254 GEOLOGY OP THE HIGH PLATEAUS. 



From the center of the great Pdria Valley or amphitheater the dip of the 

 strata is semi-quaquaversal ; that is, towards the east, north, and west, and 

 all intermediate directions ; but towards the south the strata incline upwards. 

 The erosion has been greatest in the center of the amphitheater, and has 

 proceeded radially outwards just as in the San Rafael Swell. This process 

 has left the strata in terraced cliffs facing the center of the amphitheater, 

 and as we look across from the southern cape of the Paunsdgunt to Table 

 Cliff and Kaiparowits Peak, more than 30 miles distant, we behold the 

 edges of the strata, sculptured and carved in a fashion that kindles enthusi- 

 asm in the dullest mind. At the base of the series the vermilion sandstones 

 of the Upper Trias are seen in massive palisades and gorgeous friezes, 

 stretching away to the southward till lost in the distance. Above them is 

 the still more massive Jurassic sandstone, pale gray and nearly white, 

 without sculptured details, but imposing from the magnitude and solidity 

 of its fronts. Next rises in a succession of terraces the whole Cretaceous 

 system more than 4,000 feet in thickness. It consists of broad alternating 

 bands of bright yellow sandstone and dark iron-gray argillaceous shales, 

 the several homogeneous members ranging in thickness from 600 to 1,000 

 feet. But the glory of all this rock-work is seen in the Pink Cliffs, the 

 exposed edges of the Lower Eocene strata. The resemblances to strict 

 architectural forms are often startling. 'J'he upper tier of the vast amphi- 

 theater is one mighty ruined colonnade. Standing obelisks, prostrate col- 

 umns, shattered capitals, panels, niches, buttresses, repetitions of sym- 

 metrical forms, all bring vividly before the mind suggestions of the work 

 of giant hands, a race of genii once rearing temples of rock, but now 

 chained up in a spell of enchantment, while their structures are falling in 

 ruins through centuries of decay. Along the southern and southeastern 

 flank of the Paunsdgunt these ruins stretch mile after mile. But the crown- 

 ing work is Table Cliff in the background. Standing 11,000 feet above 

 sea-level and projected against the deep blue of the western sky, it presents 

 the aspect of a vast Acropolis crowned with a Parthenon. It is hard to 

 dispel the fancy that this is a work of some intelligence and design akin to 

 that of humanity, but far grander. Such glorious tints, such keen con- 

 trasts of light and shade, such profusion of sculptured forms, can never be 



