diff options
Diffstat (limited to '15526-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 15526-8.txt | 4730 |
1 files changed, 4730 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/15526-8.txt b/15526-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..35d42cc --- /dev/null +++ b/15526-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4730 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, John L. Stoddard's Lectures, Vol. 10 (of 10), +by John L. Stoddard + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: John L. Stoddard's Lectures, Vol. 10 (of 10) + Southern California; Grand Canon of the Colorado River; Yellowstone National Park + + +Author: John L. Stoddard + +Release Date: April 2, 2005 [eBook #15526] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN L. STODDARD'S LECTURES, VOL. +10 (OF 10)*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Sandra Brown, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15526-h.htm or 15526-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/2/15526/15526-h/15526-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/2/15526/15526-h.zip) + + + + + +JOHN L. STODDARD'S LECTURES, VOLUME 10 (of 10) + + Southern California + Grand Cañon of the Colorado River + Yellowstone National Park + +Illustrated and Embellished with Views of the + World's Famous Places and People, Being + the Identical Discourses Delivered + during the Past Eighteen + Years under the Title + of the Stoddard + Lectures + +Boston +Balch Brothers Co. +Norwood Press +J. S. Gushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith +Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. +Macdonald & Sons, Bookbinders, Boston + +MCM + + + + + + + +SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA + +[Illustration] + +Nature has carefully guarded Southern California. Ten thousand miles +of ocean roll between her western boundary and the nearest continent; +while eastward, her divinity is hedged by dreary deserts that forbid +approach. Although the arid plains of eastern Arizona are frequently +called deserts, it is not till the west-bound tourist has passed +Flagstaff that the word acquires a real and terrible significance. +Then, during almost an entire day he journeys through a region which, +while it fascinates, inspires him with dread. Occasionally a flock of +goats suggests the possibility of sustaining life here, but sometimes +for a distance of fifty miles he may see neither man nor beast. The +villages, if such they can be called, are merely clusters of rude +huts dotting an area of rocky desolation. No trees are visible. No +grazing-ground relieves the dismal monochrome of sand. The mountains +stand forth dreary, gaunt, and naked. In one locality the train runs +through a series of gorges the sides of which are covered with +disintegrated rock, heaped up in infinite confusion, as if an awful +ague-fit had seized the hills, and shaken them until their ledges had +been broken into a million boulders. At another point, emerging from +a maze of mountains, the locomotive shoots into a plain, forty or +fifty miles square, and sentineled on every side by savage peaks. +Once, doubtless, an enormous lake was held encompassed by these +giants; but, taking advantage of some seismic agitation, it finally +slipped through their fingers to the sea, and now men travel over its +deserted bed. Sometimes these monsters seemed to be closing in upon +us, as if to thwart our exit and crush us in their stony arms; but +the resistless steed that bore us onward, though quivering and +panting with the effort, always contrived to find the narrow opening +toward liberty. Occasionally our route lay through enormous fields of +cactus and yucca trees, twelve feet in height, and, usually, so +hideous from their distorted shapes and prickly spikes, that I could +understand the proverb, "Even the Devil cannot eat a cactus." + +[Illustration: LIFE ON THE DESERT.] + +[Illustration: THE DESERT'S MOUNTAINS.] + +[Illustration: DESERT VEGETATION.] + +As the day wore on, and we were drawn from one scene of desolation to +another, I almost doubted, like Bunyan's Pilgrim, whether we should +ever reach the promised land alive; but, finally, through a last +upheaval of defiant hills which were, if possible, more desolate and +weird than any we had seen, we gained the boundary of California and +gazed upon the Colorado River. It is a stream whose history thrilled +me as I remembered how in its long and tortuous course of more than a +thousand miles to this point it had laboriously cut its way through +countless desert cañons, and I felt glad to see it here at last, +sweeping along in tranquil majesty as if aware that all its struggles +were now ended, and peace and victory had been secured. + +It was sunset when our train, having crossed this river, ran along +its western bank to our first stopping-place in California,--the +Needles. Never shall I forget the impression made upon me as I looked +back toward the wilderness from which we had emerged. What! was that +it--that vision of transfiguration--that illumined Zion radiant with +splendor? Across the river, lighted by the evening's after-glow of +fire, rose a celestial city, with towers, spires, and battlements +glittering as if sheathed in burnished gold. Sunshine and distance +had dispelled all traces of the region's barrenness, and for a few +memorable moments, while we watched it breathlessly, its sparkling +bastions seemed to beckon us alluringly to its magnificence; then, +fading like an exquisite mirage created by the genii of the desert, +it swiftly sank into the desolation from which the sun had summoned +it, to crown it briefly with supernal glory. Turning at last from its +cold immobility to the activity around us, I saw some representatives +of the fallen race of California, as Indian bucks and squaws came +from their squalid hovels to sell the trifling products of their +industry, and stare at what to them is a perpetual miracle,--the +passing train. Five races met upon that railroad platform, and +together illustrated the history of the country. First, in respect to +time, was the poor Indian, slovenly, painted and degraded, yet +characterized by a kind of bovine melancholy on the faces of the men, +and a trace of animal beauty in the forms of the young squaws. +Teasing and jesting with the latter were the negro porters of the +train, who, though their ancestors were as little civilized as those +of the Indians, have risen to a level only to be appreciated by +comparing the African and the Indian side by side. There, also, was +the Mexican, the lord of all this region in his earlier and better +days, but now a penniless degenerate of Old Castile. Among them stood +the masterful Anglo-Saxon, whose energy has pushed aside the +Spaniard, civilized the Negro, developed half a continent, built this +amazing path of steel through fifteen hundred miles of desert, and +who is king where-ever he goes. While I surveyed these specimens of +humanity and compared them, one with another, there suddenly appeared +among them a fifth figure,--that of Sing Lee, formerly a subject of +the oldest government on earth, and still a representative of the +four hundred millions swarming in the Flowery Kingdom. Strangely +enough, of all these different racial types, the Mongol seemed the +most self-satisfied. The Yankee was continually bustling about, +feeding passengers, transporting trunks, or hammering car-wheels; the +Negroes were joking with the Indians, who appeared stolidly apathetic +or resigned; the Mexicans stood apart in sullen gloom, as if +secretly mourning their lost estate; but Sing Lee looked about him +with a cheerful calmness which seemed indicative of absolute +contentment and his face wore, continually, a complacent smile. What +strange varieties of human destiny these men present, I thought as I +surveyed them: the Indian and the Mexican stand for the hopeless +Past; the Anglo-Saxon and the Negro for the active Present; while +Sing Lee is a specimen of that yellow race which is embalmed in its +own conservatism, like a fly in amber. + +[Illustration: LOOKING BACK AT THE MOUNTAINS.] + +[Illustration: A CALIFORNIA RANCH SCENE.] + +[Illustration: INDIAN HUTS.] + +[Illustration: "A FALLEN RACE."] + +[Illustration: A MEXICAN HOUSE AND FAMILY.] + +[Illustration: THE BLOSSOMING WILDERNESS.] + +[Illustration: COMPLACENT MONGOLS.] + +[Illustration: CHARACTERISTIC SCENERY.] + +The unsuspecting traveler who has crossed the Colorado River and +entered Southern California, naturally looks around him for the +orange groves of which he has so often heard, and is astonished not +to find himself surrounded by them; but, gradually, the truth is +forced upon his mind that, in this section of our country, he must +not base his calculations upon eastern distances, or eastern areas. +For, even after he has passed the wilderness of Arizona and the +California frontier, he discovers that the Eldorado of his dreams +lies on the other side of a desert, two hundred miles in breadth, +beyond whose desolate expanse the siren of the Sunset Sea still +beckons him and whispers: "This is the final barrier; cross it, and I +am yours." The transit is not difficult, however, in days like these; +for the whole distance from Chicago to the coast can be accomplished +in seventy-two hours, and where the transcontinental traveler of less +than half a century ago was threatened day and night with attacks +from murderous Apaches, and ran the risk of perishing of thirst in +many a waterless "Valley of Death," the modern tourist sleeps +securely in a Pullman car, is waited on by a colored servant, and +dines in railway restaurants the management of which, both in the +quality and quantity of the food supplied, even in the heart of the +Great American Desert, is justly famous for its excellence. + +At San Bernardino, we enter what is called the Garden of Southern +California; but even here it is possible to be disappointed, if we +expect to find the entire country an unbroken paradise of orange +trees and roses. Thousands of oranges and lemons, it is true, suspend +their miniature globes of gold against the sky; but interspersed +between their groves are wastes of sand, reminding us that all the +fertile portion of this region has been as truly wrested from the +wilderness, as Holland from the sea. Accordingly, since San +Bernardino County alone is twice as large as Massachusetts, and the +County of Los Angeles nearly the size of Connecticut, it is not +difficult to understand why a continuous expanse of verdure is not +seen. The truth is, Southern California, with a few exceptions, is +cultivated only where man has brought to it vivifying water. When +that appears, life springs up from sterility, as water gushed forth +from the rock in the Arabian desert when the great leader of the +Israelites smote it in obedience to Divine command. Hence, there is +always present here the fascination of the unattained, which yet is +readily attainable, patiently waiting for the master-hand that shall +unlock the sand-roofed treasure-houses of fertility with a crystal +key. It can be easily imagined, therefore, that this is a land of +striking contrasts. Pass, for example, through the suburbs of Los +Angeles, and you will find that, while one yard is dry and bare, the +next may be embellished with a palm tree twenty feet in height, with +roses clambering over the portico of the house, and lilies blooming +in the garden. Of the three things essential to vegetation--soil, +sun, and water--man must contribute (and it is all he can contribute) +water. + +[Illustration: STRIKING CONTRASTS.] + +[Illustration: WRESTED FROM THE SAND.] + +[Illustration: A PALM-GIRT AVENUE, LOS ANGELES.] + +Once let the tourist here appreciate the fact that almost all the +verdure which delights his eyes is the gift of water at the hand of +man, and any disappointment he may have at first experienced will be +changed to admiration. Moreover, with the least encouragement this +country bursts forth into verdure, crowns its responsive soil with +fertility, and smiles with bloom. Even the slightest tract of +herbage, however brown it may be in the dry season, will in the +springtime clothe itself with green, and decorate its emerald robe +with spangled flowers. In fact, the wonderful profusion of wild +flowers, which, when the winter rains have saturated the ground, +transform these hillsides into floral terraces, can never be too +highly praised. Happy is he who visits either Palestine or Southern +California when they are bright with blossoms and redolent of +fragrance. The climax of this renaissance of Nature is, usually, +reached about the middle of April, but in proportion as the rain +comes earlier or later, the season varies slightly. At a time when +many cities of the North and East are held in the tenacious grip of +winter, their gray skies thick with soot, their pavements deep in +slush, and their inhabitants clad in furs, the cities of Southern +California celebrate their floral carnival, which is a time of great +rejoicing, attended with an almost fabulous display of flowers. Los +Angeles, for example, has expended as much as twenty-five thousand +dollars on the details of one such festival. The entire city is then +gay with flags and banners, and in the long procession horses, +carriages, and riders are so profusely decked with flowers, that they +resemble a slowly moving throng of animated bouquets. Ten thousand +choice roses have been at such times fastened to the wheels, body, +pole, and harness of a single equipage. Sometimes the individual +exhibitions in these floral pageants take the form of floats, which +represent all sorts of myths and allegories, portrayed elaborately +by means of statues, as well as living beings, lavishly adorned with +ornamental grasses, and wild and cultivated flowers. + +Southern California is not only a locality, it is a type. It cannot +be defined by merely mentioning parallels of latitude. We think of it +and love it as the dreamland of the Spanish Missions, and as a region +rescued from aridity, and made a home for the invalid and the winter +tourist. Los Angeles is really its metropolis, but San Diego, +Pasadena, and Santa Barbara are prosperous and progressive cities +whose population increases only less rapidly than their ambition. + +[Illustration: AN ARBOR IN WINTER.] + +[Illustration: MAIN STREET, LOS ANGELES.] + +One of the first things for an eastern visitor to do, on arriving at +Los Angeles, is to take the soft sound of _g_ out of the city's name, +and to remember that the Spaniards and Mexicans pronounce _e_ like +the English _a_ in fate. This is not absolutely necessary for +entrance into good society, but the pronunciation "Angeelees" is +tabooed. The first Anglo-Saxon to arrive here was brought by the +Mexicans, in 1822, as a prisoner. Soon after, however, Americans +appeared in constantly increasing numbers, and, on August 13, 1846, +Major Fremont raised at Los Angeles the Stars and Stripes, and the +house that he occupied may still be seen. Nevertheless, the +importance of Los Angeles is of recent date. In 1885 it was an adobe +village, dedicated to the Queen of the Angels; to-day, a city of +brick and stone, with more than fifty thousand inhabitants, it calls +itself the Queen of the State. Its streets are broad, many of its +buildings are massive and imposing, and its fine residences +beautiful. It is the capital of Southern California, and the +headquarters of its fruit-culture. The plains and valleys surrounding +it are one mass of vineyards, orange groves and orchards, and, in +1891, the value of oranges alone exported from this city amounted to +one and a quarter millions of dollars. It must be said, however, that +there is less verdure here than in well-cared-for eastern towns of +corresponding size, and that Los Angeles, and even Pasadena, +notwithstanding their many palm trees, have on the whole a bare +appearance, compared with a city like New Haven, with its majestic +elms and robe of vivid green, which even in autumn seems to dream of +summer bloom. Nevertheless, Los Angeles is clean, and poverty and +squalor rarely show themselves; while, in the suburbs of the city, +even the humblest dwellings are frequently surrounded by palm trees, +and made beautiful by flowers. + +[Illustration: FREMONT'S HEADQUARTERS.] + +[Illustration: PALATIAL RESIDENCES IN LOS ANGELES.] + +[Illustration: LOS ANGELES.] + +Another charm of Los Angeles is the sudden contrasts it presents. +Thus, a ride of three minutes from his hotel will bring the tourist +to the remains of the humble Mexican village which was the forerunner +of the present city. There he will find the inevitable Plaza with its +little park and fountain, without which no Mexican town is complete. +There, too, is the characteristic adobe church, the quaint interior +of which presents a curious medley of old weather-beaten statues and +modern furniture, and is always pervaded by that smell peculiar to +long-inhabited adobe buildings, and which is called by Steele, in his +charming "Old California Days," the national odor of Mexico. + +Los Angeles, also, has its Chinatown, which in its manners and +customs is, fortunately, as distinct from the American portion of the +city as if it were an island in the Pacific; but it gave me an odd +sensation to be able to pass at once from the handsome, active +settlement of the Anglo-Saxon into the stupidity of Mexico, or the +heathenism of China. + +[Illustration: PLAZA AND ADOBE CHURCH, LOS ANGELES.] + +[Illustration: BROADWAY, LOS ANGELES.] + +"How can I distinguish here a native Californian from an eastern +man?" I asked a resident. + +"There are no native Californians," was the somewhat exaggerated +reply; "this is not only a modern, but an eastern city. Nine-tenths +of our inhabitants came here from the East less than fifteen years +ago, many of them less than five. We are an old people with a new +home." + +Ostrich rearing is now a profitable industry of California, and farms +have been established for this purpose at half a dozen points in the +southern section of the State. Two of them are in the vicinity of Los +Angeles, and well repay a visit; for, if one is unacquainted with the +habits of these graceful birds, there is instruction as well as +amusement in studying their appearance, character, and mode of life. +My first view of the feathered bipeds was strikingly spectacular. As +every one knows, the ostrich is decidedly _décolleté_ as well as +utterly indifferent to the covering of its legs. Accordingly a troop +of them, as they came balancing and tiptoeing toward me, reminded me +of a company of ballet dancers tripping down the stage. While the +head of the ostrich is unusually small, its eyes are large and have +an expression of mischief which gives warning of danger. During a +visit to one of the farms, I saw a male bird pluck two hats from +unwary men, and it looked wicked enough to have taken their heads as +well, had they not been more securely fastened. It is sometimes +sarcastically asserted that the ostrich digests with satisfaction to +itself such articles as gimlets, nails, and penknives; but this is a +slander. It needs gravel, like all creatures of its class which have +to grind their food in an interior grist-mill; but though it will +usually bite at any bright object, it will not always swallow it. I +saw one peck at a ribbon on a lady's hat, and, also, at a pair of +shears in its keeper's hands, but this was no proof that it intended +to devour either. On another occasion, an ostrich snatched a purse +from a lady's hand and instantly dropped it; but when a gold piece +fell from it, the bird immediately swallowed that, showing how easily +even animals fall under the influence of Californian lust for gold. + +[Illustration: AN OSTRICH FARM.] + +[Illustration: ORANGE GROVE AVENUE, PASADENA.] + +Sixteen miles from Los Angeles, yet owing to the clear atmosphere, +apparently, rising almost at the terminus of the city's streets, +stand the Sierra Madre Mountains, whose copious reservoirs furnish +this entire region with water. An excursion toward this noble range +brought me one day to Pasadena, the pride of all the towns which, +relatively to Los Angeles, resemble the satellites of a central sun. +Pasadena seems a garden without a weed; a city without a hovel; a +laughing, happy, prosperous, charming town, basking forever in the +sunshine, and lying at the feet of still, white mountain peaks, whose +cool breath moderates the semi-tropical heat of one of the most +exquisitely beautiful valleys in the world. These mountains, although +sombre and severe, are not so awful and forbidding as those of the +Arizona desert, but they are notched and jagged, as their name +_Sierra_ indicates, and scars and gashes on their surfaces give proof +of the terrific battles which they have waged for ages with the +elements. A striking feature of their scenery is that they rise so +abruptly from the San Gabriel Valley, that from Pasadena one can look +directly to their bases, and even ride to them in a trolley car; and +the peculiar situation of the city is evidenced by the fact that, in +midwinter, its residents, while picking oranges and roses in their +gardens, often see snow-squalls raging on the neighboring peaks of +the Sierra. + +[Illustration: THREE MILES FROM ORANGES TO SNOW.] + +It would be difficult to overpraise the charm of Pasadena and its +environs. Twenty-five years ago the site of the present city was a +sheep-pasture. To-day it boasts of a population of ten thousand +souls, seventy-five miles of well-paved streets, numerous handsome +public buildings, and hundreds of attractive homes embellished by +well-kept grounds. One of its streets is lined for a mile with +specimens of the fan palm, fifteen feet in height; and I realized the +prodigality of Nature here when my guide pointed out a heliotrope +sixteen feet in height, covering the whole porch of a house; while, +in driving through a private estate, I saw, in close proximity, sago +and date palms, and lemon, orange, camphor, pepper, pomegranate, fig, +quince, and walnut trees. + +[Illustration: A PASADENA HOTEL.] + +[Illustration: A PASADENA RESIDENCE.] + +[Illustration: PASADENA.] + +As we stood spellbound on the summit of Pasadena's famous Raymond +Hill, below us lay the charming town, wrapped in the calm repose that +distance always gives even to scenes of great activity; beyond this +stretched away along the valley such an enchanting vista of green +fields and golden flowers, and pretty houses nestling in foliage, and +orchards bending 'neath their luscious fruits, that it appeared a +veritable paradise; and the effect of light and color, the +combination of perfect sunshine and well-tempered heat, the view in +one direction of the ocean twenty miles away, and, in the other, of +the range of the Sierra Madre only seven miles distant, with the +San Gabriel Valley sleeping at its base, produced a picture so +divinely beautiful, that we were moved to smiles or tears with the +unreasoning rapture of a child over these lavish gifts of Nature. Yet +this same Nature has imposed an inexorable condition on the +recipients of her bounty; for most of this luxuriance is dependent +upon irrigation. "The palm," said my informant, "will grow with +little moisture here, and so will barley and the grape-vine; but +everything else needs water, which must be artificially supplied." + +"How do you obtain it?" I asked. + +"We buy the requisite amount of water with our land," was the reply. +"Do you see that little pipe," he added, pointing to an orange grove, +"and do you notice the furrows between the trees? Once in so often +the water must be turned on there; and, as the land is sloping, the +precious liquid gradually fills the trenches and finds its way to the +roots of the trees." + +[Illustration: A RAISIN RANCH.] + +Dealers in California wines declare that people ought to use them in +preference to the imported vintage of Europe, and the warehouses they +have built prove the sincerity of their conviction. One storehouse in +the San Gabriel Valley is as large as the City Hall of New York, and +contains wooden receptacles for wine rivaling in size the great tun +of Heidelberg. We walked between its endless rows of hogsheads, +filled with wine; and, finally, in the sample-room were invited to +try in turn the claret, burgundy, sherry, port, and brandy. + +[Illustration: AN ORANGE GROVE, PASADENA.] + +[Illustration: A CALIFORNIA VINEYARD.] + +"How much wine do you make?" I asked the gentleman in charge. + +"In one year," was the reply, "we made a million gallons." + +I thought of the Los Angeles River which I had crossed that morning, +and of its sandy bed one hundred feet in width, with a current in +the centre hardly larger than the stream from a hose-pipe, and +remarked, "Surely, in some portions of this land there is more wine +than water." "Where do you sell it?" I presently inquired. + +"Everywhere," was the answer, "even in France; and what goes over +there you subsequently buy, at double the price, for real French +wine." + +[Illustration: AT THE BASE OF THE MOUNTAINS.] + +It was the old story, and I doubt not there is truth in it; but the +products of California vineyards, owing, possibly, to the very +richness of the soil, do not seem to me to possess a flavor equal in +delicacy to that of the best imported wines. This will, however, be +remedied in time, and in the comparatively near future this may +become the great wine-market of the world. Certainly no State in the +Union has a climate better adapted to vine-growing, and there are now +within its borders no less than sixty million vines, which yield +grapes and raisins of the finest quality. + +No visit to Pasadena would be complete without an excursion to the +neighboring mountains, which not only furnish the inhabitants with +water, but, also, contribute greatly to their happiness and +recreation. For, having at last awakened to the fact that comfort and +delight awaited them in the recesses and upon the summits of their +giant hills, the Californians have built fine roads along the +mountain sides, established camping-grounds and hostelries at several +attractive points, and, finally, constructed a remarkable elevated +railroad, by which the people of Los Angeles can, in three hours, +reach the crest of the Sierra Madre, six thousand feet above the sea. +Soon after leaving Pasadena, a trolley takes the tourist with great +rapidity straight toward the mountain wall, which, though presenting +at a distance the appearance of an unbroken rampart, disintegrates as +he approaches it into separate peaks; so that the crevices, which +look from Pasadena like mere wrinkles on the faces of these granite +giants, prove upon close inspection to be cañons of considerable +depth. I was surprised and charmed to see the amount of cultivation +which is carried to the very bases of these cliffs. Orchards and +orange groves approach the monsters fearlessly, and shyly drop golden +fruit, or fragrant blossoms at their feet; while lovely homes are +situated where the traveler would expect to find nothing but desolate +crags and savage wildness. The truth is, the inhabitants have come to +trust these mountains, as gentle animals sometimes learn by +experience to approach man fearlessly; and, seeing what the +snow-capped peaks can do for them in tempering the summer heat and +furnishing them water from unfailing reservoirs, men have discerned +behind their stern severity the smile of friendship and benevolence, +and have perceived that these sublime dispensers of the gifts of +Nature are in reality beneficent deities,--their feet upon the land +which they make fertile, their hands uplifted to receive from the +celestial treasure-house the blessings they in turn give freely to +the grateful earth. + +[Illustration: LOOKING DOWN ON THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.] + +[Illustration: THE ALPINE TAVERN.] + +[Illustration: THE GREAT INCLINE.] + +To reach their serrated crests the trolley car, already mentioned, +conveys us through a wild gorge known as Rubio Cañon, and leaves us +at the foot of an elevated cable-road to ascend Mount Lowe. Even +those familiar with the Mount Washington and Catskill railways, or +who have ascended in a similar manner to Mürren from the Vale of +Lauterbrunnen, or to the summit of Mount Pilate from Lucerne, look +with some trepidation at this incline, the steepest part of which has +a slope of sixty-two degrees, and, audaciously, stretches into the +air to a point three thousand feet above our heads. Once safely out +of the cable car, however, at the upper terminus, we smile, and think +the worst is over. It is true, we see awaiting us another innocent +looking electric car by which we are to go still higher; but we are +confident that nothing very terrible can be experienced in a trolley. +This confidence is quickly shattered. I doubt if there is anything in +the world more "hair lifting" than the road over which that car +conveys its startled occupants. Its very simplicity makes it the more +horrifying; for, since the vehicle is light, no massive supports are +deemed essential; and, as the car is open, the passengers seem to be +traveling in a flying machine. I never realized what it was to be a +bird, till I was lightly swung around a curve beneath which yawned a +precipice twenty-five hundred feet in depth, or crossed a chasm by a +bridge which looked in the distance like a thread of gossamer, or saw +that I was riding on a scaffolding, built out from the mountain into +space. For five appalling miles of alternating happiness and horror, +ecstasy