EXCAVATIONS AT MERGE and containing many cracks. Now as there could never have been an artificial or natural lake at this place, we concluded that the surface of reddish mud which we saw before us was the sediment of a pool of rain water which had collected here. A few hours' work enabled us to remove the dried mud, which turned out to be some feet in thickness, and then the sides of a narrow rectangular trench, some thirty feet in length, became apparent. When this had been cleared out, a low opening was seen at its west end near the ground, and beyond this we found a low passage ; this ran on towards the pyramid for about 40 or 50 feet, and led into a sort of vaulted chamber, which, so far as I could judge, was exactly under the middle of the pyramid. To about two-thirds of its height the chamber was filled with sand and mud, and nothing was found inside with the exception of some bones and a skull.

It is possible that there was another chamber beyond, but to have settled that question we should have been obliged to line the trench and passage with timbers carefully strutted and stayed, and to have put in balks of timber to take the weight of the chapel under which the long passage ran. The question was really of no importance, and we therefore let the matter drop. We had again found that the sepulchral chamber was beneath the pyramid, and that it was approached just in the way to be expected considering the conformation of the hill-side. In the pyramid itself there was no sign of the existence of a chamber.

We next attacked Pyramid No. 4 (Cailliaud D, Hoskins T, Lepsius No. 17). This pyramid is well and solidly built, and is about 47 feet square. The layers of stone in the casing are twentytwo in number, and the slope of the sides is greater than that of any other pyramid on the site. The stones are large and well cut, and afford good foothold. The chapel had disappeared, and only a few foundation-stones marked the site whereon it had stood. These were removed, and we proceeded to dig out a sloping trench about 40 feet long. The shaft was found immediately under the west end of the chapel, close to the pyramid, and as this was being cleared out, a trench was dug to the north of it, because small pieces of pottery and fragments of green glazed earthenware objects were found. At a depth of about 30 feet in the shaft some bones of animals were dug up, which showed that we were on the VOL. I. 353 A a