aks, breaking the monotony of the
Libyan horizon; as we approach them they apparently decrease in size,
and seem to be merely unimportant inequalities of ground on the surface
of the plain. It is not till we reach their bases that we guess their
enormous size. The lower courses then stretch seemingly into infinity to
right and left, while the summit soars up out of our sight into the sky.
"The effect is gained by majesty and simplicity of form, in the contrast
and disproportion between the stature of man and the immensity of his
handiwork: the eye fails to take it in; it is even difficult for the
mind to grasp it. We see, we may touch hundreds of courses formed of
blocks, two hundred cubic feet in size,... and thousands of others
scarcely less in bulk, and wo are at a loss to know what force has
moved, transported, and raised so great a number of colossal stones, how
many men were needed for the work, what amount of time was required
for it, what machinery they used; and in proportion to our inability to
answer these questions, we increasingly admire the power which regarded
such obstacles as trifles."

We are not acquainted with the names of any of the men who conceived
these prodigious works. The inscriptions mention in detail the princes,
nobles, and scribes who presided over all the works undertaken by the
sovereign, but they have never deigned to record the name of a single
architect.*

* The title "mir kautu nibu niti suton," frequently met
with under the Ancient Empire, does not designate the
architects, as many Egyptologists have thought: it signifies
"director of all the king's works," and is applicable to
irrigation, dykes and canals, mines and quarries, and all
branches of an engineer's profession, as well as to those of
the architect's. The "directors of all the king's works "
were dignitaries deputed by Pharaoh to take the necessary
measurements for the building of temples, for dredging
canals, for quarrying stone and minerals; they were
administrators, and not professionals possessing the
technical knowledge of an architect or engineer.

[Illustrations: 234a.jpg Avenue of Sphinxes--Karnak]

[Illustrations: 234a-text.jpg]

They were people of humble extraction, living hard lives under fear of
the stick, and their ordinary assistants, the draughtsmen, painters, and
sculptors, were no better off than themselves; they were looked upon
as mechan