chamber of the sarcophagus was closed
by a slab of granite (Note 26); farther on was a small vestibule divided in
equal spaces by four portcullises of granite (Note 27), which would need to
be broken. The royal sepulchre is a granite chamber with a flat roof,
nineteen feet high, thirty-four feet long, and seventeen feet wide. Here
are neither figures nor inscriptions; nothing but a granite sarcophagus,
lidless and mutilated. Such were the precautions taken against invaders;
and the result showed that they were effectual, for the pyramid guarded its
deposit during more than four thousand years (Note 28). But the very weight
of the materials was a more serious danger. To prevent the sepulchral
chamber from being crushed by the three hundred feet of stone which stood
over it, five low hollow spaces, one over the other, were left above it.
The last is sheltered by a pointed roof, formed of two enormous slabs (Note
29) leaning one against the other. Thanks to this device, the central
pressure was thrown almost entirely on the side faces, and the chamber was
preserved. None of the stones which cover it have been crushed; none have
yielded a fraction since the day when the workmen cemented them into their
places (Note 30).

[Illustration: Fig. 137.--The Step Pyramid of Sakkarah.]

The pyramids of Khafra and Menkara were built on a different plan inside to
that of Khufu. Khafra's had two entrances, both to the north, one from the
platform before the pyramid, the other fifty feet above the ground.
Menkara's still preserves the remains of its casing of red granite (Note
31). The entrance passage descends at an angle of twenty-six degrees, and
soon runs into the rock. The first chamber is decorated with panels
sculptured in the stone, and was closed at the further end by three
portcullises of granite. The second chamber appears to be unfinished, but
this was a trap to deceive the spoilers. A passage cut in the floor, and
carefully hidden, gave access to a lower chamber. There lay the mummy in a
sarcophagus of sculptured basalt. The sarcophagus was still perfect at the
beginning of this century. Removed thence by Colonel Howard Vyse, it
foundered on the Spanish coast with the ship which was bearing it to
England.

[Illustration: Fig. 138.--Plan and Section of the Pyramid of Unas.]

[Illustration: Fig. 139.--Portcullis and passage, pyramid of Unas.]

The same variety of arrangement prevails in the groups of Abusir, and in
one pa