Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/311

 The Tomb under the Ancient Empire. 22 I by Colonel Howard Vyse and J. L. Perring, who at once compre- hended their use. The roof of the sarcophagus- chamber consists of nins slabs of fine red granite, like those which form the walls of the same chamber. They are i8 feet 9 inches long and their ends rest upon the side walls of the chamber. In spite of their thickness and of the hard nature of the rock of which they are composed, it was feared that they might give way under the enormous weight of the masonry above, for the floor of the Fig. 1 52. ^Transverse section, in perspective, through the sarcophagus-chamber and the discharging chambers ; from the elevation of Perring. chamber is still nearly 340 feet below the actual apex of the pyramid. This danger was met in the fashion figured above. As the structure grew above the roof of the mummy-chamber, five small chambers were left, one above the other, to a total height of 56 feet, which would relieve the fiat ceiling of the mummy-chamber of the weight to be placed above it. The first four of these chambers were of similar shape and had flat roofs, but the roof of the fifth was formed of sloping slabs,