280 



THE ENCHANTED MESA 



a single relic when we had reached the top of the trail and looked 

 about at the destruction wrought ; and yet we had Ijeen on the 

 summit only a few minutes when Major Pradt found a sherd of 

 pottery of very ancient type, much crackled by weathering. This 

 fragment is of plain gray ware, quite coarse in texture, with a 

 degraissant of white sand. 



Beginning at the eastern side we immediately began to explore 

 the rim of the escarpment, in a short time encountering the rude 

 monument which had been observed by Professor Libbey, who 



FIG. 2 -AN ARTIFICIAL MONUMENT ON THE SUMMIT 



expresses the opinion that it may have found its origin in ero- 

 sion ; but it seems to me, as I think it will appear to any one 

 who will examine the accompanying illustration (Fig. 2), that 

 only a glance is necessary to determine beyond all doubt that the 

 pile could not have been erected save by the hand of man. 

 The structure stands on a natural floor of sandstone at the edge 

 of the eastern cliff, and consists of a narrow slab some 30 inches 

 in length held erect by smaller slabs and bowlders about the base, 

 the stratification of the upright slab being vertical, that of the 

 supporting stones horizontal. It would have been impossible 

 for tlie structure to have originated by any but artificial means. 



