Conclusion 271 



with enthusiasm on the hunt for one of these skulls 

 for the British Museum of Natural History. 



I was not employed by that institution, but the 

 agreement was, in case I secured a good specimen, 

 it was to go to them. I must acknowledge I felt 

 rather dubious when Dr. Osborn of the American 

 Museum wrote me that he had had parties in these 

 beds four years, searching without success for a 

 specimen. For weeks and weeks we four examined 

 every bit of exposed rock in vain. The rock con- 

 sisted of clay and sandstone, the latter both massive 

 and cross-bedded. Scattered through the great de- 

 posits of sandstone were peculiar-shaped masses of 

 very hard flinty rock, with the same physical char- 

 acteristics but with superior hardness. These added 

 strange forms to the land sculptury. Almost every 

 form the mind can imagine is found here, from 

 colonies of giant mushrooms, to human faces so 

 startling as to secure instant attention from the 

 observer. (Figs. 38 and 39.) 



A general view of the country from an elevated 

 butte shows many cone-like mounds, resembling 

 table mountains or even haystacks in the hazy dis- 

 tance ! As the rocks, and even the flint-like material, 

 readily disintegrate, the creeks that run east into the 

 Cheyenne River soon radiate like the rays of a fan 

 and deeply scar the narrow divides into rather deep 

 canyons and narrow ravines. Perhaps a thousand 



