A few hundred yards from the Pyramid of Cheops stands the colossal Sphynx, which, if possible, is a greater wonder than the Pyramid itself. The Sphynx is a huge lion with a human head. It is therefore an emblematic sovereign, combining the greatest earthly wisdom with the greatest possible strength. I said the Sphynx is colossal. Look at it and see for yourself. Its paws are fifty feet, and its body one hundred and forty feet in length. Its massive head is of proportionate size. This image is hewn out of solid stone, and stands out before us in giant-like proportions. And yet it is so graceful and symmetrical, withal, that we half-way forget its size. We are wondering why it does not move and walk, why we can not see it breathe and roll its eyes. If God would only touch the Sphynx, it would instantly become a living creature! Its countenance has been described as wearing “an expression of the softest beauty and most winning grace.” This, however, must have been in the days of its youth. At present, it has a furrowed brow and wrinkled. Its eyes are deep back in its head, and its jaws are firmly set. It wears a pensive, thoughtful look. I speak to the Sphynx, but, paying no attention, it stands “staring right on, with calm eternal eyes.” As an old man in his dotage, forgets all that took place during the days of his strength and manly glory, and thinks only of those things which occurred in early life, so this Sphynx stands, with memory stretching like rainbow from old age to childhood. It is thinking about the confusion of tongues that took place around the tower of Babel; about the morning when the city of Damascus was laid out by Uz, the great-grandson of Noah; about the day when God appeared to Abraham, and told him to leave the land of Ur and go into the land of Canaan. It is thinking about the time when Joseph ruled Egypt; when Moses was found in the ark of bulrushes, on the bosom of yonder Nile; when Pharaoh was swallowed up by the Red Sea. In middle life, this “eternal statue” saw Troy fall and Athens rise. In old age, it saw Rome flourish, fade and fall. Standing side by side, are the Sphynx and the Pyramids, both huge in dimensions, both graceful in appearance, both impressive to behold, both “ancient as the sun,” and both I believe, will be among the last earthly objects to yield to the “wasting tooth of Time.” CHAPTER XLIII. A BURIED CITY—POMPEII. Long Shut Out of Civilization—Four Days in Gehenna—Paul’s Experience Co-Incides with Ours—Dead—Buried—A Stone Against the Door—Raised from the Grave—Under an Italian Sky—“See Naples and Die”—Off for the City of the Dead—Knocking for Entrance—Earthquake—Re-Built—Location of the City—Boasted Perfection—City Destroyed by a Volcano—Vivid Description by an Eye-Witness—Rich Field for Excavation—What Has been Found—Returns to Get Gold—Poetical Inspiration—Pompeii at Present—Mistaken Dedication.