DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5073#0130
THE SPIIY.VX.
119
the horrible tale of the prison whose walls gradually-
closed in day by day on the unfortunate prisoner
confined between them, had once stood inside that
King's chamber; but I remember comparing myself
mentally to the little almond I had seen so gently and
quietly cracked by the wonderfully regulated power of
the giant " Nasmyth's hammer," which but a moment
before had pierced holes through a massive bar of iron
as easily as a needle passes through fine cambric — the
monstrous mass above me, however, remained unmoved,
and the fate of the small almond was not mine.
The next half-hour was pleasantly spent resting
under the shadow of one of the enormous blocks of
which the lower tiers of the Pyramids are "composed.
Of course the finish given by the triangular stones,
which made the surfaces of the sides smooth, must
have added much to their appearance, but they are
more picturesque as they are, with their rugged steps.
We saw the Sphynx in her very worst light, the glare
of 2 r.ir.: then all colouring is spoilt, the poetry of
Nature silent, and the surrounding scene rendered as
ugly as it can be. And yet it impressed me as much
as anything I have seen: like the Pyramids, it is im-
possible to form any idea of its size, from the fine pro-
portion kept in all its parts, until the Arabs climb like
ants over the neck and head. The features have been
beautiful, but they are now so much destroyed that the
mind must be full of those perfect faces seen in Abou-
Simbil, &c, to fill up t the gaps for oneself: like them,
it is more than wonderful how such exquisite harmony
could be preserved in the 172 feet long of the figure and
the 28 feet of the face cut out from the natural rock.
In spite of fractures and discolourments it still retains
its " mild and bland " expression : unimaginably grand
I 4
119
the horrible tale of the prison whose walls gradually-
closed in day by day on the unfortunate prisoner
confined between them, had once stood inside that
King's chamber; but I remember comparing myself
mentally to the little almond I had seen so gently and
quietly cracked by the wonderfully regulated power of
the giant " Nasmyth's hammer," which but a moment
before had pierced holes through a massive bar of iron
as easily as a needle passes through fine cambric — the
monstrous mass above me, however, remained unmoved,
and the fate of the small almond was not mine.
The next half-hour was pleasantly spent resting
under the shadow of one of the enormous blocks of
which the lower tiers of the Pyramids are "composed.
Of course the finish given by the triangular stones,
which made the surfaces of the sides smooth, must
have added much to their appearance, but they are
more picturesque as they are, with their rugged steps.
We saw the Sphynx in her very worst light, the glare
of 2 r.ir.: then all colouring is spoilt, the poetry of
Nature silent, and the surrounding scene rendered as
ugly as it can be. And yet it impressed me as much
as anything I have seen: like the Pyramids, it is im-
possible to form any idea of its size, from the fine pro-
portion kept in all its parts, until the Arabs climb like
ants over the neck and head. The features have been
beautiful, but they are now so much destroyed that the
mind must be full of those perfect faces seen in Abou-
Simbil, &c, to fill up t the gaps for oneself: like them,
it is more than wonderful how such exquisite harmony
could be preserved in the 172 feet long of the figure and
the 28 feet of the face cut out from the natural rock.
In spite of fractures and discolourments it still retains
its " mild and bland " expression : unimaginably grand
I 4