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others. They were cleared of the sand for the purpose 
of discovering them entirely, and have been perfectly 
well described by several learned Europeans. I took a 
drawing of them, as also of Pompey's pillar, and the 
royal catacombs; because one is never weary of ex- 
amining such classical monuments. The base of the 
obelisk that is standing, is placed upon three steps of 
white marble. 
If we consider for what use this double monument 
was constructed, we might suppose, seated as it is upon 
the sea shore, and its base almost upon a level with the 
sea, that it was used as a landing place; at the same time 
observing that these two obelisks face the tower of 
Faros, it is possible they might have served as nau- 
machias. 
Pompey's pillar, which is of the same granite as the 
obelisks, is colossal, and perhaps stands unrivalled in the 
world in its kind. It has been perfectly described; it is 
composed of four blocks, which form the pedestal, the 
base, the shaft, and the capital. The shaft, which is a 
solid block, is sixty-three feet one inch and three lines 
long, by eight feet two inches and two lines diameter^ 
at the lowest extremity. But how faulty are the senses 
of man. Arrived at fifty paces distance from the pillar, 
the eye no longer perceives the grandeur of the colossus 
which it has before it; nor even is the imagination 
struck with the appearance of this grand object when 
even at a short distance from it. This happens from the 
column being placed upon a small height completely 
insulated, without having any object of ordinary dimen- 
sions near it to contrast with its height. The eye be- 
holds a large column, and nothing more; but when one 
arrives at eight or ten paces distance, it is then the enor- 
