The great pyramid passages and chambers

Ramps symbolize the Grace of God, his “exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be partakers of the Divine nature’’—2 Pet. 1:4. One misses them in the First Ascending Passage, which so well symbolizes the Law Dispensation. There, to help in the ascent and descent, we require to take advantage of the little irregularities on the walls, which have been caused by exfoliation. If it were not for these irregularities, and the footholds hewn in the floor,—if the walls and floor of the First Ascending Passage had preserved their original smooth condition,—it would be quite impossible for any ordinary man to walk init. On a former occasion (Friday, 18th June), while showing Professor Alex. Ferguson of Cairo through the Great Pyramid, the thought occurred to me while we were returning down the Grand Gallery from a journey to the King’s Chamber, that the course of the “ backslider”’ is harder than that of the willing climber. To go back is more difficult than to go forward. I mentioned the thought to John, and he thoroughly agreed with me, for at the time he was holding the East Ramp firmly with his hands, and carefully sliding down one foot after another into the footholds.

582 On the day in which Jack, Stanley and I visited the other pyramids higher up the Nile (Par. 505), John measured the Horizontal Passage leading to the Queen's Chamber, getting Grace’s aid to hold one end of the steel tape, etc. We now desired to go over it again, to verify these measurements.

583 As I indicated in a former letter, the masonry of this Horizontal Passage is very symmetrical. For a length of about 64 feet from the beginning of the roof at the Grand Gallery end, each wall is built in two equal courses. In each of these courses there are 15 stones of one uniform size, namely, 4114 inches in length, and half the height of the passage in breadth—Plate IX. The vertical joints in the upper course are in line with those in the lower; and those on the east are in direct opposition to those on the west wall.

584 Following these uniform sets of 15 stones, are two long stones in each course, averaging about six feet in length, after which each wall is built in one course only, apparently as far at least as the drop in the floor of the passage; but beyond this, on to the Queen's Chamber, the very thick and hard incrustation of salt which entirely covers the walls of this passage, made it impossible for us to locate the joints with any certainty. This salt incrustation is peculiar to the Horizontal Passage and Queen’s Chamber, although a little of it may also be seen on the walls of the First Ascending Passage.

585 With the camera erected in the passage at the south end, a few feet in from the doorway of the Queen’s Chamber, we secured a photograph of the drop or step in this passage—Plate CLIX. To show the difference in the height of the passage north and south of this step (which is between 20 and 21 inches in depth), we got Judah to stand in front of it with a two-foot rule in his hand. It will be noticed that his head just touches the roof. The extreme irregularity of the floor-surface in due to a thick layer of dust, which covers an excavation made by Col. Howard Vyse in search of a supposed secret passage or chamber under the step.

586 We took another photograph of the Horizontal Passage with the camera erected in the Queen’s Chamber, showing the doorway in the north wall of the chamber—

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