Minecraft wiki entry for Infdev_20100327_to_Beta_1.7.3, associated text: The far lands edge boundary (that is, where it meets the regular map) looks like a solid wall, all the way to the top of the map (Y coordinate 127 in beta 1.8 and earlier) which is filled with gaping holes perpendicular to the edge. These holes are extremely long, perhaps "endless", and on the whole seem to change very little, however deep the player's adventures. They can be blocked, partially or completely, but these blockages are rare and temporary. This "Swiss Cheese Wall" pattern continues below ground level, to the bottom of the map, and appears to be partially caused by a large one-dimensional distortion in the output of the map generator. This area is sometimes called “the loop”.