Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE STORY OF CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE. 23 the quarrymen wished to abstract a huge mass, such as the Needle would be, they marked out the form by cutting a deep groove, in which at intervals they made oblong holes. Into these holes they firmly wedged blocks of timber, and then they filled the grooves with water. The wood in time swelled, and its enormous expansive power cracked the granite along the Needles, though in reality Cleopatra had no connection whatever with their history. It is supposed, however, that she helped to design the building which these obelisks adorned. For upwards of fifteen centuries the Needles stood here, long after the grand building of the Cæsars had fallen in ruins. Gradually the sea advanced to the base of the stone in which Cleopatra’s needle at Alexandria lying on ITS FACE AS IT FELL. outline from wedge to wedge. The detached mass was then pushed down to the water’s edge by means of rollers made from palm trees. Here a raft was built around it. When the Nile overflowed its banks this raft and its burden floated, and in this way it was con- veyed to its destined site. At Heliopolis the Needle remained with its companion column—for there were two—for over fifteen centuries. About 23 b.c. Augus- tus Cæsar ordered the removal of both to Alexandria, and the Needle made another journey. In Alexandria was a gorgeous pal- ace of the Cæsars, before which the obelisks were set up. They were called Cleopatra’s we are more especially interested, and by its ever-advancing and receding waters the foun- dations of the Needle became so weakened that three hundred years ago it fell prostrate, unbroken and unharmed. So much for tho history of the Needle. The stone was acquired for this country by Sir Ralph Abercromby in 1801, after his soldiers had defeated the French, with- in sight of the fallen monu- ment. The British soldiers even then made gallant efforts to bring the monolith home. They commenced to erect a pier seawards, meaning to transport the Needle to the end of it, and then place it Acquired for Great Britain.