540 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



strikes the soiitlierii foot of the mountains. Within this walled area 

 a profound gorge Cataract Caiion is seen, with Stillwater Caiion 

 above, and Narrow Caiion below. The lower caiion of the Grand is 

 also seen, and a number of lateral canons. 



Along the general slo2:)e of the district between the caiions are vast 

 numbers of buttes. Their origin is the same as that of the buttes pre- 

 viously described. Often they are but monuments, or standing col- 

 umns of rocks. From tliem is derived the Indian name Toom'-pin 

 Wu-near' Tu-weap' " the Land of Standing Rocks." 



Adjacent to the larger caiions, especially near the junction of the 

 Grand and Green, walled coves are found. Each main gulch branches 

 into a number of smaller gulches above, and each of these smaller 

 gulches heads in an amphitheatre. The escarpments of these amphi- 

 theatres are broken and terraced, and in many places two such amphi- 

 theatres are so close together that they are separated only by a narrow 

 gorge of vertical homogeneous sandstone. 



This latter, though homogeneous in general structure, is banded 

 with red and gray, so that the walls of the amphitheatres seem painted. 

 In many places these walls are broken, and the coves are separated 

 by lines of monuments. Where these coves or amphitheatres are 

 farther apart, the spaces above are naked, presenting a smooth but 

 billowy pavement of sandstone, in the depressions of which are many 

 water-pockets, some of them deep, preserving a perennial supply ; 

 but the greater number so shallow that the water is evaporated within 

 a few days after the infrequent showers. 



In many places, especially in the sharp angles between gulches, 

 the rocks are often fissured, and huge chasms obstruct the course of 

 the adventurous climber. 



These caiions, and coves, and standing rocks, and buttes, and 

 cliffs, and distant mountains, present an ensemble of strange, grand 

 features. Weird and wonderful is the Too'm!-pin Wii-near' Tu-weap'. 



Marble Canojt. The escarpment, which we call the " Vermilion 

 Cliffs,?' at the foot of Glen Caiion, exposes the same beds as are seen 

 in the face of the Orange Cliffs, at the foot of Labyrinth Caiion. It 

 will be remembered that the beds exposed in the Terrace Caiions dip 

 to the north. Between the Orange Cliffs and the Vermilion Cliffs, the 

 strata are variously dipped by raonoclinal folds, having their axes in 

 a northerly and southerly direction, and the red beds are at about the 

 same altitude above the sea at the two points. The Vermilion Cliffs 

 which face the south form a deep, reentering angle at the mouth of 

 the Paria. On the east side of the Colorado, the line stretches to the 

 southeast for many miles ; on the west side, it extends, in a south- 

 westerly direction, about fifteen miles, then turns west, and, at last, 

 to the northwest. The general northerly dip is again observed from 

 the mouth of the Paria to the mouth of the Colorado Chiquito. 



The genei'al surface of the country between the two points is the 



