Sometimes, along a crack, enormous wedges were used, the largest I noticed being 0 m. 25 cent. long, spaced one metre apart. In any case the largeness of the wedges leads us to suppose that the Egyptians must have had large hammers. I do not think that the sledge-hammer, such as we use to-day, was known to the Egyptians, though mallets were common. I believe it likely that heavy rammers, used vertically by more than one man, must have been used to make these wedges act. Mr. C. Firth has pointed out to me a black granite hammer found at Saqqârah, now in the Cairo Museum. Though this example is of the Old Kingdom, it seems quite likely that a similar hammer was used for driving in the wedges. A photograph of the hammer is shewn in plate IV, no. 2. To-day the quarrymen use very small fat steel punches in conjunction with a sledge-hammer. Some large wedge-marks are seen in plate III, no. 2, at the top of the picture. (5) It seems that the intention of the Egyptians was to leave the north wall of the north trench at a level slightly above that of the obelisk. The exceptions to this are the wedged-out block seen on plates I and II, no. 2 at A, and the (now) entrance to the bottom of the north trench at B. I believe these blocks to have been removed at a date later than that of the obelisk; the block A has been wedged out by a long channel instead of separate slots, while at B it is obvious that stone has been removed for building, since the inner face has been chisel-dressed. Near here, too, I found a block containing a ‘jumped’ hole blackened by gunpowder. Had the ancients wished to remove the trench wall at B, there is a crack running along it parallel to the ground, which would make its removal an easy matter by burning from the outside[3]. It seems, therefore, that the north wall of the north trench was intentionally left; the probable reasons are discussed in section 23. It will be noticed, in plate II, that the top of this wall has been roughly hammer-dressed near the butt, and to a certain extent near the pyramidion. How far it was intended to reduce the south wall of the south trench is not certain; it depends on the method to be used in getting the obelisk out of the quarry, and is dealt with in sections 21–23. There are indications that it was to be reduced to a considerable extent. {6} [3] There is not a trace of burning within 6 feet of the obelisk.