or making with the waters the long, sifting, shift- 

 ing journey, joining at last the lifeless soil de- 

 posits in the delta tongues of the Colorado. But 

 the steadfast trees, with all their power to check 

 erosion and create soil, were to fall before the 

 overwhelming elements. 



Farther and farther the unsupported and 

 water-lubricated foundation slipped; more and 

 more the trees leaned and drooped forward ; until 

 gravity tore all loose and plunged the trees head 

 foremost into the pit, crushing down upon tum- 

 bled tons of rocks, soil, matted mud, and [roots, 

 all the wreckage of the time-formed, tree- 

 crowned terrace. 



The slide that narrowly missed me in the 

 night was a monster one and grew in magnitude 

 as it brutally rooted and gouged its way down- 

 ward. After descending more than half a mile it 

 struck an enormous dome rock, which stayed 

 a small part of it, while the remainder, deflected, 

 made an awesome plunge and engulfed a small, 

 circular grove in an easily sloping grassy plot. 

 Most of the towering spruces were thrown down 

 and deeply buried beneath mud, smashed cliffs, 



237 



