152 
THE GEAND CAS^ON DISTEICT. 
being deprived of its character. Enough of it is left to produce color effects 
not far below those that ai’e yielded by the Jura-Trias. 
But though the inherent colors are less intense than some others, yet 
under the quickening influence of the atmosphere they produce effects to 
which all others are far inferior. And here language fails and description 
becomes impossible. Not only are their qualities exceedingly subtle, bixt 
they have little counterpart in common experience. If such are presented 
elsewhere they are presented so feebly and obscurely that only the most 
discriminating and closest observers of nature ever seize them, and they so 
imperfectly that their ideas of them are vague and but half real. There 
are no concrete notions founded in experience upon which a conception of 
these color effects and optical delusions can be constructed and made intel- 
ligible. A perpetual glamour envelops the landscape. Things are not what 
they seem, and the perceptions cannot tell us what they are. It is not 
probable that these effects are different in kind in the Grand Canon from 
what they are in other portions of the Plateau Country. But the difference 
in degree is immense, and being greatly magnified and intensified many 
characteristics become palpable which elsewhere elude the closest observa- 
tion. 
In truth, the tone and temper of the landscape ax’e constantly varying, 
and the changes in its aspect are very great. It is never the same, even 
from day to day, or even from hour to hour. In the early morning its mood 
and subjective influences are usually calmer and more full of repose than 
at other times, but as the sun I’ises higher the whole scene is so changed 
that we cannot recall our first impressions. Every passing cloud, every 
change in the position of the sun, recasts the whole. At sunset the pageant 
closes amid splendors that seem more than earthly. The direction of the 
full sunlight, the massing of the shadows, the manner in which the side 
lights are thi-own in from the clouds determine these modulations, and the 
sensitiveness of the picture to the slightest variations in these conditions is 
very wonderful. 
The shadows thrown by the bold abrupt forms are exceedingly dark. 
It is almost impossible at the distance of a very few miles to distinguish 
even broad details in these shadows. They are like remnants of midnight 
