The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-11
THE PYRAMIDS.
INGENIOUS THEORY REGARD
 IN MANNER OF BUILDING.
Chicago. Lawyer Thinks They Were Carved from Rocky Islands in . Now-vanished
 Lake.

As the writing up of Egypt. with es l pecial reference to the pyramids, Is nov l in vogue. it seemed good to me to adt
 subject for thought and investigation 1 r. feel as we'll qualified to do this as | many others feeE qualified to write of | countries, their inhabitants and customs | by simply passing through them on ] | railway train. for l stood at and around l the base of Cheops for six mortal hour, l listening to the high tenor yelling and shriekihg' of the Arabs and fellaheer who gathered around offering all sorts of devices. trnkcts. coin, Scarubs rides | to "Sphincus. etc, in such numbers that one could neither hear. see nor think. Ii l could havo heard a basso profundo of even baritone. l might have beeu tempted to purchase something or have This terrible annoy ance prevented m. from making useful nominations and it was not until L passed over to the | restaurant. where these people are ex- cludrd, that l could gaze at the won-
 derful structures wi.h any Satisdaction. The first thing that | noticed was that
 the four pyramids were in line and at a right angle with the abrupt front or the LfbysH Ilfll. The next was that tue
 apices of all were on the same level or horizontal line: that the differences in height related to their bases and not to
 the tops. Cheops is.. in fact slightly it's apex. while those Of Chephren and Aycrenius are intact. The fourth one on the top and back end of the line is so small that tt isr not usually mentioned. According to Maspero's plan. there are
 three of these little pyramids, all in a transverse line. The north one is in line
 with the great ones and is the only one visible from the new hotel. The next thing that attracted my at- tention was that the varying thick
 Yesscs in the courses of stone in the
 pyramids coresponded with the strata of
 the Iibyan hills l was too far away to
 .1 ,i,,A t,,Sx- h,xf
 where stood the weather-beaten strata
 of the hills seemed to come around
 through the pyramids with mathemat-
 cal accuracy. The sand from the Ltb-
 lower strata of the hills and those of
 the pyramid bases were not observable.
 and this sand drift intcrferes sadly with
 an understanding of the original strue-
 ture of the Sphinx and it's temple. but
 there is enough to show that the Libyan
 hills at some remote period formed a
 shore line for some body of water and
 that & narrow tongue with steep faces,
 ran out from the hills into the valley
 at the same level as the hilltop. leaving
 small bay or cove on the south side.
 In which was an island. and the Sphinx
 block a .sunken rock, IL may be that the
 ridge was cut by water action. so that
 1t formed a line of island points which
 were afterward dressed Into pyramids.
 as the distances between them are un-
 equal.
 The next thing worthy of consideration
 is that the ancient Egyptians were
 skilled in working rocks in situ. The
 weather-beaten and sand blasted Sphinx
 confirms this and adds the testimony of
 one rock to their skili in this direction,
 while the Alps and other ton,bs of Sak-
 kara add additional proofs, and it en-
 forces the probability of the suggested
 mode of constructing the pyramids.
 which is that they began at the top and
 as they went down ouarried the mate
 rials at the levels where they were used.
 It will be seen at glance that this
 mode of construction disposes of many
 of the transportation problems and of
 the supposed tremendous lifting appa-
 ratus required for elsvatng the stones.
 This explanation will be objected to
 because of interior passages and granite
 lined chambers l had intended to in
 speet the interior. but when | came to
 the opening one of the guards said. You cannot go in. sir: you are too large
 man. So on account of my size theight
 six feet. weight .65,. 1 was refused ad-
 mittance, and per consequence, 1 have in mind the manner of general construc- ton for the whole. for if my theory ot construction is correct all of these struc- tures have solid central cores, with cX- depth and in variods places of unetua! depth
 fhe presence of granite blocks dressed and undressed does not afford any par ticuar negative evidence, for large bur nishcd blocks are found in the temple of the sphinx. which Is an acknowledged excavation in the native rock. Maspero says that he walls Of the Chepren tenn pie had solid limestone cores like those of the sphinx. seven feet and ten inches dhicf.
 The Apis tomb contains in one chan ber twenty-four sarcophagi for the sa crel bulls. calculated by measurement to weigh seventy tons each. which were carried in through excavatad drifts or tunnels and located in a manner which would puzzle modern engineers. bat whether the crIrts slabs of the pyra- mds were taken up through the known pa assages or dragged up the hillside by capsta1 and rollers, as mentioned by Herodotus. and the passages subse- ages undoubtedly were, the presence of granite blocks or slabs Tn the interior does not initiate against the idea of a solid interior cone. The interior pass cavatcd than formed during the progress Of the work. and afterward lined or faced at the opening. where there | were defects. All of the larger pyra- Ir'ds show tunnelinS in the aclSnaw lcdged [ native rock. beneath their bases.
 The visible settling of tho northeast | P prner of Cheop; shows that the mass yf 1 the great structure where the greatest l ner was little too near the turn or bor- ter of the foundation rock and was therefore. huilt up to A zrNater extent | and has. by its weight. caused slight | settling at this point. This spsrent set | Hing. however. may have been caused | Oy an earthquake which at one time | -hook :he structure.
 The astronomical and square with the world features. think. should be | lassed with Find in Homer things | that Homer never knew as the orienfa- | ton is some degrees and 48 minutes | off. hut the strenuous writers insist that 1 he earth has shifted its axis to that ex- | lent since the pyramid was built. They l prefer to move the earth rather than to | ! bsudon the inerrancy of the pyramid.
 The ancient Egyptians built with more Jr less accuracy on sun lines and with he 15S feet in length and the coarse ma erial used, they may well challenge the IDS. Maspera. D. S61. says: The work If facing began on top: that of the top vas first placed in position. ." This fact iocs away with staging for that part of he work. and why may il not have been lone as the maIn work progressed down. ward?
 It will doubtless be objected that if the building and quarrying began on top here would be much surplus material here. with a scant supply at the base l ut this is not s tenable fobjection if | he first proposition is accepted that the 'rojecting tongue of rock was high and harrow at the top or cut originally hv IDS. being at the extreme end. would nave only slight surplus on three sides.
 nd, in fact. the end surplus and chins Ire there tn this day in the form of | hroe httie pyramids near the end of | he southeast corner Besides no one an tell the amount of surplus or debris hat lies buried under the overblown "a ndS The E,gVntians wore aIsn ~Eufad