and dread, we twisted round the well-nigh perpendicular +cliffs, until, at last the agony over, we walked into the mountain +tavern near the summit, and, seating ourselves before an open fire +blazing in the hall, requested some restorative nerve-food. Yet this +aërial inn is only one hundred and eighty minutes from Los Angeles; +and it is said that men have snow-balled one another at this tavern, +picked oranges at the base of the mountain, and bathed in the bay of +Santa Monica, thirty miles distant, all in a single afternoon. It +certainly is possible to do this, but it should be remembered that +stories are almost the only things in California which do not need +irrigation to grow luxuriantly. I was told that although this +mountain railway earns its running expenses it pays no interest on +its enormous cost. This can readily be believed; and one marvels, not +only that it was ever built, but that it was not necessary to go to a +lunatic asylum for the first passenger. Nevertheless, it is a +wonderfully daring experiment, and accomplishes perfectly what it was +designed to do; while in proportion as one's nervousness wears away, +the experience is delightful. + +[Illustration: THE CIRCULAR BRIDGE.] + +[Illustration: IMITATING A BIRD.] + +[Illustration: SWINGING ROUND A CURVE.] + +[Illustration: THE INNOCENT TROLLEY.] + +Living proofs of the progress made in California are the patient +burros, which, previous to the construction of this railroad, formed +the principal means of transportation up Mount Lowe. Why has the +donkey never found a eulogist? The horse is universally admired. The +Arab poet sings of the beauties of his camel. The bull, the cow, the +dog, and even the cat have all been praised in prose or verse; but +the poor donkey still remains an ass, the butt of ridicule, the +symbol of stupidity, the object of abuse. Yet if there be another and +a better world for animals, and if in that sphere patience ranks as a +cardinal virtue, the ass will have a better pasture-ground than +many of its rivals. The donkey's small size is against it. Most +people are cruel toward dumb beasts, and only when animals have power +to defend themselves, does caution make man kinder. He hesitates to +hurt an elephant, and even respects, to some extent, the rear +extremities of a mule; but the donkey corresponds to the small boy in +a crowd of brutal playmates. It is difficult to see how these useful +animals could be replaced in certain countries of the world. +Purchased cheaply, reared inexpensively, living on thistles if they +get nothing better, and bearing heavy burdens till they drop from +exhaustion, these little beasts are of incalculable value to the +laboring classes of southern Europe, Egypt, Mexico, and similar +lands. If they have failed to win affection, it is, perhaps, because +of their one infirmity,--their fearful vocal tones, which in America +have won for them the sarcastic title of "Rocky Mountain Canaries." + +[Illustration: MIDWINTER IN CALIFORNIA.] + +[Illustration: A CALIFORNIAN BURRO.] + +[Illustration: ROMEO AND JULIET.] + +Westward from Los Angeles stretches the famous "kite-shaped" track +which takes the traveler through the most celebrated orange and lemon +districts of the State. Starting upon this memorable excursion, our +route lay through the world-renowned San Gabriel Valley, a glorious +expanse ten miles in width and seventy in length, steeped in +sunshine, brilliant with every shade of yellow, emerald, and brown, +and here and there enriched by spots of brighter color where beds of +wild flowers swung their sweet bells noiselessly, or the light green +of orange trees, with mounds of golden fruit heaped in profusion on +the ground, relieved the sombre groves of eucalyptus whose foliage +was so dark as to be nearly black. Occasionally, however, our train +traversed a parched area which illustrated how the cloven-foot of the +adversary always shows itself in spots unhallowed by the benison of +water. In winter and spring, these sterile points would not be so +conspicuous, but on that summer day, in spite of the closed windows, +dust sometimes filled the cars, and for a little while San Gabriel +Valley was a paradise lost. For seventy miles contrasts of hot sand +and verdant orchards, arid wastes and smiling valley, followed one +another in quick succession,--and down upon it all frowned the long +wall of the Sierra Madre. + +[Illustration: SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.] + +[Illustration: GATHERING POPPIES AT THE BASE OF THE SIERRA MADRE.] + +It is a wonderful experience to ride for such a distance in a +perfectly level valley, and see an uninterrupted range of mountains, +eight thousand feet in height, rising abruptly from the plain like +the long battle-line of an invading army. What adds to its +impressiveness is the fact that these peaks are, for the entire +country which they dominate, the arbiters of life and death. Beyond +them, on one side, the desert stretches eastward for a thousand +miles; upon the other, toward the ocean, whose moisture they receive +and faithfully distribute, extends this valley of delight. The height +of the huge granite wall is generally uniform, save where, like +towers on the mighty rampart, old San Antonio and the San Bernardino +Brothers lift their hoary heads two miles above the sea,--their +silvery crowns and dazzling features standing out in the crystalline +clearness of the atmosphere as if they had been carved in high +relief. + +[Illustration: AN ADOBE HOUSE.] + +[Illustration: A PASADENA LEMON TREE.] + +We sped along, with feelings alternating between elation and +dejection, as the scenery was beautiful or barren, till, suddenly, +some sixty miles from Los Angeles, our train drew up before a city, +containing asphalt pavements, buildings made of brick, and streets +embowered in palms. This city which, in 1872, was a sheep-ranch, yet +whose assessed valuation, in 1892, was more than four million +dollars, is called Riverside; but, save in the rainy season, one +looks in vain for the stream from which it takes its name. The +river has retired, as so many western rivers do, to wander in +obscurity six feet below the sand. "A providential thing," said a wag +to me, "for, in such heat as this, if the water rose to the surface +it would all evaporate." The sun was, indeed, ardent as we walked +through the town, and we were impressed by the fact that the +dwellings most appropriate for this region are those which its first +settlers seem to have instinctively adopted; for the white, +one-storied adobe house, refreshing to the eye, cool in the heat, +warm in the cold, caressed by clinging vines and overhung with trees, +is surely the ideal residence for Southern California. Such buildings +can, of course, be greatly varied and embellished by wealthy owners; +but modern houses of red brick, fanciful "Queen Annes," and +imitations of castles, seem less suited to this land of sun and sand, +where nothing is so much to be desired as repose in form and color. I +always welcomed, therefore, genuine southern dwellings and, in the +place of asphalt pavements, natural roadways domed by arching trees. + +[Illustration: A HOUSE MODELED AFTER THE OLD MEXICAN FASHION.] + +[Illustration: THE IDEAL HOME.] + +The pride of Riverside is its far-famed Magnolia Avenue, fifteen +miles in length, with two broad driveways lined with pepper and +eucalyptus trees. Beyond these also are palm-girt sidewalks twenty +feet in breadth; while, here and there, reflecting California's +golden sunshine from their glistening leaves, stand groups of the +magnificent magnolias which give the avenue its name. + +"Why did you make this splendid promenade?" I asked in mingled +curiosity and admiration. + +"It is one of our ways of booming things," was the reply; "out of the +hundreds of people who come to see it, some stay, build houses, and +go into business. Without it they might never have come at all." + +"Was not the cost of laying it out enormous?" I inquired. + +"Not so great as you would naturally suppose," was the answer, "for +after this country has once been irrigated, whatever is planted on +watered land will grow like interest, day and night, summer and +winter." + +[Illustration: MAGNOLIA AVENUE, RIVERSIDE.] + +[Illustration: A MAGNOLIA BLOSSOM.] + +Riverside's fortunes were made in orange culture, and there was a +time when every one who planted orange trees was prosperous; but now, +under inevitable competition, this enterprise is rivaled in value by +other large industries, particularly the cultivation of lemons and +olives. Thousands of acres of olive orchards are now flourishing in +Southern California, and are considered a sure and profitable +investment. + +Another celebrated "orange city" is Redlands, where the visitor +ceases to wonder at nature, and devotes himself to marveling at man. +How can he do otherwise when, in a place that was a wilderness ten +years ago, he drives for twenty miles over well-curbed roads, sixty +feet wide and as hard as asphalt, or strolls through handsome streets +adorned with palms and orange trees, and frequently embellished with +residences worthy of Newport? No doubt it is a surprise to many +tourists to find such elegant homes in these cities which were born +but yesterday; for Americans in the East, though far from +conservative themselves, do not, as a rule, appreciate the wonderful +growth of these towns which but a few years since had no existence. +Occasionally some neighbor goes out to the Pacific coast, and tells +his friends on his return what he has seen; but it makes little +impression until they go themselves. They think he is exaggerating. + +"Would you like to see a converted mountain?" inquired my guide. + +"What do you mean?" I asked incredulously. + +"You will see," he replied, "and in ten minutes we shall be there." + +[Illustration: PART OF THE "CONVERTED MOUNTAIN," REDLANDS.] + +Accordingly, up we drove over magnificent, finely graded roads, till +we arrived at what appeared to be a gentleman's private park. The +park, however, seemed to have no limit, and we rode on through a +bewildering extent of cemented stone walls, umbrageous trees, +luxuriant flowers, trailing vines, and waving palms. At last we +reached the summit, and what a view unrolled itself before us! +Directly opposite, the awful wall of the Sierra swept up to meet our +vision in all its majesty of granite glory, like an immense, +white-crested wave, one hundred miles in length, which had by some +mysterious force been instantaneously curbed and petrified, just as +it was about to break and overwhelm the valley with destruction. +Beneath it, for seventy miles in exquisitely blended hues, stretched +the wonderful San Gabriel intervale, ideal in its tranquil +loveliness. Oh, the splendor, opulence, and sweetness of its +countless flowers, whose scarlet, gold, and crimson glowed and melted +into the richest sheen of velvet, and rendered miles of pure air +redolent with perfume, as grapes impart their flavor to good wine! + +In gazing on this valley from a distance one would fain believe it to +be in reality, as in appearance, an idyllic garden of Arcadian +innocence and happiness, and, forgetting the disillusions of maturer +years, dream that all human hearts are as transparent as its +atmosphere, and that all life is no less sweet and pure. + +[Illustration: A DRIVEWAY IN REDLANDS.] + +But, presently, I asked again, "What do you mean by a _converted_ +mountain?" + +"Eight years ago," was the reply, "this elevation on which we stand +was a heap of yellow sand, like many unconverted mountains that we +see about us; now it has been transformed into a dozen miles of +finished roads and extensive gardens enclosing two fine residences." + +"Pardon me," I exclaimed, "here are trees thirty feet high." + +"All grown in eight years," he answered. + +"Still," I again protested, "here are stone walls, and curbed and +graded roads." + +"All made in eight years," he reiterated. + +"But, in addition to this mountain, how about the twenty miles of +orange groves surrounding it, the thirty thousand dollar public +library of Redlands, and its miles of asphalt streets?" + +"All in eight years," he said again, as if, like Poe's raven, he had +been taught one refrain. + +[Illustration: THE SIERRA MADRE AND THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.] + +[Illustration: A FEW "UNCONVERTED MOUNTAINS," NEAR REDLANDS.] + +In fact, it should be said that this entire mountain was purchased by +two wealthy brothers who now come every winter from the East to this +incomparable hill, the whole of which has been, as if by magic, +metamorphosed into an estate, where visitors are allowed to find +instruction and delight upon its lofty terraces of forest and of +flowers. Is it strange, then, that such sudden transformations of +sterile plains and mountains into bits of paradise make tourists in +Southern California wildly enthusiastic? They actually see fulfilled +before their eyes the prophecy of Isaiah, "The desert shall rejoice, +and blossom as the rose." The explanation is, however, simple. The +land is really rich. The ingredients are already here. Instead of +being worthless, as was once supposed, this is a precious soil. The +Aladdin's wand that unlocks all its treasures is the irrigating +ditch; its "open sesame" is water; and the divinity who, at the call +of man, bestows the priceless gift, is the Madre of the Sierras. A +Roman conqueror once said that he had but to stamp upon the earth and +legions would spring up to do his bidding. So Capital has stamped +upon this sandy wilderness, and in a single generation a civilized +community has leaped into astonished life. Yet do we realize the +immense amount of labor necessitated by such irrigation? This +mountain, for example, is covered with water pipes, as electric wires +are carried through our houses. Every few rods a pipe with a faucet +rises from the ground; and as there are miles of roads and hundreds +of cultivated acres, it can with difficulty be imagined how many of +these pipes have been laid, and how innumerable are the little +ditches, through which the water is made to flow. Should man relax +his diligence for a single year, the region would relapse into +sterility; but, on the other hand, what a land is this for those who +have the skill and industry to call forth all its capabilities! What +powers of productiveness may still be sleeping underneath its soil, +awaiting but the kiss of water and the touch of man to waken them to +life! Beside its hidden rivers what future cities may spring forth +to joyous being; and what new, undiscovered chemistry may not this +mingling of mountain, sun, and ocean yet evolve to prove a permanent +blessing to mankind! + +[Illustration: GROUNDS OF THE SMILEY BROTHERS ON THE "CONVERTED +MOUNTAIN."] + +[Illustration: IRRIGATING DITCHES.] + +One hundred and twenty-six miles southwest of Los Angeles, one could +imagine that he had reached the limit of the civilized world: +eastward, the desert stretches far away to the bases of the San +Jacinto Mountains; westward, thousands of miles of ocean billows +shoulder one another toward the setting sun; southward, extends that +barren, almost unknown strip of earth, the peninsula of Lower +California; yet in this _cul-de-sac_, this corner between mountain, +desert, and sea, rises a charming and inspiring picture,--San Diego. + +[Illustration: SAN DIEGO.] + +The beautiful harbor of this city is almost closed, on one side, by a +bold majestic promontory called Point Loma; and on the other, by a +natural breakwater, in the form of a crescent, twelve miles long, +upon the outer rim of which the ocean beats a ceaseless monody. At +one extremity of this silver strand, directly opposite Point Loma and +close to the rhythmic surf, stands the Hotel Coronado; its west front +facing the Pacific, its east side looking on the azure of the +peaceful bay, beyond which rises San Diego with a population of +twenty thousand souls. To reach this hotel, the tourist crosses the +harbor from the city by a ferry, and then in an electric car is +whirled for a mile along an avenue which he might well suppose was +leading him to some magnificent family estate. The pavement is +delightfully smooth and hard; on either side are waving palms and +beds of radiant flowers; two charming parks, with rare botanical +shrubs and trees, are, also, visible and hold invitingly before him +the prospect of delightful hours in their fragrant labyrinths; and, +finally, out of a semi-tropical garden, the vast extent of which he +does not comprehend at first, rises the far-famed hostelry which, +itself, covers about four and a half acres of ground, at the extreme +southwestern corner of the Union, and on a spot which yesterday was a +mere tongue of sand. In the tourist season this palatial place of +entertainment presents a brilliant throng of joyous guests who have, +apparently, subscribed to the motto: "All care abandon ye, who enter +here." It is one of the few spots on this continent where the great +faults of our American civilization--worry and incessant work--are +not conspicuous. Men of the North too frequently forget that the +object of life is not work, but that the object of work is life. In +lands like Southern California, however, where flowers fill the air +with fragrance, where fruits are so abundant that starvation is +impossible, and where the nerves are not continually whipped by +atmospheric changes into restless energy, men live more calmly, +probably more rationally. Sunshine, roses, and the throbbing tones of +the guitar would seem to be the most appropriate sources of amusement +here. Meanwhile the northern millionaire breaks down from overwork +and leaves his money to be squandered by his relatives. Yet he also, +till the last gasp, claims that he is happy. What is happiness? +_Quien sabe_? + +[Illustration: POINT LOMA.] + +[Illustration: HOTEL CORONADO.] + +[Illustration: COURTYARD OF THE HOTEL.] + +The country about San Diego is a miniature reproduction of the plains +of Arizona and New Mexico, and just above the city rises a genuine +_mesa_, which, though comparatively small, resembles the large +table-lands of the interior, and was formed in the same way. Cutting +it, here and there, are little cañons, like that through which the +Colorado rolls, not a mile deep, but still illustrative of the +erosion made here by the rivers of a distant age; for these gashes +are the result of rushing water, and every stone upon this small +plateau has been worn round and smooth by friction with its fellows, +tossed, whirled, and beaten by the waves of centuries. Strange, is +it not, that though, like many other areas of our continent, this +region was once fashioned and completely ruled by water, at present +it has practically none; and men must often bring the precious liquid +fifty miles to crown the soil with beauty and fertility. + +[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE TABLE-LAND.] + +[Illustration: PACHANGO INDIANS AT HOME.] + +[Illustration: A CHRISTIANIZED INDIAN.] + +[Illustration: THE MISSION BELLS.] + +The old town of San Diego, four miles north of the present city, is +now almost abandoned. Only a dozen adobe buildings kept in fair +repair, and as many more in ruins, mark the site. The little chapel +is still used for worship, and from an uncouth wooden frame outside +its walls hang two of the old Mission bells which formerly rang out +the Angelus over the sunset waves. My guide carelessly struck them +with the butt of his whip, and called forth from their consecrated +lips of bronze a sound which, in that scene of loneliness, at first +seemed like a wail of protest at the sacrilege, and finally died away +into a muffled intonation resembling a stifled sob. Roused by the +unexpected call, there presently appeared an Indian who looked as if +he might have been contemporary with Methuselah. No wrinkled leaf +that had been blown about the earth for centuries could have appeared +more dry and withered than this centenarian, whose hair drooped from +his skull like Spanish moss, and whose brown hands resembled lumps of +adobe. + +[Illustration: AN AGED SQUAW.] + +"I am glad to have you see this man," said the guide, "for he has +rung these bells for seventy years, and is said to be more than a +hundred years old." + +I could not obtain a portrait of this decrepit bell-ringer, for many +Indians are superstitiously opposed to being photographed; but I +procured the picture of an equally shriveled female aged one hundred +and thirty who might have been his sister. + +[Illustration: RELICS OF AN ANCIENT RACE.] + +[Illustration: "ECSTATIC BATHERS."] + +"This," remarked my guide with a smile, "is what the climate of San +Diego does for the natives." + +"The glorious climate of California" has been for years a theme of +song and story, and a discussion of its merits forms one of the +principal occupations of the dwellers on the Pacific coast. It is +indeed difficult to see how tourists could pass their time here +without this topic of conversation, so infinite is its variety and so +debatable are many of the conclusions drawn from it. It is the Sphinx +of California; differing, however, from the Sphinx of Egypt in that +it offers a new problem every day. The literature that treats of the +Pacific coast fairly bristles with statistics on this subject, and +many writers have found it impossible to resist the temptation of +adorning their pages with tables of humidity, temperature, and +rainfall. Some hotels even print in red letters at the top of the +stationery furnished to their guests: + + "The temperature to-day is ----." + +Among the photographs of San Diego are several which represent groups +of ecstatic bathers, ranging from small boys to elderly bald-headed +gentlemen, apparently ready to take a plunge into the Pacific; while +beneath them is displayed the legend, "January 1, 18--." Candor +compels me, however, to state that, as far as I was able to +ascertain, these pictured bathers rarely pay a New Year's call to +Neptune in his mighty palace, but content themselves in winter with +going no further than his ante-chambers,--the sheltered, sun-warmed +areas of public bath-houses. + +[Illustration: MIDWINTER AT LOS ANGELES.] + +"I believe this to be the best climate in the world," said a +gentleman to me in San Diego, "but I confess that, when strangers are +visiting me, it occasionally does something it ought not to do." + +The truth is, there are several climates in Southern California, some +of which are forced upon the resident, while others can be secured by +going in search of them in a trolley car or a railway carriage. The +three determining factors in the problem of temperature are the +desert, the ocean, and the mountains. Thus, in midsummer, although +it may be fiercely hot in the inland valleys, it is invariably cool +in the mountains on account of their altitude, and near the shore +because the hot air rising from the desert invites a daily ocean +breeze. Even at a distance from the comfortable coast, humanity never +passes into that abject, panting, and perspiring condition in which +the inhabitants of the Eastern States are usually seen when the +mercury goes to ninety. The nights are always cool; although not +quite as much so in July as the enthusiasts tell us who have never +seen the country later in the season than the month of May, and who +weary us with the threadbare tale of never sleeping without a +blanket. + +"Is it true, madam," I said to a lady of San Diego, "that here one +must always take a blanket to bed with him?" + +"Hush," she replied, "never ask that question unless you are sure +that there are no tourists within hearing." + +[Illustration: PIER AT SANTA MONICA.] + +[Illustration: AVALON, SANTA CATALINA ISLAND.] + +Three statements are, I think, unquestionably accurate: first, that +for many months of the year the residents need not take into +consideration for a moment the possibility of rain; second, that on +account of this drought there must inevitably be during that period a +superfluity of dust; and, third, that every day there will be felt "a +cool refreshing breeze," which frequently increases to a strong wind. +My memory of California will always retain a vivid impression of this +wind, and the effect of it upon the trees is evident from the fact +that it has compelled most of them to lean toward the east, while one +of the last sights I beheld in San Diego was a man chasing his hat. +Nevertheless, acclimated Californians would no more complain of their +daily breeze, however vigorous, than a man would speak disrespectfully +of his mother. + +As in most semi-tropical countries, there is a noticeable difference +in temperature between sun and shade. In the sun one feels a genial +glow, or even a decided heat; but let him step into the shade, or +stand on a street-corner waiting for a car, and the cool wind from +the mountains or the ocean will be felt immediately. People +accustomed to these changes pay little heed to them; but to +new-comers the temperature of the shade, and even that of the +interiors of the hotels and houses, appears decidedly cool. + +[Illustration: NOT AFRAID OF THE SUN.] + +One day, in June, I was invited to dine at a fruit-ranch a few miles +from Pasadena. The heat in the sun was intense, and I noticed that +the mercury indicated ninety-five degrees; but, unlike the atmosphere +of New York in a heated term, the air did not remind me of a Turkish +bath. The heat of Southern California is dry, and it is absolutely +true that the highest temperature of an arid region rarely entails as +much physical discomfort as a temperature fifteen or twenty degrees +lower in the Eastern States, when accompanied by humidity. The +moisture in a torrid atmosphere is what occasions most of the +distress and danger, the best proof of which is the fact that while, +every summer, hundreds of people are prostrated by sunstroke near the +Atlantic coast, such a calamity has never occurred in New Mexico, +Arizona, or California. Moreover, when the mercury in Los Angeles +rises, as it occasionally does, to one hundred degrees, the +inhabitants of that city have a choice of several places of refuge: +in two or three hours they can reach the mountains; or in an hour +they can enjoy themselves upon Redondo Beach; or they may take a +trolley car and, sixty minutes later, stroll along the sands of Santa +Monica, inhaling a refreshing breeze, blowing practically straight +from Japan; or, if none of these resorts is sufficiently attractive, +three hours after leaving Los Angeles they can fish on Santa Catalina +Island, a little off the coast; or linger in the groves of Santa +Barbara; or, perhaps, best of all can be invigorated by the saline +breath of the Pacific sweeping through the corridors of the Coronado. +Santa Catalina Island is, in particular, a delightful pleasure-resort, +whose beautiful, transparent waters, remarkable fishing-grounds, and +soft, though tonic-giving air, which comes to it from every point of +the compass over a semi-tropic sea, are so alluring that thousands of +contented people often overflow its hotels and camp in tents along +the beach. + +[Illustration: IN COTTONWOOD CAÑON, SANTA CATALINA.] + +[Illustration: LILIPUTIAN AND GIANT.] + +[Illustration: ON THE BEACH AT SANTA CATALINA.] + +That the winter climate of Southern California, not only on the +coast, but in the interior, is delightful, is beyond question. What +was healthful a hundred years ago to the Spanish monks who settled +here, proved equally so to those adventurous "Forty-niners" who +entered California seeking gold, and is still more beneficial to +those who now come to enjoy its luxuries and comforts. Flowers and +fruit are found here throughout the entire year. The rainy days are +few, and frosts are as ephemeral as the dew; and to the aged, the +invalids, the fugitives from frost, and the "fallen soldiers of +civilization," who are no longer able to make a courageous fight +with eastern storms and northern cold, San Diego is a climatic +paradise. Accordingly, from early October until April the overland +trains roll westward from a land of snow and frost to one of sun and +flowers, bearing an annually increasing multitude of invalids and +pleasure-seekers, some of whom have expensive permanent homes and +costly ranches here--like that of Mr. Andrew McNally, at +Altadena--while others find abundant comfort in the fine hotels. + +[Illustration: AN OLD CALIFORNIAN TRADING POST.] + +[Illustration: A BIT OF NATURE ON THE COAST.] + +Perhaps the principal secret of the charm of the winter climate of +Southern California, as well as that of its wonderfulhealth-restoring +properties, lies in the fact that its dry, pure air and even +temperature make it possible for one to live continuously out of +doors. Yet, though not cold, it is a temperature cool enough to be +free from summer languor. + +[Illustration: CALIFORNIAN PALMS.] + +Especially attractive to the visitors from the North are the palms of +Southern California. Many of these resemble monstrous pineapples +terminating in gigantic ferns. What infinite variety the palm tree +has, now dwarfed in height, yet sending out on every side a mass of +thick green leaves; now rising straight as an obelisk from the desert +sand, and etching its fine feathery tufts against the sky; now +bearing luscious fruit of different kinds; now furnishing material +for clothing, fishing-nets, and matting; or putting forth those +slender fronds, frequently twenty feet in length, which are sent +North by florists to decorate dwellings and churches for festivals +and weddings! The palm is typical of the South, as the pine is of the +North. One hints to us of brilliant skies, a tropic sun, and an easy, +indolent existence; the other suggests bleak mountains and the +forests of northern hills, and symbolizes the conflict there between +man and nature, in which both fortitude and daring have been needful +to make man the conqueror. One finds a fascination in contrasting +these two children of old Mother Earth, and thinks of Heine's lines: + + "A pine tree standeth lonely + On a northern mountain's height; + It sleeps, while around it is folded + A mantle of snowy white. + + "It is dreaming of a palm tree + In a far-off Orient land, + Which lonely and silent waiteth + In the desert's burning sand." + +[Illustration: HERMIT VALLEY NEAR SAN DIEGO.] + +On my last day at San Diego, I walked in the morning sunshine on +Coronado Beach. The beauty of the sea and shore was almost +indescribable: on one side rose Point Loma, grim and gloomy as a +fortress wall; before me stretched away to the horizon the ocean +with its miles of breakers curling into foam; between the surf and +the city, wrapped in its dark blue mantle, lay the sleeping bay; +eastward, the mingled yellow, red, and white of San Diego's buildings +glistened in the sunlight like a bed of coleus; beyond the city +heaved the rolling plains, rich in their garb of golden brown, from +which rose distant mountains, tier on tier, wearing the purple veil +which Nature here loves oftenest to weave for them; while, in the +foreground, like a jewel in a brilliant setting, stood the Coronado. + +[Illustration: THE PACIFIC.] + +The fascination of Southern California had at last completely +captured me. Its combination of ocean, desert, and mountain, its +pageantry of color, and its composite life of city, ranch, and beach +had cast over me a magic spell. It was, however, a lonely sea that +spread its net of foam before my feet. During my stay I had not seen +a single steamer on its surface, and only rarely had a few swift +sea-birds, fashioned by man's hand, dotted the azure for a little +with their white wings, ere they dipped below the horizon's rim. +Hence, though the old, exhilarating, briny odor was the same, I felt +that, as an ocean, this was unfamiliar. The Atlantic's waves are +haunted by historic memories, but few reminders of antiquity rise +ghostlike from the dreary waste of the Pacific. Few battles have been +fought, few conquests made upon these shores. On the Atlantic coast +one feels that he is looking off toward civilized and friendly lands, +across a sea which ocean greyhounds have made narrow; but here three +purple islands, floating on the limitless expanse, suggest mysterious +archipelagoes scattered starlike on its area, thousands of miles +away, before a continent is reached; and one vaguely imagines +unknown races, coral reefs, and shores of fronded palms, where +Nature smiles indulgently upon a pagan paradise. Nevertheless its +very mystery and vastness give to the Pacific a peculiar charm, which +changeful Orient seas, and even the turbulent Atlantic, never can +impart. Instinctively we stand uncovered in the presence of the +mightiest ocean on our planet. It is at once the symbol and the fact +of majesty; and the appalling sense of trackless space which it +inspires, the rhythm of unmeasured and immeasureable waves, together +with the moaning of the surf upon the sand, at times completely +overwhelm us with suggestions of the Infinite, until no language +seems appropriate, unless it shapes itself in prayer. + +[Illustration: "A SEA-BIRD FASHIONED BY MAN'S HAND."] + +[Illustration: A LONELY OCEAN.] + +In Helen Hunt Jackson's novel, "Ramona," the romance of this region +has found immortality. What "Romola" is to mediaeval Florence, +"Ramona" is to Southern California. It has embalmed in the memory of +the nation a lost cause and a vanished race. Less than one hundred +years ago, where the Anglo-Saxon has since built railroads, erected +manufactories, and created cities, a life was lived, so different in +its character from all that followed or preceded it, that only a +story like "Ramona" could make it appear real. At that time about +twenty "Missions"--which were in reality immense ecclesiastical +farms--bordered the coast for seven hundred miles. For when the New +World had been suddenly revealed to the astonished gaze of Europe, it +was not merely the adventurous conqueror who hastened to these +shores. The priest accompanied him, and many enthusiastic soldiers of +the Cross embarked to bear to the benighted souls beyond the sea the +tidings of salvation. Missionary enterprises were not then what they +are to-day. Nothing was known with certainty of the strange tribes on +this side of the globe, and there was often a heroism in the labors +of self-sacrificing missionaries to America, which far surpassed the +courage of the buccaneer. Many exploring expeditions to this western +land received the blessing of the Church, and were conducted, not +alone for obtaining territory and gold, but for the conversion of +the inhabitants. In Mexico and Peru the priests had followed, rather +than led the way; but in California, under the lead of Father +Junipero, they took the initiative, and the salvation of souls was +one of the principal purposes of the invaders. This did not, however, +prevent the Franciscans, who took possession of the land, from +selecting with great wisdom its very best locations; but, having done +so, they soon brought tens of thousands of Indians under spiritual +and temporal control. These natives were, for the most part, as +gentle and teachable as the Fathers were patient and wise; and, in +1834, a line of Missions stretched from San Diego to Monterey, and +the converted Indians numbered about twenty thousand, many of whom +had been trained to be carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, saddlers, +tailors, millers, and farmers. Three-quarters of a million cattle +grazed upon the Mission pastures, as well as sixty thousand horses; +fruits, grain, and flowers grew in their well-cultivated valleys +until the country blossomed like the Garden of the Lord; and in the +midst of all this industry and agricultural prosperity the native +converts obeyed their Christian masters peacefully and happily, and +came as near to a state of civilization as Indians have ever come. + +[Illustration: RAMONA'S HOME.] + +[Illustration: THE CHAPEL, RAMONA'S HOME.] + +[Illustration: PALMS NEAR SAN FERNANDO MISSION.] + +[Illustration: CORRIDOR, SAN FERNANDO MISSION.] + +Presently the Mexicans made their appearance here; but, though they +held and managed enormous ranches, the situation was comparatively +unchanged; for they maintained harmonious relations with the +Missions, and had no serious difficulties with the Indians. Thus life +went on for nearly half a century, and seemed to the good Fathers +likely to go on forever; for who, they thought, would ever cross the +awful eastern plains to interfere with their Arcadian existence, or +what invading force would ever approach them over the lonely sea? But +history repeats itself. The Missions soon became too rich not to +excite cupidity; and those who coveted their lands and herds +declared, as an excuse for violence, that the poor Indians were held +in a state of slavery, and should be made to depend upon themselves. +At length, in 1833, the Mexican Government by a decree of +secularization ruined the Missions; but the Indians, although not so +prosperous and well treated as under the Fathers, still kept, through +Mexican protection, most of their privileges and the lands they +owned. Finally came the Anglo-Saxon, and, under the imperious +civilization that poured into California from 1840 to 1860, the +pastoral age soon disappeared. The Missions, which had already lost +much of their property and power under the Mexican Government, +quickly shrank after this new invasion into decrepitude. The +practical Anglo-Saxon introduced railroads, electricity, commerce, +mammoth hotels, and scientific irrigation, all of which the Fathers, +Mexicans, and Indians never would have cared for. Nevertheless, with +his arrival, the curtain fell upon as peaceful a life-drama as the +world had seen. + +[Illustration: SANTA BARBARA.] + +[Illustration: SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.] + +[Illustration: GROUP OF FRANCISCAN FRIARS.] + +To the reader, thinker, and poet the memories and associations of +these Missions form, next to the gifts of Nature, the greatest charm +of Southern California; and, happily, although that semi-patriarchal +life has passed away, its influence still lingers; for, scattered +along the coast--some struggling in poverty, some lying in +neglect--are the adobe churches, cloisters, and fertile +Mission-fields of San Juan Capistrano, San Fernando Rey, Santa +Monica, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz, all of which still preserve +the soft and gracious names, so generously given in those early days, +and fill us with a genuine reverence for the sandaled monks, who by +incessant toil transformed this barren region into a garden, covered +these boundless plains with flocks and herds, and dealt so wisely +with the Indians that even their poor descendants, to-day, reverence +their memory. + +[Illustration: CHIEF OF A TRIBE OF MISSION INDIANS.] + +The Saxon has done vastly more, it is true; but, in some ways, he has +done much less. The very names which he bequeathed to places not +previously christened by the Spaniards, such as Gold Gulch, Hell's +Bottom, and Copperopolis, tell a more forcible, though not as +beautiful a tale, as the melodious titles, San Buenaventura, San +Francisco Dolores, Santa Clara, San Gabriel, and La Purissima. + +[Illustration: INDIAN WOMEN.] + +It is not, therefore, the busy streets and handsome dwellings of Los +Angeles and Pasadena, but the adobe ruins, the battered statues, the +cracked and voiceless bells, the poor remnants of the Indian tribes, +and even the old Spanish names, behind which lies a century of +sanctity and romance, which give to Southern California an atmosphere +of the Old World and harmonize most perfectly with its history. + +[Illustration: SAN DIEGO MISSION.] + +Most of the Mission buildings are in a sad condition. Earthquakes +have shattered some; neglect and malice have disfigured others; but a +society, composed alike of Catholics and Protestants, is now, in the +interest of the past, endeavoring to rescue them from utter ruin. It +is a worthy task. What subjects for a painter most of them present! +How picturesque are their old cloisters, looming up dark, grand, and +desolate against the sky! How worn and battered are they by the +storms of years! How tremblingly stands the Cross upon their ancient +towers, as if its sacred form had become feeble like the fraternity +that once flourished here! What witnesses they are of an irrevocable +past! Their crumbling walls, if they could speak, might grow +sublimely eloquent, and thrill us with inspiring tales of heroism, +patience, tact, and fortitude exhibited when these Missions bloomed +like flowery oases on the arid areas of the South and West, and +taught a faith of which their melancholy cloisters are the sad +memorials. + +Ten miles from Los Angeles, the Southern Pacific railroad passes a +long edifice, the massive walls of which might lead us to suppose it +was a fortress, but for its cross and a few antiquated bells. It is +the church of the San Gabriel Mission. All other buildings of the +institution have disappeared; but this old edifice remains, and, +unless purposely destroyed by man, may stand here for five centuries +more, since its enormous walls are five feet thick, and the mortar +used in their construction has rendered them almost as solid as if +hewn from rock. As I descended, at the station a quarter of a mile +away, a little barefooted Mexican boy approached and shyly offered me +his hand. "Are you the Father," he asked? + +"No," I said, "I am not the Father, but I have come to see the +church; can you show it to me?" + +"But Padre Joaquin said I was to meet a Father." + +"Well," I answered, "I am the only passenger who has come by this +train, so you had better walk back with me." + +[Illustration: SAN GABRIEL MISSION CHURCH.] + +The Mexican boys seem to be the best part of what Mexico has left in +California. This lad, for example, was attending an American school, +and appeared bright and ambitious, though so extremely courteous and +respectful that he seemed almost timid. The little hut in which he +lived was opposite the church, and he seemed perfectly familiar with +the sacred structure. "See," he said, pointing to some mutilated +wooden statues in the poor, scantily furnished sacristy, "here are +some images which cannot be used, they are so broken, and here are +more," he added, opening some drawers and displaying four or five +smaller figures in various stages of dilapidation. Thus, for some +time he continued to call my attention to different curious relics +with such interest and reverence that I was almost sorry when Father +Joaquin appeared. It was sad to see the altar of the church defaced +and cracked, and its statues, brought a hundred years ago from +Spain, scarcely less battered than those which the boy had shown me +in the sacristy. Yet it was plain that worshipers as well as vandals +had been here. The basins for holy water, cut in the solid wall, were +worn, like the steps of an ancient building, with countless fingers, +long since turned to dust. There, also, were two old confessionals, +one of which was so hopelessly infirm that it had been set aside at +last, to listen to no more whispered tales of sin and sorrow. The +doors of the church at first looked ancient, but wore a really modern +air, when compared with the original portals, which, no longer able +to stand upright, had been laid against the wall, to show to +tourists. Yet, eighty years ago, this church stood proudly at the +head of all the Missions, and reared its cross above the richest of +their valleys. According to Father Joaquin's estimate, the Fathers of +San Gabriel must have had twenty thousand acres under cultivation, +and, in 1820, this Mission alone possessed one hundred and sixty +thousand vines, two thousand three hundred trees, twenty-five +thousand head of cattle, and fifteen thousand sheep. "It was all +ours," he said, with a sweep of his hand, "we had reclaimed it from +the desert, and, by the treaty between the United States and Mexico, +we were allowed to retain all lands that we had cultivated. Yet of +those twenty thousand acres, one hundred and fifty are all that are +left us!" + +The Padre accompanied me to the station. "How large is your parish, +Father?" I asked. + +"It is thirteen miles long," was his reply, "and I have in it eight +hundred souls, but most of them live too far away to walk to church, +and are too poor to ride." + +"And how many Indians have you?" + +"Perhaps a hundred," he answered, "and even they are dying off." + +"What of their character?" I asked. + +"They have sadly fallen away," was the response. "True, they are +Christians as far as they are anything, but they are hopelessly +degraded, yet they respect the Church, and are obedient and +reverential when under its influence." + +[Illustration: DISCARDED SAINTS, SAN GABRIEL.] + +[Illustration: MUTILATED STATUES.] + +[Illustration: THE BAPTISMAL FONT.] + +[Illustration: SAN GABRIEL, FROM THE SOUTHEAST.] + +Most of the Californian Missions are really dead, and near that of La +Purissima may still be seen the rent in the ground made by the +earthquake which destroyed it. Others, like San Gabriel and San Juan +Capistrano, are dragging out a moribund existence, under the care of +only one or two priests, who move like melancholy phantoms through +the lonely cloisters, and pray among the ruins of a noble past. The +Mission of Santa Barbara, however, is in fairly good repair, and a +few Franciscan Fathers still reside there and carry on a feeble +imitation of their former life. + +[Illustration: A DEGENERATE.] + +It is on his way to this Mission that the traveler passes the reputed +residence of Ramona. There is, it is true, another structure near San +Diego which, also, claims this distinction; but the ranch on the +route from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara perfectly corresponds to +"H.H.'s" descriptions of her heroine's home, with its adjoining brook +and willows, and hills surmounted by the cross. The house is almost +hidden by the trees with which a Mexican ordinarily surrounds his +dwelling, and is, as usual, only one story high, with a projecting +roof, forming a porch along the entire front. As we learn in +"Ramona," much of the family life in those old days--sewing, +visiting, and siesta-taking--went on in the open air, under the shade +of the porticos which were wide and low. Here it was that Alessandro +brought Felipe back to health, watching and nursing him as he slept +outdoors on his rawhide bed; and we may see the arbor where the +lovers met, the willows where they were surprised by Señora Moreno, +and the hills on which the pious lady caused wooden crosses to be +reared, that passers-by might know that some good Catholics were +still left in California. + +[Illustration: THE CROSS ON THE HILL.] + +[Illustration: SANTA BARBARA MISSION.] + +The Mission of Santa Barbara is of solid brick and stone, with walls +six feet in thickness. Its cloisters look sufficiently massive to +defy an earthquake, and are paved with enormous bricks each twelve +inches square. The huge red tiles of the roof, also, tell of a +workmanship which, although rude, was honest and enduring. The +interior, however, is of little interest, for the poor relics which +the Fathers keep are even less attractive than those displayed at the +Mission of San Gabriel; yet there are shown at least two enormous +missals which are no less than four feet long by two feet wide, +and beautifully inscribed on parchment. + +[Illustration: SANTA BARBARA MISSION FROM THE FARM.] + +[Illustration: WHERE THE FATHERS WALKED.] + +"What is the Mission's income?" I asked the gentle monk who acted as +my guide. + +"Alas!" he answered, "we have very little. You know our lands are +gone. We have barely twenty-five acres now. Moreover, we are outside +the village; and, as there is another church, most Catholics go +there. We receive, indeed, occasional offerings from travelers; but +we are very poor." + +"Who cultivates your twenty-five acres?" I inquired. + +"According to our ability, we are all busy," was the answer, "some +till the garden; others train young men for the priesthood; one of +our number is a carpenter; and another," he added, evidently laughing +at his own expense, "knows just enough about machinery to make a bad +break worse." + +"And the Indians?" I said. + +"Not one is left," was the reply. "Though once the Mission counted +them by thousands, they are all dead and gone. There are their +monuments," he added, pointing to the fragments of a mill and one or +two industrial shops. + +[Illustration: THE CEMETERY, SANTA BARBARA.] + +I looked and saw the remnants of a giant wheel which formerly had +been turned by water, brought from the hills to feed the Fathers' +lands. The water was still flowing, but the wheel lay, broken,--symbolic +of the link which bound the Mission to the vanished past. + +The first Roman Catholic Bishop of California and some of the early +Fathers are buried in the chapel of the monastery, but interments are +now made in a neighboring cemetery, strictly reserved for members of +the Mission, each of whom has there his predestined place. Yet even +in this humble Campo Santo life will not yield entirely to death. The +hum of droning insects breaks the stillness of the empty cloisters; +occasionally a lizard darts like a tongue of flame along the walls; +grasses and trailing plants adorn impartially the ground containing +human dust, and that which still awaits an occupant; while round a +stately crucifix, which casts its shadow like a benediction on the +sleeping dead, sweet wild flowers bloom throughout the year, and from +their swinging censers offer incense to the figure of the Saviour +with each passing breeze. The hush of melancholy broods over the +entire place. The mountains, gazing down upon it in stony silence, +are haggard and forbidding; below it lies the modern town; while from +a neighboring hillside the inmates of a villa look directly into the +monastery garden, on which the earlier Fathers little dreamed a +female eye would ever rest. A little life, however, was still visible +about this Santa Barbara Mission. Two brown-robed monks were hoeing +in the field; occasionally, visitors came and went; and, just as I +was leaving, one of the priests, in obedience to a summons, hurried +away to minister to the sick; yet over all there hung an atmosphere +of unreality and sadness. I felt myself the guest of an anachronism. + +[Illustration: DREAMING OF OTHER DAYS.] + +A fashionable city has risen at the feet of these old monks, but they +regard it not. A trolley car brings curious tourists to their doors; +but the ways of the Santa Barbara Fathers are those of long ago. Like +agèd pilgrims, dreaming by their firesides, they seem to be living in +the past; they certainly have no present worthy of the name; and when +I sought to draw forth from my priestly guide some idea of their +future, he answered me by pointing to a grave. + +[Illustration] + + + + +GRAND CAÑON OF THE COLORADO RIVER + + + + +[Illustration] + +While the Old World is better able than the New to satisfy the +craving of the mind for art and history, no portion of our globe can +equal the North American continent in certain forms of natural +scenery which reach the acme of sublimity. Niagara, the Yosemite, the +Yellowstone National Park, and the Grand Cañon of the Colorado in +Arizona are the four great natural wonders of America. Niagara is +Nature in the majesty of liquid motion, where, as the outlet of vast +inland seas, a mighty river leaps in wild delirium into a gorge two +hundred feet below, and boils and seethes tumultuously till its +heart is set at rest and its fever cooled by the embrace of Lake +Ontario. The Yosemite is Nature pictured, in a frame of granite +precipices, as reclining on a carpet woven with a million flowers, +above which rise huge trees three centuries old, which, nevertheless, +to the spectator, gazing from the towering cliffs, appear like waving +ferns. The Yellowstone Park is the arena of an amphitheatre in which +fire and water, the two great forces which have made our planet what +it is, still languidly contend where formerly they struggled +desperately for supremacy. But the Grand Cañon of Arizona is Nature +wounded unto death, and lying stiff and ghastly with a gash, two +hundred miles in length and a mile in depth, in her bared breast, +from which is flowing fast a stream of life-blood called the +Colorado. + +[Illustration: A PETRIFIED FOREST, ARIZONA.] + +[Illustration: PACK-MULES OF THE DESERT.] + +[Illustration: EVIDENCES OF EROSION.] + +[Illustration: THE NAVAJO CHURCH.] + +[Illustration: FANTASTIC FORMS.] + +The section of country through which one travels to behold this +last-named marvel is full of mystery and fascination. It is a land +where rivers frequently run underground or cut their way through +gorges of such depth that the bewildered tourist, peering over their +precipitous cliffs, can hardly gain a glimpse of the streams flowing +half a mile below; a land of colored landscapes such as elsewhere +would be deemed impossible, with "painted deserts," red and yellow +rocks, petrified forests, brown grass and purple grazing grounds; a +land where from a sea of tawny sand, flecked here and there with +bleached bones, like whitecaps on the ocean, one gazes upon mountains +glistening with snow; and where at times the intervals are so brief +between aridity and flood, that one might choose, like Alaric, a +river-bed for his sepulchre, yet see a host like that of Pharaoh +drowned in it before the dawn. In almost every other portion of the +world Nature reveals her finished work; but here she partially +discloses the secrets of her skill, and shows to us her modes of +earth-building. Thus, the entire country is dotted with _mesas_, or +table-lands of sandstone, furrowed and fashioned in a tremendous +process of erosion, caused by the draining through this area of a +prehistoric ocean, whose rushing, whirling, and receding waters +molded the mountains, carved the cañons, and etched innumerable +grotesque figures and fantastic forms. A feeling of solemnity steals +over us, as we reflect upon the lapse of geologic time which such a +record covers, unnumbered ages before man's advent on this planet; +and these deep cañons and eroded valleys, whose present streams are +only miniature representatives of those which formerly wrought havoc +here, teach lessons of patience to the restless mortals who behold +them; while some of the singular formations on the cliffs present +perplexing problems which Nature, as it were in mocking humor, bids +us solve. + +[Illustration: A SPECIMEN OF NATURE'S HANDIWORK.] + +Was Nature ever really sportive? In the old days, when she produced +her uncouth monsters of the deep, was she in manner, as in age, a +child? Did she then play with her continents, and smile to see them +struggle up from the sea only to sink again? Was it caprice that made +her wrap her vast dominions in the icy bands of glaciers, or pour +upon them lava torrents, and frequently convulse them with a mighty +earthquake? If so, New Mexico and Arizona must have been her favorite +playgrounds. At many points her rock formations look like whimsical +imitations of man's handicraft, or specimens of the colossal +vegetation of an earlier age. Some are gigantic, while others bear a +ludicrous resemblance to misshapen dwarfs, suggesting, as they stand +like pygmies round their mightier brethren, a group of mediaeval +jesters in a court of kings. In the faint dusk of evening, as one +flits by them in the moving train, their weird, uncanny forms appear +to writhe in pain, and he is tempted to regard them as the material +shapes of tortured souls. + +[Illustration: A MESA.] + +The _mesas_ of New Mexico and Arizona are, usually, regular in +outline, sometimes resembling in the distance cloud-banks on the edge +of the horizon, but oftener suggesting mighty fortresses, or ramparts +to resist invasion, like the wall of China. These are not only +beautiful in form and color, but from the fact that they recall the +works of man, we gaze at them with wonder, and find in them a +fascinating interest. They prove that Nature needs some human +association to appeal strongly to us, and how man's history of smiles +and tears gives pathos, mystery, and romance to scenes which +otherwise would be merely coldly beautiful or terribly sublime. It is +for this reason, doubtless, that we are always endeavoring to +personify Nature. We think of solitary trees as lonely, of +storm-tossed waves as angry, and of a group of mountains as members +of one family. Thus some of the Arizona mountains are called +brothers. No doubt their birth was attended by the same throes of +Mother Earth, and they possess certain family resemblances in their +level summits, huge square shoulders, and the deep furrows in their +rugged cheeks; while all of them evince the same disdain for +decoration, scorning alike the soft rich robes of verdure and the +rough storm-coats of the pines. + +[Illustration: A GROUP OF MESAS.] + +[Illustration: ON THE OLD SANTA FÉ TRAIL.] + +The idea of companionship in Nature is not wholly fanciful. Is not +the fundamental law of the universe the attraction which one mass of +matter has for another? Even the awful distances in interstellar +space form no exception to this rule; for telescopic scrutiny reveals +the fact that planets, suns, and systems move in harmony, on paths +which indicate that they are all associated in the stupendous drama +of the skies. The human interest connected with the mountains and the +_mesas_ of New Mexico and Arizona is not very great. No mediaeval +mystery haunts these castles sculptured by the hand of Nature. No +famous romancer has lighted on their cliffs the torch of his poetic +fancy. No poet has yet peopled them with creatures of his +imagination. We can, unfortunately, conjure up from their majestic +background no more romantic picture than that of some Pueblo Indian +wooing his dusky bride. Yet they are not without some reminiscences +of heroism; for valiant men, a half century ago, following the +westward moving star of empire, braved almost inconceivable hardships +in their shadow, when, after four thousand years, American pioneers +repeated the old, old story, begun upon the plains of Shinar, as the +"Sons of the East" went westward in their quest of fortune. How few +of us think of those unrecorded heroes now, as we cross this region +in luxurious cars! To most of us the dead, whose bones once whitened +many of these lonely plains, are nothing more than the last winter's +snowdrifts melted by the sun; yet how effectively the Saxon has +succeeded in his conquest of the continent we have continual evidence +as we glide swiftly, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, through +glowing grain fields, prosperous cities, and states that rival +empires in size. Where formerly the Spanish conquerors, in their +fruitless search for the reputed Seven Cities glittering with gold, +endured privations and exhibited bravery which have hardly been +surpassed in the entire history of the world; and where, too, as if +it were but yesterday, the