﻿100 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



The City of Cairo and the Sphinx. 



I have heretofore given you a description of the Pyramids. 1 

 will now say a few words about the Sphinx, which is another great 

 work of the ancient Egyptians. The picture at the head of this 

 article represents the head of the Great Sphinx as it now appears. 



Sphinxes have been found in several of the old cities of Egypt, 

 They are formed with a human head on the body of a lion, and they 

 are always in a sitting posture, with the fore paws stretched out for- 

 ward. The largest sphinx ever found is in a hollow valley near the 

 foot of the pyramids of Gizeh, and is represented above. The head 

 and a very small portion of the body are the only parts now visi- 

 ble, the remainder of the mass having been covered up in the 

 sand which, for ages upon ages, has been brought there by the 

 westerly winds from the Lybian deserts. The features of the great 

 sphinx are almost worn away by the action of the sand, so that they 

 can scarcely be said to represent the human countenance. Were the 

 whole valley cleared of the sand which now lies there, the sphinx 

 would again become a sublime object, but as it is, it is impossible to 

 form a very correct idea of its magnificence. Once, and once only, 

 since the time of the Romans, Jias this prodigious image been laid 

 bare to its basis. The party succeeded in laying the paws bare, and 

 cleared away the sand in front of it more than a hundred feet. 

 Many short Greek inscriptions were written on the paws of the 

 statue, which proves that it was held in great veneration. Some 

 estimate may be formed of its size by the fact that the head measures 



