cular. If, however, there be two hundred and seven or eiOsrht
steps, which is pretty clearly ascertained, and these steps vary,
as Dr. Pococke asserts, from two feet and a half to four feet in
height, it seems scarcely possible, that the pyramid should have
no greater altitude than these gentlemen assign it. Mr. Record
makes the measure of the base on the north side six hundred
and seventy-eight feet six inches: the hiE beneath the entrance
fifty-five feet six inches, and from the top of the hiE to the summit
of the pyramid five hundred and ninety-three feet six inches,
so that the total height is six hundred and forty-nine feet. I f
Mr. Record intended this for the perpendicular height, the angle
at the summit of the pyramid must be very acute, which is by no
means the case: it may be presumed, therefore, that his measurement
was that of the slant height, taken mechanically, in which
case it would probably come near the truth.
On this subject we should have been less ftdl, had we not
deemed it o f some importance to settle a point, in which traveEers
of very great reputation have differed considerably, and on which
an accurate idea of the figure of the pyramid depends. W e cannot
avoid placing much confidence in the measurements of Mr.
Riou, and Mr. Dalton; which are corroborated by Mr. Giobert, a
french engineer, who makes the height of the pyramid four hundred
and forty-eight feet: and these come pretty near to Mr.
Mayer’s, on whose precision we can rely. From the minutes of
this gentleman it appears, that the face of the pyramid is an
isosceles triangle, the base of which measures seven hundred and
twenty-eight feet, and each of the sides six hundred and eighty