ILLUSIONS 



111 



and shade of the canyons and barrancas well 

 marked, the cool morning colors of the face- 

 walls and foot-hills distinctly placed and hold- 

 ing their proper value in the scene. But by 

 noon the whole range has apparently lost its 

 lines and shrunken in size. Under the beating 

 rays of the sun and surrounded by wavering 

 heated atmosphere its shadow masses have been 

 grayed down, neutralized, perhaps totally oblit- 

 erated ; and the long mountain surface appears 

 as flat as a garden wall, as smooth as a row of 

 sand-dunes. There is no indication of bar- 

 ranca or canyon. The air has a blue-steel glow 

 that muffles light and completely wrecks color. 

 Seen through it the escarpments show only 

 dull blue and gray. All the reds, yellows, and 

 pinks of the rocks are gone ; the surfaces wear 

 a burnt-out aspect as though fire had eaten into 

 them and left behind only a comb of volcanic 

 ash. 



At evening, however, the range seems to re- 

 turn to its majesty and magnitude. The peaks 

 reach up, the bases broaden, the walls break 

 into gashes, the ridges harden into profiles. 

 The sun is westering, and the light falling 

 more obliquely seems to bring out the shadows 

 in the canyons and barrancas. Last of all the 



Changed 

 appearance 

 of moun- 

 tains. 



Changes in 

 line, light, 

 and color. 



