130 Study of the New York Obelisk as a Decayed Boulder. 



torrent ; banks of gravel, sand, and boulders rise several feet above 

 the bridle-path on each side; and, at the lowest part, small channels 

 wind about the large rocks. The hillsides are furrowed by ravines 

 excavated by water. Here and there, in low places, usually at the 

 foot of a large boulder, are unmistakable signs of recently ftDrmed 

 mud. The scales and mud-cracks were quite fresh, and seemed to 

 indicate that water had accumulated in pools not more than two or 

 three weeks before. On my return to Luxor, I was informed that 

 rain had fallen about three weeks before (February 16th)." 



In a discussion of the heavy dews in Egypt, Volney states : 

 " These dews as well as the rains are more copious towards the sea, 

 and less considerable in proportion to their distance from it ; but 

 differ from them by being more abundant in summer than in win- 

 ter. At Alexandria, after sunset in the month of April, clothes 

 exposed to the air and the terraces are soaked with them, as if it 

 had rained.'" 



All these facts, therefore, bear out the idea of the moist character 

 of the climate at Alexandria. 



12. Removal of the Obelisk from Alexandria. 



The details of the great enterprise of the lowering of the huge 

 monolith at Alexandria, in 1879, and of its conveyance to New 

 York, have been fully set forth by the engineer in charge, the late 

 Commander H. H. Gorringe. It will be sufficient here to refer only 

 to certain points which might be considered to have some bearing 

 on possible strain or injury to the monument in transit On Octo- 

 ber 29, 1879, the work of excavation began, and the bottom of the 

 lowest step of the foundation was found to lie nearly at mean sea- 

 level. This indicated a probable subsidence of the coast of about 

 17 feet in 1900 years, attended with a decided and increasing incli- 

 nation of the top of the shaft toward the sea, which must have soon 

 resulted in its fall. 



The sides of the lower part of the shaft (as illustrated by a photo- 

 graph of the bottom of the W.S.W. side, taken at the time of the 

 removal of the London Obelisk) showed the same effaced hiero- 

 glyphs, rounded corners, and peculiar smoothed surface as now 

 seen. 



Gorringe states that in turning the Oljelisk, its bottom bound 

 against the top of one of the crabs, and " removing the crabs was 



1 Volney, idem, I, 56. 



