Stone drums are ten drum-shaped, three--foot-tall granite blocks. At the time when they were discovered in the seventh century, each of them bore a four-character verse about the hunting of the Duke of Qin. Not many of its original 700 characters have survived - 465 of them were recorded then and 272 of them today with one block completely denuded. The rubbing above is from number six block, the only one survived with a complete verse:

My chariots were complete;
My horses were harnessed.
My chariots were gaily decorated;
My horses were thriving.
The officials gathered in force;
The banners waved in the wind.

Deer left footprints behind,
By which we pursued.
Bows were drawn;
Arrows were at the string.

I ran into a royal stag,
Which galloping, clip-clop.
He charged at me,
Raising quite a dust.

The herd rushed off,
Running out of sight.
Then I chased a lone buck,
But he, too, escaped.

Finally I shot a sorrel.

The style of this inscription is a typical example of script transition from big seal script to small seal script. Its strokes became even in thickness but still drawn by a brisk hand, and its characters were, by and large, regularly built and evenly sized.