American Argonauts toiled painfully for +months through tribes of hostile Indians, across desert wastes and +over cloud-encompassed mountains, we find ourselves the inmates of a +rolling palace, propelled by one of Nature's tireless forces, and +feel at times in our swift flight as if we were the occupants of a +cushioned cannon-ball of glass. Even the crossing of one of the many +viaducts along our route is a reminder of how science has been +summoned to assist the invader in his audacious enterprise of +girdling a continent with steel. + +[Illustration: AN ARIZONA CLOUD-EFFECT.] + +[Illustration: OLD HOME OF KIT CARSON, TAOS, N.M.] + +[Illustration: GRAVE OF KIT CARSON, TAOS, N.M.] + +[Illustration: THE BRIDGE OF CAÑON DIABLO.] + +The art of bridge-building in some form or other is one of the +earliest necessities of civilization. Even the apes in equatorial +regions will link themselves together, and swing their living line +across a stream to trees on the opposite bank, thus forming a +connected path of bodies along which other monkeys pass in safety. +Bridges of ropes or reeds are, also, made by the most primitive of +men; while viaducts of stone rose gradually in perfection, from the +rude blocks heaped up by savages to the magnificent structures +fashioned by the Romans. But with the introduction of iron and steel +into their composition, bridges are now constructed quickly, with +consummate skill, and in a multitude of different forms assist in +making possible the safe and rapid transit of our great Republic. + +[Illustration: HOMES OF CLIFF DWELLERS.] + +[Illustration: SKULLS OF CLIFF DWELLERS.] + +In addition to all the wonderful natural features of Arizona and New +Mexico, the insight into ancient and modern Indian life which they +afford is of extraordinary interest, particularly as aboriginal +civilization, evidently, reached a higher level here than was +attained by any of the tribes which roamed throughout the regions now +known as the Middle and Eastern States. The natives of the arid +regions of the great Southwest, though subdivided into numerous +tribes, are usually known under the general title of Pueblos. The +name itself, bestowed upon them by the Spaniards, is significant; +since _pueblo_ is the Spanish word for village, and this would seem +to prove that the race thus designated three hundred and fifty years +ago was not nomadic, but had been settled here for many years. + +[Illustration: LAGUNA.] + +[Illustration: CLIFF PALACES.] + +Antiquity and mystery impart a charm to these Pueblo Indians. They +are foundlings of history. We see their immemorial settlements, and +know that, centuries before Columbus landed on San Salvador, a number +of advantageously situated places in the western portion of this +continent served as the homes of powerful tribes, whose towns and +villages formed the scenes of warfare and barbaric splendor. But of +the men who built those villages we know comparatively nothing. Their +origin is almost as trackless as the sand which hides so many of +their relics in a tawny sepulchre. We may be certain, however, that +the remnants who survive are the representatives of myriads who once +made most of the American valleys palpitant with life, but over whom +oblivion has swept like a huge tidal wave, leaving the scattered +fragments of their history like peaks rising from a submerged world. + +[Illustration: A TWO-STORY CLIFF PALACE.] + +The best conclusions of scientists in regard to the geological +periods of our planet consider that the Glacial Epoch began about two +hundred and forty thousand, and ended about eighty thousand, years +ago. Traces of the existence of men in North America during that +glacial period have been found in abundance, and make it probable +that a human population existed, toward the close of that era, all +the way from the Atlantic Coast to the Upper Mississippi Valley. +Where these men of the Ice Age originally came from is a matter of +conjecture; but it seems probable that they migrated hither from the +Old World, since it is certain that during the various elevations and +depressions of the two continents, it was possible, several times, +for men to go from Europe or from Asia into America without crossing +any ocean, either by the northwestern corner of Alaska, which has +been repeatedly joined to Siberia through the elevation of the +shallow Bering Sea, or by the great Atlantic ridge which more than +once has risen above the ocean between Great Britain and Greenland. +Yet, though the first inhabitants of America, in all probability, +came thus from the Old World at a very distant period of antiquity, +it is believed by the best students of the subject that, until within +the last few centuries, there had been no intercourse between America +and either Europe or Asia, for at least twenty thousand years. Hence +the Aborigines of this continent developed in the course of ages +peculiarities which distinguish them from other races, and justify +their being regarded as, practically, native to the soil. + +[Illustration: AN EARLY PLACE OF SHELTER.] + +The Indians of New Mexico and Arizona were, probably, fugitives from +more fertile lands, whence they had been expelled by the ancestors of +the bloodthirsty and cruel Apaches. The country to which they came, +and where they made a final stand against their predatory foes, was +well adapted to defense. For hundreds of square miles the land is +cleft with chasms, and dotted with peculiar, isolated table-lands +hundreds of feet in height, with almost perfectly level surfaces and +precipitous sides. The origin and formation of these _mesas_, due to +erosion through unnumbered centuries, by water draining from an +inland sea, has been already referred to, and it can be readily seen +that they originally formed ideal residences for the peace-loving +Pueblos, who either made their homes as Cliff Dwellers in the +crevices of cañon walls, or took advantage of these lofty rocks, +already shaped and fortified by Nature, and built on them their +dwellings. These in themselves were no mean strongholds. Their thick +walls, made of rock fragments cemented with adobe, constituted a +natural fortress, against which weapons such as savages used before +they acquired fire-arms could do little harm; and even these houses +the Indians constructed like the cliffs themselves, lofty and +perpendicular, tier above tier, and, save for ladders, almost as +inaccessible as eagles' nests. Again, since these _pueblos_ stood on +table-lands, the approach to which could be easily defended, they +were almost impregnable; while their isolation and elevation, in the +treeless regions of New Mexico, enabled watchmen to discover the +approach of an enemy at a considerable distance and to give warning +for the women, children, and cattle roaming on the plain to be +brought to a place of safety. The instinct of self-preservation and +even the methods of defense are, after all, almost identical in every +age and clime; and the motive which led the Indians to the summits of +these _mesas_ was, no doubt, the same that prompted the Athenians to +make a citadel of their Acropolis, and mediaeval knights to build +their castles on the isolated crags of Italy, or on the mountain +peaks along the Rhine. + +[Illustration: "CREVICES OF CAÑON WALLS."] + +[Illustration: THE SUMMIT OF A MESA.] + +[Illustration: THE MESA ENCANTADA.] + +As times became more peaceful, the Pueblos located their villages +upon the plains, and one of these, called Laguna, is now a station +of the Santa Fé railway. But a mere glance at this, in passing, was +far too brief and unsatisfactory for our purpose, aside from the fact +that its proximity to the railroad had, naturally, robbed the +settlement of much of its distinctive character. We therefore +resolved to leave our train, and go directly into the interior, to +visit a most interesting and typical _pueblo,_ known as Ácoma. +Arriving at the station nearest to it, early in the morning, we found +a wagon and four horses waiting to receive us, and quickly started +for our destination over a natural road across the almost level +prairie. At the expiration of about two hours we saw before us, at a +distance of three miles, a _mesa_ of such perfect symmetry and +brilliant pinkish color, that it called forth a unanimous expression +of enthusiasm. Although the form of this "noblest single rock in +America" changes as one beholds it from different points of view, the +shape which it presented, as we approached it, was circular; and +this, together with its uniform height and perpendicular walls, +reminded me of the tomb of Cæcilia Metella on the Appian Way, +magnified into majesty, as in a mirage. It was with added interest, +therefore, that we learned that this was the Enchanted Mesa, about +which there had been recently considerable scientific controversy. +Enchanting, if not enchanted, it certainly appeared that morning, +and, as we drew nearer, its imposing mass continued to suggest old +Roman architecture, from Hadrian's Mausoleum by the Tiber to the huge +circle of the Colosseum. + +[Illustration: HOUSES AT LAGUNA.] + +[Illustration: THE MESA FROM THE EAST.] + +The Indian name of this remarkable cliff is _Katzímo_, and the title +_Haunted Mesa_ would be a more appropriate translation of the Spanish +name, _Mesa Encantada_, than _Enchanted;_ for the people of Ácoma +believe its summit to be haunted by the spirits of their ancestors. A +sinister tradition exists among them that one day, many centuries +ago, when all the men of the village were at work upon the plain, a +mass of rock, detached by the slow action of the elements, or else +precipitated by an earthquake shock, fell into the narrow cleft by +which alone an ascent or descent of the _mesa_ was made, and +rendered it impassable. The women and children, left thus on the +summit of a cliff four hundred and thirty feet in height, and cut off +from communication with their relatives and friends, who were unable +to rejoin and rescue them, are said to have slowly perished by +starvation, and their bones, pulverized in the course of centuries, +are believed to have been, finally, blown or washed away. To test the +truth of this tradition, at least so far as traces of a previous +inhabitancy of the _mesa_ could confirm it, Mr. Frederick W. Hodge, +in 1895, made an attempt to reach the summit; but, though he climbed +to within sixty feet of the top, he could on that occasion go no +higher. He found, however, along the sides of the cliffs enormous +masses of _débris_, washed down by the streams of water which, after +a tempest, drain off from the summit in a thousand little cataracts. +Not only did Mr. Hodge discover in this rubbish several fragments of +Indian pottery, but he, also, observed certain holes in the cliff +which seemed to him to have been cut there specially for hands and +feet. These he believed to be traces of an ancient trail. Stimulated +by the announcement of this discovery, Professor William Libbey, of +Princeton College, in July, 1896, made the ascent of the Enchanted +Mesa by means of a life line fired over the mound from a Lyle gun. +Stout ropes having then been drawn over the cliffs and made secure, +the adventurous aëronaut was actually hauled up to the summit in a +boatswain's chair, as sailors are sometimes pulled ashore from a +sinking ship. On his descent, however, he declared that he had found +nothing to indicate that the crest had ever been inhabited, or even +previously visited. Nothing daunted by this statement, a few weeks +later Mr. Hodge again attempted the ascent in which he had failed the +year before. This time he was successful, and scaled the cliff by +means of an extension ladder and several hundred feet of rope. But +very different were the conclusions reached by him as to the probable +authenticity of the tradition; for after having been on the _mesa_ +only a short time, he found a piece of ancient pottery, and, during a +search of twenty hours, not only were several more fragments of +earthenware discovered, but also two stone ax-heads, an arrow-point +of flint, and part of a shell bracelet. Moreover, a little monument +of stone, arranged with evident design, was found on the edge of the +cliff. Mr. Hodge and his party concluded, therefore, that beyond a +doubt the Mesa Encantada had once been inhabited, and that the legend +of the destruction of its last occupants may be true. + +[Illustration: LOOKING THROUGH A CREVICE OF THE ENCHANTED MESA.] + +[Illustration: THE LYLE GUN AND ROPES.] + +[Illustration: MAN IN BOATSWAIN'S CHAIR.] + +[Illustration: THE HODGE PARTY.] + +[Illustration: INDIAN RELICS.] + +The discovery of pieces of pottery here does not of itself prove +great advancement in the race that made them; for, curiously enough, +the manufacture of rude pottery is one of the first steps taken by +man from a savage to a semi-civilized state. The various races of +mankind have usually reached this art soon after their discovery of +fire. In fact, such an invention is almost inevitable. Thus, an early +method of cooking food has always been to put it into a basket +smeared with clay, which is supported over a fire. The clay served +the double purpose of preventing liquids from escaping and protecting +the basket from the flame. Now, even the dullest savage could not +have failed to notice, after a time, that the clay became hardened by +the fire, and in that state was sufficient for his purpose without +the basket. Simple as it seems, the discovery of this fact marks an +important epoch in the progress of every primitive race, and some +authorities on ethnology distinguish the two great divisions of +Savagery and Barbarism by placing in the lower grade those who have +not arrived at the knowledge of making pottery. + +[Illustration: THE TOP OF THE MESA ENCANTADA.] + +[Illustration: THE APPROACH TO ÁCOMA.] + +Soon after passing this haunted rock, and driving further over the +_mesa_-dotted plain, we came in sight of the weird city of the sky +called Ácoma. It occupies the summit of a table-land, the ascent to +which is now a winding defile, flanked by frowning cliffs. Even this +path, though readily ascended on horseback, is too precipitous and +sandy for a wagon. Accordingly, as none of our party that day enjoyed +the privilege of being an equestrian, we left our vehicle at the foot +of the _mesa,_ and completed the journey on foot. Some adventurous +spirits, however, chose a short cut up the precipice along a natural +fissure in the rocks, which, having been transformed with loose +stones into a kind of ladder, was formerly, before these peaceful +times, the only means of access to the summit. A steeper scramble +would be hard to find. I must confess, however, that before taking +either of these routes, we halted to enjoy a lunch for which the +drive had given us the keenest appetite, and which we ate _al fresco_ +in the shadow of a cliff, surrounded by a dozen curious natives. +Then, the imperious demands of hunger satisfied, we climbed three +hundred and fifty feet above the surrounding plain, and stood in what +is, with perhaps the exception of Zuñi, the oldest inhabited town in +North America. Before us, on what seemed to be an island of the air, +was a perfect specimen of the aboriginal civilization found here by +the Spanish conqueror, Coronado, and his eager gold-seekers, in 1540. +For now, as then, the members of the tribe reside together in one +immense community building. It is rather droll to find among these +natives of the desert the idea of the modern apartment house; but, in +this place, as in all the settlements of the Pueblo Indians, communal +dwellings were in existence long before the discovery of America, and +the _mesa_ of Ácoma was inhabited as it now is, when the Pilgrims +landed upon Plymouth Rock. + +[Illustration: RAIN WATER BASIN, ÁCOMA.] + +[Illustration: THE COURTYARD OF ÁCOMA.] + +An Indian _pueblo_ is really a honeycomb of adobe cells, built up in +terraces. The outer walls, being the most exposed, are the highest, +and from them toward the centre of the village, projecting stories +descend in such a way that the balcony of one series of rooms forms a +roof for the next below it. Finally, in the heart of the _pueblo_ is +an open area where horses are corralled. When the space on the summit +of the _mesa_ is sufficient, these apartment dwellings may be +increased indefinitely by adding cells to the original mass, till it +is six or seven stories high, and may contain one hundred, five +hundred, or even a thousand persons, according to the size of the +tribe. Formerly there were no doorways in the lowest stories; but in +these peaceful days they are now introduced occasionally by Indian +architects. Where they do not exist, the only means of entering the +ground-floor rooms is by climbing a ladder from the courtyard to the +first terrace, and thence descending by another ladder through a hole +in the roof. The upper stories, being safer from attack, are more +liberally supplied with doors and windows, the latter being +sometimes glazed with plates of mica. At present, panes of glass are +also used, though they were pointed out to us as special luxuries. At +night, and in times of danger, the ladders in these _pueblos_ used +always to be drawn up after the last climbers had used them; since +these industrious and sedentary Indians were ever liable to raids +from their nomadic enemies, who coveted their stores of food and the +few treasures they had gradually accumulated. This precaution on the +part of the Pueblos again reminds us that human nature, in its +primitive devices for self-protection, is everywhere very much the +same. Thus, there is no connection between the Swiss Lake Dwellers +and the Indians of New Mexico; yet as the latter, on retiring to +their houses, draw up their ladders after them, so the old occupants +of the villages built on piles in the Swiss lakes pulled after them +at night the bridges which connected them with the land. + +[Illustration: HOUSE OF A PUEBLO CHIEF.] + +[Illustration: A GROUP OF PUEBLO INDIANS.] + +[Illustration: A PUEBLO TOWN.] + +One can well imagine that the people of Ácoma do not spend many of +their waking hours in their apartments. In this warm climate, with +its superb air and almost rainless sky, every one lives as much as +possible out of doors, and a true child of the sun always prefers the +canopy of heaven to any other covering, and would rather eat on his +doorstep and sleep on his flat roof, than to dine at a sumptuous +table or recline on a comfortable bed. Nature seems to be peculiarly +kind and indulgent to the people of warm climates. They need not only +less clothing but less food, and it is only when we travel in the +tropics that we realize on how little sustenance man can exist. A few +dates, a cup of coffee, and a bit of bread appear to satisfy the +appetites of most Aridians, whether they are Indians or Arabs. In +the North, food, clothing, and fire are necessities of life; but to +the people of the South the sun suffices for a furnace, fruits give +sufficient nourishment, and clothing is a chance acquaintance. Yet +life is full of compensation. Where Nature is too indulgent, her +favorites grow shiftless; and the greatest amount of indoor luxury +and comfort is always found where Nature seems so hostile that man is +forced to fight with her for life. + +[Illustration: CHARACTERISTIC PUEBLO HOUSES.] + +[Illustration: IN THE PUEBLO.] + +Most of the cells which we examined in the many-chambered honeycomb +of Ácoma had very little furniture except a primitive table and a few +stools, made out of blocks of wood or trunks of trees. Across one +corner of each room was, usually, stretched a cord on which the +articles of the family wardrobe had been thrown promiscuously. The +ornaments visible were usually bows and arrows, rifles, Navajo +blankets, and leather pouches, hung on wooden pegs. Of beds I could +find none; for Indians sleep by preference on blankets, skins, or +coarse-wool mattresses spread every night upon the floor. When we +consider that the forty millions of Japan, even in their +comparatively high degree of civilization, still sleep in much the +same way, we realize how unnecessary bedsteads are to the majority +of the human race. In a few rooms I discovered wooden statuettes of +saints, one or two crucifixes, and some cheap prints, which were +evidently regarded with great veneration. The floors, which were not +of wood, but of smooth adobe nearly as hard as asphalt, were in every +instance remarkably clean. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A PUEBLO APARTMENT.] + +It is an interesting fact, in the domestic economy of the Indian life +led in these aërial villages, that the woman is always the complete +owner of her apartment and its contents; for it is the women of the +tribe who build the dwellings. Accordingly, the position of a Pueblo +woman is extraordinary; and should her husband ill-treat her, she has +the right and power to evict him, and to send him back to his +original home. On the other hand, the man is sole possessor of the +live stock of the family and of the property in the field; but when +the crops are housed, the wife is at once invested with an equal +share in their ownership. Pueblo children, too, always trace their +descent through the mother and take her clan name instead of the +father's. I noticed that at Ácoma the children seemed to be obedient +to their parents and respectful to age, as I have invariably found +them to be in all partially civilized countries of the world; for, +paradoxical as it may seem, it is only in highly civilized +communities, where individualism is cultivated at the expense of +strict discipline and parental control, that children become +indifferent to their fathers and mothers, and insolent to their +superiors in age and wisdom. + +[Illustration: PUEBLO WATER-CARRIERS.] + +We lingered for some time upon this citadel of Ácoma, profoundly +interested in the life and customs of a people that asks no aid of +the United States, but is, to-day, as self-supporting as it has +always been. The number of Pueblo Indians was never very large. It is +probable that there were in all about thirty thousand of them at the +time of the Spanish conquest, in 1540, and there are now about +one-third that number scattered through more than twenty settlements. +In an arid land where the greatest need is water, it is not strange +that the dwellers on these rocky eyries should be called in the +Indian dialect "Drinkers of the dew," for it would seem as if the dew +must be their only beverage. But there are springs upon the +neighboring plains whose precious liquid is brought up the steep +trail daily on the heads of women, in three or five gallon jars, the +carrying of which gives to the poise of the head and neck a native +grace and elegance, as characteristic of Pueblo women as of the girls +of Capri. Moreover, on the summit of the _mesa_ there are, usually, +hollows in the rock, partly natural, partly artificial, which serve +as reservoirs to retain rain water and keep it fresh and cool. + +[Illustration: AN ESTUFA.] + +Besides the communal apartment-house, every _pueblo_ contains two +characteristic edifices. One is as ancient as the tribe itself and +thoroughly aboriginal, the other is comparatively modern and bears +the imprint of the Spaniard; they are the _estufa_ and the Roman +Catholic church. The _estufa_ has always played a prominent part in +the history of these Indians. It is a semi-subterranean council hall, +where matters of public business are discussed by the chiefs. The +government of the Pueblos is practically the same as when the Spanish +found them. Each village seems to be completely independent of its +neighbors, and no member of one tribe is allowed to sell real estate +to members of another, or to marry into another clan without +permission from his own. Each settlement is governed by a council, +the members of which, including its chief, are chosen annually. +Heredity counts for nothing among them, and official positions are +conferred only by popular vote. Even their war-chieftains are elected +and are under the control of the council. All matters of public +importance are discussed by this body in the _estufa_, the walls of +which are usually whitewashed; but a more dismal place can hardly be +imagined, not only from the dubious light which there prevails, but +from the fact that it contains no furniture whatever, and no +decoration. Sometimes a village will have several _estufas_, each +being reserved for a separate clan of the tribe. In any case, whether +many or few, they are used exclusively by men, women never being +allowed to enter them except to bring food to their male relatives. +As we approached the Ácoma _estufa_, it presented the appearance of a +monstrous bean pot, from the opening of which a ladder rose to a +height of twenty feet. This proved to be the only means of descending +into an enclosure, to which we were politely but firmly denied +admission. Peering into the aperture, however, and noting the warm, +close air which came from it, I understood why the Spanish word +_estufa_, or oven, was applied to these underground cells by their +European discoverers; for neither light nor ventilation is obtainable +except through the one opening, and in summer the temperature of the +shallow cavern must be warm indeed. + +[Illustration: ESTUFA AND SURROUNDINGS.] + +[Illustration: MEXICAN OVENS.] + +[Illustration: THE OLD CHURCH AT ÁCOMA.] + +The only other notable structure in Ácoma is the Roman Catholic +church, the walls of which are sixty feet in height and ten feet +thick. One can realize the enormous amount of labor involved in its +construction, when he reflects that every stone and every piece of +timber used in building it had to be brought hither on the backs of +Indians, over the plains, from a considerable distance, and up the +desperately difficult and narrow trail. Even the graveyard, which +occupies a space in front of the church, about two hundred feet +square, is said to have required a labor of forty years, since the +cemetery had to be enclosed with stone walls, forty feet deep at one +edge and filled with earth brought in small basket-loads up the steep +ascent from the plain below. The church itself is regarded by the +Indians with the utmost reverence, although it must be said that +their religion is still almost as much Pagan as Christian. Thus, +while they respect the priests who come to minister to them, they +also have a lurking reverence for the medicine man, who is known as +the _cacique_. He is really the religious head of the community, a +kind of augur and prophet, who consults the gods and communicates to +the people the answers he claims to have received. This dignitary is +exempt from all work of a manual kind, such as farming, digging +irrigation-ditches, and even hunting, and receives compensation for +his services in the form of a tract of land which the community +cultivates for him with more care than is bestowed on any other +portion of their territory, while his crops are the first harvested +in the autumn. He also derives an income in the form of grain, +buckskin, shells, or turquoises, from those who beg him to fast for +them, and to intercede with the gods in case of sickness. On the +other hand, the _cacique_ must lodge and feed all the strangers who +come to the village, as long as they stay, and he is, also, the +surgeon and the nurse of the community. + +[Illustration: THE ALTAR.] + +[Illustration: DANCE IN THE PUEBLO.] + +While, therefore, the Pueblos go to church and repeat prayers in +accordance with Christian teaching, they also use the prayer-sticks +of their ancestors, and still place great reliance on their dances, +most of which are of a strictly religious character, and are not only +dedicated to the sun, moon, rainbow, deer, elk, and sheep, but are +usually performed for the specific purpose of obtaining rain. +Formerly, too, when their lives were far less peaceful than they are +to-day, the Pueblos indulged in war and scalp dances; but these are +now falling into disuse. The most remarkable exhibition of dancing, +still in vogue, is the repulsive Snake Dance of the Moquis of +Arizona, which takes place every year alternately in four villages +between the 10th and the 30th of August according to the phase of the +moon. The origin of this extraordinary custom is not intelligible now +even to the Indians themselves, but the object in performing it is to +obtain rain, and the dance, itself, is the culmination of a religious +ceremonial which continues for nine days and nights. During that time +only those who have been initiated into the Sacred Fraternities of +the tribe may enter the _estufa_, on the floor of which weird +pictures have been made with colored sand. + +[Illustration: PUEBLO GIRLS.] + +[Illustration: THREE SNAKE PRIESTS.] + +In the tribe of Moquis there are two fraternities known as the +Antelopes and the Snakes, Each has from twenty to thirty members, +some of whom are boys who serve as acolytes. When the open air +ceremony of the Snake Dance begins, the members of these brotherhoods +appear scantily clothed, with their faces painted red and white, and +with tortoise-shell rattles tied to their legs. The Antelope +fraternity first enters the square, preceded by a venerable priest +carrying two bags filled with snakes. These serpents, which have been +previously washed and covered with sacred meal, are deposited by the +priest in a small leaf-embowered enclosure called the _kisi_. Around +this the Antelopes now march, stamping with the right foot violently, +to notify the spirits