til
their detailed outlines are lost in the distant blue haze.

Our eyes wander far down, toward the bottom of the canon, following
the alternate lines of precipitous cliffs and slopes covered with
rock fragments. The cliffs and slopes succeed each other like the
steps in a giant stairway, until at the very bottom the opposite
walls meet in a gorge so narrow that in only a few places does
the river come into view, glistening like a silver thread.

A hotel stands among the trees a short distance from the brink of
the canon. Living here is expensive, for every article of food has
to be brought upon the cars and wagons for a distance of hundreds
of miles. Even the water has to be brought in wagons from a distant
spring.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--A SCENE ON THE TRAIL]

In visiting the canon we have the choice of going on horseback
or on foot. While the latter method is much harder, yet one feels
safer upon his own feet while moving along the steep and narrow
trail. Our start is made in the cool air of the early morning.
Leaving the top of the plateau, where among the pines the summer
air is seldom sultry, and the winters are cold and snowy, we descend,
until, by luncheon time, we are far below the heights and in the
midst of an almost tropical climate. This difference in climatic
features between the top and bottom of the canon is equal to the
change which the traveller experiences in a trip from the pine
forests of the northern United States to the cactus-covered plains
of Arizona.

As we look down from the top of the trail it does not seem possible
to pass the great cliffs below, and yet there must be a way, since
others have gone before us. All that we have to do is simply to
follow the beaten path. Nature has conveniently left narrow shelves,
crevices, and less precipitous slopes here and there, which need
only the application of the pick and shovel to be made passable
even for pack animals. Where the trail winds into shady recesses,
we find stunted fir and pine trees clinging to the crevices and
stretching their roots down into the waste rock collected upon
projecting ledges.

Down, down we go. The belt of the yellow pine and fir is left behind,
and we come to the habitat of the pinon pine and juniper. These two
will flourish where there is less moisture than is needed by the
trees which grow nearer the top. Soon the trees have all disappeared
and such plants as the greasewood, cactus, and agave take their
pla