The mystery of the Great pyramid : traditions concerning it and its connection with the Egyptian Book of the dead : with numerous illustrations

NOTES

rectangular. He also noticed that the stone lying between these diagonal joints was of a harder material than elsewhere in the floor. ‘‘ Why,” he asks, “ did the builders change the rectangular joint-angle at that particular point, and execute an unusual angle in place of it, and in a better material ; yet with so little desire to call attention to it, that they made the joints fine and close to a degree that they had (hitherto) escaped all attention ? ”

“The answer came,” he proceeds, “‘ from the diagonal joints themselves, on discovering that the stone between them was opposite the butt-end of the portcullis (granite plug), or the hole whence the stone of concealment had dropped out almost before Al Mamoun’s eyes. Here, therefore, in a peculiar relation of position to something concealed, was a secret sign . . . in the passage, appreciable only to a careful eye, but made in such hard material that it was evidently intended to last to the end of human time.” —Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid (4th ed.).

Note M: Limestone BLocks IN ASCENDING PASSAGE (page 39)

Much speculation has arisen in the past to account for the numerous blocks which the Arabs had to remove piecemeal in the Ascending Passage above the Granite Plug. These stones were originally used in the Grand Gallery during its construction to form gauge-stones, or distance pieces, between the ramps, in order to keep the latter and the lower wall courses in correct alignment during building of the courses above and the core-masonry external thereto. On completion of the Gallery, these gauges—or rungs as they might be called—were cut out (and their ends can be seen left in the walls to-day) and allowed to slide down the Ascending Passage. To enable this to be done, a bridgingslab would be necessary over the point where the Horizontal Passage to the Queen’s Chamber comes in, forming the lower end of the Gallery floor, and making it continuous with the Ascending Passage. This slab rested, at its upper end, on the shallow recess in the present foot of the Gallery floor, and at its lower end butted against a step at the top

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