of their ancestors (presumably in the lower +world) that the ceremony has begun. After making the circuit of the +enclosure four times, they halt, and stand in line with their backs +turned toward it. Then the Snake fraternity appears, headed by its +priest, and performs the same ceremony. Then they too form a line, +facing the Antelopes, and all of them, for about five minutes, wave +their wands and chant some unintelligible words. Suddenly one +Antelope and one Snake man rush to the _kisi_, and the priest who is +presiding over the serpents presents them with a snake. The Snake man +immediately places the wriggling reptile in his mouth, and holds it +by the centre of its body between his teeth, as he marches around the +little plaza, taking high steps. Meantime the, Antelope man +accompanies him, stroking the snake continually with a wand tipped +with feathers. Then all the members of the two fraternities follow in +couples and do the same thing. Finally, each Snake man carries at +least two snakes in his mouth and several in his hands; and even +little boys, five years old, dressed like the adults, also hold +snakes in their hands, fearlessly. Once in a while a snake is +purposely dropped, and a man whose special duty it is to prevent its +escape rushes after it and catches it up. + +[Illustration: THE SNAKE DANCE.] + +All the time that this hideous ceremony is going on, a weird chant is +sung by the men and women of the tribe; and, at last, the chief +priest draws on the ground a mystic circle with a line of sacred +meal, and into this the men unload their snakes until the whole space +becomes a writhing mass of serpents. Suddenly the members rush into +this throng of squirming reptiles, most of which are rattlesnakes, +and each, grabbing up a handful of them, runs at full speed down the +_mesa_ and sets them at liberty, to act as messengers to carry to the +gods their prayers for rain. This ends the ceremony for the snakes, +but not for the men; for after they have liberated the reptiles, the +members of the brotherhoods return and bathe themselves in a kind of +green decoction, called Frog-water. Then they drink a powerful +emetic, and having lined up on the edge of the _mesa_, vomit in +unison! This is to purge them from the evil effects of snake-handling; +and lest it should not be sufficiently effectual, the dose is +repeated. Then they sit down, and eat bread, given them by the women +as a kind of communion or religious rite. + +[Illustration: AFTER THE EMETIC.] + +[Illustration: CHIEF SNAKE PRIEST.] + +The seventy or eighty snakes used in this dance are treated from +first to last with the utmost kindness and respect, especially the +rattlesnakes, a dozen of which will frequently be squirming on the +ground at once. It is noticeable that the Indians never pick up a +rattlesnake when coiled, but always wait until it straightens itself +out under the feather stroking, for it is claimed that the +rattlesnake cannot strike uncoiled. At all events, when one is at its +full length, the Indians not only catch it up fearlessly, but carry +it with impunity in their mouths and hands. As might be supposed, +however, the Moquis are said to possess an antidote against the +poison of a rattlesnake, which, if a man is bitten, is given to him +at once; and it is said that none of them ever dies from the effects +of a snake-bite. + +[Illustration: WHERE THE SNAKES ARE KEPT.] + +The religious element in all these ceremonies should not be lost +sight of, for the life of the Pueblo Indians is permeated with +religion, or superstition, to the minutest details. Thus, it is an +interesting fact that vicarious atonement has been a custom among +them from time immemorial, and their _cacique_ is compelled to fast +and do penance in many ways for the sins of his people. In some of +the villages, also, certain men and women are chosen to expiate the +wrongdoings of the tribe; and for more than a century there has been +in New Mexico an order of Penitents, who torture themselves by +beating their bodies with sharp cactus thorns, by carrying heavy +crosses for great distances, and even by actual crucifixion. The +severest of these cruel rites have, finally, been suppressed by the +Roman Catholic church, but it encountered great difficulty in so +doing, and the last crucifixion took place in 1891. + +[Illustration: RELICS OF CLIFF DWELLERS.] + +[Illustration: SUMMIT OF A MOQUI MESA.] + +Such, then, are the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona; a race uniting +aboriginal Pagan rites with Christian ceremonies: cherishing at the +same time their idols and their churches; using to-day their rifles, +and to-morrow their bows and arrows; pounding occasionally with a +hammer, but preferably with a stone; and handling American money for +certain purchases, while trading beads, shells, and turquoises for +others. Sometimes we wonder that they have not made more progress +during the centuries in which they have been associated with +Europeans; but it is hard to realize the difficulties which they have +encountered in trying to comprehend our civilization, and in grasping +its improvements. Even the adoption of the antique Spanish plow, the +clumsy two-wheeled cart, the heavy ax and the rude saw, which are +still found among them, caused them to pass at one stride from the +Stone to the Iron Age, which, but for the intervention of the +Spaniards, they would not naturally have reached without centuries of +patient plodding. Moreover, before the arrival of the Europeans, the +Aborigines of America had never seen horses, cows, sheep, or dogs, +and the turkey was the only domestic animal known to them. Hence, in +ancient American society there was no such thing as a pastoral stage +of development; and the absence of domestic animals from the western +hemisphere is a very important reason why the progress of mankind in +this part of the world was not more rapid. Still it is a remarkable +fact that the most ancient race, of which we have any actual +knowledge on this continent, is, also, the most peaceful, +self-supporting, and industrious, subsisting principally on the sale +of their curiously decorated pottery, and the products of their arid +soil. We saw here a young man who had been educated in the Government +School at Carlisle; but, like most of his race, after returning to +his village he had reverted to the ways of his ancestors, +disqualified by his birth and instincts of heredity from doing +anything else successfully. + +[Illustration: MOQUI CART AND PLOW.] + +[Illustration: MOQUI CHILDREN.] + +It was late on the night succeeding our visit to Ácoma that we +arrived at Flagstaff, and our entire party was asleep. Suddenly we +were aroused by a prolonged shout and the discharge of half a dozen +revolvers. Five minutes later there came a general fusillade of +pistol shots, and near and distant cries were heard, in which our +half-awakened faculties could distinguish only the words: "Hurry up!" +"Call the crowd!" "Down the alley!" Then a gruff voice yelled just +beneath my window: "Let her go," and instantly our locomotive gave a +whistle so piercing and continuous that all the occupants of our car +sprang from their couches, and met in a demoralized group of +multicolored pajamas in the corridor. What was it? Had the train been +held up? Were we attacked? No; both the whistle and the pistol shots +were merely Flagstaff's mode of giving an alarm of fire. We hastily +dressed and stepped out upon the platform. A block of buildings just +opposite the station was on fire, and was evidently doomed; yet +Flagstaff's citizens, whose forms, relieved against the lurid glow, +looked like Comanche Indians in a war dance, fought the flames with +stubborn fury. The sight of a successful conflagration always thrills +me, partly with horror, partly with delight. Three hundred feet away, +two buildings formed an ever-increasing pyramid of golden light. We +could distinguish the thin streams of water thrown by two puny +engines; but, in comparison with the great tongues of fire which they +strove to conquer, they appeared like silver straws. Nothing could +check the mad carousal of the sparks and flames, which danced, +leaped, whirled, reversed, and intertwined, like demons waltzing with +a company of witches on Walpurgis Night. A few adventurous men +climbed to the roofs of the adjoining structures, and thence poured +buckets of water on the angry holocaust; but, for all the good they +thus accomplished, they might as well have spat upon the surging, +writhing fire, which flashed up in their faces like exploding bombs, +whenever portions of the buildings fell. Meantime huge clouds of +dense smoke, scintillant with sparks, rolled heavenward from this +miniature Vesuvius; the neighboring windows, as they caught the +light, sparkled like monster jewels; two telegraph poles caught fire, +and cut their slender forms and outstretched arms against the jet +black sky, like gibbets made of gold. How fire and water serve us, +when subdued as slaves; but, oh, how terribly they scourge us, if +ever for a moment they can gain the mastery! Too interested to +exchange a word, we watched the struggle and awaited the result. The +fury of the fire seemed like the wild attack of Indians, inflamed +with frenzy and fanaticism, sure to exhaust itself at last, but for +the moment riotously triumphant. Gradually, however, through want of +material on which to feed itself, the fiery demon drooped its shining +crest, brandished its arms with lessening vigor, and seemed to writhe +convulsively, as thrust after thrust from the silver spears of its +assailants reached a vital spot. Finally, after hurling one last +shower of firebrands, it sank back into darkness, and its hereditary +enemy rushed in to drown each lingering spark of its reduced +vitality. + +[Illustration: FLAGSTAFF STATION.] + +[Illustration: PACKING WOOD.] + +[Illustration: A MEXICAN HOME.] + +[Illustration: OUR CAR AT FLAGSTAFF.] + +[Illustration: THE HEAVENS FROM THE OBSERVATORY, FLAGSTAFF.] + +[Illustration: TWILIGHT.] + +Upon a hill near Flagstaff stands an astronomical observatory from +which distinguished students of the midnight skies search for the +secrets of the moon and stars. Few better sites on earth could have +been chosen for this purpose, since Arizona's atmosphere is so +transparent that the extent of celestial scenery here disclosed is +extraordinary. We visited the structure at the solemn hour that marks +the hush between two days, when the last sound of one has died away, +and before the first stir of the other thrills the morning air. Then, +gazing through the lenses of its noble telescope, we welcomed the +swift waves of light pulsating toward us from the shoreless ocean we +call space. There is a mysterious beauty about the radiance of a star +that far surpasses that of the moon. The latter glitters only with +reflected light; but a star (that is to say a distant sun), when seen +through a telescope, frequently scintillates with different colors +like a diamond, and quivers like a thing of life. Moreover, the moon, +forever waxing, waning, or presenting almost stupidly its great flat +face, is continually changing; but the fixed star is always there. It +fills the thoughtful soul with awe to look upon the starry heavens +through such an instrument as that at Flagstaff. Space for the moment +seems annihilated. We are apparently transported, as observers, from +our tiny planet to the confines of our solar system, and, gazing +thence still farther toward infinity, we watch with bated breath the +birth, the progress, and the death of worlds. To one of the most +distant objects in the depths of space, known as the Ring Nebula, the +author addressed the following lines: + +TO THE RING NEBULA. + + O, pallid spectre of the midnight skies! + Whose phantom features in the dome of Night + Elude the keenest gaze of wistful eyes + Till amplest lenses aid the failing sight, + On heaven's blue sea the farthest isle of fire. + From thee, whose glories it would fain admire, + Must vision, baffled, in despair retire! + + What art thou, ghostly visitant of flame? + Wouldst thou 'neath closer scrutiny dissolve + In myriad suns that constellations frame, + Round which life-freighted satellites revolve, + Like those unnumbered orbs which nightly creep + In dim procession o'er the azure steep, + As white-wing'd caravans the desert sweep? + + Or, art thou still an incandescent mass, + Acquiring form as hostile forces urge, + Through whose vast length a million lightnings pass + As to and fro its fiery billows surge, + Whose glowing atoms, whirled in ceaseless strife + Where now chaotic anarchy is rife. + Shall yet become the fair abodes of life? + + We know not; for the faint, exhausted rays + Which hither on Light's wingèd coursers come + From fires which ages since first lit their blaze, + One instant gleam, then perish, spent and dumb! + How strange the thought that, whatsoe'er we learn, + Our tiny globe no answer can return, + Since with but dull, reflected beams we burn! + + Yet this we know; yon ring of spectral light, + Whose distance thrills the soul with solemn awe, + Can ne'er escape in its majestic might + The firm control of omnipresent law. + This mote descending to its bounden place. + Those suns whose radiance we can scarcely trace, + Alike obey the Power pervading space. + +[Illustration: NIGHT.] + +[Illustration: THE SAN FRANCISCO VOLCANOES.] + +[Illustration: STARTING FOR THE GRAND CAÑON.] + +One glorious September morning, leaving our train at Flagstaff, we +started in stage-coaches for a drive of sixty-five miles to the Grand +Cañon. I had looked forward to this drive with some misgiving, +dreading the heat of the sun, and the dust and sand which I had +supposed we should encounter; but to my astonishment and delight it +was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It was only eleven hours in +duration, and not only was most of the route level, but two-thirds of +it lay through a section of beautifully rolling land, diversified +with open glades and thousands upon thousands of tall pines and +cedars entirely free from undergrowth. It is no exaggeration to say +that we drove that day for miles at a time over a road carpeted with +pine needles. The truth is, Arizona, though usually considered a +treeless and rainless country, possesses some remarkable exceptions; +and the region near Flagstaff not only abounds in stately pines, but +is at certain seasons visited by rainstorms which keep it fresh and +beautiful. During our stay at the Grand Cañon we had a shower every +night; the atmosphere was marvelously pure, and aromatic with the +odors of a million pines; and so exhilarating was exercise in the +open air, that however arduous it might be, we never felt +inconvenienced by fatigue, and mere existence gave us joy. Decidedly, +then, it will not do to condemn the whole of Arizona because of the +heat of its arid, southern plains; for the northern portion of the +state is a plateau, with an elevation of from five thousand to seven +thousand feet. Hence, as it is not latitude, so much as altitude, +that gives us healthful, pleasing temperature, in parts of Arizona +the climate is delightful during the entire year. + +[Illustration: THE DRIVE THROUGH THE PINES.] + +[Illustration: THE SAN FRANCISCO MOUNTAIN.] + +A portion of this stage-coach journey led us over the flank of the +great San Francisco Mountain. The isolated position, striking +similarity, and almost uniform altitude of its four peaks, rising +nearly thirteen thousand feet above the sea, have long made them +famous. Moreover, they are memorable for having cast a lurid light +upon the development of this portion of our planet. Cold, calm, and +harmless though they now appear, the time has been when they +contained a molten mass which needed but a throb of Earth's uneasy +heart to light the heavens with an angry glare, and cover the +adjoining plains with floods of fire. Lava has often poured from +their destructive cones, and can be traced thence over a distance of +thirty miles; proving that they once served as vents for the volcanic +force which the thin crust of earth was vainly striving to confine. +But their activity is apparently ended. The voices with which they +formerly shouted to one another in the joy of devastation have been +silenced. Conquered at last, their fires smolder now beneath a +barrier too firm to yield, and their huge forms appear like funeral +monuments reared to the memory of the power buried at their base. +Another fascinating sight upon this drive was that of the Painted +Desert whose variously colored streaks of sand, succeeding one +another to the rim of the horizon, made the vast area seem paved with +bands of onyx, agate, and carnelian. + +[Illustration: THE LUNCH STATION.] + +About the hour of noon we reached a lunch-station at which the +stages, going to and from the Cañon, meet and pass. The structure +itself is rather primitive; but a good meal is served to tourists at +this wayside halting-place, and since our appetites had been +sharpened by the long ride and tonic-giving air, it seemed to us the +most delicious of repasts. The principal object of one of the members +of our party, in making the journey described in these pages, was to +determine the advisability of building a railroad from Flagstaff to +the Cañon. Whether this will be done eventually is not, however, a +matter of vital interest to travelers, since the country traversed +can easily be made an almost ideal coaching-route; and with good +stages, frequent relays of horses, and a well-appointed +lunch-station, a journey thus accomplished would be preferable to a +trip by rail. + +[Illustration: HANCE'S CAMP.] + +[Illustration: OUR TENT AT HANCE'S CAMP.] + +Night had already come when we arrived at our destination, known as +Hance's Camp, near the border of the Cañon. As we drove up to it, the +situation seemed enchanting in its peace and beauty; for it is +located in a grove of noble pines, through which the moon that night +looked down in full-orbed splendor, paving the turf with inlaid ebony +and silver, and laying a mantle of white velvet on the tents in which +we were to sleep. Hance's log cabin serves as a kitchen and +dining-room for travelers, and a few guests can even find lodging +there; but, until a hotel is built, the principal dormitories must be +the tents, which are provided with wooden floors and furnished with +tables, chairs, and comfortable beds. This kind of accommodation, +however, although excellent for travelers in robust health, is not +sufficiently luxurious to attract many tourists. The evident +necessity of the place is a commodious, well-kept inn, situated a few +hundred feet to the rear of Hance's Camp, on the very edge of the +Cañon. If such a hotel, built on a spot commanding the incomparable +view, were properly advertised and well-managed, I firmly believe +that thousands of people would come here every year, on their way to +or from the Pacific coast--not wishing or expecting it to be a place +of fashion, but seeking it as a point where, close beside a park of +pines, seven thousand feet above the level of the sea, one of the +greatest marvels of the world can be enjoyed, in all the different +phases it presents at morning, noon, and night, in sunshine, +moonlight, and in storm. + +[Illustration: OLD HANCE.] + +[Illustration: THE FIRST VIEW.] + +Early the next morning I eagerly climbed the little knoll at the foot +of which our tents were located, for I well knew that from its summit +I should see the Cañon. Many grand objects in the world are heralded +by sound: the solemn music of Niagara, the roar of active geysers in +the Yellowstone, the intermittent thunder of the sea upon a rocky +coast, are all distinguishable at some distance; but over the Grand +Cañon of the Colorado broods a solemn silence. No warning voice +proclaims its close proximity; no partial view prepares us for its +awful presence. We walk a few steps through the pine trees from the +camp and suddenly find ourselves upon the Cañon's edge. Just before +reaching it, I halted for a moment, as has always been my wont when +approaching for the first time any natural or historic object that I +have longed for years to look upon. Around me rose the stately pines; +behind me was a simple stretch of rolling woodland; nothing betrayed +the nearness of one of the greatest wonders of the world. Could it +be possible that I was to be disappointed? At last I hurried +through the intervening space, gave a quick look, and almost reeled. +The globe itself seemed to have suddenly yawned asunder, leaving me +trembling on the hither brink of two dissevered hemispheres. Vast as +the bed of a vanished ocean, deep as Mount Washington, riven from its +apex to its base, the grandest cañon on our planet lay glittering +below me in the sunlight like a submerged continent, drowned by an +ocean that had ebbed away. At my very feet, so near that I could have +leaped at once into eternity, the earth was cleft to a depth of six +thousand six hundred feet--not by a narrow gorge, like other cañons, +but by an awful gulf within whose cavernous immensity the forests of +the Adirondacks would appear like jackstraws, the Hudson Palisades +would be an insignificant stratum, Niagara would be indiscernible, +and cities could be tossed like pebbles. + +[Illustration: THE EARTH-GULF OF ARIZONA.] + +[Illustration: A PORTION OF THE GULF.] + +[Illustration: "A VAST, INCOMPARABLE VOID."] + +As brain grew steadier and vision clearer, I saw, directly opposite, +the other side of the Cañon thirteen miles away. It was a mountain +wall, a mile in height, extending to the right and left as far as the +eye could reach; and since the cliff upon which I was standing was +its counterpart, it seemed to me as if these parallel banks were once +the shore-lines of a vanished sea. Between them lay a vast, +incomparable void, two hundred miles in length, presenting an +unbroken panorama to the east and west until the gaze could follow it +no farther. Try to conceive what these dimensions mean by realizing +that a strip of the State of Massachusetts, thirteen miles in width, +and reaching from Boston to Albany, could be laid as a covering over +this Cañon, from one end to the other; and that if the entire range +of the White Mountains were flung into it, the monstrous pit would +still remain comparatively empty! Even now it is by no means without +contents; for, as I gazed with awe and wonder into its colossal area, +I seemed to be looking down upon a colored relief-map of the mountain +systems of the continent. It is not strictly one cañon, but a +labyrinth of cañons, in many of which the whole Yosemite could be +packed away and lost. Thus one of them, the Marble Cañon, is of +itself more than three thousand feet deep and sixty-six miles long. +In every direction I beheld below me a tangled skein of mountain +ranges, thousands of feet in height, which the Grand Cañon's walls +enclosed, as if it were a huge sarcophagus, holding the skeleton of +an infant world. It is evident, therefore, that all the other cañons +of our globe are, in comparison with this, what pygmies are to a +giant, and that the name Grand Cañon, which is often used to +designate some relatively insignificant ravine, should be in truth +applied only to the stupendous earth-gulf of Arizona. + +[Illustration: A SECTION OF THE LABYRINTH.] + +[Illustration: MOUNT AYER.] + +At length, I began to try to separate and identify some of these +formations. Directly in the foreground, a savage looking mountain +reared its splintered head from the abyss, and stood defiantly +confronting me, six thousand feet above the Cañon's floor. Though +practically inaccessible to the average tourist, this has been +climbed, and is named Mount Ayer, after Mrs. Edward Ayer, the first +woman who ever descended into the Cañon to the river's edge. Beyond +this, other mountains rise from the gulf, many of which resemble the +Step Pyramid at Sakhara, one of the oldest of the royal sepulchres +beside the Nile. But so immeasurably vaster are the pyramids of this +Cañon than any work of man, that had the tombs of the Pharaohs been +placed beside them, I could not have discovered them without a +field-glass. Some of these grand constructions stand alone, while +others are in pairs; and many of them resemble Oriental temples, +buttressed with terraces a mile or two in length, and approached by +steps a hundred feet in height. Around these, too, are many smaller +mountainous formations, crude and unfinished in appearance, like +shrines commenced and then abandoned by the Cañon's Architect. Most +of us are but children of a larger growth, and love to interpret +Nature, as if she reared her mountains, painted her sunsets, cut her +cañons, and poured forth her cataracts solely for our instruction and +enjoyment. So, when we gaze on forms like these, shaped like gigantic +temples, obelisks, and altars fashioned by man's hands, we try to see +behind them something personal, and even name them after Hindu, +Grecian, and Egyptian gods, as if those deities made them their +abodes. Thus, one of these shrines was called by the artist, Thomas +Moran, the Temple of Set; three others are dedicated respectively to +Siva, Vishnu, and Vulcan; while on the apex of a mighty altar, still +unnamed, a twisted rock-formation, several hundred feet in height, +suggests a flame, eternally preserved by unseen hands, ascending to +an unknown god. + +[Illustration: SOME OF THE CAÑON TEMPLES.] + +[Illustration: SIVA'S TEMPLE.] + +It is difficult to realize the magnitude of these objects, so +deceptive are distances and dimensions in the transparent atmosphere +of Arizona. Siva's Temple, for example, stands upon a platform four +or five miles square, from which rise domes and pinnacles a thousand +feet in height. Some of their summits call to mind immense sarcophagi +of jasper or of porphyry, as if they were the burial-places of dead +deities, and the Grand Cañon a Necropolis for pagan gods. Yet, though +the greater part of the population of the world could be assembled +here, one sees no worshipers, save an occasional devotee of Nature, +standing on the Cañon's rim, lost in astonishment and hushed in awe. +These temples were, however, never intended for a human priesthood. A +man beside them is a pygmy. His voice here would be little more +effective than the chirping of an insect. The God-appointed +celebrant, in the cathedrals of this Cañon, must be Nature. Her voice +alone can rouse the echoes of these mountains into deafening peals of +thunder. Her metaphors are drawn from an experience of ages. Her +prayers are silent, rapturous communings with the Infinite. Her hymns +of praise are the glad songs of birds; her requiems are the meanings +of the pines; her symphonies the solemn roaring of the winds. +"Sermons in stone" abound at every turn; and if, as the poet has +affirmed, "An undevout astronomer is mad," with still more truth can +it be said that those are blind who in this wonderful environment +look not "through Nature up to Nature's God." These wrecks of Tempest +and of Time are finger-posts that point the thoughts of mortals to +eternal heights; and we find cause for hope in the fact that, even in +a place like this, Man is superior to Nature; for he interprets it, +he finds in it the thoughts of God, and reads them after Him. + +[Illustration: NEAR THE TEMPLE OF SET.] + +[Illustration: HANCE'S TRAIL, LOOKING UP.] + +The coloring of the Grand Cañon is no less extraordinary than its +forms. Nature has saved this chasm from being a terrific scene of +desolation by glorifying all that it contains. Wall after wall, +turret after turret, and mountain range after mountain range belted +with tinted strata, succeed one another here like billows petrified +in glowing colors. These hues are not as brilliant and astonishing in +their variety as are the colors of the Yellowstone Cañon, but their +subdued and sombre tones are perfectly suited to the awe-inspiring +place which they adorn. The prominent tints are yellow, red, maroon, +and a dull purple, as if the glory of unnumbered sunsets, fading from +these rugged cliffs, had been in part imprisoned here. Yet, somehow, +specimens of these colored rocks lose all their brilliancy and beauty +when removed from their environment, like sea-shells from the beach; +a verification of the sentiment so beautifully expressed in the lines +of Emerson: + + "I wiped away the weeds and foam, + I fetched my sea-born treasures home; + But the poor, unsightly, noisome things + Had left their beauty on the shore, + With the sun and the sand and the wild uproar." + +[Illustration: MIST IN THE CAÑON.] + +To stand upon the edge of this stupendous gorge, as it receives its +earliest greeting from the god of day, is to enjoy in a moment +compensation for long years of ordinary uneventful life. When I +beheld the scene, a little before daybreak, a lake of soft, white +clouds was floating round the summits of the Cañon mountains, hiding +the huge crevasse beneath, as a light coverlet of snow conceals a +chasm in an Alpine glacier. I looked with awe upon this misty curtain +of the morn, for it appeared to me symbolic of the grander curtain of +the past which shuts out from our view the awful struggles of the +elements enacted here when the grand gulf was being formed. At +length, however, as the light increased, this thin, diaphanous +covering was mysteriously withdrawn, and when the sun's disk rose +above the horizon, the huge facades of the temples which looked +eastward grew immediately rosy with the dawn; westward, projecting +cliffs sketched on the opposite sides of