DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.33567#0180
86
rested on a flooring made of transverse pieces of planking spiked to their under side. The whole
did not present enough bearing surface to ensure safety, and M. LeBas felt serious doubts as to its
answering the purpose. So great were his misgivings, in fact, that he refrained from sending a report
of progress until the end of the final operation.
While this work was being carried on an examination was made of the heel of the obelisk. It
was found that the fissure that had so disconcerted M. LeBas was crossed by two dovetail-shaped
mortises, filled with a yellowish dust, the remains of the wooden which must have been driven in
before the erection to prevent any possible widening of the crack/ The fissure therefore was, beyond
doubt, a defect in the stone, as old as the monolith, the antiquity of which was itself well attested
by the nomen and prenomen of Ramses II, sculptured under the heel. Various incisions were also
found in both pedestals, and one of these in the eastern could not fail to attract attention. It was near
and parallel to the N. W. side of the block, semicircular on section, and its axis lay exactly under
that edge of the obelisk. It would seem quite credible therefore that it had served as a receptacle for
a wooden axis of rotation in the erection. The fact of this groove being on the side next to the
river, and it being known that that eastern obelisk was the first of the two erected, so that the other
was not in the way, would also point to the possibility of its having been brought by water to the
adjacent bank, and that in the transportation as well as the erection means had been employed
perfectly similar to those used more than thirty centuries later in lowering and removing its fellow.
When the section of ways was completed the master carpenter reported that every particle of
wood was used, and that if any thing should break he would be unable to repair it.
The centre of gravity being slightly beyond the new pivot, the second rotation would succeed
the first without application of power, except to hold back. It being necessary to cast off the
shrouds from the obelisk before it should touch the ways, two tackles were secured to the derrick-
heads and to the pyramidion, near the point, and the shrouds removed. Before allowing the second
rotation to take place it was necessary also to provide means to prevent the whole mass slipping and
sliding back eastward when the lower edge should rise from the mortise in the pedestal, which would
be sure to occur because of the checking tackles from the derrick-heads leading at such an acute
angle with the axis of the Needle. To effect this a block of masonry was built on the pedestal, the
side of it touching the heel of the obelisk and curved properly to coincide with the arc to be
described by it.
These and all other minor details completed, the head of the monolith was allowed to descend
and the heel to rise from the socket. The entire weight then resting on the log forming the pivot,
compressed and ground it into the brick wall beneath, and made the latter also settle somewhat into
the platform and earth. The monolith being lowered bodily by the amount of the compression, took on
the end of the sliding ways ; this, of course, sank into the ground under the pressure, and the timber
road assumed a curve convex upward. As the point of the needle descended, the axis of rotation
gradually changed forward up that curve until it reached the centre of gravity, when the whole system
was in equilibrium, the Needle lying on an upward slope. Power was applied to raise the heel, four
tackles from the derrick-heads being used, with the falls taken to small capstans. It was brought
somewhat nearer the horizontal, but soon all efforts proved unavailing to move it. The cable that
had been used for inclining it from the perpendicular was then taken round the heel, four heavy
tackles clapped on the ends, and the falls taken to capstans manned by forty-eight men each, the
object being to rouse the obelisk up the slope and out of the pit. This gear was ready on the 16th
of November ; they hove on the large capstans and at the same time on the vertical tackles on the
heel, but to no effect. The men were cheered on, and hove with all their strength ; the ropes
stretched enormously, and finally two of the tackles parted.
'The Egyptians frequently resorted to this method of connecting blocks of stone; a number of the slabs in the
temples of Luxor and Karnak are thus united two by two.
rested on a flooring made of transverse pieces of planking spiked to their under side. The whole
did not present enough bearing surface to ensure safety, and M. LeBas felt serious doubts as to its
answering the purpose. So great were his misgivings, in fact, that he refrained from sending a report
of progress until the end of the final operation.
While this work was being carried on an examination was made of the heel of the obelisk. It
was found that the fissure that had so disconcerted M. LeBas was crossed by two dovetail-shaped
mortises, filled with a yellowish dust, the remains of the wooden which must have been driven in
before the erection to prevent any possible widening of the crack/ The fissure therefore was, beyond
doubt, a defect in the stone, as old as the monolith, the antiquity of which was itself well attested
by the nomen and prenomen of Ramses II, sculptured under the heel. Various incisions were also
found in both pedestals, and one of these in the eastern could not fail to attract attention. It was near
and parallel to the N. W. side of the block, semicircular on section, and its axis lay exactly under
that edge of the obelisk. It would seem quite credible therefore that it had served as a receptacle for
a wooden axis of rotation in the erection. The fact of this groove being on the side next to the
river, and it being known that that eastern obelisk was the first of the two erected, so that the other
was not in the way, would also point to the possibility of its having been brought by water to the
adjacent bank, and that in the transportation as well as the erection means had been employed
perfectly similar to those used more than thirty centuries later in lowering and removing its fellow.
When the section of ways was completed the master carpenter reported that every particle of
wood was used, and that if any thing should break he would be unable to repair it.
The centre of gravity being slightly beyond the new pivot, the second rotation would succeed
the first without application of power, except to hold back. It being necessary to cast off the
shrouds from the obelisk before it should touch the ways, two tackles were secured to the derrick-
heads and to the pyramidion, near the point, and the shrouds removed. Before allowing the second
rotation to take place it was necessary also to provide means to prevent the whole mass slipping and
sliding back eastward when the lower edge should rise from the mortise in the pedestal, which would
be sure to occur because of the checking tackles from the derrick-heads leading at such an acute
angle with the axis of the Needle. To effect this a block of masonry was built on the pedestal, the
side of it touching the heel of the obelisk and curved properly to coincide with the arc to be
described by it.
These and all other minor details completed, the head of the monolith was allowed to descend
and the heel to rise from the socket. The entire weight then resting on the log forming the pivot,
compressed and ground it into the brick wall beneath, and made the latter also settle somewhat into
the platform and earth. The monolith being lowered bodily by the amount of the compression, took on
the end of the sliding ways ; this, of course, sank into the ground under the pressure, and the timber
road assumed a curve convex upward. As the point of the needle descended, the axis of rotation
gradually changed forward up that curve until it reached the centre of gravity, when the whole system
was in equilibrium, the Needle lying on an upward slope. Power was applied to raise the heel, four
tackles from the derrick-heads being used, with the falls taken to small capstans. It was brought
somewhat nearer the horizontal, but soon all efforts proved unavailing to move it. The cable that
had been used for inclining it from the perpendicular was then taken round the heel, four heavy
tackles clapped on the ends, and the falls taken to capstans manned by forty-eight men each, the
object being to rouse the obelisk up the slope and out of the pit. This gear was ready on the 16th
of November ; they hove on the large capstans and at the same time on the vertical tackles on the
heel, but to no effect. The men were cheered on, and hove with all their strength ; the ropes
stretched enormously, and finally two of the tackles parted.
'The Egyptians frequently resorted to this method of connecting blocks of stone; a number of the slabs in the
temples of Luxor and Karnak are thus united two by two.