THE GRAND CANON 



But it is not true that the great Yosemite 

 rocks would be thus lost or hidden. Nothing 

 of their kind in the world, so far as I know, 

 rivals El Capitan and Tissiack, much less 

 dwarfs or in any way belittles them. None 

 of the sandstone or limestone precipices of 

 the canon that I have seen or heard of ap- 

 proaches hi smooth, flawless strength and 

 grandeur the granite face of El Capitan or 

 the Tenaya side of Cloud's Rest. These co- 

 lossal cliffs, types of permanence, are about 

 three thousand and six thousand feet high; 

 those of the canon that are sheer are about 

 half as high, and are types of fleeting change; 

 while glorious-domed Tissiack, noblest of 

 mountain buildings, far from being over- 

 shadowed or lost in this rosy, spiry canon 

 company, would draw every eye, and, in 

 serene majesty, "aboon them a' " she would 

 take her place castle, temple, palace, or 

 tower. Nevertheless a noted writer, com- 

 paring the Grand Canon in a general way 

 with the glacial Yosemite, says: "And the 

 Yosemite ah, the lovely Yosemite! Dumped 

 down into the wilderness of gorges and moun- 

 tains, it would take a guide who knew of its 

 existence a long time to find it." This is strik- 

 ing, and shows up well above the levels of com- 

 monplace description; but it is confusing, and 



351 