the ravines, in dark blue +silhouettes, the evanescent forms of castles, battlements, and +turrets from which some shreds of white mist waved like banners of +capitulation; stupendous moats beneath them were still black with +shadow; while clouds filled many of the minor cañons, like vapors +rising from enormous cauldrons. Gradually, as the solar couriers +forced a passage into the narrow gullies, and drove the remnant of +night's army from its hiding-places, innumerable shades of purple, +yellow, red, and brown appeared, varying according to the composition +of the mountains, and the enormous void was gradually filled to the +brim with a luminous haze, which one could fancy was the smoke of +incense from its countless altars. A similar, and even more +impressive, scene is visible here in the late afternoon, when all +the western battlements in their turn grow resplendent, while the +eastern walls submit to an eclipse; till, finally, a gray pall drops +upon the lingering bloom of day, the pageant fades, the huge +sarcophagi are mantled in their shrouds, the gorgeous colors which +have blazed so sumptuously through the day grow pale and vanish, the +altar fires turn to ashes, the mighty temples draw their veils and +seem deserted by both gods and men, and the stupendous panorama +awaits, beneath the canopy of night, the glory of another dawn. + +[Illustration: A STUPENDOUS PANORAMA.] + +[Illustration: A TANGLED SKEIN OF CAÑONS.] + +It was my memorable privilege to see, one afternoon, a thunder storm +below me here. A monstrous cloud-wall, like a huge gray veil, came +traveling up the Cañon, and we could watch the lightning strike the +buttes and domes ten or twelve miles away, while the loud peals of +thunder, broken by crags and multiplied by echoes, rolled toward us +through the darkening gulf at steadily decreasing intervals. +Sometimes two flashes at a time ran quivering through the air and +launched their bolts upon the mountain shrines, as though their +altars, having been erected for idolatrous worship, were doomed to be +annihilated. Occasionally, through an opening in the clouds, the sun +would suddenly light up the summit of a mountain, or flash a path of +gold through a ravine; and I shall never forget the curious sensation +of seeing far beneath me bright sunshine in one cañon and a violent +storm in another. At last, a rainbow cast its radiant bridge across +the entire space, and we beheld the tempest disappear like a troop of +cavalry in a cloud of dust beneath that iridescent arch, beyond whose +curving spectrum all the temples stood forth, still intact in their +sublimity. + +[Illustration: ON THE BRINK.] + +At certain points along the Cañon, promontories jut out into the +abyss, like headlands which in former times projected into an ocean +that has disappeared. Hence, riding along the brink, as one may do +for miles, we looked repeatedly into many lateral fissures, from +fifteen hundred to three thousand feet in depth. All these, however, +like gigantic fingers, pointed downward to the centre of the Cañon, +where, five miles away, and at a level more than six thousand feet +below the brink on which we stood, extended a long, glittering trail. +This, where the sunlight struck it, gleamed like an outstretched band +of gold. It was the sinuous Colorado, yellow as the Tiber. + +[Illustration: RIPLEY'S BUTTE.] + +[Illustration: A BIT OF THE RIVER.] + +[Illustration: ON HANCE'S TRAIL.] + +One day of our stay here was devoted to making the descent to this +river. It is an undertaking compared with which the crossing of the +Gemmi on a mule is child's play. Fortunately, however, the arduous +trip is not absolutely necessary for an appreciation of the immensity +and grandeur of the scenery. On the contrary, one gains a really +better idea of these by riding along the brink, and looking down at +various points on the sublime expanse. Nevertheless, a descent into +the Cañon is essential for a proper estimate of its details, and one +can never realize the enormity of certain cliffs and the extent of +certain valleys, till he has crawled like a maimed insect at their +base and looked thence upward to the narrowed sky. Yet such an +investigation of the Cañon is, after all, merely like going down from +a balloon into a great city to examine one of its myriad streets, +since any gorge we may select for our descending path is but a tiny +section of a labyrinth. That which is unique and incomparable here +is the view from the brink; and when the promised hotel is built upon +the border of the Cañon, visitors will be content to remain for days +at their windows or on the piazzas, feasting their souls upon a scene +always sublime and sometimes terrible. + +[Illustration: A VISION OF SUBLIMITY.] + +Nevertheless, desirous of exploring a specimen of these chasms (as we +often select for minute examination a single painting out of an +entire picture gallery) we made the descent to the Colorado by means +of a crooked scratch upon a mountain side, which one might fancy had +been blazed by a zigzag flash of lightning. As it requires four hours +to wriggle down this path, and an equal amount of time to wriggle up, +I spent the greater part of a day on what a comrade humorously styled +the "quarter-deck of a mule." A square, legitimate seat in the +saddle was usually impossible, so steep was the incline; and hence, +when going down, I braced my feet and lay back on the haunches of the +beast, and, in coming up, had to lean forward and clutch the pommel, +to keep from sliding off, as a human avalanche, on the head of the +next in line. In many places, however, riding was impossible, and we +were compelled to scramble over the rocks on foot. The effect of +hours of this exercise on muscles unaccustomed to such surprises may +be imagined; yet, owing to the wonderfully restorative air of +Arizona, the next day after this, the severest physical exertion I +had ever known, I did not feel the slightest bad result, and was as +fresh as ever. That there is an element of danger in this trip cannot +be doubted. At times the little trail, on which two mules could not +possibly have passed each other, skirts a precipice where the least +misstep would hurl the traveler to destruction; and every turn of +the zigzag path is so sharp that first the head and then the tail of +the mule inevitably projects above the abyss, and wig-wags to the +mule below. Moreover, though not a vestige of a parapet consoles the +dizzy rider, in several places the animal simply puts its feet +together and toboggans down the smooth face of a slanting rock, +bringing up at the bottom with a jerk that makes the tourist see a +large variety of constellations, and even causes his beast to belch +forth an involuntary roar of disenchantment, or else to try to +pulverize his immediate successor. In such a place as this Nature +seems pitiless and cruel; and one is impressed with the reflection +that a million lives might be crushed out in any section of this maze +of gorges and not a feature of it would be changed. There is, +however, a fascination in gambling with danger, when a desirable +prize is to be gained. The stake we risk may be our lives, yet, when +the chances are in our favor, we often love to match excitement +against the possibility of death; and even at the end, when we are +safe, a sigh sometimes escapes us, as when the curtain falls on an +absorbing play. + +[Illustration: STARTING DOWN THE TRAIL.] + +[Illustration: A YAWNING CHASM.] + +[Illustration: OBLIGED TO WALK.] + +As we descended, it grew warmer, not only from the greater elevation +of the sun at noon, but from the fact that in this sudden drop of six +thousand feet we had passed through several zones of temperature. +Snow, for example, may be covering the summits of the mountains in +midwinter, while at the bottom of the Cañon are summer warmth and +vernal flowers. When, after two or three hours of continuous descent, +we looked back at our starting-point, it seemed incredible that we +had ever stood upon the pinnacles that towered so far above us, and +were apparently piercing the slowly moving clouds. The effect was +that of looking up from the bottom of a gigantic well. Instinctively +I asked myself if I should ever return to that distant upper world, +and it gave me a memorable realization of my individual +insignificance to stand in such a sunken solitude, and realize that +the fissure I was exploring was only a single loop in a vast network +of ravines, which, if extended in a straight line, would make a +cañon seven hundred miles in length. It was with relief that we +reached, at last, the terminus of the lateral ravine we had been +following and at the very bottom of the Cañon rested on the bank of +the Colorado. The river is a little freer here than elsewhere in its +tortuous course, and for some hundred feet is less compressed by the +grim granite cliffs which, usually, rise in smooth black walls +hundreds of feet in almost vertical height, and for two hundred miles +retain in their embrace the restless, foaming flood that has no other +avenue of escape. + +The navigation of this river by Major J.W. Powell, in 1869, was one +of the most daring deeds of exploration ever achieved by man, and the +thrilling story of his journey down the Colorado, for more than a +thousand miles, and through the entire length of the Grand Cañon, is +as exciting as the most sensational romance. Despite the +remonstrances of friends and the warnings of friendly Indians, Major +Powell, with a flotilla of four boats and nine men, started down the +river, on May 24th, from Green River City, in Utah, and, on the 30th +of August, had completed his stupendous task, with the loss of two +boats and four men. Of the latter, one had deserted at an early date +and escaped; but the remaining three, unwilling to brave any longer +the terrors of the unknown Cañon, abandoned the expedition and tried +to return through the desert, but were massacred by Indians. It is +only when one stands beside a portion of this lonely river, and sees +it shooting stealthily and swiftly from a rift in the Titanic cliffs +and disappearing mysteriously between dark gates of granite, that he +realizes what a heroic exploit the first navigation of this river +was; for nothing had been known of its imprisoned course through this +entanglement of chasms, or could be known, save by exploring it in +boats, so difficult of access were, and are, the two or three points +where it is possible for a human being to reach its perpendicular +banks. Accordingly, when the valiant navigators sailed into these +mysterious waters, they knew that there was almost every chance +against the possibility of a boat's living in such a seething +current, which is, at intervals, punctured with a multitude of +tusk-like rocks, tortured into rapids, twisted into whirlpools, or +broken by falls; while in the event of shipwreck they could hope for +little save naked precipices to cling to for support. Moreover, after +a heavy rain the Colorado often rises here fifty or sixty feet under +the veritable cataracts of water which, for miles, stream directly +down the perpendicular walls, and make of it a maddened torrent +wilder than the rapids of Niagara. All honor, then, to Powell and his +comrades who braved not alone the actual dangers thus described, but +stood continually alert for unknown perils, which any bend in the +swift, snake-like river might disclose, and which would make the +gloomy groove through which they slipped a black-walled _oubliette_, +or gate to Acheron. + +[Illustration: A CABIN ON THE TRAIL.] + +[Illustration: A HALT.] + +[Illustration: AT THE BOTTOM.] + +[Illustration: TAKING LUNCH NEAR THE RIVER.] + +[Illustration: BESIDE THE COLORADO.] + +If any river in the world should be regarded with superstitious +reverence, it is the Colorado, for it represents to us, albeit in a +diminished form, the element that has produced the miracle of the +Arizona Cañon,--water. Far back in the distant Eocene Epoch of our +planet's history, the Colorado was the outlet of an inland sea which +drained off toward the Pacific, as the country of northwestern +Arizona rose; and the Grand Cañon illustrates, on a stupendous scale, +the system of erosion which, in a lesser degree, has deeply furrowed +the entire region. At first one likes to think of the excavation of +this awful chasm as the result of some tremendous cataclysm of +Nature; but, in reality, it has all been done by water, assisted, no +doubt, by the subtler action of the winds and storms in the +disintegration of the monster cliffs, which, as they slowly crumbled +into dust, were carried downward by the rains, and, finally, were +borne off by the omnivorous river to the sea. + +[Illustration: MONSTER CLIFFS, AND A NOTCH IN THE CAÑON WALL.] + +[Illustration: MILES OF INTRA-CAÑONS.] + +But though, at first, these agents do not seem as forceful and +extraordinary as a single terrible catastrophe, the slow results thus +gained are even more impressive. For what an appalling lapse of time +must have been necessary to cut down and remove layers of sandstone, +marble, and granite, thousands of feet in thickness; to carve the +mighty shrines of Siva and of Vishnu, and to etch out these scores of +interlacing cañons! To calculate it one must reckon a century for +every turn of the hourglass. It is the story of a struggle maintained +for ages between the solid and the fluid elements, in which at last +the yielding water won a victory over adamant. It is an evidence, +too, of Nature's patient methods; a triumph of the delicate over the +strong, the liquid over the solid, the transitory over the enduring. +At present, the softer material has been exhausted, and the rapacious +river, shrunken in size, must satisfy itself by gnawing only the +archaic granite which still curbs its course. Yet if this +calculation overpowers us, what shall we say of the reflections +awakened by the fact that all the limestone cliffs along the lofty +edges of the Cañon are composed of fossils,--the skeletons of +creatures that once lived here covered by an ocean, and that ten +thousand feet of strata, which formerly towered above the present +summits of the Cañon walls, have been eroded and swept downward to +the sea! Hence, were the missing strata (all of which are found in +regular sequence in the high plateaus of Utah) restored, this Cañon +would be sixteen thousand feet in depth, and from its borders one +could look down upon a mountain higher than Mont Blanc! To calculate +the æons implied in the repeated elevations and subsidences which +made this region what it is would be almost to comprehend eternity. +In such a retrospect centuries crumble and disappear into the gulf of +Time as pebbles into the Cañon of the Colorado. + +On my last evening in the pine tree camp I left my tent and walked +alone to the edge of the Grand Cañon. The night was white with the +splendor of the moon. A shimmering lake of silvery vapor rolled its +noiseless tide against the mountains, and laved the terraces of the +Hindu shrines. The lunar radiance, falling into such profundity, was +powerless to reveal the plexus of subordinate cañons, and even the +temples glimmered through the upper air like wraiths of the huge +forms which they reveal by day. Advancing cautiously to an isolated +point upon the brink, I lay upon my face, and peered down into the +spectral void. No voice of man, nor cry of bird, nor roar of beast +resounded through those awful corridors of silence. Even thought had +no existence in that sunken realm of chaos. I felt as if I were the +sole survivor of the deluge. Only the melancholy murmur of the wind +ascended from that sepulchre of centuries. It seemed the requiem for +a vanished world. + +[Illustration] + + + + +YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK + + + + +[Illustration] + +On certain portions of our globe Almighty God has set a special +imprint of divinity. The Alps, the Pyrénées, the Mexican volcanoes, +the solemn grandeur of Norwegian fjords, the sacred Mountain of +Japan, and the sublimity of India's Himalayas--at different epochs in +a life of travel--had filled my soul with awe and admiration. But, +since the summer of 1896, there has been ranked with these in my +remembrance the country of the Yellowstone. Two-thirds across this +continent, hidden away in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, eight +thousand feet above the level of the sea, there lies a marvelous +section of our earth, about one-half as large as the State of +Connecticut. On three sides this is guarded by lofty, well-nigh +inaccessible mountains, as though the Infinite Himself would not +allow mankind to rashly enter its sublime enclosure. In this respect +our Government has wisely imitated the Creator. It has proclaimed to +all the world the sanctity of this peculiar area. It has received it +as a gift from God and, as His trustee, holds it for the welfare of +humanity. We, then, as citizens of the United States, are its +possessors and its guardians. It is our National Park. Yet, although +easy of access, most of us let the years go by without exploring it! +How little we realize what a treasure we possess is proven by the +fact that, until recently, the majority of tourists here were +foreigners! I thought my previous store of memories was rich, but to +have added to it the recollections of the Yellowstone will give a +greater happiness to life while life shall last. Day after day, yes, +hour after hour, within the girdle of its snow-capped peaks I looked +upon a constant series of stupendous sights--a blending of the +beautiful and terrible, the strange and the sublime--which were, +moreover, so peculiar that they stand out distinct and different from +those of every other portion of our earth. + +[Illustration: LONE STAR GEYSER.] + +[Illustration: THE GROTTO, GEYSER'S CONE.] + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE PARK.] + +To call our National Park the "Switzerland of America" would be +absurd. It is not Switzerland; it is not Iceland; it is not Norway; +it is unique; and the unique cannot be compared. If I were asked to +describe it in a dozen lines, I should call it the arena of an +enormous amphitheatre. Its architect was Nature; the gladiators that +contended in it were volcanoes. During unnumbered ages those +gladiators struggled to surpass one another in destruction by pouring +forth great floods of molten lava. Even now the force which animated +them still shows itself in other forms, but harmlessly, much as a +captive serpent hisses though its fangs are drawn. But the volcanoes +give no sign of life. They are dead actors in a fearful tragedy +performed here countless centuries before the advent of mankind, with +this entire region for a stage, and for their only audience the sun +and stars. + +I shall never forget our entrance into this theatre of sublime +phenomena. The Pullman car, in which we had taken our places at St. +Paul, had carried us in safety more than a thousand miles and had +left us at the gateway of the park. Before us was a portion of the +road, eight miles in length, which leads the tourist to the Mammoth +Springs Hotel. On one side an impetuous river shouted a welcome as we +rode along. Above us rose gray, desolate cliffs. They are volcanic in +their origin. The brand of fire is on them all. They are symbolic, +therefore, of the entire park; for fire and water are the two great +forces here which have, for ages, struggled for supremacy. + +[Illustration: THE WATCHFUL SENTINEL.] + +[Illustration: THE MAMMOTH SPRINGS HOTEL.] + +No human being dwells upon those dreary crags, but at one point, as I +looked up at them, I saw--poised statue-like above a mighty pinnacle +of rock--a solitary eagle. Pausing, with outstretched wings above its +nest, it seemed to look disdainfully upon us human pygmies crawling +far below. Living at such a height, in voluntary isolation, that king +of birds appeared the very embodiment of strength and majesty. Call +it a touch of superstition, if you will, yet I confess it thrilled me +to the heart to find that here, above the very entrance to the +Wonderland of our Republic, there should be stationed midway between +earth and heaven, like a watchful sentinel, our national bird,--the +bird of freedom! + +At length a sudden turn revealed to us our first halting-place within +the Park,--the Mammoth Springs Hotel. The structure in itself looked +mammoth as we approached it, for its portico exceeds four hundred +feet in length. Our first impressions were agreeable. Porters rushed +forth and helped us to alight, and on the broad piazza the manager +received us cordially. Everything had the air of an established +summer resort. This, I confess, surprised me greatly, as I had +expected primitive accommodations, and supposed that, though the days +of camping-out had largely passed away, the resting-places in the +Park were still so crude that one would be glad to leave them. But I +lingered here with pleasure long after all the wonders of the Park +had been beheld. The furniture, though simple, is sufficient; to +satisfy our national nervousness, the halls are so well-stocked with +rocking-chairs that European visitors look about them with alarm, +and try to find some seats that promise a more stable equilibrium; +the sleeping-rooms are scrupulously clean; soft blankets, snow-white +sheets, and comfortable beds assure a good night's rest; and the +staff of colored waiters in the dining-room, steam-heat, a bell-boy +service, and electric lights made us forget our distance from great +cities and the haunts of men. Moreover, what is true of this is true, +as well, of the other hotels within the Park; and when I add that +well-cooked food is served in all of them, it will be seen that +tourists need not fear a lengthy sojourn in these hostelries. + +[Illustration: HALL OF THE MAMMOTH SPRINGS HOTEL.] + +[Illustration: THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S HOUSE.] + +[Illustration: MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS.] + +[Illustration: FORT YELLOWSTONE.] + +Standing on the veranda of the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, I saw +between me and the range of mountains opposite a broad plateau, on +which were grouped a dozen neat and tasteful structures. With the +exception of the photographer's house in the foreground, these +constitute Fort Yellowstone. "A fort!" the visitor exclaims, +"impossible! These buildings are of wood, not stone. Where are its +turrets, battlements, and guns?" Nevertheless, this is a station for +two companies of United States Cavalry; most of the houses being +residences for the officers, while in the rear are barracks for the +soldiers. + +[Illustration: A FOREST IN THE PARK.] + +No one who has visited the National Park ever doubts the necessity of +having soldiers there. Thus, one of the most important duties of the +United States troops, stationed within its area, is to save its +splendid forests from destruction. To do this calls for constant +vigilance. A fire started in the resinous pines, which cover many of +the mountain sides, leaps forward with such fury that it would +overtake a horseman fleeing for his life. To guard against so serious +a calamity, soldiers patrol the Park continually to see that all the +camp-fires have been extinguished. Thanks to their watchful care, +only one notable conflagration has occurred here in the last eight +years, and that the soldiers fought with energy for twenty days, till +the last vestige of it was subdued. + +The tourist comprehends the great importance of this work when he +beholds the rivers of the Park threading, like avenues of silver, the +sombre frame-work of the trees, and recollects that just such forests +as adjoin these streams cover no less than eighty-four per cent. of +its entire area. In a treeless country like Wyoming these forests are +of priceless value, because of their utility in holding back, in +spring, the melting snow. Some of the largest rivers of our continent +are fed from the well-timbered area of the Yellowstone; and if the +trees were destroyed, the enormous snowfall in the Park, unsheltered +from the sun, would melt so rapidly that the swollen torrents would +quickly wash away roads, bridges, and productive farms, even, far out +in the adjacent country, and, subsequently, cause a serious drought +for many months. + +[Illustration: FIRE-HOLE RIVER.] + +Another very important labor of the United States soldiers here is to +preserve the game within the Park. It is the purpose of our +Government to make this area a place of refuge for those animals +which man's insatiate greed has now almost destroyed. The remoteness +of this lofty region, together with its mountain fastnesses, deep +forests, and sequestered glens, makes it an almost perfect +game-preserve. There are at present thirty thousand elk within the +Park; its deer and antelopes are steadily increasing; and bears, +foxes, and small game roam unmolested here. Buffaloes, however, are +still few in number. They have become too valuable. A buffalo head, +which formerly could be bought for a mere trifle, commands, to-day, +a price of five hundred dollars. Hence, daring poachers sometimes run +the risk of entering the Park in winter and destroying them. + +[Illustration: MOUNTAIN SHEEP.] + +It is sad to reflect how the buffaloes of this continent have been +almost exterminated. As late as thirty years ago, trains often had to +halt upon the prairies; and even steamboats were, occasionally, +obliged to wait an hour or two in the Missouri River until enormous +herds of buffalo had crossed their path. Now only about two hundred +of these animals are in existence,--the sole survivors of the +millions that once thundered over the western plains, and disputed +with the Indians the ownership of this great continent. + +[Illustration: YELLOWSTONE ELK.] + +Until very recently, travelers on our prairies frequently beheld the +melancholy sight of laborers gathering up the buffalo bones which +lay upon the plains, like wreckage floating on the sea. Hundreds of +carloads of these skeletons were shipped to factories in the east. +Now, to protect the few remaining buffaloes, as well as other +animals, our troops patrol the Park even in winter. The principal +stations are connected by telephone, and information given thus is +promptly acted on. No traveler is allowed to carry fire-arms; and any +one who attempts to destroy animal life is liable to a fine of one +thousand dollars, or imprisonment for two years, or both. + +[Illustration: BUFFALOES IN THE SNOW.] + +[Illustration: GATHERING BUFFALO BONES.] + +Still another task, devolving upon the Military Governor of the Park, +is the building and repairing of its roads. No doubt the +Superintendent is doing all he can with the amount of money that the +Government allows him; but there is room for great improvement in +these thoroughfares, if Congress will but make a suitable +appropriation for the purpose. At present, a part of the +coaching-route is of necessity traveled over twice. This should be +obviated by constructing one more road, by which the tourist could be +brought to several interesting features of the Park that are now +rarely seen. + +Every one knows how roads in Europe climb the steepest grades in easy +curves, and are usually as smooth as a marble table, free from +obstacles, and carefully walled-in by parapets of stone. Why should +not we possess such roads, especially in our National Park? Dust is +at present a great drawback to the traveler's pleasure here; but this +could be prevented if the roads were thoroughly macadamized. Surely, +the honor of our Government demands that this unique museum of +marvels should be the pride and glory of the nation, with highways +equal to any in the world. + +[Illustration: A YELLOWSTONE ROAD.] + +[Illustration: LIBERTY CAP.] + +Only a few hundred feet distant from the Mammoth Springs Hotel +stands a strange, naturally molded shaft of stone, fifty-two feet in +height. From certain points its summit calls to mind the head-dress +of the Revolution, and hence its name is Liberty Cap. It is a fitting +monument to mark the entrance into Wonderland, for it is the cone of +an old geyser long since dead. Within it is a tube of unknown depth. +Through that, ages since, was hurled at intervals a stream of boiling +water, precisely as it comes from active geysers in the Park to-day. +But now the hand of Time has stilled its passionate pulsations, and +laid upon its stony lips the seal of silence. At only a little +distance from this eloquent reminder of the past I peered into a +cavern hundreds of feet deep. It was once the reservoir of a geyser. +An atmosphere of sulphur haunts it still. No doubt this whole plateau +is but the cover of extinguished fires, for other similar caves +pierce the locality on which the hotel stands. A feeling of solemnity +stole over me as I surveyed these dead or dying agents of volcanic +power. In the great battle of the elements, which has been going on +here for unnumbered centuries, they doubtless took an active part. +But Time has given them a mortal wound; and now they are waiting +patiently until their younger comrades, farther up the Park, shall, +one by one, like them grow cold and motionless. + +[Illustration: A MOUND OF THE HOT SPRING TERRACES.] + +Not more than fifty feet from Liberty Cap rise the famous Hot Spring +Terraces. They constitute a veritable mountain, covering at least two +hundred acres, the whole of which has been, for centuries, growing +slowly through the agency of hot water issuing from the boiling +springs. This, as it cools, leaves a mineral