PAITNS-A'-GUNT PLATEAU. 135 
sand, with continually changing boundaries, in some places burying trees 
and rocks; in others heaped in huge drifts. 
North of our camp, and eight miles distant, the south end of the table 
land known as the Pauns-a'-gunt Plateau rose to an altitude which we deter 
mined to be 3,295 feet above our camp, or about nine thousand two hundred 
feet above sea level. The eastern boundary of this plateau is a line of 
cliffs, having a general trend north 45 east. These cliffs show in the dis 
tance a beautiful pink color, and, for the upper 2,000 feet, present bold, 
perpendicular faces, with here and there steep, rocky slopes. From the foot 
of these, slopes and vertical faces long, narrow ridges run out on the plain 
below. Between these ridges are many beautiful valleys, but probably the 
whole country is too much elevated for permanent settlement. 
From Camp No. 3 to Camp No. 4 our course was northeast. Camp 
No. 4 was in a beautiful, grassy valley, half a mile wide and six miles long, 
lying between two cedar covered ridges. At its foot, a small lake stands at 
the entrance of a narrow cafion, that drains the valley, and cuts its way 
through both the White and Vermilion Cliffs, furnishing, as we determined 
by exploration, another practicable route through these escarpments to the 
valley connecting the Kanab and Paria settlements. 
From Camp No. 4 to Camp No. 5 our course was nearly northeast. 
For four miles we passed over low, grass covered ridges, when we came to 
the blink of a basin like region, drained by the head waters of the Paria 
River. The extension of the White Cliffs to the east forms the southern 
boundary of this basin, and the Pink Cliffs (forming the eastern face of the 
Pauns-a'-gunt Plateau, and here swinging in a great curve to the north) the 
northern. 
From underneath the cliffs standing around the northern rim of this 
basin many springs .burst forth. These gather at first into five considerable 
streams, which, uniting near the southern limit of the basin, form the Paria 
River, and cut through the White and Vermilion Cliffs in deep canons. In 
the soft, easily eroded rock within this basin each of these five streams has 
cut a deep, narrow canon. Literally, hundreds of side canons are tributary 
to these. Between the side canons stand long, narrow mesas. Sometimes 
the. canon is cut two or three hundred feet, and then, in its floor, a still 
