lar doubts, since the Bible spoke of bricks, and not of stone structures there. "As to what concerns the works on which the Israelites were employed in Egypt," he writes, "I admit that I have not been able to find any remains of bricks burnt in the fire." Calmet supposed Moses and Aaron were foremen of the works. Melchizedek is another of the reported builders.

It appears from Herodotus, whose tales are often mystifying enough, that, though Cheops and his brother erected the pyramids, "no Egyptian will mention their names; but they always attribute their pyramids to one Philition (Philitis), a shepherd, who kept his cattle in those parts." We are further told that this man left Egypt with a following of 240,000 men, and proceeded to the foundation of Jerusalem. Upon this, it is concluded by some that the monuments were erected by the shepherd race. Lord Lindsay says, "There is much reason to believe that they were built by the royal shepherds of Egypt, who afterwards became the Philistines." Mr. Sharpe, the Egyptologist, observes, "The curious remark of Herodotus, that they were called by the name of the shepherd Philitis, is not of sufficient weight against the foregoing reasons to lead us to the conclusion that they were built by the above-mentioned Philistine shepherds." But others have discovered, by arguments convincing to themselves, that this Philitis was none other than the Biblical Melchizedek, seeing that he was King of Salem, that is, of Jerusalem, founded by Philitis.

The shepherd story brings to mind the Hindoo narrative of some early race of India, the Pali, who were a shepherd people, ancestors of the present aboriginal Bheels, succeeding once in conquering Egypt. Their stronghold, Abaris, is, in Sanscrit, a shepherd; Goshena, in Sanscrit, is the land of shepherds.

Tracey, R. N., advance in the theory, and proclaim the very Saviour Himself the builder.

These are the Captain's words in a recent work: "We may from Scripture show that our Lord, as Melchisedek, had to do with the Great Pyramid, as the Great Architect thereof; for God, speaking to Job out of the whirlwind, demands of him (Job xxxviii. 18), 'Hist thou perceived the breadth of the earth? Declare if thou knowest it all.' This implies that none but God Himself could know it, consequently, none could have been the architect of the Great Pyramid but one who knew the counsels of the Almighty; and who could this be but our Lord Jesus Christ ?" He further affirms :-"The first appearance of our Lord as Melchisedek, King of Salem, leads me to believe that all His appearances from Babel to Abraham were as Melchisedek." Elsewhere he writes, "Melchisedek was really our Lord."

SMALLER PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH.

THOUGH the Great Pyramid has been the main object of enquiry, some reference to its neighbours will not be out of place.

The plateau of Gizeh, high above the region inundated by the Nile, was selected for a burial-ground in the earliest times of Egyptian history. The pyramids there are but lofty, royal tombs amidst a vast number of sepulchres. But that which excites astonishment is that we should have such noble architectural monuments remaining, appropriated as memorials to deceased princes, priests, and women, with nothing left to mark even the site of towns inhabited by them when living.

The pyramids there are surrounded by graves, not a few of

which are older than the oldest of these pyramids. The Great is called the First, because the chief in size and interest. The second is not much its inferior. The third is considerably less, though the most perfect and beautiful. Then come six other structures, of far less extent. Norden, 150 years ago, wrote: "There are four of them that deserve the greatest attention of the curious, though we see seven or eight others in the neighbourhood."

Most of the smaller ones are eastward of the Great Pyramid. Thevenot said, “Before each of the pyramids are the marks of certain buildings, which to some seem to have been so many temples." They were, however, but small pyramids. Doubtless some pyramids have totally disappeared. Before each, as is believed, a temple formerly stood, in which religious rites were performed for the deceased king.

The Ninth Pyramid is supposed to have once stood 101 feet in height, though now but 80. The length is 160. It possesses a subterranean chamber 124 feet long, 9 wide, and 81⁄2 high.

The Eighth Pyramid, to the east of the great one, which it resembles in its work, has been thought the tomb of Cheops' daughter. Its height, once 111, is now 55 feet. The original length was 172 feet. The funeral chamber is 123 by 101 feet.

The Seventh Pyramid, according to Mr. F. S. Perring, C. E., had the area of the eighth. It is now but a mound of sand 45 feet high. The chamber is declared 11 by 93, with an anteroom, 13 feet 10 inches, by 5 feet 10.

The Sixth is south of the third. It had formerly a base of 102 feet, and height of 691. There is a passage 47 feet long, leading to a chamber 26 feet long by 11 feet 4 inches broad.

The Fifth is cased with Mokattam marble. It was opened in

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years ago, described its ruins as covering a great space. Bakoui, of the fifteenth century, was wonderstruck at them. Furer, in 1565, spoke of two gigantic statues there, 20 feet high, with many stone animals. Radziwil, 1583, mentions a figure 20 cubits long lying on the ground. Abulfedu was delighted with the freshness of the colours. But Memphis has now scarcely a ruin to be recognised.

The Necropolis of Saqqarah, whose tombs extend four or five miles, was the City of the Dead for Memphis. In the midst of these sepulchres rose some pyramids. In Pococke's Travels, 1743, eleven of them are marked down. Jomard gives sketches of some, and marks the differences among them. Denon, 1799, talks of there being thirty; and adds, "one finds traces of a great number of others. Inside the truncated one to the south were found chambers with niches, as in the Third Pyramid of Gizeh.

The age of Saqqarah is greater than that of Gizeh. We read that Ouenephes, fifth king of the first dynasty, built pyramids at Cochome, supposed to be Saqqarah. The Serapeum, or burialplace of the sacred Apis bulls, is at Saqqarah, and was discovered in 1861.

The Great Pyramid of Saqqarah, or Pyramid of Degrees, though allowed to be "exceptional" by Mr. Fergusson, is fancied by him " an imitation of the old form of mausolea by some king of a far more modern date." But his doubtful mind is seen in another place, where he writes that it is "of a date either anterior or posterior to these" (other pyramids). Though an architect, he does not profess to be an Egyptologist. But Dr. Birch, a real authority, says clearly that "it is the oldest Egyptian monument hitherto found." Mariette Bey is positive

that it belongs to the first dynasty. He attributes it to the fourth king of the first dynasty.

It has six steps, or degrees. The material is stone and rubble. In size it corresponds with the Third Pyramid of Gizeh. From north to south it is 351 feet; east to west, 394. The height is 200 feet. The angle of the face is 72° 36'. Each story is said to be "not built in horizontal courses, but a pyramidal nucleus of rubble is inclosed by a series of inclined walls, about 9 feet thick, eleven in number on each side of the central mass, with an additional one on the north and south sides. These walls are composed of rudely-squared stones, set to the angle of the face."

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Baron Minutoli, of Genoa, had the honour of revealing the interior, in 1824. Of his interesting collection, the greater part was lost in shipwreck; a few things were purchased for the Berlin Museum. His wife has left us some interesting details of his work. Among these is the account of the many passages, corridors, and chambers, "in the walls of which," says she, were encrusted convex pieces of porcelain, of various colours, which, when seen by torch-light, must have a pretty effect. There are also hieroglyphics above several doors, a circumstance which has not hitherto been remarked in the other pyramids. The largest of these chambers, the walls of which were blackened by the smoke of the torches, contained, instead of a sarcophagus, a small sanctuary, formed of several blocks of stones." vitrified bluish-green porcelain slabs lining the chamber are like Dutch tiles.

The

Mr. Vyse found the horizontal passage below level, and a pit leading to the Subterranean Chamber. This passage is 120 feet long, and conducts to the pit. There are, however, four en