Chapter IV

Emily amused with a description of Greenland.--Belzoni makes
the valley of Beban el Malook the scene of his researches.--He
enters and explores the tomb of Psammuthis.--Receives a visit
from Hamed Aga.--Returns to Cairo.--Visits the Pyramids.--Time
and purpose of their erection uncertain.--Enters one which
for more than one thousand years had appeared a solid mass of
stones.

EMILY.--Mother, I have been looking at a picture in the study of some ice mountains in the frigid zone, and father has been talking to me about the little Greenlanders. He tells me, that notwithstanding their country is so cold and so desolate, they are extremely fond of it, and would not upon any account exchange their barren rocks and mountains of snow, for the spicy groves and flowery fields of warmer climates; and what amused me more than all, mother, father says that two of its inhabitants were brought to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, you know, a few years since, and they pined for want until they met with some train oil, (what could be more disagreeable!) which they drank with the same relish as we drink chocolate or wine; and they danced about for joy when they found they were to be sent back to Greenland.

Why do you think they like that cold country so much, mother?--The very picture of it makes me shiver.

MRS. A.--Habit, my dear little girl, renders every situation in life easy, and it is natural to become attached to our native country. Custom has taught the Greenlanders to struggle with the severity of the most piercing winter, and suffer the hardships of a poor and scanty subsistence. They scarcely know, even in idea, what enjoyment we derive from our woods, and groves, and fields, whilst gentle zephyrs breathe around, and the little birds seem to vie with each other in their evening notes of gratitude and praise. They are unacquainted with the delight we experience in watching the earliest buds of spring, and in admiring the rich hues of summer flowers, or the ever-varying tints of autumn. They cannot regret the loss of pleasures unknown to them. Their year consists only of one night and one day: the sun never rising during winter, nor setting while their short summer lasts.

“There on an icy mountain’s height,
Seen only by the moon’s pale light,
Stern Winter rears his giant form,
His robe a mist, his voice a storm;
His frown the shiv’ring nations fly,
And hid for half the year in smoky caverns lie.”

These caverns, their dwelling-places, are half under ground, roofed over with beams and rafters; the walls are composed of sods and turfs, and the interstices between are filled up with bushes, turf, and fine earth, and above all is a covering of skins, which nicely defends the inhabitants from the weather. The interior of the temple is not much more respectable than the outward parts of it. There is neither door nor chimney. Instead of the spacious hall usual in our houses, the entrance is through a long dark passage, with so low a ceiling, that those who go into it, are obliged to creep on their hands and knees. In the place of paper hangings, and elegant curtains, the walls are covered with the dried skins of bears, foxes, and other wild animals, to keep out the damp. For want of glass, the openings to let in the light are defended from cold by the membraneous substances of seals or fish. A raised bench lined with skins, serves the purpose either of a bed or a sofa, as they please, extending the whole length of the house, and divided into little apartments by large skins, stretched from the wall to the posts that support the roof, just like the stalls in a stable. And each partition is inhabited by a different family, who can carry on their own business without minding their neighbours. What think you of the dwellings of the little Greenlanders?

EMILY.--Indeed, mother, I own that I think myself very well off not to be one of them; and yet, do you know, I should prefer one of their smoky caverns to the dismal mummy caves of Gournou. Father says, that although the countenances of the Greenlanders are unpleasing, and their manners savage, they are not treacherous, like the Arabs who attended Belzoni when he entered that melancholy mummy cave. We left our traveller at Thebes, mother, and he was about to visit the tombs of the kings; cannot you tell us something more about him? “Oh! do, dearest mother, do!” cried Bernard, as the sound of Belzoni’s name reached his ear; and notwithstanding Bernard was busily employed in putting together his dissected map, he was eager to leave this favourite employment to hear about the tombs of the kings; and he began to arrange the pieces in order in his box.

“There, there goes Russia; the large Russian empire, mother; and there is Switzerland, with its lofty mountains, upon which the chamois goats bound from crag to crag; the Swiss are as fond of their country as the Greenlanders are of theirs, I know, by the song that Laura sings; the _Ranz des Vaches_, mother; and there is Italy with its orange groves; and there, Emily, goes your dear Lapland.”

