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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



nel. The water is heavily impregnated 

 with mineral — magnesium, lime, and sili- 

 cate — which are deposited on everything 

 it touches. Small twigs are surrounded 

 with a cream-colored coating an inch or 

 more in diameter ; delicate ferns and moss 

 still show their green under newly formed 

 coverings of semi-transparent alabaster. 

 In many places a temporary barrier 

 has caused the water to pause in its head- 

 long flight ; then, coral like, it proceeds to 

 build higher and higher, forming loo- 

 foot precipices, over which it hurls itself. 

 Enormous stalactites hang suspended un- 

 derneath a sheen of water, giving the 

 whole scene a beautiful, withal a most 

 unreal, appearance. 



BRIDAL y^lh FALLS 



Such a fall occurred just above the 

 place we camped that evening. Some 

 one, wishing to be entirely original, had 

 named it the "Bridal Veil Falls" (see 

 page lOo) . At the village above, the walls 

 were 3,000 feet high and about half a 

 mile apart, leaving a fertile bottom to the 

 can3^on. At this first fall the walls nar- 

 rowed until they v/ere scarcely a hundred 

 yards apart at the bottom, the lower walls 

 going up sheer. Large cottonwood trees 

 were scattered over the bottom ; ferns 

 and moss clung to the moistened walls, 

 and the wild grape-vine entwined itself 

 over everything within reach. We felt 

 well repaid for our two days of hard 

 work to reach this lovely place ; the most 

 beautiful lateral canyon of all those 

 that enter into the Grand Canyon. 



It had been a fatiguing journey to 

 reach this camp, which would be our 

 headquarters for the next few days. 

 Feed for the animals had been scarce, 

 and the one little spring of water found 

 at the head of the trail above the village 

 was disgusting. "Topocobie," the In- 

 dians call it, the equivalent of "bad 

 water," which it certainly was. Even the 

 burros sniffed suspiciously at it. The 

 half-decayed carcass of a horse, which 

 had been shoved off the trail above, did 

 not add to the general beauty of the lo- 

 cality. 



Our camp here at the bottom was all 

 the more enjoyable for this reason. The 

 burros were now in clover, or at least in 



grass, up to their knees. Also they were 

 sure of a three or four days' rest, for 

 they could not be taken any farther, and 

 it was up to us to do the hard work. The 

 Indian agent had given us the keys to 

 some buildings at this place, telling us 

 that we could safely store our belongings 

 therein while we were absent. 



Our material was placed inside, but we 

 preferred to sleep outside on the dry 

 ground. 



PHOTOGRAPHING AN INDIAN 



Early the next morning Captain Burro 

 dropped in for his promised sugar, and 

 any other little gratuity we should care to 

 add. We bribed him to pose for us while 

 we made a photograph ; but his typical 

 Indian face, aged and wrinkled, was 

 spoiled by a dirty and dilapidated cos- 

 tume of "civilized clothes." On a simi- 

 lar occasion, several years later, on his 

 offering to allow us to make his picture, 

 we informed him that we did not care 

 for an Indian in a white man's garb — 

 that we wanted him in Indian clothes 

 such as he used to wear long ago. He 

 was on hand the next morning, ready for 

 the picture. The clothes were hardly as 

 elaborate as one might have expected, 

 but he had a splendid physique, in spite 

 of his great age, and he earned the dollar 

 we paid him for posing. It was a chilly 

 September morn, and the mist rising 

 from the falls gave him an uncomforta- 

 ble shower bath (see page 100). 



The remainder of this first day was 

 spent in exploring the wonders near at 

 hand. A deep inner canyon entered on 

 the right of the falls, with walls about 300 

 feet high, very narrow, and straight as a 

 well. It is reported that the Indians for- 

 merly cremated their dead, together with 

 all their belongings, on the cliff above, 

 then threw their ashes into this canyon. 

 Numerous tunnels and prospect holes 

 were bored into its sides. Many years 

 before great quantities of lead and silver 

 ore had been mined and packed out of 

 this place. In more recent years another 

 company was organized to prospect the 

 canyon for platinum. This company built 

 the houses we had entered the night be- 

 fore. 



