At least 15 guys here moving on cue to pull ropes that lift a heavy rock high in the air (similar to blanket-tossing someone). When the flat-bottomed rock hits its high point, they pull hard again, and the thing slams down and (supposedly) packs the dirt. You are looking East to the city wall (we are outside in the "suburbs" here). The building in the background just over the wall is the French Legation. Photo by HERBERT G. PONTING, 1903