denly presented themselves so distinctly, as to make us believe that we were close to them, though we were still at least half a league off. At length we reached the plateau on which they stand.

We had been ascending for ten minutes the hill leading to them, when we perceived the famous Sphynx, and hastened up to it. We could see nothing but the head, the neck, and part of the back: the rest of it is buried in the sand.

This monstrous statue is of a single block, which, we are told, forms part of the rock that it stands upon. It has been remarked, however, that the colour differs: it is of a deep yellow; but as this difference does not exist in the fractured places, it has been concluded that this colossus was at first painted by the Egyptians.

The bulk and the prodigious length of the head and neck had long led to the conclusion, that the dimensions of the entire colossus must be enormous. It was doubtful, however, that they were so large as they are stated to be by Pliny, who asserts that, from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the belly, it measures one hundred and seventy-two feet. The excavations recently made under the direction of M. Caviglia, formerly a naval officer, have proved that there is no exaggeration in this account, and put an end to all uncertainty. He had the patience and perseverance to clear the forepart of the Sphynx down to its base. The gigantic proportions of the statue have been ascertained, and it is now known that it represents a monster, half man, half lion, the paws of which rest upon the rock, and extend fifty feet beyond the body. On the second claw of the left fore-foot has

been found a Greek inscription, with the name of Arrian, the historian of Alexander; between the feet a block of granite, on which are represented two small sphynxes, in relievo; and near it a small sanctuary in ruins. It is deeply to be regretted that the encroachments of the sand have again intercepted this astonishing object from the curiosity of the traveller.

The parts that continue uncovered are much damaged, especially the head: it is generally admitted, however, that it has an Ethiopian countenance. Persons who

have ascended to the top of the head assert that they have found there an aperture fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter, and that it is the outlet of a hole nine feet long, formed in the interior of the statue; they add that its depth cannot be precisely ascertained, on account of the quantity of stones that have been thrown into it. As Giseh was the second necropolis of Memphis, several of the learned have conjectured that the Sphynx was its tutelar deity, that oracles were delivered there, and that the priests introduced themselves into the interior, and so lent it their voice. Others, founding their opinion on certain ancient traditions, and on the very position of the statue, which looks towards the Nile, imagine that it was merely destined to indicate the overflowing of the river. It is also a very common opinion, but which appears to be as yet unsupported by any solid reasons, that it communicates by means of subterranean cavities with the highest of the pyramids.

Having satisfied our curiosity respecting the Sphynx, we proceeded towards the last-mentioned monuments, which are not far from it. I have told you what an impression

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the distinct view of them produced on my mind. When close to them, my eye measured them, I may say, without. astonishment, without surprise. The only thing that struck me was the excessive disproportion between these gigantic masses and what they were destined to cover. Their prodigious height, their enormous bulk, those rocks piled upon rocks, bearing all their weight upon a handful of dust-much less than this would have been sufficient to awake in my mind thoughts which would never have been suggested by all that I had read, by all that I had seen, most fit to convince me of the littleness, the pitifulness, the nothingness, of man. Inexpressible feelings succeeded each other in my soul. The vilest insect living beneath the stones of one of these tombs might, methought, boast with more reason of enjoying it than he who, after exhausting his skill and his treasures, the treasures and the lives of his subjects, in its erection, had said, in the delirium of his pride: "It is for me !"

The pyramids of Giseh are very numerous: there are nearly fifty, of unequal size. They are alike in this, that all of them are placed, with a very slight deviation, towards the four cardinal points. The three largest are those which have hitherto been designated, after the ancient historians, particularly Herodotus, by the name of Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus; and which M. Champollion asserts to be the tombs of the first three kings of the fifth dynasty, Souphi I., Sensaouphi, and Mankeri.

These pyramids stand upon a rock, the plateau of which rises towards the north, and gradually declines, especially on the west towards the desert. The height

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of this rock above the plain has been variously estimated by historians and travellers. The ancients

suppose

it to be about one hundred feet; some of the moderns reduce it to sixty-three; still more recently it has been computed at fifty. As, at a distance, the rock seems to form but one mass with the piles which it supports, perhaps it is to this cause, at least in part, that we must attribute the kind of illusion by which they appear to the observer, placed at a great distance, like mountains whose tops are lost in the clouds; whereas, when he is close to them, they seem to lower themselves, as it were, to bring their summits within the reach of his eye-a fresh illusion, favoured by the prodigious dimensions of the base, which tend to diminish the apparent height of the monuments.

Their real height was not accurately known till the measurements made by the savants, who accompanied the French army at the time of Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt. It is now known that the pyramid of Cheops, which some travellers stated to be four hundred and eighty feet, and others five hundred and twenty, is, in reality, four hundred and eighty-eight feet six inches; that of Chephren, three hundred and ninety-eight; and that of Mycerinus, one hundred and sixty-three.

It was long believed that, according to Herodotus, the stones used for building the pyramids were brought thither from a great distance; there is now no doubt that all of them, excepting the marbles or granites, with which they were lined, were extracted from the very spot on which they stand; and from quarries in the neighbouring Lybian mountains. An accurate analysis

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of the materials, made by the most eminent men of science in France, leaves not the least uncertainty on that head. It is now known that the principal stones are calcareous, fine-grained, of a light grey, easy to cut, and resembling, in their nature, those of the quarries of the country; and that those which formed the magnificent linings of the pyramids of Cheops and Mycerinus, and were removed from the former many centuries ago, from the latter very recently, were Ethiopian jasper, and the beautiful rose-coloured granite of the island of Elephanta.

It is easy to conceive that such structures must have required an immense expenditure of time, hands, and money. To form an idea, merely an approximative one, on this subject, we have but the testimony of the Greek historian, whom we are always obliged to quote on the subject of ancient Egypt, and that of Pliny, who, coming after him, only repeated his statements. "There was engraved," said Herodotus, "on one of the faces of the great pyramid, in Egyptian characters, how much had been expended merely for garlic, leeks, and onions. The person who interpreted this inscription told me that the sum amounted to sixteen hundred talents, (four million and a half of francs, French money.) If this be correct, how much must it have cost for the rest of the food of the labourers, for their clothing, for iron implements," &c. One hundred thousand labourers, he adds, were continually engaged in the work; they were relieved every three months by a like number; and yet, the pyramid alone, without including the construction of the dyke, was not finished in less than twenty years.