154 
THE GRAND CANON DISTRICT. 
near sunrise and sunset. This property is universal, but its peculiarities 
in the Plateau Province become conspicuous when the strong rich colors 
of the rocks are seen through it. The very air is then visible. We see it, 
palpably, as a tenuous fluid, 'and the rocks beyond it do not appear to be 
colored blue as they do in other regions, but reveal themselves clothed in 
colors of their own. The Grand Canon is ever full of this haze. It fills it 
to the brim. Its apparent density, as elsewhere, is varied according to the 
direction in which it is viewed and the position of the sun ; but it seems 
also to be denser and more concentrated than elsewhere. This is really a 
delusion arising from the fact that the enormous magnitude of the chasm 
and of its component masses dwarfs the distances ; we are really looking- 
through miles of atmosphere under the impression that they are only so 
many furlongs. This apparent concentration of haze, however, greatly 
intensifies all the beautiful or mysterious optical defects which are depend- 
ent upon the intervention of the atmosphere. 
Whenever the brink of the chasm is reached the chances are that the 
sun is high and these abnormal effects in full force. The canon is asleep. 
Or it is under a spell of enchantment which gives its bewildering mazes an 
aspect still more bewildering. Throughout the long summer forenoon the 
charm which binds it grows in potency. At midday the clouds begin to 
gather, first in fleecy flecks, then in cumuli, and throw their shadows into 
the gulf. At once the scene changes. The slumber of the chasm is disturbed. 
The temples and cloisters seem to raise themselves half awake to greet the 
passing shadow. Their wilted, drooping, flattened faces expand into relief 
The long promontories reach out from the distant wall as if to catch a moment’s 
refreshment from the shade. The colors begin to glow; the haze loses its 
opaque density and becomes more tenuous. The shadows pass, and the 
chasm relapses into its dull sleep again. Thus through the midday hours it 
lies in fitful slumber, overcome by the blinding glare and withering heat, yet 
responsive to every fluctuation of light and shadow like a delicate organism. 
As the sun moves far into the west the scene again changes, slowly and 
imperceptibly at first, but afterwards more rapidly. In the hot summer 
afternoons the sky is full of cloud-play and the deep flushes with ready 
answers. The banks of snowy clouds pour a flood of light sidewise into the 
