Time was passing quickly, and we had not yet seen the wonderful Sphinx.

The excavations which have been made show the Sphinx to have been a
gigantic figure of a crouching lion, with the head of a man, and wearing
a royal crown. It is cut out of the natural rock. Its length, according
to Pliny, was one hundred and forty-three feet, and its height
sixty-three feet.

The Sphinx is now much injured: and the sand drifts so fast from the
desert that the space where excavations have been made is soon filled
again. Yet, defaced and half-buried as it is, it is grand beyond
description. The "Father of Terrors," as the Arabs call him, is majestic
in his mighty repose. There he crouches, guardian of the solitary desert
and its solemn tombs. Thousands of years have rolled over his head, yet
there he still sits on his lonely throne amid his silent court. There as
long as the world lasts he will abide; grand, silent monarch of the
desert!

[Illustration: THE SPHINX.]

It was long before we could tear ourselves away from the majestic
Sphinx. But at last Mohammed warned us that if we wished to reach Cairo
before nightfall, we must no longer delay. We remounted our donkeys. But
though we rode at a quick pace, the sun was already setting before we
reached our hotel.

Our first thought the next day was to find out all we could about the
Sphinx. We searched our books of Eastern travel, and from them we found
that the Sphinx originally supported a small temple between its paws.
The walls consisted of three tablets, the top of one of which yet
remains. The middle one was of granite, and represented Thothmes the
Fourth making an offering to the Sphinx. He lived about fourteen hundred
and ten years before the birth of Christ.

The side walls were of limestone. They, too, were sculptured, and
represented offerings made by Rameses the Great, He lived in the year
thirteen hundred and eleven before the birth of our Lord.

There was an inclosure in front of this temple, bounded by a low wall,
which stretched from one paw of the Sphinx to the other. The space
inclosed between it and the temple was about fifty feet. There was an
altar for sacrifice in front of the steps leading to the temple.

In front of the wall was a wide paved space, from which two large
flights of steps went up to a paved road. This road led to the plain,
and had a brick wall on each side to protect it from the sand.

The approach must have been very grand. A man c