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STtTDY OF THE PYRAMIDS. 295
moderns? You will lose your reputation as an astronomer
if you begin to meddle with the pyramids !
" Prof. Smythe
replied thus in substance :
—
" As a university professor, I deem it strictly in accordance with the
methods of modern science to test any and every material thing whatever
by observation, by measure, and by the most rigid examination.
These ever-recurring questions demand rational answers : Why hangs
there so much historic lore about the Great Pyramid? Why is it
referred to in the legends of nearly all the Eastern nations ?
Why has it
so often been claimed as a treasure-house of scientific information?
What need, upon the Egyptian-tomb theory, had the corpse of a king
for a thorough and complete system of ventilation to his sarcophaguschamber
? Why was the interior of the king's tomb so perfectly plain,
and void of all ornament of carving, painting, or hieroglyphics, when
his subjects reveled in such things up to the utmost extent of their
wealth ? Why were the passages leading to the supposed secret sepulchral
chamber lined with white stone, as if to lead a would-be depredator,
and without a chance of missing his way, right up to the very place
where, on the sepulchral theory, he ought not to go ? Why was so different
a shape employed for a king's tomb to all his subjects' tombs,
prince and peasant alike ? Why did pyramid-building cease so early in
Egyptian histoiy, that it had become a forgotten art in the times of
Egypt's chief greatness under the so-called new empire at Thebes,
Luxor, and Karnak, yet an empire earlier than the siege of Troy ; when
the Egyptian kings, too, were richer, more despotic, and more fond of
grand sepulture, than at any former period of their history ? "
To investigate, and, if possible, rationally answer these
pressing inquiries, Prof. Smythe, collecting and packing his
measuring instruments, sailed— accompanied by his brave
wife — on a stormy November's morning, for Egypt, to spend
the winter in the study of the pyramids. Consulting the
viceroy, " his royal highness " granted him twenty men to
remove debris, clear the passages, and otherwise assist in the
measurements.
Fixing his abode in the eastern cliff
of Pyramid Hill, the
professor, in due time, with lamps, measuring-rods, notebooks,
and Arab assistants, went into the entrance-passage
on the north side, forty-seven inches high by forty-one wide,