Show GRAND CANYON REPORT OF MOST SUBLIME SCENERY OF THE WORLD continued from last week perhaps a half milo of alie nver is disclosed A pale dirty red without glimmer or sheen a motionless ti onless surface a small featureless spot in the dark shade of the granite is all of it that is here visible yet we know it is a large nver a hundred and fifty yards wide with a headlong torrent foaming and plunging over o ver rocky rapids A little and only a little less impressive than the great wall across alie chasm are the huttas upon this side and such buttell all others in the west saving only the peerless temples of tho virgin are mere trifles in comparison with those of the grand canon in nobility of form beauty of decoration and splendor of color the temples of the virgin must on the whole be awarded the palm but those of the grand canon while barely inferior to them in those respects surpass them in magnitude and fully equal them in majesty but while the valley of the virgin presents a few of these superlative creations the grand canon presents them by dozens in this relation the comparison would be analogous to one between a fine cathedral town and a metropolis like london or pans in truth there is only a limited ground of comparison between the two localities for in style and effects their respective structures differ as decidedly as tho works of any two well developed and strongly contrasted styles tf human architecture whatsoever is forcible characteristic te and picturesque in the rock forms of the plateau country is concentrated cent rated and to the uttermost in the buttes wherever Wh irever we find them whether fringing the long escarpments of terraces or planted upon broad mesas whether in canons or upon expansive plains they are always bold and in outline and ornate in architecture upon their flanks and entablatures the decoration peculiar to the formation out of which they leave been carved is most strongly portrayed and the profiles arc most sharply cut they command the attention with special force and quicken bhoj imagination with a power the secret of their impressiveness is doubtless obscure why one form should be beautiful and another unattractive eliy one should bo powerful animated and suggestive while another is meaningless arc questions for the psychologist rather than alie geologist sufficient here is the fact yet there are some elements of impressiveness which arc too patent to escape recognition in nearly all buttes there is a certain of form which ia peculiarly emphatic and this is seen in their profiles their ground plans arc almost always indefinite and capricious but the profiles are rarely so these arc usually composed of lines which have an approximate and sometimes a sensibly perfect geometrical definition they are usually few and simple in their ultima lc analysis though by combination aliey give csc to much variety the ledges are vertical alio summits are horizontal and the are segments of hyperbolas hyper bolas of long curvature and concave upwards lines greatly preponderate in all cases and though others sometimes intrude they seldom blemish greatly the effects produced by the normal onoe all this is in bunking con with tho cv cr varying profiles displayed in mountains and hills or on the slopes of valleys the profiles generated by alie combinations bi of these geometric lines persist along an indefinite extent oi front such a nations as arise not from changes in the nature of the lines but in the modes oj combination and proportions these are never great in any front of moderate extent but are sufficient to relieve it from a certain monotony which would otherwise prevail the same type and general form is persistent like the keynote of a song the mind carries it in its consciousness wherever the harmony wanders the horizontal lines or courses are equally strong arc the edges of the strata and the deeply eroded seams where the superposed beds touch each other here the uniformity as we pass from place to is conspicuous the carboniferous strata are quite the same in every section showing no perceptible vani tion in thickness through great distances and only a slight dip it is readily apparent therefore there foie that the effect of these profiles and horizontal so in their character is highly architectural the relation is more than a mere analogy or suggestion it is a vivid resemblance its failure or discordance is only in the ground plan though it is not uncommon to find a resemblance even in this respect among the permian buttes among the buttes of the grand canon there are few striking instances of in ground atan the finest butte of the chasm 13 situated near the upper end of the kaibab division but it 13 not visible from point sublime it is moro than feet high and has a surprising to an oriental pagoda we named it Vish nus temple on either side of the promontory on winch we stand w a side gorge sinking nearly feet below us the two unite in front of the point and ever deepening their trunk opens into the lowest aass in the granite at the nver across cither branch is a long rambling maba one on the right of us the other on the left we named them the cloisters they are excellent types of a whole class of buttes winch stand in close proximity to each other upon the north bide of tho chasm throughout the antiro alie kaibab division A far better conception of their forms and features can be gained by an examination of mr holmess Holm panoramic picture than by reading a whole volume of verbal description alie aholo prospect indeed is filled with a great throng of similar objects winch aa much b multitude as by their colossal size confuse the senses but these on account of their proximity may be I 1 most satisfactorily studied the infinity of sharply defined detail iq amazing diio cc is instantly caught and the attention firmly held by ita systematic character the parallelism of tho linea of bedding is most forcibly displayed in all alie windings of the facades and these lines aro crossed by alie vertical scoring of waterways here too are distinctly seen those details which constitute the peculiar stylo of decoration prevailing throughout all the butts and amphitheaters of the kaibab the course of tho avails is never for a moment straight but extends as a of cusps and re entrant curves elsewhere the reverse is frequently seen the projections of the wall are rounded and are convex towards the front ahne the entrant reentrant re portions are cusp like recesses this latter stylo of decoration is common in the permian butts and la not rare in the jurassic it produces the effect of a thickly set row of pilasters pi lasters in the grind canon the reversal of this mode produces the effect of panels and niches in the western cloister may be seen a succession of jhc thc niches and though they are mere details among myriads myri ads they arc really vast in dimensions those seen in the red wall limestone are over feet high and are overhung by arched linkels lintels with spandrels As we contemplate these objects we find it quite impossible to realize their magnitude not only aro we deceived but we are conscious that we are deceived and vet we cannot conquer the deception we cannot long study our surroundings without becoming aware of an enormous disparity in alio effects produced upon the senses by which arc immediate and equivalent ones winch are more remote the depth of the gulf which separates ua from the cloisters cannot be realized we crane over the brink and about feet below is a talus ends at the summit of alie cross bedded sandstone we may see alio bottom of the gorge which is about feet beneath us and yet the talus seems at least half way down looking across the side gorge the cross bedded sandstone is seen as a mere band at the summit of the cloister forming but a very small portion of its vertical extent and whatever the reason may conclude it is useless to attempt to persuade the imagination eliat the two edges of the sandstone lie in the same horizontal plane the eastern cloister is nearer than the its distance being agrout a mile and a halt it seems that it can be so much as one third that distance its altitude is from to feet but any attempt to estimate the altitude by means of visual impressions is felt at once to be hopeless there is no stadium dimensions mean nothing to the senses and all that we are conscious of in this respect is a troubled sense of immensity to be continued |