DL'TTON'. 



THE CHASM IN THE KAIBAB. 14T) 



The common notion of a canon is that of a deep, narrow gash in the 

 earth, with nearly vertical walls like a great and neatly cut trench. 

 There are hundreds of chasms in the Plateau country which answer 

 very well to this notion. Many of them are sunk to frightful depths and 

 are fifty to a hundred miles in length. Some are exceedingly narrow, as 

 the canons of the forks of the Virgen, where the overhanging walls shut 

 out the sky. Some are intricately sculptured, and illuminated with bril- 

 liant colors ; others are picturesque by reason of their bold and striking 

 sculpture. A few of them are most solemn and impressive by reason of 

 their profundity and the majesty of their walls. But as a rule the com- 

 mon canons are neither grand nor even attractive. Upon first acquaint- 

 ance they are curious and awaken interest as a new sensation, but they 

 soon grow tiresome for want of diversity, and become at last mere bores. 

 The impressions they produce are very transient, because of their great 

 simplicity and the limited range of ideas they present But there are 

 some which are highly diversified, presenting many attractive features. 

 These seldom gr m stale or wearisome, and their presence is generally 

 greeted with pleasure. 



It is perhaps in some respects unfortunate that the stupendous path- 

 way of the Colorado River through the Kaibabs was ever called a canon, 

 for the name identifies it with the baser conception. But the name pre- 

 sents as wide a range of signification as the word house. The log cabin 

 of the rancher, the painted and vine-clad cottage of the mechanic, the 

 home of the millionnaire, the places where parliaments assemble, and the 

 grandest temples of worship, are all houses. Yet the cratrast between 

 Saint Marc's and the rude dwelling of the frontiersman is not greater 

 than that between the chasm of the Colorado and the trenches in the 

 rocks which answer to the ordinary conception of a canon. And as a 

 great cathedral is an immense development of the rudimentary idea 

 involved in the four walls and roof of a cabin, so is the chasm an expan- 

 sion of the simple type of drainage channels peculiar to the Plateau 

 country. To the conception of its vast proportions must be added some 

 notion of its intricate plan, the nobility of its architecture, its colossal 

 buttes, its wealth of ornamentation, the splendor of its colors, and its 

 wonderful atmosphere. All of these attributes combine with infinite 

 complexity to produce a whole which at first bewilders and at length 

 overpowers. 



From the end of Point Sublime, the distance across the chasm to the 

 nearest point in the summit of the opposite wall, is about 7 miles. This, 

 however does not fairly express the width of the chasm, for both walls 

 are recessed by wide amphitheaters, setting far back into the platform 

 of the country and the promontories are comparatively narrow strips be- 

 tween them. A more correct statement of the general width would be 

 from 11 to 12 miles This must dispose at once of the idea that the 

 chasm is a narrow gorge of immense depth and simple form. It is some- 

 what unfortunate that there is a prevalent idea that in some way an 

 10 G A 



