■26 
TANIS. 
next pair, marked (59, 76) in Plan, have the in¬ 
scriptions 48, 49, 'with a scene of Eamessu ofl'ering 
white bread to Amon-Ka, remaining on the base 
of one side. The single obelisk (49 in Plan), 
the fellow to which has entirely disappeared, is 
one of the finest, and best preserved; and the 
buried side, on which it rests, is the most 
weathered side. It lies on a deep mass of lime¬ 
stone chips, derived from the destruction of the 
buildings which surrounded it. The last pair of 
great obehsks in the temple are (62 and 77) in 
Plan, which bear the inscriptions 51 and 62. A 
very curious point about the southern obelisk, is 
that there are traces of an erased inscription 
of Eamessu II. upon it; portions of a cartouche 
[Ra . sotep . . ra) can be traced, and also 
of the personal name in the lines of the messu. 
This is not merely a trial outlining afterwards 
abandoned, but a deeply-cut inscription which 
has been wholly cleared away. It shows that 
the Eamesside rage for alteration even extended 
to works only just finished. With regard to all 
these obelisks, we may note that (49) in Plan had 
no metal cap, being plain to the end ; neither had 
No. (67). No. (58) has a sunk surface all over 
the top, '65 in. below the rest of the pyramidion, 
and extending downward until the pyramidion is 
25 inches wide; this was doubtless to fit on a 
cap of metal flush with the general surface. It 
is singular that this evidence of a cap should 
remain, while the fellow obelisk (57) is quite 
smooth to much nearer the apex. Nos. (77, 59) 
and (62) are all smooth on the apex, and (76) is 
broken away. On the bases of all these obelisks 
there is, very slightly cut, unpolished, the car¬ 
touches of Eamessu II., each with nub beneath, 
but without titles above them. Some of the 
obelisks have had pieces of sheet iron put under 
one side of the base ; these still stick to them as 
masses of rust. This was doubtless done to 
remedy any want of level or squareness in the 
base of the obelisk; and by shifting the iron 
more or less toward the centre the amount of 
remedy could be adjusted. Strange to say, I could 
not find any trace of iron on the base-blocks of 
these obelisks; possibly some other metal or 
softer material was put between the obelisk and 
the block, to prevent the weight scaling the granite 
if the obelisk rested on one edge. These pieces 
of iron may be seen on obelisks No. 49 Plan 
(two pieces) and No. 59 (three pieces about 
3 inches across). At the eastern end of the 
temple are two obelisks (271, 276 Plan) without 
any scenes at the lower end; the inscriptions 
are Nos. 53 and 54. 
Of smaller obelisks there have been a pair 
(117, 136 Plan) cut out of older obelisks by 
Eamessu II. Some subsequent king in turn has 
utilized these, cutting away the edges of them to 
fit in later building. The traces of the old inscrip¬ 
tion are given already (21a, 21b inscript.), and 
the Eamesside inscription is given in inscripts. 
55 (117 Plan) and 59 (136 Plan). Pieces of an 
obelisk of sandstone, the only one known at 
San, I found in the core of the pylon wall (27 
Plan). The inscription is No. 56 : it is curious for 
an error of the sculptor, who has reversed the su 
and afterwards turned it right. The portions of 
Eamesside obelisks, which were probably cut out 
of older obelisks, judging by their appearance, are 
found at 168 Plan (inscript. 57), 167 Plan (inscript. 
58), and 163 Plan (inscript. 60); these all 
have curved pyramidions and dovetailed apices. 
Anotherearly obelisk, stolen by Eamessu II., is seen 
at 261 Plan; the original inscription of this is 
given in inscript. 13, and the Eamesside in inscript. 
61. This has been re-used again at a later time, 
as is shown by the erasure of one side, and the 
dovetails out in the stone. It is of fine-grained 
dark red granite, one of the most beautiful j)ieoes 
in the place. A small obelisk of Eamessu II. 
lies at 241 in Plan, the inscription of it is given 
inscript. 62 ; it is in dark red granite with a good 
deal of black. Two sides of the base of an obelisk 
(79 Plan) bear inscriptions 63a, 63b ; most of the 
bases are so much weathered that scarcely any- 
tliing remains legible. The peculiar grooves are 
found on the upper sides of the bases in every 