EMILY.--Laura says, that

“E’en in _Lapland’s_ land of snow,
Lilies spring and roses blow.”

Laura was lately reading Linnæus’s tour through Sweden and Lapland, mother, and she says that he mentions many flowers which we consider delicate, as flourishing there, and that the water crowfoot--

BERNARD.--Stop, dear Emily, the pieces are placed in the box in order due, so pray leave your flowers and your _crowfoots_, and all the rest of it, and come and sit by mother and hear her talk to us about Belzoni. I guess we shall have some wonderful accounts; you know he is going to Beban el Malook, and I am sure that, for my part, I would much rather hear about the tombs of the kings in the valley of Beban el Malook, than all that you can tell about Linnæus and his flowers.

EMILY.--Ah, Bernard! you are no more of a botanist than Mahomed Ali, who amused himself with shooting across the Nile, at an earthen pot, even when he was surrounded by Flora’s beauties. But I am as fond of Belzoni as you are, so please to go on, dear mother.

MRS. A.--When our travellers arrived at Luxor, which town is not far from Thebes, you recollect they took up their former abode in the sekos of the temple, and found themselves at home again, for both these places were now become familiar to them. The two captains set off for Cairo, and Mr. Beechey began to take drawings of the different views, whilst Belzoni recommenced his researches at Gournou. He there found two more agents of Mr. Drouetti, busied in digging the ground in all directions, and who had been tolerable successful in their pursuit after mummies.

OWEN.--How unfortunate, mother! I wish that troublesome Mr. Drouetti would keep his agents in Alexandria, and not let them come to disturb Belzoni’s plans. Were these two fresh agents as disagreeable as the two Copts, who interrupted him before, and caused him to travel upon a donkey by day and night, from Minieh to Thebes?

MRS. A.--These men were not Copts, but Piedmontese, natives of Piedmont, one of the most populous and delightful parts of Italy. Although they did interfere with Belzoni’s plans at Gournou, they did him no injury in the end: for when he found that it was in vain to proceed with his work there, he made the valley of Beban el Malook the scene of his researches, being confirmed in the opinion that there was a sufficient prospect to encourage him to commence his operation, in hopes of discovering the tombs of the kings.

The valley of Beban el Malook is the place where the kings of Egypt were buried, and he thought that he might possibly discover some of their relics. It is completely separated from Gournou by a chain of high mountains, that also divides Thebes from the valley. The same rocks, indeed, surround the sacred ground, which can be visited only by a single natural entrance, that is formed like a gateway, or by the craggy path across the mountains. The tombs are all cut out of the solid rock, which is of hard calcareous or lime-stone, as white as it is possible for stone to be. They consist in general of a long passage, which leads to a staircase, sometimes with a gallery at each side of it, and other chambers. Advancing farther, wider apartments present themselves, and other passages and stairs, until at length the traveller finds himself in a large hall, where the great sarcophagus, containing the remains of the kings is laid.

Belzoni was furnished with twenty men, and began in good spirits to search for the tombs of the monarchs of Thebes.

His only guide was the knowledge he had acquired in his many researches among the tombs of Gournou. He is a gentleman of great observation, you know, and he found that the Egyptians had a particular manner of forming the entrances into their tombs, which gave him many leading ideas to the discovery of them. Three days after the excavations had commenced, the first tomb was discovered; the entrance indicated it to be a very large one, but it proved to be only the passage of one that was never finished. However, this partial success gave him encouragement, as it assured him that his idea respecting their situation was correct. In the evening of the same day another tomb was discovered, but nothing particularly remarkable was observed in it. The next morning an entrance was made into another, containing many chambers and passages. But it was not till some days after this that Belzoni pointed out the fortunate spot which repaid him for all his trouble, and compensated him for all the mortification he had received from the operations of the Piedmontese. He says that this day gave him more pleasure and more gratification than wealth could purchase, arising from the discovery of what had long been sought in vain, and of presenting the world with a new and perfect monument of Egyptian antiquity; which can be recorded as superior to any other in point of grandeur, style, and preservation, appearing as if just finished on the day they entered it; indeed, what was found in it will show its superiority to the others.

