to desist. The captain then turned his researches to another quarter, and began to enlarge the entrance into the first passage of the pyramid. For this operation he was well rewarded; for by it he found that the passage continued downward, and having employed several men, and taken out a great deal of earth and rubbish, at last, after a long and ardent toil, he came in contact with the bottom of the well, where he found the baskets and rope which had been left there. The same day that this occurred, was that on which we had agreed to visit the pyramids, and I had the pleasure to be an eye-witness of the arduous task of Captain Cabillia. Proceeding in his laborious researches, he found that the passage led into a chamber cut out of the rock, under the centre of the pyramid. Captain Cabillia made several researches round the pyramids also, but none exceeded his toil in uncovering the temple sphinx. He found a small temple between the two paws, and a large tablet of granite on its breast. The tablet is adorned with several figures and hieroglyphics, and two representations of sphinxes are sculptured on it. Before the entrance into the small temple was a lion, placed as if to guard the approach. Farther on from the front of the sphinx, is a staircase of thirty-two steps, at the bottom of which is an altar, with a Greek inscription, of the time of the Ptolemies. At each side of the altar was a sphinx of calcareous stone, much mutilated. From the base of the temple to the summit of the head, is sixty-five feet; the legs of the sphinx are fifty-seven feet long, from the breast to the extremity of the paws, which are eight feet high. Forty-five feet from the first altar, he found another, with an inscription, alluding to the emperor Septimus Severus; and near to the first step was a stone, with another Greek inscription, alluding to Antoninus. re "Notwithstanding his own occupation about the sphinx, Captain Cabillia employed other people to carry on searches. He opened some of the mausoleums which were choked up with sand, and found several small chambers, with hieroglyphics and figures, some of them pretty well executed, and in good preservation. In one of the pits he found some mummies, in their linen envelopes, and various fragments of Egyptian antiquity. He also opened some of the smaller pyramids, and from the suggestion of Mr. Briggs to follow a certain direction, he succeeded in finding the entrance into one of them; but it appears, that it was so decayed in the interior, he could advance only a few feet. No doubt this led into some chamber or apartment, containing perhaps a sarcophagus, &c." Belzoni's own Researches.-M. Belzoni determined on penetrating one of the famous pyramids, and, after an immense labour, succeeded in discovering the entrance, and reached a portcullis; but here a large block of stone stared him in the face, and appeared to say, Ne plus ultra. He persevered until the stone was removed and the passage opened, which is only four feet high, and three feet six inches wide. After thirty days' exertion, he reached the central chamber, where he found a sarcophagus. This chamber is forty-six feet three inches long, sixteen feet three inches wide, and twenty-three feet six inches high. It is cut out of the solid rock, from the floor to the roof, which is composed of large blocks of calcareous stone, meeting in the centre, and forming a roof of the same slope as 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 broken at the side, so that the sarcophagus was quite open. It is, of the finest granite; but, like the other, in the first pyramid, there is not one hieroglyphic on it. On the wall, at the west end of the chamber, was an inscription in Arabic, which has been thus translated by Mr. Salame : "The master Mohammed Ahmed, lapicide, has opened them; and the master Ottoman attended this (opening;) and the King Alij Mohammed at first (from the beginning) to the closing up." M. Belzoni refutes the general assertion, that the pyramids were built of stone brought from the east side of the Nile; since stones of immense size have been cut from the very rocks around the pyramids, and there is yet stone enough to build many others if required. He is of opinion, that the pyramids were erected before writing in hieroglyphics was invented, and that they were erected as sepulchres. By the measurement which he took of the second pyramid, he found it to be as follows: The base .... Apotome, or central line down the front, from the top to the base Perpendicular .. Coating, from the top to the place where it ends... Feet. 684 } 568 456 140 POMPEY'S PILLAR AT ALEXANDRIA; with an account of a surprising Exploit of some British Sailors. The Pillar. This pillar is situated a quarter of a league from the southern gate. It is composed of red granite. The capital is Corinthian, with palm leaves, and not indented. It is nine feet high. The shaft and upper member of the base are of one piece of ninety feet long, and nine in diameter. The base is a square of about fifteen feet on each side. This block of marble, sixty feet in circumference, rests on