132 
THE GEAND CANON DISTEICT. 
streams become raging torrents. But so rare are the indications of running 
water on the Kaibab, even in times of melting snow or of vernal rains, that 
whenever we find a “wash” we look at it with surprise as if it wei’e a 
strange phenomenon demanding special explanation. Bntthe very absence 
of these traces of running water constitutes one of the greatest charms of 
the Kaibab, for every ravine is as smooth as a lawn and carpeted with a 
turf of mountain grass, richly decked with flowers of rare beauty and lux- 
uriance. 
The great trees grow chiefly upon the main platform above us. Ex- 
cept in the highest part of the plateau they are mostly the yellow pine 
(Pinus ponclerosa), but large spruces are also common {Ahies grandis, A. 
Engelmanni). Upon the flanks of the ravines they also grow, the pines upon 
the northern or sunny side, the spruces upon the opposite. In the valley 
bottom they grow scatteringly, and for the most part leave it quite open. 
Contrasting finely with these are the aspens {Popidiis tremuloides), with their 
white trunks and pale green foliage. Throughout the greater part of the 
plateau these three genera comprise all the arboreal forms that occur. But 
upon its borders we also find cedars, mountain mahogan}^, and piilon (Junip- 
erus occidentalis, Gercocarpiis ledifolim, and Pinus eduUs), the latter, though 
classed as a pine, differing greatly from the more typical forms of the genus. 
The ravine, where we enter its mouth, is about 600 feet in depth. The 
ascent is by a very easy grade, averaging about 100 feet to the mile. As 
we progress it becomes shallower, but not so rapidly as the grade might 
indicate, for the plateau summit also rises, though at a lower grade, towards 
the east. The course is a crooked one, but none the less agreeable on that 
account. Every traveler on foot or horseback has probably observed how 
tiresome and monotonous the road becomes when he can see it stretching 
away before him for many miles, and how charming the diversity when it 
wanders hither and thithei’. It matters not if the successive vistas are as 
much alike as two turns of a kaleidoscope, there is always an impatience to 
see what is beyond the next tuim. So it is here. The successive scenes 
are much alike, or change by insensible degrees, but the same general view 
is presented in ever-varying detail, and its subject-matter is always delight- 
ful. 
