when the cones fall
they go right down to the bottom.

"In the early morning, when the air is still pure and clear after the
coolness of the night, and when the sun is low, the canon lies in deep
gloom, and behind the brightly lighted tops of the columns the shadows
lie as black as soot. Then the bold sculpturing stands out in all its
glory. On a quiet night, when the moon holds its crescent above the
earth, an oppressive silence prevails over this region. The roar of the
river is not heard, for the distance is too great. A feeling of romance
takes hold of the visitor. He fancies himself in a fairy world. Only a
step over the edge and he would soar on invisible wings to a bright
wonderland."

At Salt Lake City the German leaves the train to begin his
investigations round the Great Salt Lake and the Mormon capital. Gunnar
travels on through the mountainous districts of Nevada and California,
and when the train at last pulls up at San Francisco he has reached the
goal of his hopes.

Here is one of the finest cities in the world, situated on a peninsula
in a deep and spacious inlet surrounded by mountains. Almost all traces
of the terrible earthquake which a few years ago destroyed the city have
disappeared, and splendid new buildings of iron and stone have sprung up
from the rubbish heaps, for as a commercial emporium San Francisco has
the same importance with relation to the great routes across the Pacific
as New York has on the Atlantic side.

IV

SOUTH AMERICA

THE INCA EMPIRE

A terrestrial globe naturally presents a better image of the earth than
any map, for it shows plainly the continents and the configuration of
the oceans, and exhibits clearly their position and relative size. If
you examine such a globe, you notice that the North Pole lies in the
midst of a sea, surrounded by great masses of land, whereas the South
Pole is in an extensive land surrounded by a wide sea. Perhaps you
wonder why all the continents send out peninsulas southwards? Just look
at the Scandinavian Peninsula, and look at Spain, Italy, and Greece. Do
not Kamtchatka and Korea, Arabia and the Indian Peninsula all point
south? South America, Africa, and Australia are drawn out into wedges
narrowing southwards. They are like stalactites in a grotto. But however
much you may puzzle over the globe, and however much you may question
learned men, you will never know why the earth's surface has assumed
exactly the form it has and n