THE DIVINE ABYSS 



canon of the geology of my native hills amid the 

 Catskills, which show the effects of denudation as 

 much older than that shown here as this is older than 

 the washout in the road by this morning's shower ! 

 The old red sandstone in which I hoed corn as a 

 farm-boy dates back to Middle Palaeozoic time, or to 

 the spring of the great geologic year, while the canon 

 is of the late autumn. Could my native hills have 

 replied to my mute questionings, they would have 

 said : "We were old, old, and had passed through the 

 canon stage long before the Grand Canon was bom. 

 We have had all that experience, and have forgot- 

 ten it ages ago. No vestiges of our canons remain. 

 They have all been worn down and obliterated by 

 the strokes of a hand as gentle as that of a passing 

 cloud. Where they were, are now broad, fertile 

 valleys, with rounded knolls and gentle slopes, and 

 the sound of peaceful husbandry. The great ice 

 sheet rubbed us and ploughed us, but our contours 

 were gentle and rounded seons before that event. 

 When the Grand Canon is as old as we are, all its 

 superb architectural features will have long since 

 disappeared, its gigantic walls will have crumbled, 

 and rolling plains and gentle valleys will have taken 

 its place." All of which seems quite probable. With 

 time enough, the gentle forces of air and water will 

 surely change the whole aspect of this tremendous 

 chasm. 

 On the second day we made the descent into the 



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