Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-11

-HE great pyramid Of Khufu
/ tCheops, at Gizeh has recent
i l. been the object OF some
1 special Investigations and
! measurements by the Egypt
| ologist and explorer. Mr.. Dow Covington,
+. Il. G. s.. of Covington. Ky. now IN
| Washington lccturing at several eduea-
tional and scientific institutions
The stepped form which the pyramid
now presents was. of course. not IT'S
completed form originally" said Mr.. Gov
ington 1T was. as described by Herodo-
tus $50 y. c.. finished by smooth uh-
broken slope. The outer stones when
produced this slope tj1 dgrecs III minutes
IA seconds. being more easily removed
I than the rest of the masonry dhe core
masonry. have doubtless in the course
of ages formed convenient quarry Oh
| high grade building limestone: and they
have disintegrated and been worn down
by weather But my excavations at the
| foot of the pyramid on the north SIDE
! have laid bare a considerable length OIL
/ the first or lowest course of facing
stones together with the heavy pavement
on which they rest. These, having been
protected by the accumulated debris over
them are still in remarkably perfect con-
dition.
The First Facing Stone.
The first facing stone shown in the il
| lustration is just below the passage forced
| in S1S A. d. by the Caliph Ali Mamouh
in entering the pyramid. Not finding the
entrance. which was twenty-three feet
| cast of the center and skillfuliy conceal
ed. he began at the center, on the seventh
course of masonry thirty feet above the
1 base. In six weeks he blasted into the
masonry for Some ~ feet. terminating
west of the granite plugs. In lM2 in low
| ering the pyramid temperature from 81
degrees to 90 degrees cleared many tons
of the heavy debris from this passage,
which the Caliph Mamouns men had left
| there over LOCO years ago.
In 1909. with the authorization OF Sir
CASTOR Maspero, director general of the
Egyptian service Of antiquities, my party
excavating for some ll6 feet at the north
! base. west of the center. completely eX
posed nineteen finely cut and Joined fac
ing or casing stones. Only the first three
had been discovered and partly cleared in
1897 by Col. tafterward Gem Howard
Nyse and examined in 1881 by Prof. Pc
trfe. In 1909. however, We discovered and
thoroughly cleared sixteen more of these
superb stones. and strip some 10 feet
long and sixteen feet wide of the we'll
Joined pavement on which they rest.
The first fourteen of JneSe nineteen
casing stones gave a clear. unbroken
base line of IS feet inches. and this
line. carried out to the socket of the
northwest corner stone. should decide as
to whether 1T is true with the socket line
or recedes from it. Unfortunately the
highest authorities do not agree as to the
socket line. The test Will be made after
the excavation has been extended west
ward; as il is desired to locate. if pos
sible the unknown western limit of the
pavement. 1t is very important that this
should be done, as the architectural fea-
lures at that point might be of great
practical and theoretical value.
The 226 Steps of Stone.
This single course of casing stones is
the first of some 226 courses. which ex-
tended up some 61J feet to the pointed
apex of the structure. The angle Of slope
is generally accepted as 81 81 14"-John
TayloTs figures: Prof. Petrie's being