THE GKAND CANON OF THE COLORADO. 193 
sharp crags and peaks seen along this edge of the Paria Plateau are not 
well represented in the section, as it was taken along the line a little too far 
to the south for that purpose. 
So the district of country through which the Grand Canon is cut, is 
divided into blocks by cliffs and canons, and to each of the greater blocks 
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we have given a name, and called it a plateau. Only a few of these, like 
the Kaibab, are well denned as tables, i. e., blocks of land bounded on all 
sides by escarpments and slopes, which descend to lower lands. Many of 
them have escarpments and slopes to lower lands only on two or three sides, 
while the escarpments on the other sides are ascents to other plateaus. I 
shall not linger here to describe these plateaus in detail, but shall defer a 
more thorough discussion of the subject to the detailed report on the geology 
of the district. 
THE GRAND CANON. 
Through these tables the Colorado runs, in an easterly and westerly 
direction, in a deep gorge, known as the Grand Canon. 
The varying depths of this canon, due to the varying altitudes of the 
plateaus through which it runs, can only be seen from above. As we wind 
about in the gloomy depths below, the difference between 4,000 and 6,000 
feet is not discerned, but the characteristics of the canon the scenic fea 
tures change abruptly with the change in the altitude of the walls, as the* 
faults are passed. In running the channel, which divides the twin plateaus, 
we pass around the first great southern bend. In the very depths of the 
canon we have black granite, with a narrow cleft, through which a great 
river plunges. This granite portion of the walls is carved with deep gulches 
and embossed with pinnacles and towers. Above are broken, ragged,. non- 
conformable rocks, in many places sloping back at a low angle. Clamber 
ing over these, we reach rocks lying in horizontal beds. Some are soft; 
many very hard; _the softer strata are washed out; the harder remain as 
shelves. Everywhere there are side gulches and canons, so that these 
gulches are set about ten thousand dark, gloomy alcoves. One might imag 
ine that this was intended for the library of the gods; and it was. The 
shelves are not for books, but form the stony leaves of one great book. He 
who would read the language of the universe may dig out letters here and 
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