The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-05-23

government, began the work of re-
excavating the Sphinx. With a
force of 100 men and boys Colonel
Raum began clearing away the sand
from the base of the Sphinx. He
also cleared out the hole in the head
of the Sphinx to depth of Z feet, the
cross measurements of the hole being
81 feet long by p broad. At the
back of the Sphinx he also cleared
out shaft to the depth of 25 feet
and at the bottom found two pass
sages running west and southwest,
respectively. The hole in the head
of the Sphinx was, as generally sup
posed, connected with a cap which
once crowned the head of the Sphinx,
but which, from time immemorial,
has been missing. 1t was Colonel
Raum's good fortune to find this cap
at the depth of IA or Is feet below
the surface, in the temple Of the
Sphinx between the immense fore
paws. The cap is painted red, the
sacred color of the Egyptians, and
measures feet 3 inches in breadth
and is marked by the three lotus
columns and the traditional serpent.
The beard and cheeks of the Sphinx
as we'll as the cap, were formerly
painted red and traces of this paint
may yet be seen on the eyebrows and
right cheek and on the fragment of
the beard preserved in the British
Museum.
This is not the first time the Sphinx
has been excavated. 1t was uncov-
cred twice in ancient times, once un-
der Thothmes ". and once under
Rameses III. Thothmes Nv. recorded
the fact of his uncovering the Sphinx
on tablet which has been recovered
and translated. In this record he
states that he had dream in which
Ra Harmachis appeared to him and
promised him long life and pros
perity if he would clear the figure,
which was his emblem, from the
sands and repair it. In modern
times the Sphinx has been excavated
three times; by Caviglia, Mariette
and Maspero, and now by Col. Raum.
The French savants who accomp-
anied Napoleon to Egypt merely un-
covered the back of the Sphinx and
to Caviglia in 1916 belongs the hon
or of first restoring to sight in modern
times the colossal outline of the Great
Sphinx. 1t did not, however, long
remain uncovered. The winds of
the desert and the superstitious Arabs
who look upon the Sphinx with ter
ror soon again covered this wonder of
the ancient world as to all except it's
head, which has been so mutilated as
scarcely to give the modern observer
any just idea as to what it may have
been when Thothmes restored it and
when sacrifices were offered before it
for centuries. Tradition assigns part
of this mutilation to a fanatic Arab
sheik of the fourteenth century. The
nose has wholly disappeared; part of
the beard is one of the curiosities of
the British Museum, and the cheeks
have been mutilated by mamelukes
who made the head target, and
still other injury to its features has
been done by vandal tourists who
with hammer and chisel broke off
fragments as souvenirs. Arab his
torians speak of the Sphinx as tails
man to keep off the encroaching sand
and it may be that it's services against
the sands of the desert may partly
account for their carrying sand to
cover it, though it is quite as likely
that their terror of it may have had
quite as much to do with it. Ancient
ly brick wall, cased on the inner
side with stone, enclosed the Sphinx
and prevented the encroaching of
the sands.
CHICAGO. May Is.