810 The Great Canons of the Colorado River. 



River has no inviting prospect for the colonist, or charm for any 

 traveller, save an arduous pursuer of the wildest scenery. 



The characteristic of its scenery is a series of canons, or 

 deep precipitous passes, through which the river winds, and these 

 increase in height and sublimity towards the north, until the 

 rise of the river is traced to gorges in the Rocky Mountains, 

 the almost perpendicular walls of which measure over a mile in 

 height. The Colorado Eiver is, with one exception, the largest 

 stream which flows from American territory into the Pacific 

 Ocean. Very little has been known till lately concerning its 

 course and the grandeur of the near-lying scenery; though, 

 singularly enough, some portions of it were among the earliest 

 parts of America explored. In less than fifty years after the 

 landing of Columbus, Spanish missionaries and soldiers were 

 travelling upon it, following its course for a long way from the 

 mouth, and even attaining one of the most distant and inac- 

 cessible points of its upper waters, for one Captain Cardinas 

 reported in 1540 that he had arrived, guided by Indians, at a 

 "oart of the river where "the banks were so high that they 

 seemed to be three or four leagues in the air." This is the first 

 notice of the famous Big Caiion of the Colorado. 



The record of the Government exploring party is set out 

 with so many scenic observations that we seem scarcely to 

 need the help of the many views, maps, and charts which illus- 

 trate it, to aid our realization of their voyage. 



Starting from the mouth of the river in the Gulf of Cali- 

 fornia, a foretaste of glorious scenery to come was given 

 by a powerful mirage, converting the outlines of distant hills 

 into fanciful shapes of castles, domes, and giant statues, 

 painted with glowing purple tints and sharply- defined tracery 

 on the blue background of the sky. Beyond the mouth, 

 glittering islands broke up the monotony of the broad stream, 

 and green lawns, on which myriads of pelicans were congre- 

 gated, sloped down to the water's edge. A few miles from 

 the mouth the phenomenon of a tidal " bore" was discovered : 

 a single immense wave, which rises to the height of ten or 

 twelve feet, and ascends for many miles up the current ; an 

 analogous phenomenon to the well-known one which occurs at 

 high tides near the confluence of the Severn with the Bristol 

 Channel. From the mouth to the pass of the Purple Hills, a 

 distance of 450 miles, the scenery did not call for special 

 remark, but from that point began the wonders of the river. 

 Sailing past a range of chocolate-coloured mountains, and 

 through a gateway formed by a huge crag of vivid red rock, 

 they reached the Monument Mountains, and the first of the 

 .great series of canons which were in future to hem in their 

 course. 



