Vyse II · p. 80

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80             OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH .


chains or ropes , which may have been employed to con-
vey the workmen and their tools into it , or the stones and
rubbish made by these excavations out of it , of which a
considerable       quantity was found in the apartment , par-
ticularly at the eastern end .
                             This room had a flat ceiling ,
and was divided at some little distance from the western
side by pilasters , e e ( Plate     III , Figs
                                       .         . 1      and 2 ) , and by an
architectural      ornament on the roof,     ƒ Plate III Fig
                                                  (                       .,   .   2).
     At the western            end , and   near           the north -western
corner , a short passage ,        G (Plate   III , Fig 2 ) , led to a
                                                      .         .

hollow of inconsiderable height , H ( Plate     . , Fig . 2) ,      III
floored by the reverse of the blocks of granite that form
the coved roof of the sepulchral chambers immediately
beneath it .        The blocks extended from                east     to west , and
met in a ridge in the centre .             Their reverse ends were
lodged in deep groovings cut into the rock , and they were
kept down in their places by pieces of stone laid upon
them .

     The rock was partially           covered with a sparry                        ex-
                        appearance of white feathers ,
crescence , which had the
and was of the same nature as that discovered in the
chambers         of the Great       Pyramid .             The        entrance       to
the short passage G ( Plate III . , Fig . 2) had been closed
up with solid masonry , and concealed by a coating of
plaster .     It had probably       been forced            in search of the
tomb , and seemed to have been much frequented , for
the large masses of stone left within it were worn and
glazed over by the constant passing and repassing                                  of a


   7 These excavations , in some degree , account for the facility with
which the workmen in the shaft had been heard on the outside of the
pyramid     over this spot .