o4 On the Method of Moving Colossal Stones. 



the walls of tho rock-hewn tombs of Egypt hand down to us, aaM 

 the practice of that remarkable nation in early times. 



Not far from Antinoe, and in one of the grottoes on the hillslJ 

 immediately behind the village E' Dayr e' Nakhl, in the Arabian! 

 desert, on the eastern bank of the Nile, at the distance of some 

 few miles from the river, and therefore but little visited, the early 

 pioneers of Egyptian antiquities, (Captains Irby and Mangles) 

 discovered the very interesting subject of the transport of a colossal 

 figure by means of a vast number of workmen, towing it on a 

 sledge with ropes. I myself visited this tomb during last winter 

 and made a rough sketch of the painting on the walls : but I prefer 

 to describe it in the words of Sir Gardner Wilkinson. 1 " The 

 subject," (he remarks) "is doubly interesting, from its being of thei 

 early age of Osirtasen II., (that is to say, of the 12th Dynasty, or 

 about B.C. 2000,) and also one of the very few paintings which 

 throw any light on the method employed by the Egyptians for 

 moving weights ; a singular fact, since those people have left so 

 many unquestionable proofs of skill in these matters. In this 

 representation, one hundred and seventy two men, in four rows of 

 forty three each, pull the ropes attached to the front of the sledge : 

 but this number of men is probably indefinite, and it is supposed 

 by Sir Gardner Wilkinson that more were really employed than 

 are indicated in the painting. Upon the pedestal of the statue 

 stands a man pouring a liquid from a vase, probably grease or 

 perhaps water, in order to facilitate its progress as it slides over 

 the ground, which was probably covered with a bed of planks, 

 though they are not shown in the picture. Behind the statue are 

 four rows of men, in all twelve in number, representing either the 

 architects and masons, or those who had an employment about the 

 place where the statue was to be conveyed. Below are others car- 

 rying vases, apparently of water, and some machinery connected 

 with the transport of the statue, followed by taskmasters with their 

 wands of office. On the knee of the figure stands a man who claps 



1 Manners and Cnstoms of the ancient Egyptians, vol. iii., pp.325 — 329. 

 See also Handbook for Travellers in Egypt, by the same author. (Murray) 

 p, 289. 



