WESTERN FREAKS. 3

the clouds have formed the mountains. Lift a district of granite,
or marble, into their region, and they gather about it, and hurl
their storms against it, beating the rocks into sand, and then they
carry them out into the sea, carving out cafions, gulches, and val-
leys, and leaving plateaus and mountains embossed on the surface.

“The action of the elements in this western country is marked.
A butte is a peak or elevation too high to be a hill but too low
for a mountain. We have some fine ones among or near the Colo-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“BUTTES OF THE CROSS IN THE TOOM-PIN WU-NEAR TUR-WEAP.

rado cafions. It is thought that the meeting of two lateral or side-
cafions will account for this, and the water has thus cut out these
buttes with their terraces and towers. Prof. Powell speaks of those
near Labyrinth Cafion, each one ‘so regular and beautiful that you
can hardly cast aside the belief that they are works of Titanic

art.
“¢Tt seems as if a thousand battles had been fought on the plains