isxii REPORT — 1875. 



The Egyptians liarc left no record of how they afcon-,ph"f:hcd a far nicac 

 difficult operation than the mere transport of Avcight — that is, how they 

 erected obelisks weighing upwards of 400 tons. Some of these obelisks mnst 

 have been lifted vertically to place them in position, as they were byFontana 

 in Rome in later times, when the knowledge of mechanics, we know, was 

 far advanced*. 



The practice of iising large blocks of stone either as monoliths or as forming 

 parts of structures has existed from the earliest times in all parts of the 

 world. 



The Peruvians used blocks weighing from 15 to 20 tons, and fitted them with 

 the greatest nicety in their cleverly designed fortifications f. 



In India large blocks were used in bridges when the repugnance of Indian 

 builders to the use of the arch rendered them necessary, or in temples, where, 

 as in the Temple of the Sun at Orissa, stones weighing from 20 to 30 tons 

 form part of the pj'ramidal roof at a height of from 70 to 80 feet from the 

 ground J. Even as late as the last century, Indians, without the aid of 

 machinery, were using blocks of granite above 40 feet long for the door-posts 

 of the gateway of Seringham, and roofing blocks of the same stone for a span 

 of 21 feet§. 



At Persepolis, in the striking remains of the palaces of Xerscs and Darius, 

 more than one traveller has noted the great size of the stones, some of which 

 are stated to be 55 feet long and 6 to 10 feet broad. 



So in the Greek temples of Sicily, many of the blocks in the upper parts of 

 the temples are from 10 to 20 tons weight. 



The Romans, though they did not commonly use such large stones in their 

 own constructions, carried off the largest obelisks from Egypt and erected 

 them at Rome, where more are now to be found than remain in Egypt. In 

 the temples of Baalbek, erected under Roman rule, perhaps the largest 

 stones are to bo found which have been used for building since the time of 

 the Pharaohs. The terrace wall of one of the temples is composed of three 

 courses of stones, none of which are less than 30 feet long ; and one stone 

 still lies in the quarry squared and ready for transport, which is 70 feet long 

 and 14 feet square, and weighs upwards of 1135 tons, or nearly as much as 

 one of the tubes of the Britannia Bridge. 



I have not mentioned dolmens and menhirs, rude unhewn stones often 

 weighing from 30 to 40 tons, which are found from Ireland to India, and 

 from Scandinavia to the Atlas, in Africa. To transport and erect such rude 

 masses required little mechanical knowledge or skill, and the operation has 



* For the obelisk erected at Aries in the year 1676, see Eondelet's 'L'Art cle Batir,' 

 vol. i. p. 48. Its weight was nearly 200 tons, and it was suspended vertically by eight 

 ships' masts. 



t Fergusson's ' History of Architecture,' vol. ii. p. 779 ; Squier, Peru, p. 24. 



t The temple of the Sun was built 1237-1282 a.d. (Hunter's • Orissa,' vol. i. pp. 288, 297). 



§ Fergusson's ' Rude Stone Monuments,' p. 96. 



