212 



THE SPHINX (19.) 



After innumerable difficulties and immense labor, by more than sixty 

 men for seven months, Mr. Caviglia succeeded in laying open the whole 

 of this extraordinary statue to its base; the huge paws were found to 

 stretch out fifty feet in advance of the body, which is in' a cumbent 

 posture, fragments of an enormous beard were found resting beneath the 

 chin, and there were seen all the appendages of a temple, granite table 

 and altar, arranged on a regular platform immediately in front. On this 

 pavement, and at an equal distance between the paws of the figure, was 

 the large slab of granite just mentioned, being not less than fourteen 

 feet high, seven broad, and two thick. The face of this stone, which 

 fronted the east, was highly embellished with sculptures in bas-relief, 

 the subject representing two sphinxes seated on pedestals, and priests 

 holding out offerings, while there was a long inscription in hieroglyphics, 

 most beaut^Uy executed ; the whole design being covered at the top 

 with the sacred globe, the serpent and the wings. Two other tablets of 

 calcareous stone similarly ornamented, were supposed to have constituted 

 part of a miniature temple, by being placed one on each side of the latter, 

 and af right angles to it. One of them, in fact, was still in its place ; of 

 the other, which was thrown down and broken, the fragments are now in 

 the British Museum. 



Asmalllion,couchinginfrontof this edifice, had its eyes directed towards 

 the Sphinx; this, and some other fragments, are all painted red; a 

 color which, in Egypt, as well as in India, is appropriated to sacred purposes. 

 " The breast, shoulders, and neck,'' says Dr. Richardson, " which are 

 those of ahuman being, remain uncovered, as also the back, which is that 

 of a lion; the neck is very much eroded, and, to a person near, the head 

 seems as if it was too heavy for its support. The head dress has the 

 appearance of an old fashioned wig, projecting out about the ears like 

 the hair of the Barberi Arabs ; the ears project considerably, the nose is 

 broken, the whole face is painted red, which is the color assigned to all 

 the deities, except Osiris; the features are Nubian or ancient Egyptian ; 

 the expression is particularly placid and benign ; so much so that the 

 worshipper of the Sphinx might hold up his God as superior to all other 

 Gods of wood and stone, which the blinded nations worshipped." As 

 to the dimensions of the figure, Pocoke found the head and neck, all that 

 were then above ground, twenty-seven feet high : the breast was thirty- 



