found in 1785, in the Natron Lakes, near
Rosetta, and a granite group (113), representing, side by side, a
chief, and a royal nurse, with the chief's daughter. Amid another
group of fragments, the visitor should remark particularly an
arragonite torso (121); the upper part of an officer, holding a
standard (122); and a red granite bust of a monarch wearing the neumis
(125). A small black basalt statue, of the period of the 26th dynasty
(134) should be noticed. The figure, that of a palace officer, is
kneeling, and has dedications to the deities. Further on is a statue
of the third Thothmes, of the 18th dynasty (168), the head of which
has been restored. Here the visitor should remark the nine bows which
symbolise the enemies of the Egyptians. Having thus far noticed the
collection of statuary which represent human beings, the visitor will
gladly turn to those strange revelations of the ancient Egyptian mind
developed in the

EGYPTIAN SPHINXES.

In these strange conglomerations of various races of animals--the
lions with human heads and hawks' heads--there is generally preserved
that majestic repose, and that mighty force of execution, which rescue
the most incomprehensible of the ancient Egyptian monuments from
contempt. Not at all farcical or barbarous could the effect have been,
when the Egyptian approached his place of worship through an avenue
formed by rows of these colossal sphinxes--all grandly fashioned and
full of majesty. Mr. Long says: "Most speculations on the origin of
the compound figure, called a sphinx, appear unsatisfactory; nor,
indeed, is it an easy matter for the modern inhabitants of Western
Europe to conceive what is meant by the symbolical forms which enter
so largely into the ancient religious systems of the Eastern world. It
seems to us altogether an assumption without proof, that either the
andro-sphinx, or the sphinx with the female head, ought to be
considered as the original type of this compound figure. The sphinx
differs from other compound figures, which occur very often in the
Egyptian pictorial representations, in always having the body of a
lion, or, it may be, a panther, or some such animal as might be
considered a symbol of strength and courage. The whole history of our
species bears testimony to that tendency of the human mind, when not
restrained and guided by better knowledge, to pourtray in some visible
form its conceptions of Deity. However far many superior minds of the
heat