304 Royal Astronomical Society. 



from the quarry near Edinburgh, might be oljtained without diffi- 

 culty and of superior finish. A resolution was accordingly passed 

 by the Committee, which, together with a plan of the proposed 

 obelisk, was forwarded to Professors Forbes and Henderson of Edin- 

 burgh, with a request that those gentlemen would kindly undertake 

 the necessary superintendence of the work ; a request which they 

 acceded to with alacrity ; and the obelisk, in packing cases, arrived 

 in Table Bay in the month of August 1841, where it was safely 

 landed under the guidance of Colonel Lewis. 



The following is the report of Colonel Lewis on the erection : — 



" In excavating the foundation, which was of black sand, it was 

 found necessary to go down 4 feet 10 inches to arrive at the iron- 

 stone gravelly bed, the substratum of the country about Feldhausen. 

 The masonry foundation was formed of concrete, built up in courses 

 of 12 or 14 inches, and composed of iron-stone, gravel, and lime- 

 mortar, well grouted together. On this masonry bed a granite plat- 

 form 9 feet 6 inches square was laid, and the small column fixed by 

 Sir John Herschel on the site of the 20-feet refiector. This mark 

 was removed for a few days, in order to bring the masonry founda- 

 tion to a proper height, but the mark was relaid with mathematical 

 correctness by Lieut. LafFau, Royal Engineers. 



" Previously, however, to relaying the Herschel mark, the sugges" 

 tion of the committee of construction was adopted of placing under 

 it several silver and copper coins, a few inscription medals, and 

 medals of the South African Institution, struck in silver for the oc- 

 casion ; and on the obverse were engraved some notices, statistical 

 and geographical, of the colony ; the discoveries of Capt. Ross in 

 the South Polar Regions in 1841 ; and the operation of remeasuring 

 the arc of the meridian in 1842. These subjects were beautifully 

 executed by Mr. Piazzi Smyth, assistant- astronomer, and hermeti- 

 cally sealed in glass bottles. Also there were deposited a map of 

 the colony and engravings of nebulse observed at Slough from 1825 

 to 1833, by Sir John Herschel, and apian of Mr. Maclear's triangu- 

 lation connecting the site of Feldhausen with the Royal Observa- 

 tory and the site of Lacaille's observatory, in Strand Street, Cape 

 Town. 



" The bottle was carefully fixed in a block of teak- wood, scooped 

 out on purpose. 



" When the granite platform was brought to its level, and the 

 Herschel mark refixed and filled in with cement, it was necessary to 

 erect heavy shears of large spars, to place the stones of the obelisk 

 composed of large blocks of Craigleith stone, some weighing two 

 tons, sent from Scotland by Professors Forbes and Henderson, who 

 kindly took this charge. This was accomplished with some trouble 

 and expense, and the base of the obelisk was laid with the faces cor- 

 responding with the four cardinal points. The whole was completed 

 on the 15th of February, 1842, in presence of some of the Commit- 

 tee and several of the subscribers and friends of Sir John Herschel, 

 who attended on the occasion of placing the top stone of the obelisk. 



"The obelisk has the base 6 feet squzire by 6 feet in height, and 

 the pyramidal part stands 12 feet above the base. On the east face 



