GIANT DOMES OF ROCK 
oval shape, and a yellow-ochre colour. The shell contained 
many tiny cells or chambers, just like the section of a 
beehive. Each chamber was full of a bitter oil, said to 
cure almost any complaint known. 
On May twenty-second I took observations with the 
hypsometrical apparatus in order to obtain the correct 
elevation, and also as a check to the several aneroids I 
was using for differential altitudes. Water boiled at a 
temperature of 210° with a temperature of the atmosphere 
of 70° Fahrenheit. This would make the elevation at 
that spot 1,490 feet above the sea level. The aneroids 
registered 1,480 feet. 
We came upon two strange rocks, one resembling the 
head and neck of a much-eroded sphinx, of natural 
formation, blackened, knobby, and with deep grooves; 
the other was not unlike a giant mushroom. The sphinx- 
like rock stood upon a pedestal also of rock in several 
strata. The head was resting on a stratum one foot thick, 
of a brilliant red, and at a slight dip. Under it was a white 
stratum much cracked, after which came a stratum of 
white and red, blending into each other. This stratum, 
two feet thick, showed the white more diffused in the 
upper part than the lower. The lowest stratum of all 
exposed was of a deep red. 
Near this stood erect another columnar rock of a 
similar shape, the head and base entirely of red rock. It 
was eroded on the northwest side to such an extent that 
it was almost concave in the lower part. This rock, too, 
showed great cracks and a slight dip northwest in the 
strata. Vertical fissures were noticeable, and seemed 
caused by concussion. 
A third rock, flat, with a convex bottom, stood as if 
on a pivot on the angular point of a pyramidal, larger 
rock, this larger rock in its turn resting over a huge base. 
There was no mistake as to how those two rocks had got 
there. They had fallen from above, one on the top of the 
243 
