60 THE CANON COUNTRY. 



water for gradually cutting through even the hardest 

 rock. (This is termed the process of 'Erosion'). The 

 enormous volume of material alone that must have 

 been removed by the tireless labourer, during the 

 formation of one of these canons, is in itself a subject 

 full of wonder and instruction; as showing what may 

 be effected by apparently small resources, ceaselessly 

 working towards the attainment of a particular purpose. 

 Some of these canons for instance, as we shall pro- 

 ceed to show, extend uninterruptedly for hundreds of 

 miles through mighty rock-hewn gorges, compared 

 to which the greatest monuments of human skill and 

 labour fade into absolute insignificance indeed it 

 would be difficult to find a more striking instance of 

 the littleness of man, when contrasted with the works 

 of Nature, than that which is here exhibited. 



Thus the Grand Canon of the Colorado, which 

 is only one among many in that district 

 " alone extends for a distance of about two hundred miles 

 westward of its junction with the ' Colorado Chiquito ' " (or 

 lesser Colorado) " and its walls rise almost sheer from the 

 water's edge to a height of from 4000 to as much as 7000 

 feet; while further down is 'The Black Canon,' which, with 

 a length of twenty-five miles, and a height of 1000 or 1500 

 feet, would be considered a magnificent phenomenon, were 

 it not thrown into complete insignificance by its more stupend- 

 ous neighbour." * 



This wonderful river and its tributaries traverse the 

 great watershed to the westward of the Rocky Mountains 

 throughout its whole extent, and finally force their way 

 down to the sea , at the head of the Gulf of California, 

 most of the way through a succession of canons, 



* Encyclop. Brit., Qth edition, Vol. vi, p. 163. 



