Kitty 



afforded a commanding view over a hundred miles 

 of the noblest and most sublime work of nature. The 

 rim wall where I stood sheered down a thousand feet, 

 to meet a long wooded slope which cut abruptly off 

 into another giant precipice; a second long slope 

 descended, and jumped off into what seemed the 

 grave of the world. Most striking in that vast void 

 were the long, irregular points of rim wall, protrud 

 ing into the Grand Canon. From Point Sublime to 

 the Pink Cliffs of Utah there were twelve of these 

 colossal capes, miles apart, some sharp, some round, 

 some blunt, all rugged and bold. The great chasm 

 in the middle was full of purple smoke. It seemed 

 a mighty sepulcher from which misty fumes rolled 

 upward. The turrets, mesas, domes, parapets and 

 escarpments of yellow and red rock gave the appear 

 ance of an architectural work of giant hands. The 

 wonderful river of silt, the blood-red, mystic and 

 sullen Rio Colorado, lay hidden except in one place 

 far away, where it glimmered wanly. Thousands of 

 colors were blended before my rapt gaze. Yellow 

 predominated, as the walls and crags lorded it over 

 the lower cliffs and tables ; red glared in the sunlight ; 

 green softened these two, and then purple and violet, 

 gray, blue and the darker hues shaded away into 

 dim and distinct obscurity. 



Excited yells from my companions on the other 



287 