Not fifteen yards from the last tomb, Belzoni caused the earth to be opened, at the foot of a steep hill, and under a torrent, which, when it rains in the desert, pours a great quantity of water over the very spot he had caused to be dug.

One could hardly imagine that the ancient Egyptians would make the entrance into such an immense and superb excavation just under a torrent of water, but Belzoni had strong reasons for supposing it from indications he had observed. The Fellahs, who were accustomed to dig, were all of opinion that there was nothing in that spot, as the situation of this tomb differed from that of any other. He continued the work, however, and the next day he perceived the part of the rock that was cut and formed the entrance. Early on the following morning the task was resumed, and about noon the workmen reached the entrance, which was eighteen feet below the surface of the ground. The appearance indicated that the tomb was of the first rate, but Belzoni did not expect to find so magnificent a one as it really proved to be.

The workmen possessed but a small portion of their employer’s resolution and perseverance; and they advanced till they saw it was probably a large tomb, when they protested they could go no farther, because it was so much choked up with large stones, which they could not get out of the passage. Belzoni descended and examined the place, pointing out to them where they might dig, and in the course of an hour there was room enough for him to enter, through a passage that the earth had left under the ceiling of the first corridor; at the end of this corridor he came to a long staircase, at the foot of which a door opened into a still longer passage, each side of which was sculptured with hieroglyphics in basso relievo.

The more Belzoni saw, the more he wished to see, which was very natural; when our curiosity is excited, it is quite right to gratify it, especially if the object be laudable.

His anxiety was, however, checked for a time, for at the end of this long corridor he reached a large pit, which intercepted his progress. This pit was as deep as our house is high.

On the opposite side of the pit, facing the entrance, Belzoni perceived a small aperture, only two feet wide and two feet high, and at the bottom of the wall a quantity of rubbish. A rope fastened to a piece of wood that was laid across the passage against the projections which formed a kind of door, appeared to have been used by the ancients for descending into the pit; and from the small aperture on the opposite side hung another, which reached the bottom, no doubt for the purpose of ascending. They could clearly perceive that the water that entered these passages from the torrents of rain, ran into this pit, and the wood and rope fastened to it crumbled to dust on touching them. At the bottom of the pit were several pieces of wood, placed against the side of it, so as to assist the person who was to ascend by the rope into the aperture.

Belzoni saw the impossibility of advancing at the moment, and Mr. Beechey, who was with him, was also disappointed of advancing any farther. However, the next day, by means of a long beam, they succeeded in sending a man up into the aperture, and having contrived to make a little bridge of two beams, they crossed the pit, which was fourteen feet wide, twelve feet long, and thirty feet deep.

OWEN.--How much pleasure Belzoni would have lost if he had not been so courageous! To what place did that small aperture lead, mother? I wonder why the Egyptians took so much pains: always to have crossed that terrible pit must have been very troublesome.

MRS. A.--They found this little aperture to be merely an opening forced through a wall, that had entirely closed the entrance, which was as large as the corridor. The Egyptians had closely shut it up, plastered the wall over, and painted it like the rest of the sides of the pit, so that but for the aperture, it would have been impossible to suppose that there was any farther proceeding; and one would have concluded that the tomb ended with the pit.

Belzoni and his friend entered this narrow aperture. When they had passed through it, they found themselves in a large and beautiful hall, in which were four square pillars. At the end of this entrance hall was a large door, from which three steps led down into a chamber with two pillars. Belzoni gave this room the name of the drawing-room, to distinguish it from the others; it was covered with figures, which though only outlined, were so fine and perfect, that one might think they had been drawn only the day before. Returning into the entrance hall, they found a large staircase descending into a corridor, which they entered. They perceived that the paintings became more perfect as they advanced farther into the interior; the varnish that was laid over the colours had a fine effect, and it was astonishing that they were in such good preservation. This corridor led them to a smaller chamber, which they called the room of beauties.

They named it so, I suppose, because it was adorned with such beautiful figures in basso relievo and painted; when standing in the centre of this chamber, the traveller is surrounded by an assembly of Egyptian gods and goddesses. Proceeding onwards they entered a large hall, in which there were two rows of square pillars. Belzoni named this, the hall of pillars.

