EXCAVATIONS AT MERGE high when complete, and was then at least twenty-eight feet square at the base, there was no chamber of any sort or kind.

The next step was to sink a shaft at the place where the chapel once stood, in order to save the trouble of excavating the whole length of the trench which we saw must run from the hill-side towards and under the pyramid. We passed through the foundations of the chapel, and then came upon several slabs of hard stone, and, when a depth of about 20 feet was reached, we RUINED CHAI'EI. OK A PYRAMID AT MP:R0E.

found clearly marked on the side of the shaft nearest the pyramid the outline of the passage which ran in under the pyramid. The materials with which it had been filled up had contracted in the course of centuries, and had " drawn away " from the sandstone. Thus we had found the entrance to the sepulchral chamber, arid at the depth which was suggested by the slope of the passage from the hill-side. Having made the bottom of our shaft large enough for two men to dig and two to load the baskets, we began to work inwards towards the pyramid ; very soon, however, cracks began to appear above the men's heads, and it being im-351