THE SHINUMO AMPHITHEATER. 
167 
for it is quite deftly concealed upon the left bank, and were it not for the 
beaten track our parties have made, it would not be readily found by 
future travelers. From this point the distance by trail to Point Sublime is 
about 18 miles, and if it is desired to reach that promontory from here it 
will be necessary to carry water in kegs. But a chapter has already been 
devoted to a description of the canon as seen from Point Sublime, and our 
journey should be to the next watering place to the southeastward. From 
the Hidden Spring, however, we may make journeys on foot to numerous 
^joints overlooking the chasm. Ascending the steep sides of the ravine, a 
walk of two or three miles to the westward will bring us to crest of the 
SHINHMO AMPHITHEATER. 
It is one of the first order of magnitude, and though its area is less than 
that of the Tapeats amphitheater, its scenery is much more imposing. We 
look across the Grand Canon to the country beyond. Between us and the 
opposite wall is an interval of 12 miles, thronged with those magnificent 
masses and intricate details which characterize the Kaibab division. A 
plexus of drainage channels heading all around the base of the upper 
encircling walls unite in a short trunk channel which enters the Colorado. 
Each branch and filament has cut a lateral chasm of immense depth, and 
between the gorges rise the I’esidual masses, in the form of buttes. Some 
of these are gorgeous pagodas, sculptured in the usual fashion, and ending 
in sharp finials at the summit. Others are the cloister buttes with wing- 
walls and gables, panels and alcoves. All are quarried out upon a superla- 
tive scale of magnitude, and every one of them is a marvel. The great 
number and intricacy of these objects confuse the senses and do not permit 
the eye to rest. The mind wanders incessantly from one to another, and 
cannot master the multitude of things crowded at once upon its attention. 
There are scores of these structures, any one of which, if it could be placed 
by itself upon some distant plain, would be regarded as one of the great 
wonders of the world. Yet here they crowd each otlier, and no one of them 
