By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



55 



his hands to the measured cadence of a song, to mark the time and 

 ensure their simultaneous draught ; for it is evident that in order 

 that the whole power might be applied at the same instant, a sign 

 of this kind was necessary : and the custom of singing at their 

 work was common to every occupation in Egypt, as it is now in 

 that country, and many other places : nor is it found a disadvantage 

 among the modern sailors of Europe and others, when engaged in 

 pulling a rope, or in any labour which requires a simultaneous 

 effort." Sir Gardner Wilkinson concludes his account of this 

 interesting painting, by observing "that while small blocks of 

 stone were sent from the quarries by water to their different places 

 of destination, either in boats or rafts : those of very large dimen- 

 sions were dragged by men overland, in the manner here repre- 

 sented : and the immense weight of some shows that the Egyptians 

 were well acquainted with mechanical powers, and the mode of 

 applying a locomotive force with the most wonderful success." 



But if it be thought by any that the colsssal figures alluded to 

 above, would be of inferior bulk and weight to the rough stones of 

 Avebury or Stonehenge, let me hasten to correct such an erroneous 

 impression by remarking, that the statues of the Assyrians were of 

 enormous size and weight, while those of the Egyptians were of 

 no less dimensions. I proceed to prove this by figures ; and would 

 first observe that the height of the Egyptian colossus just described 

 was twenty four feet, 1 while the bulk of the Assyrian human 

 headed bull, alluded to above, was far greater : but these are as 

 nothing when compared to other colossal figures which still exist, 

 carved out of one block of stone or granite. Thus we find in the 

 plain of Koorneh or Western Thebes, two colossi of Amunoph III., 

 (date B.C. 1400) 2 one of which is the well-known vocal Memmon, 

 each of a single block, forty seven feet in height, containing above 

 11,000 cubic feet, and made of a stone not known within several 

 day's journey of the place. And not far off in the Memmonium, 

 on the same plain, is another statue of Remeses II. (date B.C. 



1 Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii., p. 327. 

 2 Wilkinson's Ancient Egypt, vol. iii., p. 329. Ditto Egypt and Thebes, 

 pp. 33, et seq. Ditto Handbook for Egypt, pp. 327—339. 



