148 



GRAND (ANON DISTRICT. 



to one between a fine cathedral town and a metropolis like London 

 or Paris. In truth, there is only a very limited ground of comparison 

 between the two localities, for in style and effects their respective struct- 

 ures differ as decidedly as the works of any two well developed and 

 strongly contrasted styles of human architecture. 



Whatsoever is forcible, characteristic, and picturesque in the rock- 

 forms of the Plateau country is concentrated and intensified to the utter- 

 most in the bnttes. Wherever we find them, whether fringing the long 

 escarpments of terraces or planted upon broad mesas, whether in canons 

 or upon expansive plains, they are always bold and striking in outline 

 and ornate in architecture. Upon their thinks and entablatures the deco- 

 ration peculiar to the formation out of which they have been carved is 

 most strongly portrayed and the profiles are most sharply cut. They 

 command the attention with special force and quicken the imagination 



fi# 



vliiii^ 



Fie;. 15 — Pinnacles on the brink. 



with a singular power. The secret of their impressiveness is doubtless 

 obscure. Why one form should be beautiful and another unattractive; 

 why one should be powerful, animated, and suggestive, while another 

 is meaningless, are questions for the psychologist rather than the 

 geologist. Sufficient here is the fact. Yet there are some elements of 

 impressiveness which are too patent to escape recognition. In nearly 

 all bnttes there is a certain dcjinitcnc.ss of form which is peculiarly em- 

 phatic, and this is seen in their profiles. Their ground-plans are almost 

 always indefinite and capricious, but the profiles are rarely so. These 

 are usually composed of lines which have an approximate and sometimes 



