Evening star., 1926-03-21
SAND ABOUT SPHINX.
IS BEING DUG AWAY.
Beauty Treatment Will Be
Completed Soon for
Ancient Landmark.
BY HAYDEN CHURCH,
Correspondent of The Star and North
American Newspaper Alliance.

1
CAIRO, Egypt, March 2O.-Some
| time this month Egypt'S mighty
| Sphinx will emerge from the. final
stages of a six months course of
| beauty treatments" and visitors will
| get more complete view of the Won
| derful old monument than has been
| obtainable for 1000 years.
| The work of uncOvering and re-
| juvenating the majestic Sphinx was
begun in September and is now on the
eve of completion,
| Shovelful by shovelful, the sand
that had engulfed all but the head,
shoulders and part of the back Of the
mammoth figure that smiled inscru-
tably down upon Alexander Caesa'
| and Napoleon, and countless other
captains and kings" before them
| has been gradually cleared away
| And simultaneously the great image
| of the sun god which had been in
| danger of dropping to pieces, has been
! thoroughly repaired under the direc'
| ton of experts, and is now good Tor
a few hundred years more anyway.
| This is the first time that the
| Sphinx has been completely eXcaVated
! since the time of the Ptolomys, on
| about 800 years before Christ, and per
, hapS since the eighteenth dynasty,
roughly 1iOU years 81.
The work of excavation and restora
| ton, which has cost about $40. 900, Is
Of great romantic interest and i'm
mense archaeological value. That it
| has attracted comparatively little at
| tention is probably due to the greater
| glamour OF other recent events in the
| land of the PharaohS, notably the re
moval of Tut-ankh- Amen from his
! inner coffin of pure gold. and the dis
| covery by the Boston-Iiarvard eXpe-
! dition of another royal tomb, only
about quarter of Il mile away from
| the Sphinx, on the other side of the
| pyramids, that is now believed to be
that of the mighty monarch Senefru.
| Who Carved the Sphinx?
! Older perhaps, even than the pyra-
mids, the 'S'tink-es," as the natives
call him, was heWn out of the natural
rock. With some help from added
| blocks of stone he was nodded into
the shape of couchant lion, with
! the head of a king, wearing the royal
| headcloth, adorned with the royal
| serpent. Exactly who did this, or
| when, nobody ever has been able to
determine. But whoever did also
| quarried away the rock on both sides
of the Sphinx. thus leaving him in
kind of pit, below the level of the sur
| rounding desert.
| 1t wasn't foreseen, apparently. that
| the WindbloWn sand from the desert
would fill up this pit and gradually
bury the monument itself, but this is
| what has been happening during all
! the thousands of years since. with the
| result that the sun god has had 10
| be dug out just about SO often.
| 1t was aboard peevish camel
! named Missouri tat least so it's at
tcndant stated that | realized the
| dream of years the other day, and
rode to the Sphinx along the sandy
waste that slopes downward from the
| rocky plateau on which the nearby
| pyramids stand. | had been told that
an interesting sight awaited me- and
| it surely was an animated and color
| full one that met my eyes - perhaps
| as curious a sight as ever has been
beheld even by the Sphinx. who,
however, surveys it imperturbably
through the network of scaffolding
! that still surrounds his ancient head
and affords a footing to the expert
workers engaged in the task of re-
| storing him.
Children Sing as They Work.
With a thrill. ones eye first takes
| in the details of the impressive figure.
| it's face battered alike by time. and
| by man. that thousand paintings and
| photographs have made familiar in ad-
| vance. Around it an army of workers
is swarming. Then, suddenly. the
sound of singing reaches ones ears
| AS one approaches nearer it becomes
evident that this proceeds from an
apparently endless procession of
quantity garbed humanity that files.
ant-faSh1on, down q wooden incline
into the pit that surrounds the Sphinx;
circles the monster, and then pours
upward in a steady stream on the
other side.
These are the workers that are
primitively engaged in carrying away
| lin baskets which when filled they
carry on their heads the sand that is
steadily being dug away from the
sides of the Sphinx. There are about
| 500 of them and when one gets still
nearer he discovers that at least three.
! quarters are children.
Boys and girls in about equal mum.
| bers, these youthful workers range
| from little kids of 6 or to
youngsters of perhaps Ia or Is. Arabs
all, recruited from. native villages in
| the neighborhood, they constitute
about as picturesque a rabble as one
could find anywhere. All their little
heads are turbaned, and they wear
| flowing robes of many different hues.
black and white ones preponderating.
Here and there I noticed one clad in
an old khaki tunic, built for a man,
and coming down almost to it's small
! wearer's heels.
These children assemble every morn
ing at 6, 1 was told by the French
expert, M. Bravais, who is bossing
10 ioI of i,,er
start work at Z. At noon they stop
for an hour, nourish the inner man or
woman, and then carry on until 4:3O.
which is the end of their working day.
They work in gangs, each under an
overseer armed with a big whip which
he frequently brandishes threaten.
ingly but seldom, if ever, uses in real
earnest. Or so 1 was assured ANY
how, the children seem happy enough;
the way they sing as they work is evil
dence enough for that.
Labor at Is Cents a Day.
Each gang, it appears. has special
ly hired singer, generally small boy.
With finger in one ear, and in a
highly pitched voice this youngster
continually chants some phrase with a
special significance for the youthful
Arab; one popular one being "Dia
Maloo lhaloo''-translated to me as
HE spent all his money on himself"
This phrase, chanted by the hired
minstrel is repeated in chorus by all
the little workers composing each
gang" as they file down into the pit
with their empty baskets, or stream
out again toting them filled with
sand.
These youngsters are paid at the
lordly rate of from Is cents to a
quarter a day. The sand they bring
out in their little baskets is poured