I wish to tender my thanks to Mr. Somers Clarke for his kindness in putting his notes on the quarrying of granite at my disposal, and for reading and criticising my MS. before sending it to press; to Prof. Flinders Petrie for reading the proofs and giving many valuable suggestions; to Mr. W. Golénischeff for the references on the Anastasi papyrus and the Hammâmât inscriptions; to Mr. D. Watt, Resident Engineer of the Aswân Barrage, for the loan of books on the properties and working of granite and of surveying instruments from the Barrage works; to the Geological and Chemical Departments (sections 13 and 44) for their report on specimens submitted to them, and to the Survey Department for taking much trouble in preparing my plans for publication. Mr. A. M. MacGillivray, of Aswân, took the photographs shewn on plate II and plate V, nos. 1 and 2, and has kindly permitted them to appear here. (2) I began the work shortly after the departure of King Fuad, and soon found that the excavation would be more extensive than I had at first supposed; the length of the obelisk had reached 36 metres by April 1921, and the chip-heap, covering the butt end of the obelisk, began to shew signs of giving way. I had made arrangements, as regards the angle of the chip-heap, supposing that the obelisk was not larger than any of the known obelisks. Thirty-six metres was a surprise, so, as Ramadan was approaching, I abandoned the work for the season and applied for a further credit to make a complete clearance. This was done in the winter of 1921–22 by Mahmûd Eff. Mohammad, Inspector of Edfù, assisted by Mustafa Eff. Hasan, ‘chef de fouilles’ of the same district. I visited the site from time to time whenever my {2} other work permitted, but it was not till the end of the tourist season that I had sufficient time to study the obelisk. During the removal of the chip-heap, we found some hundreds of large granite blocks thrown from a quarry above on to the obelisk; these had to be cut into two, and sometimes into four, before our workmen could handle them. At first we borrowed men from the Selugia quarries, but afterwards we employed local stonemasons, who proved more satisfactory, as they did not all want to be _raises_. The total cost of the clearance was L. E. 75.