DISSECTED PLATEAUS 411 



grandeur of the panorama spread out before one who is 

 permitted to see'this gigantic exhibition of the results of 

 erosion. Wonderful, grand, sublime, are mere sounds 

 which lose themselves in the ears of one who looks out 

 upon this overpowering display of Nature's handiwork. 



The region is very dry, and the river receives few and 

 short branches for many miles of its course. The valley 

 is widening much more slowly than it would if this were 

 a land of considerable rainfall, and as yet the river fills 

 the entire bottom of the gorge. The valley is in the 

 early stages of its development and has just begun the 

 vast work of wearing down the region. The side streams 

 are small and the interstream spaces broad. 



191. Dissected Plateaus. If a plateau has been elevated 

 for considerable time in a region of abundant rainfall, the 

 streams extend their courses in networks, thoroughly dis- 

 secting the area and leaving between their courses only 

 narrow remnants of the upland. The valleys are still 

 deep, but the intervening uplands are of small extent. 

 Traveling over the region in any direction except along 

 the stream courses is a continual process of climbing out 

 of and into valleys. 



There is very little level space that can be used for cul- 

 tivation, and on account of the steepness of the slopes it 

 is very hard to build roads. The river valleys are so 

 narrow that unless the roads are perched high up on the 

 sides, they are liable to be swept away at the time of 

 flood. Farming in these regions is very discouraging 

 because of the difficulty of transporting crops and of find- 

 ing anything but a steep side hill on which to grow them. 



Railroads can get through only by following the princi- 

 pal valleys, and here, on account of the narrowness, the 

 engineering of the roads is difficult. Unless the region is 

 rich in minerals, it can support only a small population, 



