68 



THE DESEET 



Biver- 

 banks. 



"Bottom^ 



deeper red than the canyons. And it does this 

 not through arroyos alone, but also by a wide 

 surface drainage. 



Often the slope of the desert to the river is 

 gradual for many miles — sometimes like the 

 top of a huge table slightly tilted from the 

 horizontal. When the edge of the table is 

 reached the mesa begins to break into terraces 

 (often cut through by small gullies), and the 

 final descent is not unlike the steps of a Eoman 

 circus leading down into the arena. During 

 cloud-bursts the waters pour down these steps 

 with great fury and the river simply acts as 

 a catch-basin for all the running color of the 

 desert. 



The " bottom " lands, forming the immediate 

 banks of the river, are the silt deposits of 

 former years. Often they are several miles in 

 width and are usually covered with arrow-weed, 

 willows, alders, and cottonwoods. The growth 

 is dense if not tall and often forms an almost 

 impenetrable jungle through which are scat- 

 tered little openings where grass and flowers 

 grow and Indians build reed wickiups and raise 

 melons and corn in season. The desert terraces 

 on either side (sometimes there is a row of sand- 

 dunes) comedown to meet these "bottom" lands. 



