URIQUE AND ITS MINES. 299 
in on either side by mountains towering 
three, four, and five thousand feet above 
us, and were well up the canon before the 
first rays of the sun could reach us over 
the mountain tops. All along the trail the 
river was lined with beautiful flowering 
shrubs of every conceivable shade and 
color. Flitting around among them were 
brilliantly colored paroquets and many 
other birds with gay plumage. That morn¬ 
ing’s ride of ten or twelve miles up the 
canon, sheltered as we were from the 
fierce rays of the sun—which emphasized 
and reflected the many-colored rocks of 
the mountains that were carved and sculp¬ 
tured into all beautiful and fantastic 
shapes—was one of such rare beauty and 
perfection that even the most graphic 
pen would despair of doing justice to the 
subject. About noon we crossed a small 
