. Forrester's pictorial miscellany for the family circle . vered up in thesand which, for ages upon ages, has been brought there by thewesterly winds from the Lybian deserts. The features of the greatsphinx are almost worn away by the action of the sand, so that theycan scarcely be said to represent the human countenance. Were thewhole valley cleared of the sand which now lies there, the sphinxwould again become a sublime object, but as it is, it is impossible toform a very correct idea of its magnificence. Once, and once only,since the time of the Romans, Jias this prodigious image been laidb
. Forrester's pictorial miscellany for the family circle . vered up in thesand which, for ages upon ages, has been brought there by thewesterly winds from the Lybian deserts. The features of the greatsphinx are almost worn away by the action of the sand, so that theycan scarcely be said to represent the human countenance. Were thewhole valley cleared of the sand which now lies there, the sphinxwould again become a sublime object, but as it is, it is impossible toform a very correct idea of its magnificence. Once, and once only,since the time of the Romans, Jias this prodigious image been laidbare to its basis. The party succeeded in laying the paws bare, andcleared away the sand in front of it more than a hundred short Greek inscriptions were written on the paws of thestatue, which proves that it was held in great veneration. Someestimate may be formed of its size by the fact that the head measures THE CITY OF CAIRO AND THE SPHINX. 101 twenty-eight feet from the chin to the top of the forehead. Let usnow return to the city of MAHMOUDIYEH MOSQUE AND CITY GATE. Cairo is about nine miles in circumference, and contains nearlyiwo hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. It was formerly sur-rounded by a wall, strengthened and adorned by towers, and piercedby sixty-nine magnificent gates, several of which still remain. Inseveral places, however, the fortifications have crumbled into interior is divided into fifty-four quarters, or systems of build-ings, so contrived that each has but one issue by which it communi-cates with the neighboring sections of the city. The external doorways of private houses in Cairo are generallyarched, and are furnished with a raised threshold consisting of asingle stone. ,The door itself commonly consists of a number ofplanks, rudely put together, and is painted green, adorned abovewith red and white. It has generally a knocker and a wooden to the entrance is a stone seat, which serves horsemen as amounting
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Keywords: ., booka, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectnaturalhistory
