336 PLINX'S NATURAL HISTOET. [Book XXXVl. 



might be plotting to supplant them, or to prevent the lower 

 classes from remaining unoccupied. There was great Tanity 

 displayed by these men in constructions of this description, 

 and there are still the remains of many of them in an un- 

 finished state. There is one to be seen in the Nome of Arsin- 

 o'ites ;'' two in that of Memphites, not far from the Labyrinth, 

 of which we shall shortly have to speak ;'^o and two m the place 

 where Lake Moeris^' was excavated, an immense artificial 

 piece of water, cited bv the Egyptians among their wondrous 

 and memorable works : the summits of the pyramids, it is said, 

 are to be seen above the water. 



The other three pyramids, the renown of which has tilled 

 the whole earth, and which are conspicuous from every quarter 

 to persons navigating the river, are situate on the African 

 side of it, upon a rocky sterile elevation. They lie between 

 the city of Memphis and what we have mentioned-^ as the 

 Delta, within four miles of the river, and seven miles and 

 a-half from Memphis, near a village known as Busiris, the 

 people of w^hich are in the habit of ascending them. 



CHAP. 17. THE EGYPTIAN SPHINX. 



In front of these pyramids is the Sphinx,-'' a still more 

 wondrousobjectof art, but one upon which silence has been 

 observed, as it is looked upon as a divinity by the people of 

 the neighbourhood. It is their belief that King Harmais was 

 buried in it, and they will have it that it w^as brought there 

 from a distance. The truth is, however, that it was hewn 

 from the solid rock; and, from a feeling of veneration, the face 

 of the monster is coloured red. The circumference of the head, 

 measured round the forehead, is one hundred and two feet, tlie 

 length of the feet being one hundred and forty-three, and the 



19 See B. V. c. 9. -^ In Chapter 19 of tliis Book. 



21 See B v c. 9. Herodotus says that these pyramids were built by 

 Kino- Moeris, in the middle of the lake, towering fifty paces above the sur- 

 face^'of the water. Diodorus Siculus says that they were built by him ir 

 honour of himself and his wife. tt ni j * 



22 Or left-band side to those coming down the stream. Me alludes to 

 the three great Pyramids of Ghizeh, not far from Cairo. There are 

 numerous other pyramids to be seen in Egypt. 23 jn B. y. c. 9. 



21 It still exists, though the face is mutilated. It was disinterred from 

 the sand by Belzoni, but is now again nearly covered. According to Ca- 

 vuglia, the signature of the Histcrian Arrian was found inscribed on one 

 of the fore-paws, when it was disinterred. 



