350 Dr Kennedy on the Working and Polishing 
The mallet, I have said, is of iron. It is somewhat longer 
than the chisel : its weight cannot exceed a few pounds. The 
Jiead, 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 
column from its native bed to have formed, fashioned, and 
scarped the granite rock which forms the tremendous fortress of 
Dowlatabad *[', and to have excavated the wonderful caverns at 
Ellora, are instances both of the incredible patience and perse- 
verance of the Hindoo, and of the simple and apparently inade- 
quate means by which he accomplishes the most difficult under- 
takings ; 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 ancient fortress of Dowlatabad, as when first 
cut. Are not traces of the pointed chisel to be seen upon the 
granite antiquities of Egypt ? 
Having by these two instruments only, brought the stone to a 
smooth surface, it next undergoes the dressing with water, in 
the manner usual with masons. It now only remains to apply 
the black shining polish, which is done as follows. 
A block of granite, of considerable size, is rudely fashioned into 
the shape of the end of a large pestle. The lower face of this is 
hollowed out into a cavity, and this is filled with a mass composed 
of pounded corundum-stone, mixed with melted bees-wax. This 
block is moved by means of two sticks, or pieces of bamboo, 
placed -one on each side of its neck, and bound together by- 
cords, twisted and tightened by sticks. The weight of the 
• An obelisk of a single granite stone, the shaft of which, as I am credibly in- 
formed, is seventy-hve feet in length, was erected a few years ago in the neigh- 
bourhood of Seringapatam, to the memory of the late Josiah Webbe, Esq. It was 
quarried in that neighbourhood, and the whole work executed by Hindoo work- 
men. 
Sec a very correct Plate of it in Captain Fitzclarence’s Travels. 
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