File:The Civil engineer and architect's journal, scientific and railway gazette (1839) (20654064185).jpg

Title: The Civil engineer and architect's journal, scientific and railway gazette
Identifier: civilengineerarc07lond (find matches)
Year: 1839 (1830s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture; Civil engineering; Science
Publisher: London : (William Laxton)
Contributing Library: Northeastern University, Snell Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Northeastern University, Snell Library

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1844.) THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 79 GRESHAM COLLEGE.
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Scale 12 feet to 1 incti. In our last voUiniP, p. 27G, we gave a plate sliowiug the Basingliall Street front of Gresli.un College, at wliicli time we made some obser- vation? on the merits and demerits of the building. We now exhibit the minor front in Cateaton Street, which has less pretensions to dis- play. ON THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT. By J. J. ScoLES, Esq., Fellow. (Read at the Royal Institute of Britiih Architects.) About three years shice the two first parts of the magnificent work of Colonel Vyse on the Pyramids of Egypt, were presented to the Institute, and Mr. Scoles then read a paper on the subject of the dis- coveries made by Colonel Vyse, and described the pyramids atGhizeh. On the presentation of the concluding number of the work, he took the opportUEiity, on the last meeting of the Institute, to resume the subject and to describe the further discoveries which have been made in the pyramids situated at Sakkarah, Dashhour, and other places in the"Faioum;" and which are delineated in the third number from drawings by Mr. Perring, the civil engineer, under whose direction the various excavations were made at the, expense of the gallant Colonel. There appear to be thirty-nine pyramids in Middle and Lower Egypt, all of which have been explored by Mr. Perring. They are situate on the western side of the Nile, cliiefiy on the desert hills, occupying a space measuring from north to south of fifty-three English miles. The first pyramid described by Col. Vyse is known by the name of Abou Roash; the base is 320 ft. square. The bulk of it is built of the mountain rook, (a sort of hard cbalk,) which has been reduced to a level around it, and the defective places have been made good with masonry. No part of the external casing is to be found ; indeed the edifice was not probably ever completed or raised to a considerable height. A passage about KiO ft. long, commencing on the north and descending at an angle of 22° 35' leads to an apartment about 4U ft. by 15 ft.; above it smaller chambers appear the have been constructed similar to those in the king's chamber in the great pyramid of Ghizch, called "Chambers of Construction," because they relieve the lower part from the superincumbent weight. Near to the pyramid are lieaps of broken granite, which may be the chips of tile blocks for the extreme casing; the blocks tliemselves probablv have been re- used in modern times, as the pyramids have been a sort of quarry for ages past. The fragments, though granite, crumble to pieces upon being handled, and are much decomposed, either from great antiquity or from an exposure not merely to the corroding air of the desert, but also to the moist winds of the Delta. The common saying that it never rains in Egypt, only applies to the upper country. In the Delta, extending from the sea to the district of the pyramids, rain is frequent and copious, and it was noticed that persons have arrived at Alexandria and remained there some time, subject to continual rain, and have left with the impression that it always rained in Egypt, although their idea before visiting the country was, that there it never rained. The next pyramid is situate at Rhtgah. Mr. Scoles here re- marked that the names given to the pyramids and by which they are known, are derived from the villages nearest these monuments, and have no reference to their ancient names, though frequently the site of an ancient city is to be traced in the modern name of the villages in the vicinity. This pyramid of Rhegah is curious, on account of being carried up in two inclines, like a pyramid at Dashhour. Mr. Perring did not succeed in discovering any entrance to it; but in the course of his excavation he discovered fragments of stone sculptured and coloured, and some marked with golden stars upon a dark blue ground, as if belonging to the ceiling of an apartment. At ./ibouseer are five pyramids, some tolerably perfect; Mr. Perring experienced great difficulty in exploring the interiors, as large masses of rubble masonry constantly fell in and seriously injured some of the explorers. The interior of three of these pyramids are similar in their arrangement. The entrance passages leading from the centre of the northern fronts are at first inclined and afterwards horizontal. The apartments in the centre, range from east to west, and are covered by inclined roofs, formed of several courses of stones. The bulk of the northern building has been in the first instance carried up in degrees or steps, and afterwards completed in the pyramidal form. The masonry in general is very rude, consisting of rough blocks of various sizes put together like rubble work with Nile earth instead of mortar. The passages are lined with granite and were closed by portcullis of granite; this material was apparently introduced to give strength to the masonry where its solidity was weakened by passages, &c., and as an additional security there had been three tiers of roof blocks over the chamber, and the base of the upper tier had been carried beyond those of the lower, in order to distribute the pressure over as great a base as possible. These blocks were of immense size, some 45 ft. long, 9ft. wide, and 12 ft. thick, and yet so completely had they been destroyed by the indefatigable exertions of the people who broke into these pyramids, that only two perfect blocks and fragments of two others remain. The marks of wedges were every way visible, but Mr. Perring observes, it is difficult to imagine any power but that of gunpowder could have effected so much destruction. A recess in the casing above the entrance appears to have been intended to re- ceive an inscription like that, as we are informed by Diociorns, was placed over the entrance of tlie third pyramid of Ghizeli; and this circumstance may account for the inscription said by Herodotus and by other authors to have been seen upon the great pyramids. In one of the Abouseer pyrandds blocks of granite filled up the entrance passage and remained in their original positions, clearly proving that the interior of the pyrunids was not inteniled for any astronomical purposes. The pyramids of Ghizeli had the passages similarly filled up, and the violators of these monuments of the dead had in the first instances forced a way down to the chambers through the solid masonry. The larger of these Abouseer pyramids was built insteps or degrees covered over with flat stones, and the space between these and the pyranddal casing was perhaps filled up with a rubble work of smaller stones. The murtar used in this pyramid was composed of Nile earth mixeil with a small quantity of lime or pounded limestone. In this py- ramid we have a specimen of the durability of wood, lor a long piece of this material had been worked into the masonry, which though rather shaky, was completely sound, and must have been built in the masonry at the time of the original creation of the building, a considerable

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