dutton] RAVINES OF THE KAIBAB. 135 



high. The traveler in the Plateau province learns to dread the neces- 

 sity which compels him to thread a deep gorge or canon unless lie knows 

 beforehand that there is a practicable and easy trail through it. If it 

 is dry it is almost certain to be obstructed by fallen fragments and thickly 

 set with scrub, its bottom scoured into rough gullies by the sudden floods; 

 and half the time it will be necessary to mount the steep talus and thread 

 it. If it carries a living stream the way is still worse, for in addition to 

 the foregoing difficulties there are dangerous quicksands, impenetrable 

 thickets of willows and thorny bushes, and the stream meanders from 

 wall to wall. Unless there is a good trail the traveler will usually prefer 

 to mount the cliff if a break can be found in it and seek the mesa above, 

 and thus by a single struggle get rid of the miseries below. Not so the 

 ravines of the Kaibab. Like the paths trodden by the pilgrims in the 

 Delectable Mountains, "their ways are pleasantness and all their paths 

 are peace." The ravine we enter is but a fair specimen of a vast number of 

 them which cover the whole broad surface of the plateau with an infinite 

 network of ramifications. Its bottom is covered with a carpet of grass 

 and flowers growing rankly in a smooth firm soil free from rocks and 

 undergrowth. Here and there a clump of aspens or noble pines grow 

 in the way, but offer no obstacles to progress. It is like riding through 

 a well-kept park or an avenue shaded by ancient trees. And now the 

 effect of the absence of streams becomes manifest. Not only are there 

 no perennial brooks, but there are no indications that even in the time 

 of heavy rains or of melting snow any notable amount of water ever 

 runs in these channels. Yet the Kaibab is a moist region. In summer 

 the rains are frequent, and in winter the snow lies deep. Horses cannot 

 winter there and the wild cattle and deer, late in October, abandon it 

 and seek the lower regions around its flanks. In all other plateaus or 

 mountain ranges of equal mass and altitude and with equal precipita- 

 tion there are many goodly streams and even large creeks fed through 

 out the summer by numberless copious springs; and when the snows 

 melt these streams become raging torrents. But so rare are the indica- 

 tions 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 witii 

 surprise as if it were a strange phenomenon demanding special ex- 

 planation. But the very absence of these traces of running water con- 

 stitutes 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 luxuriance. 



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 

 (Pimut ponrlcrosa), but large spruces are also common [Abies grandis, 

 A. Engdmanni). Upon the flanks of the ravines they also grow, the 

 piues upon the northern or sunny side, the spruces upon the opposite. 

 In the valley bottom they grow scatteringly, and for the most part leave 



