Yet this mighty ceiling, as every one knows since Colonel Howard Vyse's admirable discovery, has above it, five successive ceilings, all designed to assist in taking off the extreme pressure of the upper part of the Pyramid on the lowest ceiling. I did not visit those upper chambers, being quite content with the Colonel's and Mr. Perring's measurements thereof; but inasmuch as they contain the dark and closed-up hollows, wherein the quarrymarks expressing the names of kings of the fourth dynasty have been found on some of the stones, and are necessary to understanding the mechanics of this room,—I subjoin two drawings of them, prepared from the Colonel's large publication. (See Plate XIV.)

The granite, in section is indicated by cross lines; limestone, by single lines. The quarry-marks are found only on limestone, and that from Mokattam. The lowest of the five chambers of construction had been known before Colonel Howard Vyse's time, being called indeed after an English consul, Davison, in the eighteenth century, as duly mentioned by the Colonel in his honest and faithful volumes.

VOL. II.

H

THE COFFER.

MARCH 20-23, 25.

THIS vessel, the sole contents of the King's chamber, and termed, according to various writers, stone box, granite chest, lidless box, porphyry vase, sarcophagus, and coffer, is composed, as to its material, of a blackish variety of red granite. And there is no difficulty in seeing this; for although the ancient polished sides have long since acquired a dark chocolate hue, there are such numerous chips effected on all the edges in recent years, that the component crystals, quartz, mica, and felspar may be seen even brilliantly. (See Plate I. vol. i.)

The vessel is chipped around, or along, every line and edge of bottom, sides, and top; and at its southeast corner, the chippings extend to a breaking away of nearly half its height from the top downwards. It is, moreover, tilted up at its south end, by a black flint pebble, about 1.5 inch high, pushed in underneath the south-west corner. The vessel is therefore in a state of strain, aggravated by the depth to which the vertical sides have been broken down near one corner; and great care must be taken

in outside measures, not to be misled by the space between some parts of the bottom and the floor.

As for the under surface of the bottom, I felt it, near the south end, with my hand; and tried to look under it also, when a piece of magnesium wire was burning there,-without being sensible of any approach to hieroglyphics or engraving. But as to the inside, or upper, surface of the bottom, and the vertical sides of the vessel, both inside and out,all the ancient surfaces there are polished smooth; they are also, all of them, simple, plain, and flat (sensibly to common observation); excepting only the top margin,-which is cut into, in a manner implying that a sarcophagus lid once fitted on, sliding into its place from the west, and fixable by three steady pins, entering holes on that side.

The west side of the coffer is therefore lowered all over its top surface, except at the north and south ends, by the amount of depth of such lid cut-out, or 1.72 inch; and the other, or east, north, and south sides, are, or should be, lowered to the same depth on their inner edges, and to a distance from inside to out, of about one-third the whole thickness. But the fulness of this arrangement cannot be seen now, because in some places, both ledge and top of sides are broken away together; and in others, though much of the inner angle of the ledge remains, thanks to its protected position,-the upper and true surface of the side has all been chipped away. In fact it is only over a short length near