248 



NATURE 



\yan, 1 6, 1879 



other. Still there is a border country where the plateaux 

 take on a type of structure which suggests the Basin type, 

 though never to be confounded with it. Powell has given 

 it the name of Kaibab structure, and through it the Grand 

 Canon of the Colorado cuts transversely. This structure 

 extends northward from the Grand Canon more than 250 

 miles, reaching within 100 miles of the Uintas, or even 

 nearer than that. Between the great faults tabular masses 

 have been uplifted to the average altitude of 11,000 feet, 

 with grand valleys between them. 



To the eastward of these high plateaus is spread out a 

 wonderful region. Standing upon the eastern verge of 

 any one of these, where the altitude is nearly 11,500 feet, 

 the eye ranges over a vast expanse of nearly level terraces 

 bounded by cliffs of strange aspect (Fig. i). They wind 

 about in all directions, here throwing out a great promon- 

 tory, there receding in a deep bay, but continuing on and 

 on until they sink below the horizon, or swing behind some 

 loftier mass, or fade out in the distant haze. Very 

 wonderful, too, is the sculpture of these majestic walls. 



fC Fig. I.— Blrd'i-ej e view cf CLffs of Erosicn, showing the Shin-at-I'mp Cliffs. Vermilion Chffs, and Gray Cliffs, in order from Right to Left. 



Panels, pilasters, niches, alcoves, buttresses, needing not 

 the slightest assistance from the imagination to point the 

 resemblance^grotesque colossal forms neatly carved out 

 of solid rock, endless repetitions of shapes, which pique 

 the fancy to find analogies, are presented to us on every 

 hand, and fill us Avith w^onder as we pass. But of all the 

 characters of this unparalleled scenery, that which appeals 

 most strongly to the eye is the colouring. The gentle 

 tints of an eastern landscape, the rich' blue of distant 



mountains, the green of summer vegetation, the subdued 

 tints of hill-side and meadow— all are wanting, and :n 

 their place we behold belts of fierce, starirg red, yellow, 

 and toned white, which are intensified rather than alle- 

 viated by alternating belts of dark iron-gray. The 

 Plateau Country is the land of canons. Gorges, ravines, 

 caiiadas, are found in every high country, tut ccncr.s 

 belong to the region of plateaus. Like every other river 

 the Colorado has^'many tributaries, and in fcinrer t.mes 



