The Days of a Man 1898 



volcanoes of very ancient date, the highest reaching 

 an altitude of about 13,000 feet and famed among 

 botanists for its strongly marked consecutive zones 

 of vegetation. Dr. Branner also visited (as the rest 

 of us did not) three recent volcanic craters less than 

 a thousand years old at the most and very interest- 

 ing to the geologist. These, which lie forty miles 

 and more northeast of Flagstaff, are known as 

 O'Leary's Peak, Sunset Peak, and Black Crater. 

 Bound for The old stage drive of seventy miles from Flag- 

 sta ^ to Grand View, a fine point several miles above 

 the present large hotel at Bright Angel, 1 we found 

 extremely interesting, even if rather fatiguing be- 

 cause of the heat. The way lay through alternating 

 stretches of open, rocky desert and the noble Coco- 

 nino forest of Yellow Pine latifolia a twin to 

 ponderosa, the Yellow Pine of the Sierra Nevada. 

 In moist glades along the line were patches of 

 glistening white aspen, their leaves a-tremble with 

 the least movement of air. On sunburnt boulders, 

 large and swift bright-green, chameleon-like lizards 

 Callisaurus freely disported themselves. One 

 of these we caught, though with some difficulty, 

 and took home for leisurely study. For the same 

 purpose we gathered in from time to time several 

 samples of Horned Toads Phrynosoma in ex- 

 quisite pastel shades of rose, lavender, and gray, 

 perfectly matching the rocks over which they crept. 

 It is quite impossible (and fortunately quite un- 

 necessary) for me to describe the stupendous chasm 

 of the Colorado River. Its grandeur and beauty, 



1 In his famous descent of the Colorado by boat, Major J. W. Powell found 

 on the west side of the Canyon a muddy stream which he called the " Dirty 

 Devil." Below, from the opposite bank, comes tumbling down the clear " Bright 

 Angel." 



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