200 PYRAMIDS OF DJIZA. 
CHAP. Having quitted this Pyramid, we amused our- 
/- ^ selves by a cursory survey of the rest ; con- 
cerning which we have nothing to communicate 
that would not be a mere repetition of what has 
been already related by many other writers. 
We then descended into some of the smaller 
sepulchres. The walls within these were 
adorned with hieroglyphics. In some instances, 
we noticed the traces of antient painting, an art 
that seems to have been almost co-eval with the 
human race. The most remarkable instance of 
this kind was discovered by the author in a 
situation where, of all others, it was least to be 
Tiie expected, — upon the surface of the Sphinx. As 
Sphinx. ^^ drcw near to view this prodigious colossus, a 
reddish hue was discernible over the whole mass, 
quite inconsistent with the common colour of 
the limestone used in building the Pyramids^ 
and of which the Sphinx itself is formed. This 
Its surface iuduccd US to cxaminc more attentively the 
painted. supcrficics of tlic statuc : and having succeeded 
in climbing beneath the right ear of the figure, 
where the surface had never been broken, nor in 
any degree decomposed by the action of the 
atmosphere, we found, to our very great sur- 
prise, that the whole had once been painted of 
a dingy red or blood colour, like some of the 
