_sage prairies_. Other plains are met with that
present a black aspect to the traveller. These are covered with lava,
that at some distant period of time has been vomited forth from volcanic
mountains, and now lies frozen up, and broken into small fragments like
the stones upon a new-made road. Still other plains present themselves
in the American Desert. Some are white, as if snow had fallen freshly
upon them, and yet it is not snow, but salt! Yes; pure white salt--
covering the ground six inches deep, and for fifty miles in every
direction! Others, again, have a similar appearance; but instead of
salt, you find the substance which covers them to be soda--a beautiful
efflorescence of soda!

There are mountains, too--indeed, one-half of this Desert is very
mountainous; and the great chain of the Rocky Mountains--of which you
have no doubt heard--runs sheer through it from north to south, and
divides it into two nearly equal parts. But there are other mountains
besides these; mountains of every height, and sometimes in their shape
and colour presenting very striking and singular appearance. Some of
them run for miles in horizontal ridges like the roofs of houses, and
seemingly so narrow at their tops that one might sit astride of them.
Others, again, of a conical form, stand out in the plain apart from the
rest, and look like teacups turned upside down in the middle of a table.
Then there are sharp peaks that shoot upward like needles, and others
shaped like the dome of some great cathedral--like the dome of Saint
Paul's. These mountains are of many colours. Some are dark, or
dark-green, or blue when seen from a distance. They are of this colour
when covered by forests of pine or cedar, both of which trees are found
in great plenty among the mountains of the Desert.

There are many mountains, where no trees are seen, nor any signs of
vegetation along their sides. Huge naked rocks of granite appear piled
upon each other, or jutting out over dark and frowning chasms. There
are peaks perfectly white, because they are covered with a thick mantle
of snow. These can always be seen from the greatest distance, as the
snow lying upon them all the year without melting proves them to be of
vast elevation above the level of the sea. There are other peaks almost
as white, and yet it is not with snow. They are of a milky hue, and
stunted cedar-trees may be seen clinging in seams and crevices along
their sides. These