The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1911-07-27
From the New York World.

! the coming OF Christine great pyra-
mid Of Cheops, or Khufu. It stYll stands
there. eight miles from Cairo. defying
! time the elements and the vandals, all
working together, barely able TO stretch
its skin. psychologists worked az 1t;
Napoleon fought one OF his splendid
battles in its shadow And an Ameri-
can, Dow CovingtOn, has brought out
the latest word from its mysterious
depths; he has almost solved its sec
ret
Mr.. Covington has cleared every pas
sage that can be found. He has dscov-
| cred that certain winds make musical
sounds in the passages which he has
rid OF the debris of nearly 81 centuries
He hopes yet to find another northern
passage which will make quite a must
cal effect when the winds blow right
He has permanently reduced the inter-
Tor temperature Of the great pile from
| 50 to II degrees. He has made II pos
sible for visitors to reach the myster-
ious subterranean chamber with its
shaft, which goes as far down as the
level of the Nile in a170 p. c.
Best of all, he has cleared the single
remaining course just above the sands
OF sert and revealed to the world
tn. outer sheath was Of white lime
| stu!I, ..hich nobody knew before, be-
cause the great mass of stone had been
used as common quarry for thous-
ands of years. The limestone sheath
Ing makes many mosque in Egypt
today. When the tomb OF Cheops was
first reared 1t was as white as a marble
mansion Of our times. But it is not
so now
Few Of as can realize what 81 GEN.
turtles before Christ really means. That
is 5.6l1 years ago. The technical work
| OF those days was marvellous. The ma
| sonry Is absolutely unrivaled-there Is
nothing better in all the world today.
Monuments and palaces have come and
gone a hundred times since the Great
Pyramid was built. They have per-
lshed; it remains.
For 20 years 100000 men toiled at
The stones. They built their great pile
facing exactly north and south. They
chose a base of nearly a seventh Of a
mile. 761 feet to be exact. This was plot
covering nearly 13 acres. There were
2l0 perfect courses Of stone, almost in
visiDly Joined, of Mokartem limestone
blocks. At an angle Of little more
than 81 degrees, it's four sides swept
up, tapering to the pointed apex, 4S1
feet above the ground.
In il were S5.000,000 cubic feet of
stone, put up by people who had no
modern machinery. There are about
9, 300 900 individual blocks. Treated for
centuries as public quarry, all it's
outer stones and facings have been
4
for mosque construction. The anti
quaries never knew about this outside
sheath until Mr.. Covington, Of Ameri-
ca. came there with permission from
the British government to make his
explorations.
Perhaps it was luck, perhaps II was
skill. Anyway, he found the single I'M
touched covering at the northern base
which had been hidden by the kindly
hand of time. The debris removed he
unearthed marvellous relics. They had
been left there almost before modern
time began-objects Of bronze and ter
ra Gotta, two masons levels, bread
plates and wine TASKS used by the
worismen of other days. There were
the bones of a sacred bird which flew
its last flight at least 5000 years ago.
Mr.. Covington began his work nine
years ago, making his camp In the
shadow of the great pyramid He
started where the Caliph Mamoun left
off in SIS A. d., nearly LOO years ago.
1t was Mamoun who forced the first
passage into the stern depths of the
monster Of stone, but after he found
Ii nothing more was done for centuries.
Whole generations came and went be-
fore anything more was learned Of the
mystery.
First of all the American searcher
cleared away all the debris. Then he
started at the descending of entrance
passage, just below it's granite plugs.
and found the mysterious chamber be-
low the ground-burrowed out of the
living rock beneath the mighty pile
above-"The stones OF darkness and
the shadow OF DEATH" What this
chamber was for Is not yet known.
The passage leading to it may now be
used by cautious visitors. 1t is $50
feet long and through the natural rock
slopes down not half an inch out OF
plumb. You must go on your hands
and knees because II Is but four feet
high and little more than three feet
wide.
When he got to the bottom of this
chamber Mr.. Coyington realized that
there was more to do. He found q
we'll shaft, 1872 feet long, piled up with
20 feet of debris. When this was
cleared away. there started a current
of strong. fresh air. 1t swept down
the entrance passage, up the well shaft
thence down the descending passage
and out by the forced passage made by
Mamoun. Immediately the temperature
dropped IL degrees When Mr.. Gov.
ington cleared the debris from the low.
er end of the kings chamber south all
channel, ia feet long, he reduced the
temperature again.
The ordinary man may but visit the
great pyramid-or any of the others
for that matter. Unless he have au.
thority from the British government
who has Sir CASTOR Maspero as it,
director general Of antiquities. no mar
is allowed to touch a single pebble
much less to explore. But Mr.. Coving.
ton did such good work at the begin.
ming that he has been authorized t.
clear away the 69 feet of debris which
obstructs the upper or outer end Of
the channel which leads to this grea,
chamber of the king-the great Che
ops. or Khufu, himself. Then, for thu
first time in history, the interior o.
this wonder of the world will be free
from all distractions.
Already the wind playing down the
south channel makes q peculiar not,
like an aeolian harp. When the NORTH
channel Is working, perhaps there may
be other music which the Egyptian,
devised when time was young. A
least Mr.. Covington thinks so. Sale
he:
II am perfectly sure that part of tn,
plan of this passage was to catch tn,
wind and emit musical sound. Per
haps, working in conjunction with TIN
other, we may get two notes in har
mony."
Beneath the great kings chamber. II
the heart of the pyramid, is the queen
chamber Mr.. Covington is now a
work trying to find the exterior ends o
the 300 foot air channels. The inne
| o h