UNIV. OF waters at its base. Picture to yourself a perpendicular 12. Just dream yourself for one hour in a chasm nearly ten miles long, with egress for birds and water at either extremity, and none elsewhere save at three points, up the face of a precipice from three thousand to four thousand feet high, and tapering to a mere gorge or canyon at either end, with walls of mainly naked and perpendicular white granite from three thousand to five thousand feet high, so that looking up to the sky from it is like looking out of an unfathomable profound, and you will have some conception of the Yosemite. I. Definitions: Yo sĕm'i të Văl'ley, site of the National Park in Mariposa County, California; (2) tôr'tü oŭs, winding; (3) weird, unearthly, wild; (5) vís′ions, imaginary sights, specters; (7) Mer çed', a river in California, 160 miles long, flowing into the Sän Jo a quin' (Hō ä kēn') ; (11) Chä mou nï', a noted valley north of Mt. Blanc, France; (12) eǎn'yon, a deep gorge worn by water courses. II. Suggestions on expressive reading: The reading of this piece of description will suggest to one the reason for the great influence of the New York Tribune, under the editorship of Horace Greeley. The language is simple and direct; there is little need of a dictionary, the words chosen being common to the speech of all. It will make a fine selection to read on a Friday afternoon. It is worthy of the most careful study. XVII. THE GRAND CANYON. By C. A. HIGGINS. 1. The Colorado is one of the great rivers of North America. Formed in southern Utah by the confluence of the Green and Grand, it intersects the northwestern corner of Arizona, and, becoming the eastern boundary of Nevada and California, flows southward until it reaches tidewater in the Gulf of California, Mexico. It drains a territory of 300,000 square miles, and, traced back to the rise of its principal source, is 2000 miles long. At two points, the Needles and Yuma on the California boundary, it is crossed by a railroad. Elsewhere its course lies far from Caucasian settlements and far from the routes of common travel, in the heart of a vast region fenced on the one hand by arid plains and on the other by formidable mountains. 2. For many years its exact course was unknown for many hundred miles, even its origin in the junction of the Grand and Green rivers being a matter of conjecture, it being difficult to approach within a distance of two or three miles from the channel, while descent to the river's edge could be hazarded only at wide intervals, inasmuch as it lay in an appalling fissure at the foot of seemingly impassable cliff terraces that led down from the bordering plateau; and an attempt at its navigation would have been courting death. It was known in a general way that the entire channel between Nevada and Utah was of the same titanic character, reaching its culmination nearly midway in its course through Arizona. 3. In 1869 Major J. W. Powell undertook the exploration of the river, with nine men and four boats, starting from Green River City, on the Green River, in Utah. The project met with the most urgent remonstrance from those who were best acquainted with the region, including the Indians, who maintained that boats could not possibly live in any one of the score of rapids and falls known to them, to say nothing of the vast unknown stretches in which at any moment a Niagara might be disclosed. Powell launched his flotilla on May 24, and on Aug. 30 landed at the mouth of the Virgen River, more than one thousand miles by the river channel from the place of starting, minus two boats and four men. Powell's journal of the trip is a fascinating tale, which tells an epic story of purest heroism. It definitely established the scene of his exploration as the most wonderful geological and spectacular phenomenon known to mankind, and justified the name which had been bestowed upon it, ― the Grand Canyon, — sublimest of gorges; Titan of chasms. 4. Many scientists have since visited it, and, in the aggregate, a considerable number of unprofessional lovers of nature; but until a few years ago no adequate facilities were provided for the general sight-seer, and the world's most stupendous panorama was known principally through report, by reason of the discomforts and difficulties of the trip, which deterred all except the most indefatigable enthusiasts. 5. There is but one Grand Canyon. Nowhere in the world has its like been found. It lies wholly in the northern part of Arizona. It is accessible from the north only at the cost of many days of arduous travel, necessitating a special expedition with camp outfit and pack animals. From the south it is easily reached by a branch of the Santa Fé Route, from Williams. 6. The journey to the Canyon is greatly diversified in interest, but nothing will be encountered that could prepare the mind for transcendent scenery. Without an instant's warning the visitor finds himself upon the verge of an unearthly spectacle that stretches beneath his feet to the far horizon. Stolid indeed is he if he can front that awful scene without quaking knee or tremulous breath. 7. An inferno, swathed in soft, celestial fires; a whole chaotic under-world, just emptied of primeval floods and waiting for a new creative word; a boding, terrible thing, unflinchingly real, yet spectral as a dream, eluding all sense of perspective or dimension, outstretching the faculty of measurement, overlapping the confines of definite apprehension. The beholder is at first unimpressed by any detail; he is overwhelmed by the ensemble of a stupendous panorama, a thousand square miles in extent, that lies wholly beneath the eye, as if he stood upon a mountain peak instead of the level brink of a fearful chasm in the plateau whose opposite shore is thirteen miles away. 8. A labyrinth of huge architectural forms, endlessly varied in design, fretted with ornamental devices, festooned with lace-like webs formed of talus from the upper cliffs and painted with every color known to the palette in pure transparent tones of marvelous delicacy. Never was picture more harmonious, never flower more exqui |