It is also perhaps more than a coincidence that the base of the later project is the same as that of the obelisk fragment before Pylon VII at Karnak, namely 3.15 metres. Legrain, writing in the _Annales du Service_, vol. V, pp. 11 and 12, remarks, about this Pylon VII obelisk: “L’obélisque d’Hatshopsitou mesure 29 m. 50 cent. de hauteur et 2 m. 40 cent. à la base. Si nous admettons des proportions semblables pour deux monuments contemporains, la base de l’obélisque de Thoutmôsis III au VII^e pylône étant 3 m. 15 cent.–3 m. 10 cent., nous arrivons au chiffre approximatif de 37 m. 77 cent. comme hauteur de l’obélisque de Thoutmôsis III dont nous avons retrouvé les fragments cette année devant la face sud du VII^e pylône. (Footnote): J’ai pris comme base de ce calcul hypothétique (29.50 × 3.15)/2.46 en comptant sur la plus grande largeur de la base, qui, dans l’antiquité, se voyait le mieux.” This year, a fragment of the companion (or perhaps the same) obelisk has been found, which just reaches up to the wording of the Horus name of the king—that is to within a couple of metres of the base of the pyramidion. Although only one edge remains, I found that, by measuring from the centre of the vertical lines flanking the inscription, that the distance to the edge was 1.04 metre, making the width here 2.08 metres, which is almost exactly that of the outline on the Aswân obelisk. Legrain, in estimating the height of the obelisk before Pylon VII, assumes that the taper was the same as that of the obelisks of Ḥatshepsôwet, but, from the table above, it will be seen that the taper of her obelisks is exceptionally small, so his estimate is likely to err on the large side. The outline on the Aswân {10} obelisk may therefore be either for what is now the Lateran obelisk, or those of Pylon VII; there is no evidence to shew for which it was intended. It is likely that the later scheme was, in its turn, abandoned from fear that the granite was not sound, especially near fissure _p_. In any case, the reduction of the large obelisk to obtain a smaller one would be a piece of work almost comparable to starting the work over again on a new site, where the rock was likely to be of better quality. {11} CHAPTER II. THE TRENCH.