deposit, spread out in +delicate, thin layers by the soft ripples of the heated flood. +Strange, is it not? Everywhere else the flow of water wears away the +substance that it touches; but here, by its peculiar sediment, it +builds as surely as the coral insect. Moreover, the coloring of these +terraces is, if possible, even more marvelous than their creation; +for, as the mineral water pulsates over them, it forms a great +variety of brilliant hues. Hot water, therefore, is to this material +what blood is to the body. With it the features glow with warmth and +color; without it they are cold and ghostlike. Accordingly, where +water ripples over these gigantic steps, towering one above another +toward the sky, they look like beautiful cascades of color; and when +the liquid has deserted them, they stand out like a staircase of +Carrara marble. Hence, through the changing centuries, they pass in +slow succession, from light to shade, from brilliancy to pallor, and +from life to death. This mineral water is not only a mysterious +architect; it is, also, an artist that no man can equal. Its magic +touch has intermingled the finest shades of orange, yellow, purple, +red, and brown; sometimes in solid masses, at other places +diversified by slender threads, like skeins of multicolored silk. Yet +in producing all these wonderful effects, there is no violence, no +uproar. The boiling water passes over the mounds it has produced with +the low murmur of a sweet cascade. Its tiny wavelets touch the stone +work like a sculptor's fingers, molding the yielding mass into +exquisitely graceful forms. + +[Illustration: MINERVA TERRACE.] + +The top of each of these colored steps is a pool of boiling water. +Each of these tiny lakes is radiant with lovely hues, and is bordered +by a colored coping, resembling a curb of jasper or of porphyry. Yet +the thinnest knife-blade can be placed here on the dividing line +between vitality and death. The contrast is as sudden and complete as +that between the desert and the valley of the Nile. Where Egypt's +river ends its overflow the desert sands begin; and on these terraces +it is the same. Where the life-giving water fails, the golden colors +become ashen. This terraced mountain, therefore, seemed to me like a +colossal checker-board, upon whose colored squares, the two great +forces, Life and Death, were playing their eternal game. There is a +pathos in this evanescent beauty. What lies about us in one place so +gray and ghostly was once as bright and beautiful as that which we +perceive a hundred feet away. But nothing here retains supremacy. +The glory of this century will be the gravestone of the next. Around +our feet are sepulchres of vanished splendor. It seems as if the +architect were constantly dissatisfied. No sooner has he finished one +magnificent structure than he impatiently begins another, leaving the +first to crumble and decay. Each new production seems to him the +finest; but never reaching his ideal, he speedily abandons it to +perish from neglect. + +[Illustration: JUPITER TERRACE.] + +[Illustration: "VITALITY AND DEATH."] + +It cannot be said of these terraces that "distance lends enchantment +to the view." The nearer you come to them the more beautiful they +appear. They even bear the inspection of a magnifying glass, for they +are covered with a bead-like ornamentation worthy of the goldsmith's +art. In one place, for example, rise pulpits finer than those of Pisa +or Siena. Their edges seem to be of purest jasper. They are upheld by +tapering shafts resembling richly decorated organ-pipes. From +parapets of porphyry hang gold stalactites, side by side with +icicles of silver. Moreover, all its marvelous fretwork is +distinctly visible, for the light film of water pulsates over it so +delicately that it can no more hide the filigree beneath than a thin +veil conceals a face. + +It is a melancholy fact that were it not for United States troops, +these beautiful objects would be mutilated by relic-hunters. Hence, +another duty of our soldiers is to watch the formations constantly, +lest tourists should break off specimens, and ruin them forever, and +lest still more ignoble vandals, whose fingers itch for notoriety, +should write upon these glorious works of nature their worthless +names, and those of the towns unfortunate enough to have produced +them. All possible measures are taken to prevent this vandalism. +Thus, every tourist entering the Park must register his name. Most +travelers do so, as a matter of course, at the hotels, but even the +arrivals of those who come here to camp must be duly recorded at +the Superintendent's office, If a soldier sees a name, or even +initials, written on the stone, he telephones the fact to the +Military Governor. At once the lists are scanned for such a name. If +found, the Superintendent wires an order to have the man arrested, +and so careful is the search for all defacers, that the offending +party is, usually, found before he leaves the Park. Then the +Superintendent, like the Mikado, makes the punishment fit the crime. +A scrubbing brush and laundry soap are given to the desecrator, and +he is made to go back, perhaps forty miles or more, and with his own +hands wash away the proofs of his disgraceful vanity. Not long ago a +young man was arrested at six o'clock in the morning, made to leave +his bed, and march without his breakfast several miles, to prove that +he could be as skillful with a brush as with a pencil. + +[Illustration: "SEPULCHRES OF VANISHED SPLENDOR."] + +[Illustration: MAN AND NATURE.] + +[Illustration: THE PULPIT TERRACE.] + +[Illustration: A CAMPING-PARTY.] + +After spending several days at the Mammoth Hot Springs, we started +out to explore the greater marvels that awaited us in the interior. +The mode of travel through the Park is a succession of coaching-parties +over a distance of one hundred and eighty miles. The larger vehicles +are drawn by six, the smaller ones by four, strong horses, well fed, +well groomed, high spirited, yet safe. This feature of our National +Park astonished me. I had formed no idea of its perfection or its +magnitude. Here, for example, are vehicles enough to accommodate +seven hundred tourists for a continuous journey of five days! Here, +too, are five hundred horses, all of which can be harnessed at +twenty-four hours' notice; and, since the Park is so remote, here +also are the company's blacksmith and repair shops. Within the +stables, also, are the beautifully varnished coaches, varying in +cost from one to two thousand dollars, and made in Concord, New +Hampshire, twenty-five hundred miles away. On one of these I read +the number, "13-1/2." "Why did you add the fraction?" I inquired of +the Manager of Transportation. "Because," he replied, "some +travelers would not take a number thirteen coach. They feared a +breakdown or a tumble into the river; so I put on the half to take +ill-luck away." I dwell at length upon these practical details, +because I have found that people, in general, do not know them. Most +Americans have little idea whether the driving distance in the Park +is ten miles, or a hundred. Especially are they ignorant of the fact +that they may leave the coaches at any point, remain at a hotel as +long as they desire, and then resume their journey in other +vehicles, without the least additional expense for transportation, +precisely as one uses a stop-over ticket on a railroad. + +[Illustration: A COACHING-PARTY.] + +[Illustration: NO. 13-1/2.] + +[Illustration: HOTEL AT YELLOWSTONE LAKE.] + +The fact that it is possible to go through the Park in four or five +days is not a reason why it is best to do so. Hundreds of tourists +make the trip three times as rapidly as they would were they aware +that they could remain comfortably for months. When this is better +known, people will travel here more leisurely. Even now, parents +with little children sometimes leave them at the Mammoth Springs +Hotel in charge of nurses, and receive messages by telephone every +day to inform them how they are. An important consideration, also, +for invalids is the fact that two skilled surgeons, attendant on the +army, are always easily accessible. Moreover, the climate of the Park +in summer is delightful. It is true, the sun beats down at noonday +fiercely, the thin air offering scant resistance to its rays, but in +the shade one feels no heat at all. Light overcoats are needed when +the sun goes down. There is scarcely a night here, through the year, +which passes without frost. To me the pure dry air of that great +height was more invigorating than any I had ever breathed, save, +possibly, that of Norway, and it is, probably, the tonic of the +atmosphere that renders even the invalid and aged able to support +long journeys in the Park without exhaustion. In all these years no +tourist has been made ill here by fatigue. + +[Illustration: THE GOLDEN GATE.] + +[Illustration: THE GOLDEN GATE, LOOKING OUTWARD.] + +A few miles after leaving the Hot Springs, we reached the entrance to +a picturesque ravine, the tawny color of whose rocks has given it the +name of Golden Gate. This is, alike, the entrance to, and exit from, +the inner sanctuary of this land of marvels. Accordingly a solitary +boulder, detached from its companions on the cliff, seems to be +stationed at this portal like a sentinel to watch all tourists who +come and go. At all events it echoes to the voices of those who enter +almost as eager as seekers after gold; and, a week later, sees them +return, browned by the sun, invigorated by the air, and joyful in the +acquisition of incomparable memories. + +Emerging from this Golden Gate, I looked about me with surprise, as +the narrow walls of the ravine gave place to a plateau surrounded +everywhere by snow-capped mountains, from which the Indians believed +one could obtain a view of Paradise. Across this area, like a +railroad traversing a prairie, stretched the driveway for our +carriages. + +"Do tourists usually seem delighted with the park?" I asked our +driver. + +"Invariably," he replied. "Of course I cannot understand the words of +the foreigners, but their excited exclamations show their great +enthusiasm. I like the tourists," he continued, "they are so grateful +for any little favor! One of them said to me the other day, 'Is the +water here good to drink?' 'Not always,' I replied, 'you must be +careful.' At once he pressed my hand, pulled out a flask, and said, +'I thank you!" + +[Illustration: THE PLATEAU.] + +While crossing the plateau we enjoyed an admirable view of the +loftiest of the mountains which form, around the Park, a rampart of +protection. Its sharply pointed summit pierces the transparent air +more than eleven thousand feet above the sea, and it is well named +Electric Peak, since it appears to be a storage battery for all of +the Rocky Mountains. Such are the mineral deposits on its sides, that +the best instruments of engineers are thrown into confusion, and +rendered useless, while the lightning on this favorite home of +electricity is said to be unparalleled. + +[Illustration: ELECTRIC PEAK.] + +[Illustration: THE GLASS MOUNTAIN.] + +Presently a turn in the road revealed to us a dark-hued mountain +rising almost perpendicularly from a lake. Marvelous to relate, the +material of which this mountain is composed is jet-black glass, +produced by volcanic fires. The very road on which we drove between +this and the lake also consists of glass too hard to break beneath +the wheels. The first explorers found this obsidian cliff almost +impassable; but when they ascertained of what it was composed, they +piled up timber at its base, and set it on fire. When the glass was +hot, they dashed upon the heated mass cold water, which broke it into +fragments. Then with huge levers, picks, and shovels, they pushed +and pried the shining pieces down into the lake, and opened thus a +wagon-road a thousand feet in length. + +[Illustration: AN INDIAN CHIEF.] + +The region of the Yellowstone was to most Indian tribes a place of +horror. They trembled at the awful sights they here beheld. But the +obsidian cliff was precious to them all. Its substance was as hard as +flint, and hence well suited for their arrow-heads. This mountain of +volcanic glass was, therefore, the great Indian armory; and as such +it was neutral ground. Hither all hostile tribes might come for +implements of war and then depart unharmed. While they were here a +sacred, inter-tribal oath protected them. An hour later, those very +warriors might meet in deadly combat, and turn against each other's +breasts the weapons taken from that laboratory of an unknown power. + +[Illustration: A TRAPPER.] + +Can we wonder that, in former times, when all this region was still +unexplored, and its majestic streams rolled nameless through a +trackless wilderness, the statements of the few brave men who +ventured into this enclosure were disbelieved by all who heard them? +One old trapper became so angry when his stories of the place were +doubted, that he deliberately revenged himself by inventing tales of +which Münchhausen would have been proud. Thus, he declared, that one +day when he was hunting here he saw a bear. He fired at it, but +without result. The animal did not even notice him. He fired again, +yet the big bear kept on grazing. The hunter in astonishment then +ran forward, but suddenly dashed against a solid mountain made of +glass. Through that, he said, he had been looking at the animal. +Unspeakably amazed, he finally walked around the mountain, and was +just taking aim again, when he discovered that the glass had acted +like a telescope, and that the bear was twenty-five miles away! Not +far from the volcanic cliff which gave the trapper inspiration for +his story, we reached one of the most famous basins of the Park. In +briefest terms, these basins are the spots in the arena where the +crust is thinnest. They are the trap-doors in a volcanic stage +through which the fiery actors in the tragedy of Nature, which is +here enacted, come upon the scene. Literally, they are the vents +through which the steam and boiling water can escape. In doing so, +however, the water, as at the Mammoth Springs, leaves a sediment of +pure white lime or silica. Hence, from a distance, these basins look +like desolate expanses of white sand. Beside them always flows a +river which carries off the boiling water to the outer world. + +[Illustration: THE NORRIS BASIN.] + +[Illustration: A PLACE OF DANGER.] + +No illustration can do justice to what is called the Norris Basin, +but it is horrible enough to test the strongest nerves. Having full +confidence in our guide (the Park photographer) we ventured with him, +outside the usual track of tourists, and went where all the money of +the Rothschilds would not have tempted us to go alone. The crust +beneath our feet was hot, and often quivered as we walked. A single +misstep to the right or left would have been followed by appalling +consequences. Thus, a careless soldier, only a few days before, had +broken through, and was then lying in the hospital with both legs +badly scalded. Around us were a hundred vats of water, boiling +furiously; the air was heavy with the fumes of sulphur; and the whole +expanse was seamed with cracks and honeycombed with holes from which +a noxious vapor crept out to pollute the air. I thought of Dante's +walk through hell, and called to mind the burning lake, which he +describes, from which the wretched sufferers vainly sought to free +themselves. + +[Illustration: A CAMPING-STATION.] + +Leaving, at last, this roof of the infernal regions, just as we again +stood apparently on solid ground, a fierce explosion close beside +us caused us to start and run for twenty feet. Our guide laughed +heartily. "Come back," he said, "don't be afraid. It is only a baby +geyser, five years old." In fact, in 1891, a sudden outburst of +volcanic fury made an opening here, through which, at intervals of +thirty minutes, day and night, hot water now leaps forth in wild +confusion. + +"This, then, is a geyser!" I exclaimed. + +"Bah!" said the guide, contemptuously, "if you had seen the real +geysers in the Upper Basin, you would not look at this." + +[Illustration: A BABY GEYSER.] + +Meantime, for half an hour we had been hearing, more and more +distinctly, a dull, persistent roar, like the escape of steam from a +transatlantic liner. At last we reached the cause. It is a mass of +steam which rushes from an opening in the ground, summer and winter, +year by year, in one unbroken volume. The rock around it is as black +as jet; hence it is called the Black Growler. Think of the awful +power confined beneath the surface here, when this one angry voice +can be distinctly heard four miles away. Choke up that aperture, and +what a terrible convulsion would ensue, as the accumulated steam +burst its prison walls! It is a sight which makes one long to lift +the cover from this monstrous caldron, learn the cause of its +stupendous heat, and trace the complicated and mysterious aqueducts +through which the steam and water make their way. + +[Illustration: THE BLACK GROWLER.] + +Returning from the Black Growler, we halted at a lunch-station, the +manager of which is Larry. All visitors to the Park remember Larry. +He has a different welcome for each guest: "Good-day, Professor. Come +in, my Lord. The top of the morning to you, Doctor." These phrases +flow as lightly from his tongue as water from a geyser. His station +is a mere tent; but he will say, with most amusing seriousness: +"Gintlemen, walk one flight up and turn to the right, Ladies, come +this way and take the elevator. Now thin, luncheon is ready. Each +guest take one seat, and as much food as he can get." + +"Where did you come from, Larry?" I asked. + +[Illustration: LARRY.] + +"From Brooklyn, Sor," was his reply, "but I'll niver go back there, +for all my friends have been killed by the trolley cars." + +Larry is very democratic. The other day a guest, on sitting down to +lunch, took too much room upon the bench. + +"Plaze move along, Sor," said Larry. + +The stranger glared at him. "I am a Count," he remarked at last. + +"Well, Sor," said Larry, "here you only count wun!" + +"Hush!" exclaimed a member of the gentleman's suite, "that is Count +Schouvaloff." + +"I'll forgive him that," said Larry, "if he won't shuffle off this +seat," Pointing to my companion. Larry asked me: "What is that +gintleman's business?" + +"He is a teacher of singing," I answered. + +[Illustration: LARRY'S LUNCH-STATION.] + +"Faith," said Larry, "I'd like to have him try my voice. There is +something very strange about my vocal chords. Whenever I sing, the +Black Growler stops. One tourist told me it was a case of +professional jealousy, and said the Black Growler was envious of my +_forte_ tones. 'I have not forty tones,' I said, 'I've only one +tone,' 'Well,' says he, 'make a note of it!'" + +[Illustration: THE BISCUIT BASIN.] + +Only once in his life has Larry been put to silence. Two years ago, a +gentleman remarked to him: "Well, Larry, good-by; come and visit me +next winter in the East. In my house you shall have a nice room, and, +if you are ill, shall enjoy a doctor's services free of all expense." + +"Thank you," said Larry, "plaze give me your card." + +The tourist handed it to him; and Larry, with astonishment and +horror, read beneath the gentleman's name these words: +"Superintendent of the Insane Asylum, Utica, New York." + +Some hours after leaving Larry's lunch-station, we reached another +area of volcanic action. Our nerves were steadier now. The close +proximity to Hades was less evident; yet here hot mineral water had +spread broadcast innumerable little mounds of silica, which look so +much like biscuits grouped in a colossal pan that this is called the +Biscuit Basin; but they are not the kind that "mother used to make." +If a tourist asked for bread here, he would receive a stone; since +all these so-called biscuits are as hard as flint. We walked upon +their crusts with perfect safety; yet, in so doing, our boots grew +warm beneath our feet, for the water in this miniature archipelago is +heated to the boiling point. + +[Illustration: A GEYSER POOL.] + +"Show me a geyser!" I at last exclaimed impatiently, "I want to see a +genuine geyser." Accordingly our guide conducted us to what he +announced as "The Fountain." I looked around me with surprise. I saw +no fountain, but merely a pool of boiling water, from which the light +breeze bore away a thin, transparent cloud of steam. It is true, +around this was a pavement as delicately fashioned as any piece of +coral ever taken from the sea. Nevertheless, while I admired that, I +could not understand why this comparatively tranquil pool was called +a geyser, and frankly said I was disappointed. But, even as I spoke, +I saw to my astonishment the boiling water in this reservoir sink and +disappear from view. + +"Where has it gone?" I eagerly inquired. + +"Stand back!" shouted the guide, "she's coming." + +[Illustration: "A CLOUD-BURST OF JEWELS."] + +I ran back a few steps, then turned and caught my breath; for at that +very instant, up from the pool which I had just beheld so beautiful +and tranquil, there rose in one great outburst of sublimity such a +stupendous mass of water as I had never imagined possible in a +vertical form. I knew that it was boiling, and that a deluge of those +scalding drops would probably mean death, but I was powerless to +move. Amazement and delight enchained me spellbound. Talk of a +fountain! This was a cloud-burst of the rarest jewels which, till +that moment, had been held in solution in a subterranean cavern, but +which had suddenly crystallized into a million radiant forms on thus +emerging into light and air. The sun was shining through the +glittering mass; and myriads of diamonds, moonstones, pearls, and +opals mingled in splendid rivalry two hundred feet above our heads. + +[Illustration: THE OBLONG GEYSER.] + +We soon approached another of the many geysers in the basin. They are +all different. Around one, a number of colored blocks, exquisitely +decorated by the geyser's waves, appeared to have been placed +artistically in an oblong frame. When I first beheld them, they +looked like huge sea-monsters which, startled by our footsteps, were +about to plunge into the depths. + +What is there in the natural world so fascinating and mysterious as a +geyser? What, for example, is the depth of its intensely-colored pool +of boiling water? No one can tell. One thing, however, is certain; +the surface of the pool is but the summit of a liquid column. Its +base is in a subterranean reservoir. Into that reservoir there flows +a volume of cold water, furnished by the rain or snow, or by +infiltration from some lake, or river. Meantime, the walls of the +deep reservoir are heated by volcanic fire. Accordingly the water, in +contact with these walls, soon begins to boil, and a great mass of +steam collects above it. There must, of course, be some escape for +this, and, finally, it makes its exit, hurling the boiling water to a +height of one or two hundred feet, according to the force of the +explosion. Imagine, then, the amount of water that even one such +reservoir contains; for some of these volcanic fountains play for +more than half an hour before their contents are discharged! Think, +also, that in this basin there are no less than thirty geysers, +seventeen of which have been observed in action simultaneously. + +[Illustration: THE GIANT GEYSER.] + +[Illustration: THE CASTLE GEYSER.] + +Thus far we had seen merely geysers which arise from pools; but, +presently, we approached one which in the course of ages has built up +for itself a cone, or funnel, for its scalding waves. + +"That," said our guide, "is the Castle Geyser." + +"That rock a geyser!" I exclaimed incredulously, "it looks like an +old ruin, without a single indication of activity; save, possibly, +the little cloud of steam that hangs above it, as if it were the +breath of some mysterious monster sleeping far below." + +"If you doubt it," he replied, "go nearer and examine it." + +[Illustration: ON "ITS FLINTY SIDES."] + +We did so. I scrambled up its flinty sides, and found an opening in +the summit three feet wide. I touched the rock. It was still warm, +and yet no water was discernible. No sound was audible within its +depths. + +[Illustration: THE CASTLE GEYSER'S CONE.] + +"If this be really a geyser," I remarked, "it is no doubt a lifeless +one like Liberty Cap." + +My comrade smiled, looked at his watch, then at his notebook, and +finally replied: "Wait half an hour and see." + +Accordingly, we lingered on the massive ledges of the Castle Geyser, +and learned that it is the largest, probably the oldest, of all the +active geyser cones within the Park. Once its eruptions were no doubt +stupendous; but now its power is waning. The gradual closing up of +its huge throat, and the increasing substitution of steam for water, +prove that the monster has now entered on the final stage of its +career; for here, as on the terraces, we are surrounded by specimens +of life, decay, and death. The young, the middle-aged, the old, the +dead,--they are all here! + +The fiery agitation of the pool and the impulsive spurts of water are +indicative of youth. A steady, splendid outburst proves maturity. The +feebler action of the Castle shows the waning powers of old age. Last +of all comes the closed cone, like a sealed sarcophagus, and that is +death. + +[Illustration: THE CASTLE AND THE BEEHIVE IN ACTION.] + +Meantime, the thirty minutes of expectancy had passed; and, suddenly, +with a tremendous rush of steam, the Castle proved that its resources +were by no means exhausted. At the same instant, half a mile away, +the Beehive Geyser threw into the air a shaft of dazzling spray fully +two hundred feet in height. I realized then, as never before, the +noble action of our Government in giving this incomparable region to +the people. If this had not been done, the selfishness and greed of +man would have made a tour here almost unbearable. A fence would, +doubtless, have been built around every geyser, and fees would have +been charged to witness each wonderful phenomenon; whereas, to-day, +thanks to the generosity of Congress, the Park itself, and everything +that it contains, are absolutely free to all, rich and poor, native +and foreigner,--forever consecrated to the education and delight of +man. + +[Illustration: THE CRATER OF OLD FAITHFUL.] + +But no enumeration of the geysers would be complete without a mention +of the special favorite of tourists, Old Faithful. The opening +through which this miracle of Nature springs is at the summit of a +beautifully ornamented mound, which is itself a page in Nature's +wonder-book. The lines upon its wrinkled face tell of a past whose +secrets still remain a mystery. It hints of an antiquity so vast that +one contemplates it with bated breath; for this entire slope has been +built up, atom after atom, through unnumbered ages; during which +time, no doubt, the geyser hour by hour has faithfully performed its +part, without an eye to note its splendor, or a voice to tell its +glory to the world. Old Faithful does not owe its popularity entirely +to height or beauty, though it possesses both. It is beloved for its +fidelity. Whatever irregularities other geysers show, Old Faithful +never fails. Year in, year out, winter and summer, day and night, in +cold and heat, in sunshine and in storm, Old Faithful every +seventy minutes sends up its silvery cascade to the height of about +one hundred and eighty feet. Of all the geysers known to man this is +the most reliable and perfect. Station yourself before it watch in +hand and, punctual to the moment, it will never disappoint you. Few +realize on how large a scale the forces of Nature work here. At each +eruption, Old Faithful pours forth about one million five hundred +thousand gallons, or more than thirty-three million gallons in one +day! This geyser alone, therefore, could easily supply with water a +city of the size of Boston. + +[Illustration: CASTLE AND OLD FAITHFUL GEYSERS.] + +[Illustration: OLD FAITHFUL IN ACTION.] + +Within this area of the active geysers is a place called Hell's Half +Acre. It is rightly named. Rough, perpendicular ledges project over a +monstrous gulf of unknown depth, from which great clouds of steam are +constantly emerging. When the wind draws back for a moment a portion +of this sulphur-laden curtain, the visitor perceives a lake below, +seething and boiling from internal heat. For years no one suspected +this to be a geyser; but suddenly, in 1881, the underlying force +hurled the entire lake up bodily to the height of two hundred and +fifty feet, and even repeated frequently. After some months the +exhibition ceased, and all was calm again for seven years. In 1888, +however, it once more burst forth with prodigious energy, ejecting at +each explosion more boiling water than all the other geysers in the +Park combined. Even the surrounding ledges could not withstand this +terrible upheaval, and tons of rock were sometimes thrown up, with +the water, more than two hundred feet. It is not strange, therefore, +that this is called Excelsior, the King of Geysers. It is the most +tremendous, awe-inspiring fountain in the world. When it will be +again aroused, no one can tell. Its interval would seem to be from +seven to ten years. Said an enthusiastic traveler to me: "If the +Excelsior ever plays again, I will gladly travel three thousand miles +to see it." + +[Illustration: HELL'S HALF ACRE.] + +[Illustration: THE EXCELSIOR, IN 1888.] + +[Illustration: EVENING IN THE UPPER