A step at the end of this hall of pillars led into a large saloon, with an arched roof or ceiling, and there were entrances from this saloon into many other large rooms and chambers; but what Belzoni found in the centre of the saloon delighted him more than any thing else, and sufficiently compensated for the danger he had undergone in crossing the little bridge over the great pit, and creeping through the narrow aperture.

It was a sarcophagus of the finest oriental alabaster, nine feet long and three feet wide, transparent, and minutely sculptured within and without with several hundred figures, representing, I suppose, the whole of the funeral processions and ceremonies relating to the deceased king, united with emblems and other devices. To give you an accurate account of all Mr. Belzoni saw in this tomb, would take us too long; you must visit the _fac simile_, as Laura calls it, in London, and then your curiosity will be gratified by seeing representations of the drawings, paintings, hieroglyphics, emblems, and ornaments which it contained.

OWEN.--But were these devices of no use at all, mother? Could not Belzoni decipher them sufficiently to know what monarch was laid there?

MRS. A.--As I have told you before, my dear, the hieroglyphical system has for many years been thrown aside, therefore it is almost impossible fully to ascertain any facts conveyed by it. A gentleman of distinguished eminence in literature has, however, lately employed much of his time in endeavouring to find the right key for reading this almost unknown language. If he succeed in his arduous and difficult undertaking, he will be enabled to give to the world the history of one of the most primitive nations, of which we are now nearly ignorant. In the hall of pillars, which I mentioned just now, a company of Ethiopians were painted, and distinguished by their colour and ornaments. The gentleman of whom I am speaking found the name of Psammuthis inserted among the hieroglyphics. Psammuthis made war against the Ethiopians; it is therefore supposed to be his tomb. The Arabs made great report of Belzoni’s discovery; it came at last to the ears of Hamed Aga of Kenneh, and he was told that great treasure was found in the tomb.

This was sufficient to excite his curiosity, but not enough to gratify it. When the important news reached him, he collected his soldiers together and departed immediately for Thebes, which is generally a journey of two days, but he travelled with such rapidity as to arrive in the valley of Beban el Malook in thirty-six hours.

EMILY.--Belzoni must have been very much amused when he saw him, mother, knowing that he was come on such a foolish expedition; and Hamed Aga himself must have been not a little mortified to find his trouble was fruitless: for I do not fancy the paintings and figures gave him much pleasure.

MRS. A.--Before his arrival, some Arabs conveyed the intelligence to Belzoni and his friend that they saw from the tops of the mountains a great many Turks on horseback, entering the valley and coming towards them.

Belzoni could not conceive who they could be, as he had never seen any Turks near the spot. Half an hour after they gave the signal of their approach by firing several guns.

Belzoni at first fancied that it might be an armed force sent to storm the tombs and rocks, and to destroy the hall of pillars and the room of beauties! but he soon found that it was the well known Hamed Aga of Kenneh, for some time commander of the eastern side of Thebes, and his followers.

OWEN.--But what business had he to go to the valley of Beban el Malook? It is on the west, you know, and consequently under another ruler.

BERNARD.--Oh, I suppose that in case of a treasure being discovered, the first that hears of it takes it for granted that _he_ is entitled to it!

MRS. A.--Yes: as a matter of privilege. When Hamed Aga was introduced to Belzoni, he smiled and saluted him very cordially; perhaps a little self-interest induced him to do so. They caused several lights to be brought, and descended together into the tomb. The symbolical representations on the walls of this extraordinary place did not attract his attention in the least; all the striking figures and lively paintings were lost upon him; his views were directed to the _treasure_ alone, and his attendants, equally regardless of real beauties, sought in every hole and corner in hopes of finding the wished-for-prize. Nothing, however, appearing, to satisfy their master or themselves, after a long and minute survey, the Aga ordered the soldiers to retire, and whispered to Belzoni in a cautious manner, “Pray where have you put the treasure?” “What treasure?” said Belzoni. “The treasure you found in this place,” replied Hamed. Our friend smiled, as well he might do, at the question, and assured him that he had found no treasure there; but this only confirmed the troublesome Aga in his supposition. He laughed, and still continued to entreat that it might be shown him, adding, “I have been told by a person to whom I can give credit, that you have found in this place a large golden cock filled with diamonds and pearls. I must see it. Where is it?”

Belzoni could scarcely refrain from laughing, whilst he assured him that nothing of the kind had been found there. Seeming quite disappointed, Hamed seated himself before the beautiful sarcophagus, to Belzoni’s great dismay, who dreaded that he would take it into his head that this was the treasure, and break it to pieces, to see whether it contained any gold; and, as their notions of treasure are confined to gold and jewels, I own there seemed some danger of it. At last, however, he gave up the idea of the expected riches, and rose to go out of the tomb. Belzoni asked him what he thought of the beautiful figures painted all around. He just gave an indifferent glance at them, saying, “this would be a good place for a harem, as the women would have something to look at.” And though only half persuaded that there was no treasure, he set off with an appearance of disappointment and vexation.

EMILY.--I do not like that Hamed Aga of Kenneh, at all! He had no taste, had he mother?

MRS. A.--What do you call taste?

EMILY.--Laura says, that it is the power which the mind possesses of admiring and relishing the beauties found in nature and art: therefore I imagine Hamed Aga had none: and he makes me think of a passage I was reading yesterday, mother; about a Frenchman, who, when he saw the sea for the first time, said that it was _assez jolie_.

MRS. A.--Some of Akenside’s beautiful lines occur to me:

“Say what is Taste, but the internal powers
Active and strong, and feelingly alive
To each fine impulse?--a discerning sense
Of decent and sublime, with quick disgust
From things deformed.”

Though our Aga did not possess this “internal power” in any eminent degree, we must not judge that it is confined to the polished part of mankind only; on the contrary, it is as common to a rude state of society as to an early period of life. Even the _wild_ tribes, who inhabit the back settlements of America, contemplate their extensive lakes, the Ohio and the Ontario, with astonishment, and gaze upon the starry heavens with delight. Although born in so rude a state, they are “feelingly alive to each fine impulse.”

Belzoni having embarked all that was found this season, left Thebes with another accumulation of antiquities, and arrived at Boolac after ten months’ absence.

He there engaged Signor Ricci, a young man from Italy, to return with him to Thebes, and to make drawings and imitations of the hieroglyphics. Mrs. Belzoni resolved to visit the Holy Land in the mean time, and to wait for Belzoni at Jerusalem, whither he intended going when the model of the tomb was completed. She did not admire the inhabitants of Luxor and Thebes; and the idea of visiting the Holy Land had first induced her to accompany Mr. Belzoni into Egypt; therefore thinking this a good opportunity, she left Cairo attended by the Irish boy and a Janizary.

Belzoni however, before he returned to Thebes, determined to visit the Pyramids in company with two other Europeans. You recollect that when Belzoni was first at Cairo he visited them, and that they are scattered about on the Libyan desert, to the west of that place.

There is so little agreement upon the subject of the builders of the Pyramids, either among the natives or historians, that we, like Pliny, must consider this uncertainty as a just reward of the vanity of those by whom they were actually erected; and of course, as we cannot determine who were the builders of them, we should only mis-spend our time by attempting to fix the period of their erection. I believe that their _least_ antiquity must be near three thousand years, as Herodotus, who you know was one of our first historians, and who lived above two thousand years ago, found so little satisfaction in his enquiries after them; and Diodorus, who also lived before the birth of our Saviour, supposes the great pyramid to have been built one thousand years before his time.

EMILY.--Will you tell me, dear mother, why the uncertainty in which we are left respecting them, should be a just reward of the vanity of those by whom they were erected? I do not understand what you mean by saying so.

MRS. A.--It is generally supposed that these pyramids were designed as tombs and monuments for the dead; and does it not appear to you, my dear Emily, that a little vanity must have actuated men to spend so much time and be at so much expense for such a purpose; intending, as it were to convey to future ages proofs of their power, and mementos of their greatness?

I am not so uncharitable, however, as to suppose that this was the only motive for which they were built. The Egyptian theology taught its votaries, that if the body was destroyed after death the soul underwent transmigration into the bodies of all sorts of animals for three thousand years, and at the end of that space returned to a human, though not to the original form, as that would be destroyed by that time; but so long as the body was preserved the soul continued with it, and thus avoided for so much of the three thousand years the unhappiness of these transformations; this may account for the great pains and curious precautions of the Egyptians with regard to their deceased friends.

EMILY.--I am glad to hear this, mother, for I shall be no longer puzzled with wondering what so many tombs and monuments were for: and the motive for embalming the mummies is now very clear. And now for the pyramids.

MRS. A.--Some of the pyramids had an entrance, and were known to be hollow, and others had not. Whilst Belzoni’s friends went into the first pyramid, which is nearly the height of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, he seated himself on a large stone near the second pyramid, which is about the same height, and fixed his eyes on that enormous mass, which for so many ages has baffled the conjectures of ancient and modern writers.

Should you not like to know all the thoughts that passed through his mind as he sat upon that great stone.

The sight of this amazing work astonished him, as much as the total obscurity in which we are of its origin, its interior, and its construction. One of the greatest wonders of the world stood before him, without his knowing whether it had any cavity within, or whether it was only one solid mass.

Various attempts had been made by numerous travellers to find an entrance into this pyramid, but so ineffectually, that there seemed little probability that even our enterprising Belzoni could succeed. However, experience had taught him to anticipate success! and he knew very well that the greatest difficulties may be overcome by patience and perseverance.

He rose at length, and by an involuntary impulse, walked round the pyramid, surveying every part, and almost every stone. When he came on the north side he observed indications that induced him to attempt searching there for an entrance. He perceived an accumulation of huge stones; consequently he had some hopes of finding a passage under this heap of ruins.

The following day he resolved to make a closer examination, without communicating his secret to any one. This review encouraged him in the attempt, and he applied without loss of time to the Bey for men to assist him in penetrating one of the great pyramids of Egypt--one of the wonders of the world!

Accordingly he left Cairo, having provided himself with a small tent and some provisions, that he might not be obliged to return to the city. He found eighty Arabs ready to work, and immediately set about the operation. They were daily paid one piastre (or sixpence) each. Several boys and girls of your age were also employed to carry away the earth as the men dug it. Belzoni contrived to ensure their good will by trifles and presents, and by pointing out to them the advantage they would gain if they succeeded in penetrating into the pyramid, as many strangers would come to see it, and they would get bakshis from them.

Belzoni knew that nothing has so much influence on the mind of an Arab as reasoning with him about his own interest, and showing him the right way to benefit himself. He does not seem to understand any thing else.

These Arabs worked with earnestness for some days; but after many vain expectations, and much labour in removing the mortar, which was so hard that their hatchets, which were the only instruments that could be procured, were nearly all broken, they began to flag in their prospect of finding any thing; and Belzoni seemed about to become an object of ridicule, for making the attempt to penetrate into a place which appeared to them, as well as to more civilized people, a mere mass of stone!

The cause of the pyramid appearing like a solid rock was, that the mortar which fell from the upper part of it had been moistened by the dew (for in spring and summer very heavy dews fall in Egypt at night,) and had gradually formed itself into one mass with the stones.

Belzoni’s hopes did not forsake him, notwithstanding so many difficulties presented themselves; and the Arabs, although their zeal was somewhat lessened, did not cease to work as long as they received a daily piastre. At last, after sixteen days of fruitless toil, one of the Arabian workmen perceived a small chink between two stones of the pyramid. Belzoni could just thrust a long palm stick into it, which he did upwards of two yards; and the Arab was equally delighted with himself, thinking that _he_ had found the entrance so eagerly sought for.

Encouraged by this circumstance, the people resumed their former vigour, and the work went on rapidly. After removing one of these stones, and a great quantity of sand and rubbish, they came to an opening inwards. Having made it wide enough to enter, Belzoni took a candle in his hand, and, looking in, perceived a spacious cavity, of which he could form no conjecture. The size of the entrance was increased, and he found that it was a forced passage, probably intended to find a way to the centre of the pyramid. But the hope that this would lead to the real entrance was in vain: it gave him none, and after much trouble in enlarging it, he remained as ignorant as he was before he began.

He gave a day’s rest to the Arabs after this disappointment, and dedicated the interim of their repose to a closer inspection of the stupendous pile; for he was determined on the accomplishment of his intended purpose.

