STEEP TRAILS 



has the fatal fault of not being true. As well 

 try to describe an eagle by putting a lark in 

 it. "And, the lark — ah, the lovely lark! 

 Dumped down the red, royal gorge of the 

 eagle, it would be hard to find." Each in its 

 own place is better, singing at heaven's gate, 

 and sailing the sky with the clouds. 



Every feature of Nature's big face is beau- 

 tiful, — height and hollow, wrinkle, furrow, 

 and line, — and this is the main master-furrow 

 of its kind on our continent, incomparably 

 greater and more impressive than any other 

 yet discovered, or likely to be discovered, now 

 that all the great rivers have been traced to 

 their heads. 



The Colorado River rises in the heart of the 

 continent on the dividing ranges and ridges 

 between the two oceans, drains thousands of 

 snowy mountains through narrow or spacious 

 valleys, and thence through canons of every 

 color, sheer-walled and deep, all of which 

 seem to be represented in this one grand canon 

 of canons. 



It is very hard to give anything like an ade- 

 quate conception of its size; much more of 

 its color, its vast wall-sculpture, the wealth 

 of ornate architectural buildings that fill it, 

 or, most of all, the tremendous impression it 

 makes. According to Major Powell, it is about 



352 



