“Our account of the mechanical productions of ancient Egypt would be incomplete did we not mention the Great Sphinx, which has always been regarded as an accompaniment, and sometimes even as a rival, to the Pyramids. The latest information in regard to this stupendous figure was obtained through the persevering labours of Mr. Caviglia, whose name has been already mentioned with so much honour. “After the most fatiguing and anxious endeavours during several months, he succeeded in laying open the whole statue to its base, and exposing a clear area extending to a hundred feet from its front. ‘It is not easy,’ says Mr. Salt, who witnessed the process of excavation, ‘for any person unused to operations of this kind to form the smallest idea of the difficulties which he had to surmount, more especially when working at the bottom of the trench; for, in spite of every precaution, the slightest breath of wind, or concussion, set all the surrounding particles of sand in motion, so that the sloping sides began to crumble away, and mass after mass to come tumbling down, till the whole surface bore no unapt resemblance to a cascade of water. Even when the sides appeared most firm, if the labourers suspended their work but for an hour, they found on their return that they had the greatest part of it to do over again. This was particularly the case on the southern side of the paw, where the whole of the people—from sixty to a hundred—were employed for seven days without making any sensible advance, the sand rolling down in one continued torrent. But the discovery amply rewarded the toil and expense which were incurred in revealing the structure of this wonderful work of art. “‘The huge legs stretched out fifty feet in advance from the body, which is in a cumbent posture; fragments of an enormous beard were found resting beneath the chin; and there were seen all the appendages of a temple, granite tablet, and altar, arranged on a regular platform immediately in front. On this pavement, and at an equal distance between the paws of the figure, was the large slab of granite just mentioned, being not less than fourteen feet high, seven broad, and two thick. The face of this stone, which fronted the east, was highly embellished with sculptures in bas-relief, the subject representing two sphinxes seated on pedestals, and priests holding out offerings, while there was an inscription in hieroglyphics most beautifully executed; the whole design being covered at top, and protected, as it were, with the sacred globe, the serpent, and the wings. “‘Two other tablets of calcareous stone, similarly ornamented, were supposed, together with that of granite, to have constituted part of a miniature temple, by being placed one on each side of the latter, and at right angles to it. One of them, in fact, was still remaining in its place; of the other, which was thrown down and broken, the fragments are now in the British Museum.