art of the stone which had been buried in the foundation became
detached. The tooling upon this fragment is absolutely perfect, and as
clean and sharp as it was when it left the hand of the craftsman about
four thousand years ago. So remarkable was the workmanship that
experiments were made on pieces of Sarsen with various materials to
endeavour to secure the same quality of surface, during which it was
found that whereas the ordinary masons' chisels of to-day failed to
produce the effect, a quartzite pebble used as a tool at once
reproduced the character and surface of the original finish on the
Trilithon.

The foreign stones appear to have been treated in a very similar
manner, but it is not possible to discuss this with the same detail as
in the case of the Sarsens, for the body of the rock to be dealt with
varied vastly in quality and fracture. The method of dressing by
pounding was probably not adopted. Quantities of small chippings from
the foreign stones were found in 1901, so many indeed as to justify
the claim that these stones were actually dressed on the spot, and not
partly shaped before being transported to the circle, as in the case
of the Sarsens. This at once disposes of a popular and ingenious
suggestion that the foreign stones were originally a temple elsewhere,
and that in migrating to Salisbury Plain, the tribe had brought their
temple with them.

THE PROCESS OF ERECTION

Contrary to another cherished belief, the Sarsen Trilithons were
erected first, followed by the foreign stones. The building of the
group was continuous and no gap separates the Trilithon from the
foreign upright. Of this abundant ocular proof was forthcoming in
1901, when the foundations of the great Trilithon were laid bare, and
the leaning upright restored to its original perpendicular position.
When the ground was opened it was found that each upright had been
differently bedded in the earth--and for a very good reason. The one
was twenty-nine feet eight inches long, while the other was only
twenty-five feet. Obviously they were the two finest "grey wethers"
obtainable in the flock, and because of that, they were set aside for
the most prominent place in the enclosure. The master builder decided
that the height of this central Trilithon should be the equivalent of
twenty-one feet at the present day. Therefore it was necessary to bed
one stone deeper than the other, in order that their two summits
should be level to receive