A COLORADO SKETCH 



IT would appear that the American continent 

 was originally of considerably larger dimensions 

 than it is at present. It was probably found to 

 be altogether too large for comfort or convenience, 

 and it was reduced by the simple process of 

 pressing or squeezing it together from the sides — 

 an operation which caused it to crumple up to- 

 wards the centre, and produced that great, elevated, 

 tumbled, and tossed region generally and vaguely 

 known as the Rocky Mountains. If this simple 

 theory of the formation of a continent sounds 

 somewhat infantile, you must remember that I 

 am not a scientific man, and that it is not more 

 unscientific than many other theories of creation. 

 There is no such thing as a chain of Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Under that name are included various 

 ranges and belts of mountains and hills, which 

 embrace within their far-stretching arms fertile 

 valleys, arid deserts, sunny hill-slopes clothed with 

 valuable timber, parks full of pastoral beauty 

 basking beneath a sun that warms them into semi- 



