THE SILENT RIVER 



73 



character than the Colorado. Yon may not 

 fancy the solitude of the stream nor its sugges- 

 tive coloring, hut you cannot deny its majesty 

 and its nobility. It has not now the babble of 

 the brook nor the swift rush of the canyon 

 water ; rather the quiet dignity that is above 

 conflict, beyond gayety. It has grown old, it 

 is nearing its end ; but nothing could be calmer, 

 simpler, more sublime, than the drift of it down 

 into the delta basin. 



The mountains are receding on every side, 

 the desert is flattening to meet the sea, and the 

 ocean tides are rising to meet the river. Half 

 human in its dissolution, the river begins to 

 break joint by joint. The change has been 

 gradually taking place for miles and now mani- 

 fests itself positively. The bottom lands widen, 

 many channels or side-sloughs open upon the 

 stream, and the water is distributed into the 

 mouths of the delta. There is a break in the 

 volume and mass — a disintegration of forces. 

 And by divers ways, devious and slow, the 

 crippled streams well out to the Gulf and never 

 come together again. 



It is not so when the river is at its height with 

 spring freshets. Then the stream is swollen 

 beyond its banks. All the bottom lands for 



Its majesty. 



Disintegra 

 tion. 



The delta. 



