Then Stanley and one of the Burmans lay down, and placed the cutting end of the long ramrod against it; and the others, by turns, struck the end with the back of a light hatchet, those holding the rod turning it, slightly, after each blow.

Every half hour the edge of the chisel was resharpened and, by the time the next party relieved them, a hole of half an inch in diameter, and two inches deep, had been drilled in the stone.

Stanley remained with the newcomers for half an hour, instructing them in the work, and then went below.
"Well, Stanley, what are you going to do with this monstrous stone Meinik tells me of ?" "There is only one thing to do with it, Harry; that is, to blast it.

The block is so inclined that one can do nothing with the chisels, and we are now drilling a hole.

I don't know that I shall succeed but, at any rate, I am going to have a try.