OWEN.--I suppose that the ill success of the discovery of the forced passage was considered as a failure. However, I hope he will not give it up. I dare say the thought of Young Memnon, and of the temple of Ybsambul, gave him encouragement.

MRS. A.--The result of this day of researches was, that it would be better to begin in another part; and accordingly the Arabs were again set to work. They liked to receive their money, but they had no expectation that an entrance would ever be found! and Belzoni often heard them uttering in a low voice, “_magnoon!_” which is, in plain English, madman! However, they went on with their excavations, and in a few days Belzoni discovered a large block of granite: this gave him much pleasure. The next day three large blocks of granite were uncovered. His expectation and hope increased; as, to all appearance, he was near attaining the object of his search. Happily he was not mistaken; for on the next day, the 2d of March, 1818, at noon, they came to the right entrance into the pyramid. It proved to be a passage only four feet high, and it was almost filled up with large stones, which had fallen from the upper part. With some difficulty the stones were drawn out of this passage: and it was not until the evening of the next day that they reached solid rock.

At first sight it appeared to be a fixed block of stone, and said _ne plus ultra_, as if ready to put an end to all Belzoni’s projects. On a close inspection, however, Mr. Belzoni perceived that, at the bottom, this immense block was raised about eight inches from the groove cut to receive it, and that it formed in fact a portcullis, or sliding door of granite, one foot three inches thick. To raise it was a work of immense difficulty, but it obeyed Mr. Belzoni’s talisman, perseverance; and it was raised high enough for a man to pass. An Arab entered with a torch, and returned saying the place within was very fine.

They continued by unwearied efforts to raise the portcullis, and at last made the opening large enough for Belzoni to enter it; and, after thirty days’ exertion, he had the pleasure of finding himself in the way to the central chamber of one of the two mighty pyramids of Egypt. Having passed through several long passages cut out of the solid rock, he reached a door at the centre of a large chamber, and, walking two or three steps, stood still to contemplate the place where he was. It was a striking scene. He was in the centre of that pyramid which, from time immemorial, has been the subject of the obscure conjectures of many hundred travellers, both ancient and modern, and against whose hollow sides the sound of a human voice had not re-echoed for more than a thousand years!

EMILY.--Oh, mother! how awful it must have been! This was better than all--even than entering the temple of Ybsambul, or the tomb of Psammuthis!

MRS. A.--Belzoni’s torch, formed of a few wax candles, but faintly glimmered; and he looked round the spot where not a ray of light had penetrated for more than eleven centuries! He was in the middle of one of those stupendous pyramids, which, in defiance of the ravages of time, still remain as monuments of ancient magnificence, and of the evanescent glory of those by whom they were erected.

In the central chamber, which is cut out of the solid rock, except the roof, which is built of blocks of stone, he found, buried on a level with the floor, a sarcophagus eight feet long three feet six inches wide and two feet three inches deep. It was surrounded with large blocks of granite, apparently intended to prevent its removal. Its lid was partly off, and it contained a quantity of earth, stones and some bones. From an Arabic inscription on the wall of this chamber, it appears that some of the Arab rulers of Egypt had opened this pyramid, and closed it again.

When Belzoni had examined, and entered and re-entered the many chambers and passages within the pyramid, he returned to open daylight, highly gratified with the result of his researches: and I imagine, Owen, that he felt no small degree of satisfaction in applying to himself our favourite motto--

OWEN.--“_Labor omnia vincit_,” mother! and it shall be _my_ motto, whenever I have any thing difficult to do.

MRS. A.--In a few days, Belzoni, having settled his affairs, became anxious to return to the valley of Beban el Malook; and not omitting to provide himself with every thing necessary for forming models and impressions of the figures, emblems, and hieroglyphics in the tomb of Psammuthis, he set off for his old habitation among the sepulchres of Thebes.

BERNARD.--Do let us follow him, dear mother: I am very glad he had such success in entering the pyramid, and I hope he will have as much in every thing that he undertakes, I see that patience is a very good quality, mother.

MRS. A.--So it is, my dear boy; and if you will exercise it till to-morrow evening, I mean to tell you something more.