A series of compression tests have been carried out with silica sands put in a square box (300mm×300mm×270mm) compressed with a punch the width of which is variable in 5 kinds of dimensions (293, 290, 260, 180 & 120mm). The distributions of the pressure and the friction stress on the inner surfaces of the box have been measured by using the pressure cells and the frictioncells developed by the authors. The following conclusions have been obtained.(1) The pressure distribution below the punch is concave (low at the center) for small clearances between the punch and the sides of the box, and convex (high at the center) for large clearances. It has the minimum values at the places 30mm apart from the edges for intermediate clearances. It changes from concave to convex at about 40mm of clearances.The friction stress distribution below the punch acts in the direction of pushing sands to the sides for small clearances, and keeping them in for large clearances.(2) The stress distribution on the side is approximately uniform for small clearances, and the area with low stress occurs at the upper part and spreads with increase of dimension of clearances.(3) The pressure distribution on the bottom is convex. The place where the maximum friction stress occurs approaches to the center with increase of dimension of clearances.(4) The hysteresis effect in unloading is especially remarkable for smaller clearances.(5) The ratios of the maximum pressures below the punch, on the bottom and the side to the mean pressure below the punch take the values in the ranges of 1.16-1.66, 0.76-1.19 and 0.275-0.527, respectively. The maximum friction stresses on those surfaces take the values in the ranges of 0.13-0.42, 0.12-0.30 and 0.04-0.32, respectively, in the ratios to the mean pressure below the punch.