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

MYSTERY OF THE GREAT PYRAMID

proper standards for comparison. (Refer Note H re Stonehenge.)

Note U: Mopern ENGINEERING Feats (page 74)

Amongst remarkable engineering feats of recent years should be mentioned the construction of the Sennar Dam, on the Blue Nile, completed in May, 1925. It is two miles in length and contains a million tons of masonry. It is one of the greatest and most remarkable engineering works of its kind ever undertaken, and considering the circumstances attending its construction, it is in some respects even more wonderful as a piece of engineering than the Great Pyramid itself. An even larger dam, from the volume of water impounded, has since been opened near Poona, Bombay, at Khatgar, while both these projects will be eclipsed by the Lloyd Barrage at present under construction at Sukkur, on the Indus, and which will be the largest in the world, and will supply irrigation to an area equal to a quarter of the size of England. The barrage itself will be over a mile in length. All these projects are the work of British engineers, with British plant and machinery.

Notre V: THe LATITUDE oF THE GREAT PYRAMID (page 79)

The precise latitude of the Great Pyramid, according to Piazzi Smyth, is 29° 58’ 51”, or about a mile and a third south of the true 30° position. This is probably accounted for by the fact that no firm site was available upon which to erect such a building exactly at 30°, and that the nearest position was selected which raised the pyramid well above Nile flood levels, and at the same time afforded a suitable foundation. As it is, it has been placed at the most northerly edge of the Gizeh plateau in order to bring it as near as possible to the theoretically correct site. Smyth also suggests, from the astronomical point of view, that it was so placed to allow for the effects of atmospheric refraction, in which case, for the pole of the heavens to

126