196 On the Pyramids of Egypt. 



the dreary honor of the landscape, except dark floathig spotSy 

 caused by the shadows of passing clouds upon the sand. 



Upon the SE side is the gigantic statiie of the Sphynx, the 

 most colossal piece of sculpture which remains of all the works 

 executed by the ancients. The French have uncovered all the 

 pedestal of this statue it proves to be a wretched substruc- 

 ture of brick-work and small pieces of stone, put together like 

 the most insignificant piece of modern masonry* , . . .Beyond 

 the sphynx we distinctly discerned, amidst the sandy Avaste, the 

 remains and vestiges of a magnificent building (unnoticed by 

 former authors wlio have written upon the pyramids) — perhaps 

 the SjERAPfiUM 



Immediately beneath our view, upon the' eastern and western 

 side, we saw so many tombs that we were unable to count them, 

 some half buried in the sand, others rising considerably above 

 it. All these are of an oblong form, with sides sloping like the 

 roofs of European houses. A plan of their situation and ap- 

 pearance is given in Pococke's Travels. The second pyramid, 

 standing to the SW, has the remains of a covering near its ver- 

 tex, as of a plating of stone which had once invested all its four 

 sides. Some persons, deceived t>y the external hue of this 

 covering, have believed it to be of marble ; but its white ap- 

 pearance is owing to a partial decomposition, affecting the sur- 

 face only. Not a single fragment of marble can be found near 

 this pyramid. It is surrounded by a paved court, having walls 

 ©n the outside, and places as for doors or portals in the \valls ; 

 also an advanced work or portico. A third pyramid, of much 

 smaller dimensions than the second, appears beyond the sphynx 

 to the SW ; and there are three others, one. of which is nearly 

 buried in sand, between the large pyramid and this statue, to 

 the SE. 



Having thus surveved the principal objects, as they appeared 

 from the summit of the great pyramid, we proceed to the ex- 

 amination of the substances which compose its exterior surface. 



* The author afterwards notices, that as tliey drew " near to view this 

 prodigious colossus, a reddish hue was discernible over the whole mass, 

 quite inconsistent with the cotniuon colour of the limestone used in build- 

 ing the pyramids, and of wjjich the sphynx is formed." This induced 

 further examination ; and " having succeeded in cJiinbing beneath the right 

 ear, where the surface had never been broken, nor in any degree decom- 

 posed by the action of the atmosphere," Dr. Clarke found that the whole 

 had once been painted of a dingy red or blood colour; and on this painted 

 surface lie found an inscription, but so concealed under the enormous ear 

 of the sphynx that no notice has been taken of it by any preceding tra- 

 veller. The two first lines are Coptic; the rest is Arabic; and the cha- 

 racters, which are of considerable size, are black painted on the red sur- 

 face. 



The 



