OBELISK OF A SINGLE STONE AT SERINGAPATAM. 311 



not to affect the shaft by the concussion of the air. The diffi- 

 culty, however, which they found, in giving a slight degree of 

 motion to this mass, determined the Dewan to contract his 

 views, regarding the height of the obelisk. 



The column was quarried about two miles from the place 

 where it was erected. In the process of quarrying granite, 

 two methods are employed. 



First method. — The workman looks for a plain naked sur- 

 face of sufficient extent, and a stratum of the proper thick- 

 ness, sufficiently near the edge of the rock, to facilitate the 

 separation, or made so, by previous trimming. (I do not 

 speak of stratified granite, from any disrespect to the re- 

 ceived doctrines of geology, but because I know of no other 

 term to indicate the sort of division in question. I have 

 repeatedly seen quarriers at work, on extensive strata, of vari- 

 ous degrees of inclination, and different thickness, from six 

 inches to eight feet.) The spot being determined, a line is 

 marked along the direction of the intended separation ; and a 

 groove of about two inches wide, and the same depth, is cut 

 with chisels, or if the stratum be but thin, holes of the same 

 dimensions, at a foot and a half, or two feet distance, are cut 

 along the line. In either case, all being now ready, a work- 

 man, with a small chisel, is placed at each hole or interval, 

 and, with small iron mallets, the line of men keep beating on 

 the chisels, but not with violence, from left to right, or from 

 right to left ; this operation, as they say, is sometimes conti- 

 nued for two or three days, before the separation is effected. 

 Those who have observed the mode of cutting (as it is called) 

 plate-glass, will not be surprised at their beating from one 

 end, and the fissure also taking place, from one end to the 

 other. This is the mode by which the stone in question was 

 separated. 



vol. ix. p. ii« R r Second 



