156 Hunting Trips of a Ranchman 



degrees of hardness, offer some more and some less 

 resistance to the action of the weather. The table 

 lands, peaks, cliffs, and jagged ridges are caused 

 solely by the rains and torrents cutting away the 

 land into channels, which at first are merely wash 

 outs, and at last grow into deep canyons, winding 

 valleys, and narrow ravines or basins. The sides 

 of these cuts are at first perpendicular, exposing to 

 view the various bands of soil, perhaps of a dozen 

 different colors; the hardest bands resist the action 

 of the weather best and form narrow ledges stretch 

 ing along the face of the cliff. Peaks of the most 

 fantastic shape are formed in this manner; and 

 where a ridge is worn away on each side its crest 

 may be as sharp as a knife blade, but all notched 

 and jagged. The peaks and ridges vary in height 

 from a few feet to several hundred; the sides of 

 the buttes are generally worn down in places so 

 as to be steeply sloping instead of perpendicular. 

 The long wash-outs and the canyons and canyon- 

 like valleys stretch and branch out in every direc 

 tion; the dryness of the atmosphere, the extremes 

 of intense heat and bitter cold, and the occasional 

 furious rain-storms keep the edges and angles sharp 

 and jagged, and pile up bowlders and masses of 

 loose detritus at the foot of the cliffs and great 

 lonely crags. Sometimes the valleys are quite broad, 

 with steep sides and with numerous pockets, sep 

 arated by spurs jutting out into the bottom from 

 the lateral ridges. Other ravines or clefts taper 

 down to a ditch, a foot or so wide, from which the 



