At the corners of the steps leading up to the Monument, and outside the encircling railing, are four colossal marble groups representing Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.
Europe, at the south-west angle, by Patrick Macdowell, consists of a pyramidal group of five figures, the central representing the youthful Europa, seated majestically on her bull - the enamoured and metamorphosed Jupiter - and the smaller figures grouped about her typify England, France, Italy, and Germany - the first ruling the waves, flowing up in small stone ripples to the hoofs of the bull; the second smiling brightly and defiantly down upon the spectator; the third with face turned up in rapt devotion; and the fourth gazing calmly down upon the emblems of science and philosophy.
Asia, by Foley, at the south-east angle, also consists of a pyramidal group of figures, but the central alone is female. Seated on an elephant, the Sultana, typifying the fountainhead of European knowledge, the first home of the Aryan race, is of majestic beauty, and as she raises the veil still draping her figure from her face, her deep-set eyes gaze upon us with an expression of unfathomable and fascinating mystery - a fitting crown to a group of interesting figures - the Persian poet, the Chinese Keramic manufacturer, the Turkish merchant, and the Indian warrior.
Africa, by William Theed, at the north-east angle, represents an Egyptian princess seated on a camel, a broken and half-buried statue beside her hinting at the past glories of her native land, and about her feet an Arab of the desert, an ivory merchant from the heart of Africa, and a negro chief, his broken chains before him on the ground, listening with half-wondering comprehension to the lessons of a female figure typifying European civilisation.
America, by John Bell, at the north-west angle, consists of a central female figure typifying the New World, and galloping through prairie grass on a bison, attended by allegorical forms representing Canada and the United States, whilst a semi-recumbent figure represents Mexico, and a standing one, in hunting array, South America. This last-named group is the only one in which active life is portrayed, the figures in the other three being all in repose.