Geology, ancient Arts, &c. 247 
iroduction among them. Most probably therefore, the pro- 
cess may be the very same as those by which the materials 
of the stupendous temples of Egypt were prepared and fin- 
ished ; and.as the subject thus acquires an additional inter- 
est, I shall subjoin some notices of the manner in which I 
have seen the hardest granite cut and polished by Hindoo 
workmen. 
The only tools which they employ, are a small steel chis- 
el, and an iron mallet. The chisel is short, probably not 
longer than twice the breadth of the small hands which work 
it.* _ I think it most probable that each of these chissels may 
be formed of one of the short bars of Berar wootz, descri- 
bed by Dr. Heyne, in his tracts on India; but this is mere- 
ly conjecture. The chissel tapers to a round point like that 
ofa drawing pencil ; and this I believe to be the only shape 
‘ever given to the points of their chissels. 
The mallet, I have said, is of iron. It is somewhat long- 
er than the chisel; its weight cannot exceed a few pounds. 
‘The head, set on at right angles to the handle, may be from 
two to three inches long. — It has only one striking face, in 
this respect resembling the hammer by which the bell of a 
clock is struck. The striking face is formed into a pretty 
deep hollow, which is lined with lead, no doubt to deaden 
the blow, when these two instruments come in contact. 
With two such simple tools, to detach the most massy 
granite from its native bed,t to have formed, fashioned, and 
‘scarped the granite rock which forms the tremendous for- 
tress of Dowlatabad, and to have excavated the wonder- 
ful caverns at Ellora, are instances both of the incredible pa- 
tience and perseverence of the Hindoo, and of the simple 
and apparently inadequate means by which he accomplishes 
the most difficult undertakings ; for it seems by no means 
probable that the Hindoo stone-cutters ever worked with 
any other tools. Accordingly, the traces of the pointed 
chisel, are at this day as fresh upon the rock of the very 
* The smallness of the handle of the Hindoo sword has often been remark- 
ed. 
+ An obelisk of a single granite stone, the shaft of which, as I am credibly 
informed, is seventy-five feet in length, was erected a few years ago in the 
neighbourhood of Seringapatam, to the memory of the late Josiah Webbe, 
sq. It was quarried in the neighbourhood, and the whole work executed 
by Hindoo workmen. 
