1868.] CLAllK SAXON SWITZERLAND. 540 



river, and on its left bank, the granite appears at 50 or 60 feet above 

 the river, with the Qnader lying horizontall)^ upon it ; and as this is 

 one of the highest points in the region, and apparently free from up- 

 heaval, 1400 or 1500 feet may be considered the maximum thickness 

 of the Quader, though it was probably much thicker originally. 



There are some marked geological peculiarities in this Saxon Swit- 

 zerland, which are briefly described in the following pages. 



1. The abrupt and significant variations of surface-altitude, without 

 any corresponding inclination or dislocation of the strata. — The entire 

 region lying to the northward of a line drawn between Pirna and 

 the Larger Winterberg is made up of strata which, except in two or 

 three localities of but small extent, are horizontal up to the tops of 

 the highest hills, some of which reach to 1300 feet above the surface 

 of the Elbe. The only places, worth mentioning, where this slight 

 deviation from the general horizon tali ty is found are: — (1) in the 

 bends of the river round the Lilienstein *, where the strata dip to 

 the north-east at an angle of about 1° 11' ; and (2) in the valley of 

 the Kirnitsch, about five miles east of the former place, and two 

 miles E.N.E. of the town of Schandau ; here the fall is to the S.S.E. 

 at an angle of about 15°. This place is close to the edge of the 

 Lusatian granite, which here reaches its furthest limit southward, 

 the border-line of the sandstone running from this spot nearly due 

 east as far as the confines of Bohemia on the one hand, and about 

 north-west to Saxon Dittersbach on the other, thus forming the two 

 sides of a very obtuse angle, the blunted apex of which is separated 

 from the main body of the granite by the Kirnitsch, a small 

 stream, which runs through it, cutting off a strip of about a mile 

 long and not more than 200 or 300 yards wide. The sandstone 

 and granite rise here in close contact until they both reach the 

 height of about 940 feet above the sea, and 520 above the vaUey. 



This rather significant inclination of the strata extends to but a 

 few hundred yards from the edge of the granite, and would seem to 

 have been occasioned by pressure of that rock against the edges of 

 the sandstone beds, crushing back, as it were, the lower strata, and 

 causing them to lift up those above. 



With these two exceptions, the strata are horizontal, or very 

 nearly so, throughout the whole of the region to the north of the 

 line above mentioned. In passing, however, to the south of that line 

 we find them nearly everjrwhere to be slightly and pretty regularly 

 inclined, the dip taking three general directions as follows : — 



1. In the western portion, lying between the border south of 

 Pirna and a line from Prossen on the Elbe, through the Sattel- 

 berg, the dip is about north-east, and the angle between 1° and 2°. 



2. In the portion between the last-mentioned line and one drawn 

 from Schandau due south, the dip is about N.N.W., as may be best 

 seen in the Biela valley between the Schneeberg and the town of 

 Konigstein, the angle varying between 1° and 2°. 



* The river runs here in directions nearly at right angles to the general 

 line of its course between the Larger Winterberg and Pirna, crossing the line 

 mentioned above, and entering the region of inclined strata. 



