Shidy of the New York Obelisk as a Decayed Boulder. 125 



N.N.W. : Views of Obelisk in 1801, with truncated apex on pyra- 

 midion, in 1830, and in 1842, with the sand dug away from pedestal : 

 Photographs in 1»T0 and about 1880, showing the "nick" directed 

 landward: Views of the fallen obelisk in 1755, and the present 

 London Obelisk, with fractured edges and pyramidion.] 



All these plainly and certainly show that, in the position of the 

 shaft at Alexandria, this nick was directed toward the S.S W. 



In other words, when the Romans re-erected the shaft at Alex- 

 andria, they placed it before the new Temple of the Caesars, front- 

 ing the sea and the water-gate, i. e., toward the N.N.W. ; and 

 moreover, turned the shaft about half round from its original orien- 

 tation, so that its two best preserved sides would meet the view of 

 the visitor, on his approach to the Temple from the north. The 

 two burned and mutilated sides were turned to the S.S.E. (toward 

 the Temple) and to the E.N.E. The same position, and probably 

 a similar rotation, were carried out in the re-erection of the com- 

 panion monolith, now at London. 



The view above expressed, however, does not agree with that of 

 Gorringe. In Plate XI of his work, evidently prepared in very 

 careful detail, he gives a plan of the pedestal and steps of the foun- 

 dation, as they stood at Alexandria, with the angles marked N., S., 

 E., and W., each with an arrow, as if to impress its exactness. On 

 the opposite page (18) he also refers to the "S.E. face of the struc- 

 ture" and the " S.W. face." Nor does he make any reference to 

 the change and rotation in the position of the faces of the shaft 

 above. 



10. Condition of the Obelisks at Alexandria. 



We mav now report some of the testimony of travellers in regard 

 to the condition of the surface of these monoliths and their theories 

 to account for the injury observed. 



In 1738, Shaw related: "But the Alexandrian Obelisk, lying 

 nearer the Sea, and in a moister Situation, hath suffered very much, 

 especially upon that Side which faceth the Northward; for the 

 Planes of these Pillars, no less than those of the Pyramids, seem 

 to have been designed to regard the four Quarters of the World."' 



In 1740, a Danish gentleman in the squadron of Admiral Had- 

 dock, reported thusMn Florence: "The hieroglyphs on two adja- 



' Shaw, idem, 412. '^ Norden, idem, I, f. 



