224 



THE FORESTS AND DESERTS OF ARIZONA 



a hundred steps of the object of our visit, but there is no indica- 

 tion of its presence ; nothing but commonplace landscapes, albeit 

 in the lovely setting of the shady pine boughs. We ascend the 

 slope, unsuspecting what it is that makes people who have seen 

 it so unreasonably effusive when speaking of it; and then sud- 

 denly the sight bursts upon us ; the earth has sunk away at our 

 feet to inimitable depths. 



The first sensation is one of awe and bewilderment; a shock, 

 a sense of oppression, perhaps of horror, overpowers you. There 



is nothing you have seen before that has given you even a hint 

 of what this is ; nothing you can compare it to. It is an inno- 

 vation in nature which it takes-time to comprehend — to appre- 

 ciate ; then as you gaze grows on you a realization of the enor- 

 mousness, the gorgeousness, the weirdness, the grandeur, majesty, 

 and sublimity of the scene. Speechless you gaze on the vast sea 

 of ghostly, giant shapes, and are overcome by the feeling of your 

 own insignificance as in the presence of infinity. Only gradually 

 are you made fully conscious that you behold the most sublime 

 of all earthly spectacles. 



