The great pyramid passages and chambers

because the hard granite of that chamber deterred him, but he broke in at the west side of the Ante-Chamber, to the north of the ‘‘ Granite Leaf,’ where there was soft limestone, and continued westward and then southward until he intercepted the channel. He then followed the course of the channel upward for about 30 feet, cutting away the stones which formed the floor, but preserving the walls and roof. It is therefore now possible to observe the peculiar way in which the ancient builders constructed this airchannel. Its course does not, as one might have at first supposed, rise directly upward in a straight inclined line from the north wall of the King’s Chamber. On the contrary, after running horizontally northward for a short length, it takes a number of short sharp bends, each succeeding bend tending upward and toward the north-west, before it finally bends northward to proceed directly to the outside of the Pyramid at a steep angle.

346 It is difficult to understand what purpose the builders had in view in causing this channel to take so many short turns, but it seems evident that the initial westward tendency is for the purpose of avoiding the masonry of the Grand Gallery—Plate V. Why, however, did the builders not place the inner mouth of the channel further to the west of the north wall of the King’s Chamber, and thus avoid the necessity of the bends, and the extra work and expense which the making of them must have incurred ? That it was for some wise purpose we do not doubt, for, as Mr Covington says (and we believe we have good cause to agree with him), there is a reason, either scientific or symbolic, for everything in this great and noble structure. It remains for someone to search out the reason. It is interesting to notice that, although the King’s and Queen's Chambers differ greatly in shape and size, the mouths of the air-channels in the upper chamber are situated in the same vertical plane as those of the lower chamber—See Plate XVII.

347 When we reached the outer end of the air-channel, Sayd, who accompanied us, stooped down and crept into the channel until he reached the end of the excavated portion. He soon returned with two large owls in his hands, and told us that there were ‘‘little sons”’ inside, meaning that there was a nest of young ones there. We told him to let the owls return to their nest.

348 Twelve days ago (on the 12th June), while sitting in the early morning at the door of our dining-tent facing the north-west corner of the Great Pyramid (Plate LXXXII), we had counted by the aid of our Zeiss prism-glasses (of eight magnifications) the number of courses of masonry from the basement of the Pyramid up to the outer extremity of this north air-channel of the King’s Chamber. We had observed that it was situated in the 101st course, and its floor, therefore, begins on the 100th courseSee Plate IX. This enabled us, when climbing up the north-west corner of the Pyramid, to strike off at the proper level in a horizontal direction toward the centre of the north front, and thus gain the channel opening. It is quite impracticable to climb the Pyramid directly up any of its four sides, as they are too steep, and the loose crumbling debris which lies very thickly at the angles of all the courses makes climbing there doubly dangerous.

349 Looking down from where we were standing at the mouth of the channel, the north face of the Pyramid seemed almost precipitous ; and the uncovered casing-stones about 330 feet below us, looked very small. Our horizontal journey inward from the

185