two layers of stone, bound together with lead; which, however, has not prevented the Arabs from forcing out several of them, to search for an imaginary treasure. The whole column is one hundred and fourteen feet high. It is perfectly well polished, and only a little shivered on the eastern side. Nothing can equal the majesty of this monument: seen from a distance, it overtops the town, and serves as a signal for vessels; approaching it nearer, it produces an astonishment mixed with awe. One can never be tired with admiring the beauty of the capital, the length of the shaft, and the extraordinary simplicity of the pedestal. This last has been somewhat damaged by the instruments of travellers, who are curious to possess a relic of this antiquity. Learned men and travellers have made many fruitless attempts to discover, in honour of what prince it was erected. The best informed have concluded that it could not be in honour of Pompey, since neither Strabo no Diodorus Siculus has spoken of it. The Arabian Abulfeda, in his description of Egypt, calls it the Pillar of Severus. And history informs us, that this emperor visited the city of Alexandria;' that he granted a senate to its inhabitants, who, until that time, under the subjection of a Roman magistrate, had lived without any national council, as under the reign of the Ptolemies, when the will of the prince was their only law; and that he did not terminate his benefactions here, but changed several laws in their favour. This column, therefore, Mr. Savoy concludes to have been erected by the inhabitants as a mark of their gratitude to Severus; and in a Greek inscription, now half defaced, but visible on the west side when the sun shines upon it, and which probably was legible in the time of Abulfeda, he supposes the name of Severus to have been preserved. He further observes, that this was not the only monument erected to him by the gratitude of the Alexandrians, for there is still seen, in the ruins of Antinöe, built by Adrian, a magnificent pillar, the inscription of which is still remaining, dedicated to Alexander Severus. The exploit of some British Seamen.-One of the volutes. of the column was prematurely brought down some years ago, by a prank of some English captains; which is thus related by Mr. Irwin. These jolly sons of Neptune had been pushing about the can on board one of the ships in the harbour, until a strange freak entered into one of their brains. The eccentricity of the thought occasioned it immediately to be adopted and its apparent impossibility was but a spur for the putting it into execution. The boat was ordered; and with proper implements for the attempt, these enterprising heroes pushed ashore, to drink a bowl of punch on the top of Pompey's pillar! At the spot they arrived, and many contrivances were proposed to accomplish the desired point. But their labour was vain; and they began to despair of success, when the genius who struck out the frolic, happily suggested the means of performing it. A man was dispatched to the city for a paper kite; and the inhabitants, by this time apprised of what was going forward, flocked in crowds to be witnesses of the address and boldness of the English. The governor of Alexandria was told that these seamen were about to pull down Pompey's pillar. But whether he gave them credit for their respect to the Roman warrior, or to the Turkish government, he left them to themselves; and politely answered, that the English were too great patriots to injure the remains of Pompey. He knew little, however, of the disposition of the people who were engaged in this undertaking. Had the Turkish empire risen in opposition, it would not at that moment have deterred them. The kite was brought, and flown directly over the pillar; so that when it fell on the other side, the string lodged upon the capital. The chief obstacle was now overcome. A two-inch rope was tied to one end of the string, and drawn over the pillar by the end to which the kite was affixed. By this rope, one of the seamen ascended to the top; and in less than an hour, a kind of shroud was constructed, by which the whole company went up, and drank their punch, amidst the shouts of the astonished multitude. To the eye below, the capital of the pillar does not appear capable of holding more than one man upon it; but our seamen found it could contain no less than eight persons very conveniently. It is astonishing that no accident befel these madcaps, in a situation so elevated, that it would have turned a landman giddy in his sober senses. The only detriment which the pillar received, was the loss of the volute beforementioned, which came down with a thundering sound, and was carried to England by one of the captains, as a present to a lady who had commissioned him to procure her a piece of it. The discovery which they made amply compensated for thi mischief; as without their evidence, the world would not have known at this hour, that there was originally a statue on this pillar, one foot and ancle of which are stil remaining. The statue must have been of a gigantic size, to have appeared of |