486 



SAMUEL WEIDMAN 



to the rigid action of wind and weather, resulting, as usual under 

 such conditions, in the opening up of deep cracks along the penetra- 

 ting joints and the weathering out of large blocks which become more 

 or less rounded by exfoliation. There is no indication in this 

 example, or anywhere else in the region, that the present t5^e of 

 weathering tends to produce the fluted granite surfaces. On the 

 other hand the present type of weathering tends to destroy the 

 grooved surfaces. Figures 8, 9, 10, and 11 show the fluted granites 

 in various stages of destruction. Note how the surfaces of the flut- 

 ings are roughened and the projecting ridges between the grooves 



Fig. 16. — View showing features of the granite under present conditions of wind 

 and weather. 



broken off by spalling. Some of the outcurving heads are in process 

 of slumping down the mountain slope and some lie completely dis- 

 lodged and turned over. 



Originally the fluted surfaces were smooth and highly pohshed 

 as shown by the fact that in the most protected places the flutings 

 are still smooth and polished. Some of the fluted granites are so 

 markedly polished that they have served as favorable places for the 

 pre-Eliowan Indians to carve their picture writings, obviously for 

 the same reason that our granite workers select only the polished 

 surface of monuments upon which to trace their finest lines of 

 engraving. 



