CHAPTER VII. 



POINT SUBLIME. 



Wherever we reach the Grand Canon in the Kaibab it bursts upon 

 (he vision in a moment. Seldom is any warning given that we are near 

 the brink. At the Toroweap it is quite otherwise. There we are notified 

 that we are near it a day before we reach it. As the final march to that 

 portion of the chasm is made the scene gradually develops, growing by 

 insensible degrees more grand until at last we stand upon the brink of 

 the inner gorge, where all is before us. In the Kaibab the forest 

 reaches to the sharp edge of the cliff and the pine trees shed their cones 

 into the fathomless depths below. 



If the approach is made at random, with no idea of reaching any 

 particular point by a known route, the probabilities are that it is flrsl 

 seen from the rim of one of the vast amphitheaters which set back from 

 the main chasm far into the mass of the plateau. It is such a point to 

 which the reader has been brought in the preceding chapter. Of course 

 there are degrees in the magnitude and power of the pictures presented, 

 but the smallest and least powerful is tremendous and too great for 

 comprehension. The scenery of the amphitheaters far surpasses in 

 grandeur and nobility anything else of the kind in any other region, 

 but it is mere by-play in comparison with the panorama displayed in 

 the heart of the canon. The supreme views are to be obtained at the 

 extremities of the long promontories, which jut out between these 

 recesses far into the gulf. Towards such a point we now direct our 

 steps. The one we have chosen is on the whole the most commanding 

 5n the Kaibab front, though there are several others which might be 

 regarded as very nearly equal to it, or as even more imposing in some 

 respects. We named it Point tiiiblime. 



The route is of the same character as that we have already traversed — 

 open pine forest, with smooth and gently rolling ground. The distance 

 from the point where we first touched the rim of the amphitheater is 

 about five miles. Nothing is seen of the chasm until about a mile from 

 the end we come once more upon the brink. Beaching the extreme 

 verge the packs are cast off and sitting upon the edge we contemplate 

 the most sublime and awe-inspiring spectacle in the world. 



The Grand Canon of the Colorado is a great innovation in modern 

 ideas of scenery, and in our conceptions of the grandeur, beauty, and 

 power of nature. As with all great innovations it is not to be compre- 

 hended in a day or a week, nor even in a month. It must be dwelt 

 upon and studied, and the study must comprise the slow acquisition of 



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