BASIN.] + +I have a vivid remembrance of my last night at the Upper Basin. The +hush of evening hallowed it. Alone and undisturbed we looked upon a +scene unequaled in the world. Around us liquid columns rose and fell +with ceaseless regularity. The cooler air of evening made many shafts +of vapor visible which in the glare of day had vanished unperceived. +So perfect were their images in the adjoining stream, that it was +easy to believe the veil had been at last withdrawn, and that the +hidden source of all this wonderful display had been revealed. No +sound from them was audible; no breeze disturbed their steadfast +flight toward heaven; and in the deepening twilight, the slender, +white-robed columns seemed like the ghosts of geysers, long since +dead, revisiting the scenes of their activity. + +[Illustration: THE MORNING-GLORY POOL.] + +[Illustration: PRISMATIC LAKE.] + +But geysers do not constitute the only marvels of these volcanic +basins. The beauty of their pools of boiling water is almost +inconceivable to those who have not seen them. No illustration can do +them justice; for no photographer can adequately reproduce their +clear, transparent depths, nor can an artist's brush ever quite +portray their peculiar coloring, due to the minerals held in +solution, or else deposited upon their sides. I can deliberately say, +however, that some of the most exquisitely beautiful objects I +have ever seen in any portion of the world are the superbly tinted +caldrons of the Yellowstone. + +Their hues are infinitely varied. Many are blue, some green, some +golden, and some wine-colored, in all gradations of tone; and could +we soar aloft and take of them a bird's-eye view, the glittering +basin might seem to us a silver shield, studded with rubies, +emeralds, turquoises, and sapphires. Moreover, these miniature lakes +are lined with exquisite ornamentation. One sees in them, with +absolute distinctness, a reproduction of the loveliest forms that he +has ever found in floral or in vegetable life. Gardens of mushrooms, +banks of goldenrod, or clusters of asparagus, appear to be growing +here, created by the Architect and colored by the Artist of these +mineral springs. + +[Illustration: THE ROAD NEAR THE GOLDEN GATE.] + +[Illustration: THE EMERALD POOL.] + +The most renowned of all these reservoirs of color is called the +Emerald Pool. Painters from this and other lands have tried +repeatedly to depict this faithfully upon canvas, but, finally, have +left it in despair. In fact, its coloring is so intense, that as the +bubbles, rising to its surface, lift from this bowl their rounded +forms, and pause a second in the air before they break, they are +still just as richly tinted as the flood beneath. Accordingly this +pool appeared to me like a colossal casket, filled with emeralds, +which spirit hands from time to time drew gently upward from its +jeweled depths. + +[Illustration: SUNLIGHT LAKE.] + +Close by this is another boiling pool called the Sunlight Lake. On +this I saw one of the most marvelous phenomena I have ever looked +upon. The colors of this tiny sheet of water appeared not only in +concentric circles, like the rings of a tree, but also in the order +of the spectrum. The outer band was crimson, and then the unbroken +sequence came: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet in the +centre! Moreover, the very steam arising from it (reflecting as it +did the varied tints beneath) was exquisitely colored, and vanished +into air like a dissolving rainbow. All these prismatic pools are +clasped by beautifully decorated curbs of silica, and seem to be set +in rings of gold, with mineral colors running through them like +enamel. So delicate are the touches of the magic water, as the +persistent heart-beats of old Mother Earth propel it over their +ornamental rims, that every ripple leaves its tiny mark. Hence it is +no exaggeration, but literal truth, to say that beautiful mosaic work +is being formed each time the films of boiling water are dimpled by +the passing breeze. + +[Illustration: THE DEVIL'S PUNCH-BOWL.] + +[Illustration: THE MAMMOTH PAINT POT.] + +The great variety of wonders in our National Park was a continual +source of pleasure and surprise to me. Thus, in the midst of all the +pools and geysers in the Upper Basin is one known as the Mammoth +Paint Pot. The earth surrounding it is cracked and blistered by heat, +and from this rises a parapet five feet high, enclosing a space +resembling a circus ring. Within this area is a mixture of soft clay +and boiling water, suggesting an enormous caldron of hot mush. This +bubbling slime is almost as diversely tinted as the pools themselves. +It seemed to me that I was looking into a huge vat, where unseen +painters were engaged in mixing colors. The fact is easily explained. +The mineral ingredients of the volcanic soil produce these different +hues. In a new form, it is the same old story of the Mammoth +Terraces. Fire supplies the pigments, and hot water uses them. All +other features of the Park are solemn and impressive; but the Mammoth +Paint Pot provokes a smile. There is no grandeur here. It seems a +burlesque on volcanic power. The steam which oozes through the +plastic mass tosses its substance into curious Liliputian shapes, +which rise and break like bubbles. A mirthful demon seems to be +engaged in molding grotesque images in clay, which turn a somersault, +and then fall back to vanish in the seething depths. Now it will be a +flower, then a face, then, possibly, a manikin resembling toys for +children. Meanwhile one hears constantly a low accompaniment of +groanings, hiccoughs, and expectorations, as if the aforesaid demon +found this pudding difficult to digest. + +[Illustration: THE ROAD BY GIBBON RIVER.] + +[Illustration: "GROTESQUE IMAGES IN CLAY."] + +[Illustration: ON THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE.] + +Soon after leaving the Upper Geyser Basin, we approached a tiny lake +which has, in some respects, no equal in the world. With the +exception of some isolated mountain peaks, it marks the highest +portion of our country. In winter, therefore, when encircled by +mounds of snow, it rests upon the summit of our continent like a +crown of sapphire set with pearls. So evenly is it balanced, that +when it overflows, one part of it descends to the Atlantic, another +part to the Pacific. This little streamlet, therefore, is a silver +thread connecting two great oceans three thousand miles apart. +Accordingly, one might easily fancy that every drop in this pure +mountain reservoir possessed a separate individuality, and that a +passing breeze or falling leaf might decide its destiny, propelling +it with gentle force into a current which should lead it eastward to +be silvered by the dawn, or westward to be gilded by the setting sun. + +[Illustration: THE "SILVER THREAD CONNECTING TWO OCEANS."] + +On either side of this elevation, known as the Continental Divide, +the view was glorious. In one direction, an ocean of dark pines +rolled westward in enormous billows. The silver surfaces of several +lakes gleamed here and there like whitecaps on the rolling waves. Far +off upon the verge of the horizon, fifty miles away, three +snow-capped, sharply pointed mountains looked like a group of +icebergs drifting from the Polar Sea. They did not move, however, nor +will they move while this old earth shall last. They antedate by ages +the Pyramids which they resemble. They will be standing thus, in +majesty, when Egypt's royal sepulchres shall have returned to dust. +Forever anchored there, those three resplendent peaks rise fourteen +thousand feet above the sea, and form the grand tiara of our +continent, the loftiest summits of the Rocky Mountains. + +[Illustration: THE THREE TETONS.] + +As we began the descent from this great elevation, another splendid +vision greeted us. We gazed upon it with delight. Beyond a vast +expanse of dark green pines we saw, three hundred feet below us, Lake +Yellowstone. It stirred my heart to look at last upon this famous +inland sea, nearly eight thousand feet above the ocean level, and to +realize that if the White Mountain monarch, Washington, were planted +in its depths (its base line on a level with the sea), there would +remain two thousand feet of space between its' summit and the surface +of this lake! In this respect it has but one real rival, Lake +Titicaca, in the Andes of Peru. + +[Illustration: LAKE YELLOWSTONE, FROM A DISTANCE.] + +Descending to the shore, however, we found that even here, so far +from shipyards and the sea, a steamboat was awaiting us. Imagine the +labor of conveying such a vessel sixty-five miles, from the +railroad to this lake, up an ascent of more than three thousand feet. +Of course, it was brought in several sections; but even then, in one +or two mountain gorges, the cliffs had to be blasted away to make +room for it to pass. It is needless to add that this steamer has no +rivals. It was with the greatest interest that I sailed at such a +height on this adventurous craft; and the next time that I stand upon +the summit of Mount Washington, and see the fleecy clouds float in +the empyrean, one-third of a mile above me, I shall remember that the +steamer on Lake Yellowstone sails at precisely the same altitude as +that enjoyed by those sun-tinted galleons of the sky. + +[Illustration: RUSTIC FALLS, YELLOWSTONE PARK.] + +[Illustration: THE SOLITARY STEAMBOAT.] + +[Illustration: ON LAKE YELLOWSTONE.] + +To appreciate the beauty of Lake Yellowstone, one should behold it +when its waves are radiant with the sunset glow. It is, however, not +only beautiful; it is mysterious. Around it, in the distance, rise +silver crested peaks whose melting snow descends to it in ice-cold +streams. Still nearer, we behold a girdle of gigantic forests, +rarely, if ever, trodden by the foot of man. Oh, the loneliness of +this great lake! For eight long months scarcely a human eye beholds +it. The wintry storms that sweep its surface find no boats on which +to vent their fury. Lake Yellowstone has never mirrored in itself +even the frail canoes of painted savages. The only keels that ever +furrow it are those of its solitary steamer and some little +fishing-boats engaged by tourists. Even these lead a very brief +existence. Like summer insects, they float here a few weeks, and +disappear, leaving the winds and waves to do their will. + +[Illustration: THE SLEEPING GIANT.] + +In sailing on this lake, I observed a distant mountain whose summit +bore a strange resemblance to an upturned human face, sculptured in +bold relief against the sky. It is appropriately called the Sleeping +Giant; for it has slept on, undisturbed, while countless centuries +have dropped into the gulf of Time, like leaves in the adjoining +forest. How many nights have cast their shadows like a veil upon that +giant's silhouette! How many dawns have flooded it with light, and +found those changeless features still confronting them! We call it +human in appearance, and yet that profile was the same before the +first man ever trod this planet. Grim, awful model of the coming +race, did not its stern lips smile disdainfully at the first human +pygmy fashioned in its likeness? + +[Illustration: ALONG THE SHORE.] + +This lake has one peculiarity which, in the minds of certain +tourists, eclipses all the rest. I mean its possibilities for +fishing. We know that sad experience has taught mankind to invent the +proverb: "Once a fisherman, always a liar." I wish, then, at the +start, to say I am no fisherman; but what I saw here would +inevitably make me one if I should remain a month or two upon these +shores. Lake Yellowstone is the fisherman's paradise. Said one of +Izaak Walton's followers to me: "I would rather be an angler here +than an angel." Nor is this strange. I saw two men catch from this +lake in one hour more than a hundred splendid trout, weighing from +one to three pounds apiece! They worked with incredible rapidity. +Scarcely did the fly touch the water when the line was drawn, the +light rod dipped with graceful curve, and the revolving reel drew in +the speckled beauty to the shore. Each of these anglers had two hooks +upon his line, and both of them once had two trout hooked at the same +time, and landed them; while we poor eastern visitors at first looked +on in dumb amazement, and then enthusiastically cheered. + +[Illustration: GREAT FISHING.] + +Can the reader bear something still more trying to his faith? +Emerging from the lake is a little cone containing a boiling pool, +entirely distinct from the surrounding water. I saw a fisherman stand +on this and catch a trout, which, without moving from his place, or +even unhooking the fish, he dropped into the boiling pool, and +cooked! When the first scientific explorers of this region were +urging upon Congress the necessity of making it a National Park, +their statements in regard to fishing were usually received with +courteous incredulity. But when one of their number gravely declared +that trout could there be caught and boiled in the same lake, within +a radius of fifteen feet, the House of Representatives broke forth +into roars of laughter, and thought the man a monumental liar. We +cannot be surprised, therefore, that enthusiastic fishermen almost go +crazy here. I have seen men, after a ride of forty miles, rush off to +fish without a moment's rest as if their lives depended on it. Some +years ago, General Wade Hampton visited the Park and came as far as +Lake Yellowstone. On his return, some one inquired what he thought of +Nature's masterpiece, the cañon of the Yellowstone. + +[Illustration: LARRY, AS FISHERMAN AND COOK.] + +"The cañon!" cried the general, "no matter about the cañon; but I had +the most magnificent fishing I ever saw in my life." + +One day, while walking along the shore, my comrade suddenly pressed +my arm and pointed toward the lake. "An Indian!" I cried in great +astonishment, "I thought no Indians ever came here." Our guide +laughed heartily; and, as he did so, I perceived my error. What I had +thought to be an Indian was but a portion of a tree, which had been +placed upright against a log. The only artificial thing about it was +a bunch of feathers. Everything else was absolutely natural. No knife +had sculptured it. No hand had given a support to its uplifted arm. +Even the dog which followed us appeared deceived, for he barked +furiously at the strange intruder. There was to me a singular +fascination in this solitary freak of nature; and, surrounded though +I was by immeasurably greater wonders, I turned again and again to +take a farewell look at this dark, slender figure, raising its hand, +as if in threatening gesture to some unseen foe. + +[Illustration: A FALSE ALARM.] + +Leaving the lake, we presently entered the loveliest portion of the +Park,--a level, sheltered area of some fifty square miles, to which +has been given the appropriate name of Hayden Valley, in +commemoration of the distinguished geologist, Doctor Ferdinand V. +Hayden, who did so much to explore this region and to impress upon +the Government the necessity of preserving its incomparable natural +features. Even this tranquil portion of the Park is undermined by +just such fiery forces as are elsewhere visible, but which here +manifest themselves in different ways. Thus, in the midst of this +natural beauty is a horrible object, known as the Mud Geyser. We +crawled up a steep bank, and shudderingly gazed over it into the +crater. Forty feet below us, the earth yawned open like a cavernous +mouth, from which a long black throat, some six feet in diameter, +extended to an unknown depth. This throat was filled with boiling +mud, which rose and fell in nauseating gulps, as if some monster were +strangling from a slimy paste which all its efforts could not +possibly dislodge. Occasionally the sickening mixture would sink from +view, as if the tortured wretch had swallowed it. Then we could hear, +hundreds of feet below, unearthly retching; and, in a moment, it +would all come up again, belched out with an explosive force that +hurled a boiling spray of mud so high that we rushed down the slope. +A single drop of it would have burned like molten lead. Five minutes +of this was enough; and even now, when I reflect that every moment, +day and night, the same regurgitation of black slime is going on, I +feel as I have often felt, when, on a stormy night at sea, I have +tried to sit through a course-dinner on an ocean steamer. + +[Illustration: HAYDEN VALLEY.] + +[Illustration: APPROACHING THE MUD GEYSER.] + +[Illustration: A STRANGER IN THE YELLOWSTONE.] + +Not far from this perpetually active object is one that has been +motionless for ages,--a granite boulder enclosed by trees as by the +bars of a gigantic cage. It is a proof that glaciers once plowed +through this region, and it was, no doubt, brought hither in the +glacial period on a flood of ice, which, melting in this heated +basin, left its burden, a grim reminder of how worlds are made. Think +what a combination of terrific forces must have been at work here, +when the volcanoes were in full activity, and when the mass of ice +which then encased our northern world strove to enclose this +prison-house of fire within its glacial arms! One of our party +remarked that the covering of this seething, boiling area with ice +must have been the nearest approach to "hell's freezing over" that +our earth has ever seen. + +Another striking feature of our National Park is its Petrified +Forest, where, scattered over a large area, are solitary columns, +which once were trunks of trees, but now are solid shafts of agate. +The substance of the wood, however, is still apparent, the bark, the +worm-holes, and even the rings of growth being distinctly visible; +but every fibre has been petrified by the mysterious substitution of +a mineral deposit. No doubt these trees were once submerged in a +strong mineral solution, tinted with every color of the rainbow. +Still, more marvelous to relate, an excavation on the hillside proves +that there are eleven layers of such forests, one above another, +divided by as many cushions of lava. Think of the ages represented +here, during which all these different forests grew, and were +successively turned to stone! This, therefore, is another +illustration of the conflict between Life and Death. Each was in turn +a victor, and rested on his laurels for unnumbered centuries. Life is +triumphant now; but who shall say that Death may not again prove +conqueror? If not immediately, Death may well be patient. He will +rule all this planet in the end. + +[Illustration: A NATURAL BRIDGE.] + +[Illustration: A PETRIFIED FOREST.] + +No one can travel through the Yellowstone Park without imagining how +it looks in winter. The snowfall is enormous, some drifts in the +ravines being hundreds of feet deep, and, owing to the increased +supply of water, the geysers throw higher streams. No traveling is +possible then except on snowshoes; and it is with difficulty that +some of the Park hotels are reached as late as the middle of May. Of +course, in such a frigid atmosphere, the steam arising from the +geysers is almost instantly congealed; and eye-witnesses affirm that, +in a temperature of forty degrees below zero, the clouds of vapor +sent up by Old Faithful rose fully two thousand feet, and were seen +ten miles away. + +[Illustration: THE PARK IN WINTER.] + +It can be well imagined that to do much exploration here, in winter, +is not alone immensely difficult, but dangerous. In 1887 an +expedition was formed, headed by Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka; but, +though he was experienced as an Arctic traveler, in three days he +advanced only twenty miles, and finally gave out completely. Most of +the exploring party turned back with him; but four kept heroically +on, one of whom was the photographer, Mr. F.J. Haynes, of St. Paul. +Undismayed by Schwatka's failure, he and his comrades bravely +persisted in their undertaking. For thirty days the mercury never +rose higher than ten degrees below zero. Once it marked fifty-two +degrees below! Yet these men were obliged to camp out every night, +and carry on their shoulders provisions, sleeping-bags, and +photographic instruments. But, finally, they triumphed over every +obstacle, having in midwinter made a tour of two hundred miles +through the Park. Nevertheless, they almost lost their lives in the +attempt. At one point, ten thousand feet above the sea, a fearful +blizzard overtook them. The cold and wind seemed unendurable, even +for an hour, but they endured them for three days. A sharp sleet cut +their faces like a rain of needles, and made it perilous to look +ahead. Almost dead from sheer exhaustion, they were unable to lie +down for fear of freezing; chilled to the bone, they could make no +fire; and, although fainting, they had not a mouthful for +seventy-two hours. What a terrific chapter for any man to add to the +mysterious volume we call life! + +One might suppose by this time that all the marvels of our National +Park had been described; but, on the contrary, so far is it from +being true, that I have yet to mention the most stupendous of them +all,--the world-renowned cañon of the Yellowstone. The introduction +to this is sublime. It is a waterfall, the height of which is more +than twice as great as that of Niagara. To understand the reason for +the presence of such a cataract, we should remember that the entire +region for miles was once a geyser basin. The river was then near the +surface; and has been cutting down the walls of the cañon ever since. +The volcanic soil, decomposed by heat, could not resist the constant +action of the water. Only a granite bluff at the upper end of the +cañon has held firm; and over that the baffled stream now leaps to +wreak its vengeance on the weaker foe beneath. + +[Illustration: THE EXPEDITION OF 1887.] + +[Illustration: F.J. HAYNES.] + +[Illustration: THE CAÑON FROM A DISTANCE.] + +Through a colossal gateway of vast height, yet only seventy feet in +breadth, falls the entire volume of the Yellowstone River. It +seems enraged at being suddenly compressed into that narrow space; +for, with a roar of anger and defiance and without an instant's +hesitation, it leaps into the yawning gulf in one great flood of +dazzling foam. When looked upon from a little distance, a clasp of +emerald apparently surmounts it, from which descends a spotless robe +of ermine, nearly four hundred feet in length. The lower portion is +concealed by clouds of mist, which vainly try to climb the +surrounding cliffs, like ghosts of submerged mountains striving to +escape from their eternal prison. We ask ourselves instinctively: +What gives this river its tremendous impetus, and causes it to fill +the air with diamond-tinted spray, and send up to the cliffs a +ceaseless roar which echoes and reëchoes down the cañon? How +awe-inspiring seems the answer to this question, when we think upon +it seriously! The subtle force which draws this torrent down is the +same power that holds the planets in their courses, retains the +comets in their fearful paths, and guides the movements of the +stellar universe. What is this power? We call it gravitation; but why +does it invariably act thus with mathematical precision? Who knows? +Behind all such phenomena there is a mystery that none can solve. +This cataract has a voice. If we could understand it, perhaps we +should distinguish, after all, but one word,--_God_. + +[Illustration: YELLOWSTONE RIVER ABOVE THE FALLS.] + +[Illustration: THE GREAT FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE.] + +[Illustration: UPPER FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE.] + +[Illustration: THE CAÑON FROM BRINK OF FALLS.] + +As for the gorge through which this river flows, imagine if you can +a yawning chasm ten miles long and fifteen hundred feet in depth. +Peer into it, and see if you can find the river. Yes, there it lies, +one thousand five hundred feet below, a winding path of emerald and +alabaster dividing the huge cañon walls. Seen from the summit, it +hardly seems to move; but, in reality, it rages like a captive lion +springing at its bars. Scarcely a sound of its fierce fury reaches +us; yet, could we stand beside it, a quarter of a mile below, its +voice would drown our loudest shouts to one another. + +[Illustration: THE CAÑON FROM GRAND POINT.] + +Attracted to this river innumerable little streams are trickling down +the colored cliffs. They are cascades of boiling water, emerging from +the awful reservoir of heat which underlies this laboratory of the +Infinite. One of them is a geyser, the liquid shaft of which is +scarcely visible, yet in reality is one hundred and fifty feet in +height. From all these hot additions to its waves the temperature of +the river, even a mile or two beyond the cañon, is twenty degrees +higher than at its entrance. + +"Are there not other cañons in the world as large as this?" it may be +asked. + +[Illustration: DOWN THE CAÑON FROM INSPIRATION POINT.] + +Yes, but none like this. For, see, instead of sullen granite walls, +these sides are radiant with color. Age after age, and aeon after +aeon, hot water has been spreading over these miles of masonry its +variegated sediment, like pigments on an artist's palette. Here, for +example, is an expanse of yellow one thousand feet in height. Mingled +with this are areas of red, resembling jasper. Beside these is a +field of lavender, five hundred feet in length, and soft in hue as +the down upon a pigeon's breast. No shade is wanting here except the +blue, and God replaces that. It is supplied by the o'erspreading +canopy of heaven. + +Yet there is no monotony in these hues. Nature, apparently, has +passed along this cañon, touching the rocks capriciously; now +staining an entire cliff as red as blood, now tingeing a light +pinnacle with green, now spreading over the whole face of a mountain +a vast Persian rug. Hence both sides of the cañon present successive +miles of Oriental tapestry. Moreover, every passing cloud works +here almost a miracle; for all the lights and shades that follow one +another down this gorge vary its tints as if by magic, and make of it +one long kaleidoscope of changing colors. + +[Illustration: BELOW THE UPPER FALLS.] + +[Illustration: MILES OF COLORED CLIFFS.] + +Nor are these cliffs less wonderful in form than color. The substance +of their tinted rocks is delicate. The rain has, therefore, plowed +their faces with a million furrows. The wind has carved them like a +sculptor's chisel. The lightning's bolts have splintered them, until, +mile after mile, they rise in a bewildering variety of architectural +forms. Old castles frown above the maddened stream, a thousand times +more grand than any ruins on the Rhine. Their towers are five hundred +feet in height. Turrets and battlements, portcullises and +draw-bridges, rise from the deep ravine, sublime and inaccessible; +yet they are still a thousand feet below us! What would be the effect +could we survey them from the stream itself, within the gloomy +crevice of the cañon? Only their size convinces us that they are +works of Nature, not of Art. Upon their spires we see a score of +eagles' nests. The splendid birds leave these at times, and swoop +down toward the stream; not in one mighty plunge, but gracefully, in +slow, majestic curves, lower and lower, till we can follow them only +through a field-glass, as they alight on trees which look to us like +shrubs. + +[Illustration: TEMPLES SCULPTURED BY THE DEITY.] + +But many of these forms are grander than any castles. In one place is +an amphitheatre. Within its curving arms a hundred thousand people +could be seated. Its foreground is the emerald river; its +drop-curtain the radiant cañon wall. Cathedrals, too, are here, with +spires twice as high as those which soar above the minster of +Cologne. Fantastic gargoyles stretch out from the parapets. A hundred +flying buttresses connect them with the mountain side. From any one +of them as many shafts shoot heavenward as statues rise from the +Duomo of Milan; and each of these great cañon shrines, instead of +stained glass windows, has walls, roof, dome, and pinnacles, one mass +of variegated color. The awful grandeur of these temples, sculptured +by the Deity, is overpowering. We feel that we must worship here. It +is a place where the Finite prays, the Infinite hears, and Immensity +looks on. + +[Illustration: THE CAÑON FROM ARTIST POINT.] + +Two visions of this world stand out within my memory which, though +entirely different, I can place side by side in equal rank. They are +the Himalayas of India, and the Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone. On +neither of them is there any sign of human life. No voice disturbs +their solemn stillness. The only sound upon earth's loftiest +mountains is the thunder of the avalanche. The only voice within this +cañon is the roar of its magnificent cascade. It is well that man +must halt upon the borders of this awful chasm. It is no place for +man. The Infinite allows him to stand trembling on the brink, look +down, and listen spellbound to the anthem of its mighty cataract; but +beyond this he may not, cannot go. It is as if Almighty God had kept +for His own use one part of His creation, that man might merely gaze +upon it, worship, and retire. + +[Illustration] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN L. STODDARD'S LECTURES, VOL. 10 +(OF 10)*** + + +******* This file should be named 15526-8.txt or 15526-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/2/15526 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + |