Chapter 8 of Arizona's Sketches by Joseph A. Munch. Much of the vegetation that is indigenous to the southwest is unique and can only be seen at its best in the Gila Valley in southern Arizona. The locality indicated is in the arid zone and is extremely hot and dry. Under such conditions it is but natural to suppose that all plant life must necessarily be scat and dwarfed, but such is not the fact. Upon the contrary many of the plants that are native to the soil and adapted to the climate grow luxuriously are remarkably succulent and perennially green. How they manage to acquire so much sap admits the surrounding sassisty is inexplicable, unless it is that they possess the function of absorbing and condensing moisture by an unusual and unknown method. It is, however, a beneficial provision of nature as a protection against famine and a drowdy land by furnishing in an acceptable form refreshing juice and nutritious pulp to supply the pressing wants of hungry and thirsty man and beast in time of need. Another peculiarity of these plants is that they are aconaceous, covered all over with sharp thorns and needles, spikes of all sorts and sizes bristle everywhere and admonish the tenderfoot to beware. Guarded by an impenetrable armor of prickly mail they defy encroachment and successfully repel all attempts at undue familiarity. To be torn by a cat-cloth-horn or impaled on a stout dagger-leaf of one of these plants would not only mean painful laceration, but perhaps serious or even fatal injury. Notwithstanding their formidable and forbidding appearance they are nevertheless attractive and possess some value either medicinal, commercial, or ornamental. The Magui, or American aloe, is the most abundant and widely distributed of the native plants. It is commonly known as mescal, but is also called the century plant from a mistaken notion that it blossoms only once in a hundred years. Its average life under normal conditions is about ten years and it dies immediately after blossoming. It attains its greatest perfection in the interior of Mexico where it is extensively cultivated. It yields a large quantity of sap which is, by a simple process of fermentation, converted into a liquor called polke that tastes best while it is new and is consumed in large quantities by the populace. Polk trends are run daily from the mescal plantations where the polk is made into the large cities to supply the bibulous inhabitants with their customary beverage. In strength and effect it resembles lager beer and is the popular drink with all classes throughout Mexico where it has been in vogue for centuries and is esteemed as the only drink fit for thirsty angels and men. The agave is capable of being applied to many domestic uses. Under the old dispensation of Indian supremacy it supplied the natives their principal means of support. Its sap was variously prepared and served as milk, honey, vinegar, beer, and brandy. From its tough fiber were made thread, rope, cloth, shoes, and paper. The strong flour stock was used in building houses and the broad leaves for covering them. The heart of the mague is saccharine and rich in nutriment. It is prepared by roasting it in a mescal pit and, when done, tastes much like baked squash. It is highly prized by the Indians who use it as their daily bread. Before the apaches were conquered and herded on reservations a mescal bake was an important event with them. It meant the gathering of the clans and was made the occasion of much feasting and festivity. Old mescal pits can yet be found in some of the secluded corners of the Apache country that were once the sands of noisy activity but have been forsaken and silent for many years. The fiery mescal, a distilled liquor that is known to the trade as aguardiente or Mexican brandy, is much stronger than pulp, but less used. Both liquors are said to be medicinal and are reputed to possess diuretic, tonic, and stimulant properties. Next in importance to the mescal comes the yucca. There are several varieties, but the palm yucca is the most common, and under favorable conditions attends to the proportions of a tree. Fine specimens of yucca grow on the Mojave Desert in California that are large and numerous enough to form a straggling forest. The tree consists of a light, spongy wood that grows as a single stem or divides into two or more branches. Each branch is crowned by a tuft of long, pointed leaves that grow in concentric circles. As the new leaves unfold on top, the old leaves are crowded down and hang in loose folds about the stem like a flound skirt. When dry, the leaves burn readily and are sometimes used for light and heat by lost or belated travelers. White threads of a fine fiber are detached from the margins of the leaves that are blown by the wind into a fluffy fleece in which the little birds love to nest. A grove of yucca trees presents a grotesque appearance. If indistinctly viewed in the hazy distance, they are easily mistaken for the plumbed top knots of a band of prowling apaches, particularly if the imagination is active with the fear of an Indian outbreak. The wood of the yucca tree has a commercial value. It is cut into thin sheets by machinery which are used for surgeon splints, hygienic insoles, tree protectors, and calendars. As a splint it answers an admirable purpose, being both light and strong and capable of being molded into any shape desired after it has been immersed in hot water. This pulp also makes an excellent paper. Another variety of yucca is the amol or soap plant. Owing to the peculiar shape of its leaves it is also called Spanish bayonet. Its root is saponaceous and is pounded into a pulp and used instead of soap by the natives.  The Indians call it ousa and eat it, either raw or roasted in hot ashes. A species of yucca called sotal or saw-grass grows plentifully in places and is sometimes used as food for cattle when grass is scarce. In its natural state it is inaccessible to cattle because of its hard and thorny exterior. To make it available it is cut down and quartered with a hoe when the hungry cattle eat it with avidity. Where the plant grows thickly one man can cut enough in one day to feed several hundred head of cattle. There are several other varieties of yucca that possess no particular value but all are handsome bloomers and the mass of white flowers which unfold during the season of efflorescence adds much to the beauty of the landscape. The prickly pericactus or Indian fig of the genus apuntia is a common as well as a numerous family. The soil and climate of the southwest from Texas to California seem to be just to its liking. It grows rank and often forms dense thickets. The root is a tough wood from which it is said the best Mexican saddle trees are made. The plant consists of an aggregation of thick flat oval leaves which are joined together by narrow bands of woody fiber and covered with bundles of fine sharp needles. Its pulp is nutritious and cattle like the young leaves but will not eat them after they become old and hard unless driven to do so by the pangs of hunger. In Texas the plant is gathered in large quantities and ground into a fine pulp by machinery which is then mixed with cottonseed, male, and fed to cattle. The mixture makes a valuable fattening ration and is used for finishing beef steers for the market. The chola or cane cactus is also a species of apuntia but its stem or leaf is long and round instead of short and flat. It is thickly covered with long fine silvery white needles that glisten in the sun. Its stem is hollow and filled with a white pith like the elder. After the prickly bark is stripped off the punk can be picked out through the finestra with a penknife which occupation affords pleasant pastime for a leisure hour. And thus furbished up the unsightly club becomes an elegant walking-stick. The chola is not a pleasant companion as all persons know who have had any experience with it. Its needles are not only very sharp but also finely barbed and they penetrate and cling fast like a burr in the moment that they are touched. Cowboys profess to believe that the plant has some kind of sense as they say that it jumps and takes hold of its victim before it is touched. This action, however, is only true in the seeming as its long transparent needles being invisible are touched before they are seen. When they catch hold of a moving object, be it horse or cowboy, an impulse is imparted to the plant that makes it seem to jump. It is an uncanny movement and is something more than an ocular illusion as the victim is ready to testify. These desert plants do not ordinarily furnish forage for livestock, but in a season of drought when other feed is scarce and cattle are starving they will risk having their mouths pricked by thorns in order to get something to eat and will browse on mescal, yuca, and cactus and find some nourishment in the unusual diet, enough at least to keep them from dying. The plants mentioned are not nearly as plentiful now as they once were. Because of the prolonged droughts that prevail in the ranch country and the overstocking of the ranch these plants are in danger of being exterminated and if the conditions do not soon change of becoming extinct. The saguaro or giant cactus is one of nature's rare and curious productions. It is a large round fluted column that is from one to two feet thick and sometimes sixty feet high. The trunk is nearly of an even thickness from top to bottom, but if there is any difference it is a trifle thicker in the middle. It usually stands alone as a single perpendicular column, but is also found bunched in groups. If it has any branches they are apt to start at right angles from about the middle of the tree and curve upward, paralleling the trunk which form gives it the appearance of a mammoth candelabrum. The single saguaro pillar bears a striking resemblance to a Corinthian column. As everything in art is an attempt to imitate something in nature is it possible the Grecian architecture borrowed its notable pattern from the Gila Valley? Modern Arizona is the natural home and exclusive habitat of this most singular and interesting plant and is perhaps the only thing growing anywhere that could have suggested the design. Wherever it grows it is a conspicuous object on the landscape and has been appropriately named the sentinel of the desert. Its mammoth body is supported by a skeleton of wooden ribs which are held in position by a mesh of tough fibers that is filled with a green pulp. Rows of thorns extend its entire length which are resinous and, if ignited, burn with a bright flame. They are sometimes set on fire and have been used by the Apaches for making signals. The cactus tree, like the eastern forest tree, is often found bored full of round holes that are made by the Gila woodpecker. When the tree dies its pulp dries up and blows away and there remains standing only a spectral figure composed of white slats and fiber that looks ghostly in the distance. Its fruit is delicious and has the flavor of the fig and strawberry combined. It is dislodged by the greedy birds which feed on it and by arrows shot from bows and the hands of the Indians. The natives esteem the fruit as a great delicacy and use it both fresh and dried and in the form of a treacle or preserve. The occotile, or mountain cactus, is a handsome shrub that grows in rocky soil upon the foothills and consists of a cluster of nearly straight poles of brittle wood covered with thorns and leaves. It blossoms during the early summer and each branch bears on its crest a bunch of bright crimson flowers. If set in a row the plant makes an ornamental hedge and effective fence for turning stock. The seemingly dry sticks are thrust into yet drier ground where they take root and grow without water.  The Iquino cactus, or biznaga, is also called the well of the desert. It has a large barrel-shaped body which is covered with long spikes that are curved like fish hooks. It is full of sap that is sometimes used to quench thirst. By cutting off the top and scoping out a hollow the cup-shaped hole soon fills with a sap that is not exactly nectar but can be drunk in an emergency. Men who have been in danger of perishing from thirst on the desert have sometimes been saved by this unique method of well-digging. Greasewood, or creosote bush as it is sometimes called on account of its pungent odor, grows freely on the desert but has little or no value and cattle will not touch it. Like many other desert plants it is resinous and, if thrown into the fire, the green leaves spit and sputter while they burn like hot grease in a frying pan. The mesquite tree is peculiarly adapted to the desert and is the most valuable tree that grows in the southwest. As found growing on the dry masses of Arizona it is only a small bush but on the moist land of a river bottom it becomes a large forest tree. A mesquite forest stands in the Santa Cruz Valley south of Tucson that is a fair sample of its growth under favorable conditions. Its wood is hard and fine grained and polishes beautifully. It is very durable and is valuable for lumber, fence posts, and firewood. On the dry masses it seems to go mostly to root that is out of all proportion to the size of the tree. The amount of firewood that is sometimes obtained by digging up the root of a small mesquite bush is astonishing. It makes a handsome and ornamental shade tree having graceful branches, feathery leaves, and fragrant flowers and could be cultivated to advantage for yard and park purposes. Its principal value, however, lies in its seed pods which grow in clusters and look like string beans. The mesquite bean furnishes a superior article of food and feeds about everything that either walks or flies on the desert. The Indians make meal of the seed and bake it into bread. Cattle that feed on the open range will leave good grass to browse on a mesquite bush. Even as carnivorous a creature as the coyote will make a full meal on a mess of mesquite beans and seem to be satisfied, the tree exudes a gum that is equal to the gum Arabic of commerce. The Palo Verde is a tree without leaves and is a true child of the desert. No matter how hot and dry the weather, the Palo Verde is always green and flourishing. At a distance it resembles a weeping willow tree stripped of its leaves. Its numerous long slender drooping branches gracefully crisscross and interlace in an intricate figure of filigree work. It has no commercial value, but if it could be successfully transplanted and transported it would make a desirable addition to a greenhouse collections in the higher latitudes. The romantic mistletoe that is world-renowned for its magic influence in love affairs grows to perfection in southern Arizona. There are several varieties of this parasitic plant that are very unlike in appearance. Each kind partakes more or less of the characteristics of the tree upon which it grows, but all have the glossy leaf and wax and berry. END OF CHAPTER VIII. CHAPTER IX of Arizona sketches by Joseph A. Monk. The Slipper Vox recording is in the public domain. Reading by Bologna Times. HOOKERS HOT SPRINGS Arizona has several hot springs within her borders, but perhaps none are more valuable nor picturesquely located than Hooker's hot springs. These springs are located in the foothills on the western slope of the Gulliera Mountains in southeastern Arizona, 35 miles west of Bullcocks on the southern Pacific Railroad. The spot is beautifully situated, commanding an extended view of valley and mountain scenery. There are a dozen springs, big and little, in the group, and are scattered over several acres of hillside. The temperature of the water is 130 degrees Fahrenheit and too hot to drink, but if sipped slowly it makes an admirable hot water drought. The springs evidently have their source deep down in the earth, and the flow of water never varies. When the water from the different springs is all united, it forms a good-sized brook. The water is conducted through pipes into the bath house, where it supplies a row of bathtubs with water of any desired temperature. The surplus water flows into a large earthen tank or artificial lake and is used for irrigating a small farm that produces grain, fruits, and vegetables. The water from these springs is in great demand and is not only sought by the human biped, but is also in favor with the equine quadruped. Every morning after the stable doors is thrown open and the horses turn loose, they invariably of their own accord proceed to the lake, wade out into shallow water, and take a bath. They lie down and splash the water about like a lot of school boys taking a swim. The water from all the springs is perfectly soft and pure. It cannot be called a mineral water, as an analysis shows that it contains only a trace of any kind of mineral matter. This peculiarity of the water is no damage to the springs, since purity is the best recommendation that any water can have. Water that is heavily mineralized may be medicinal, but is not necessarily remedial or even wholesome, notwithstanding the popular belief to the contrary. Water that is charged with much mineral is spoiled for drinking. Moderately hard water need not be injurious to anybody, but is especially beneficial to children. The assimilative function in the child appropriates mineral water tardily, and sometimes absorbs it altogether too slowly for the child's good. Its absence in the system causes a disease called rickets, in which, from all lack of lime, the bones of the child become soft and yielding. The bones of a rickety child will bend rather than break. It is slow to walk and in clints become bow-legged. It is entirely different and old age. As the years multiply, the system absorbs an abnormal and ever increasing amount of calcareous matter. The bones become unduly hard and brittle and are easily broken. Bony matter is liable to be deposited in and about the joints, when they become stiff and painful. It also lodges in various soft tissues of the body and ossification of the valves of the heart and walls of the arteries sometimes happens. It weakens the blood vessels so that they easily rupture, which causes apoplexy, paralysis, and death. Calcareous concretions in the kidneys and bladder also come from the same cause and are called gravel. Such deposits are not only annoying and painful to the patient, but in time may prove fatal if not removed by surgery. Middle-age and elderly people should never drink anything but soft water. If a natural supply of soft water cannot be obtained, distilled water should be substituted. If neither natural soft water nor distilled water are available, and there is doubt as to the purity of the water that is being used, it should be boiled and then let stand to cool and settle. Boiling not only destroys and renders harmless any organic germs that may be present, but also precipitates and eliminates much of its inorganic salts. A few drops of a weak solution of nitrate of silver added to a glass of water will quickly determine its quality. If the water that is being tested is free from mineral matter, no change is produced, but if it contains mineral, it turns the water opaque or milky. The value of mineral water as a healthful or necessary drink has been greatly exaggerated. While it may do good in some instances, it is not nearly as beneficial as is commonly supposed. Instead of it always doing good, the contrary is often true. If a mineral water is desired, there is no necessity of visiting a mineral spring to obtain it as it can be made artificially at home or at the nearest pharmacy an inequality or of inequality desired with the additional advantage of having it contain exactly the ingredients wanted. There are nearly as many mineral waters on the market as there are patent medicines and both are about equally misrepresented and deceiving. All classes of people would undoubtedly be greatly benefited in health, strength, and longevity. If more attention was given to the quality of our domestic water supply, anyone who needs a change, other things being equal, should seek a resort that furnaces pure soft water rather than choose a spring that only boasts of its mineral properties. Not all of the benefit that is derived from a course at watering place is due to the virtues of the water, be it ever so potent. The change of environment, climate, diet, bathing, etc. are each factors that contribute something towards a cure. Next to using pure water as a beverage, it is important to know how to bathe properly. Such knowledge being simple and plain enough if only common sense is used. Usually the more simply a bath is administered, the better are the results. Some people seem to think that in order to derive any benefit from a bath, it is necessary to employ some unusual or complicated process. Nothing is further from the truth. The plain, tepid bath is the best for general use. It thoroughly cleanses the body and produces no unpleasant shock. A hot bath is rarely needed, but if it is used, enough time should be given after it to rest and cool off before going out into the open air in order to avoid taking cold. The good or harm of a bath must be judged by its effects. A bath is only beneficial when it is followed by a healthy reaction, which is indicated by an agreeable feeling of warmth and comfort, and is injurious if the subject feels cold, weak or depressed. A bath does not affect all people alike. What will do one person may injure another. It is never wise to prescribe a stereotype treatment for every patient. The disease, temperament, and constitution of each individual must be taken into account, and the temperature and frequency of the bath must be determined and regulated by the necessity and idiosyncrasies of each case. The amount of bathing that a strong, full-blooded person could endure would mop out the life of a thin, bloodless weakling. Locally, these springs have become famous because of the remarkable cures they have affected and are sought by many sick people who have failed to find relief by other means. Before the white man came, the Indians used the water for curing their sick. The water is curative in rheumatism, neuralgia, dyspepsia, blood and skin disorders, and kidney complaint. The water cure is all right even if it does not always fulfill every expectation. Hooker's Hot Springs is a pleasant place to visit for people who are not invalids. It is off the beaten path of travel, and is an ideal spot for the tired man who needs a rest. It has not yet been overrun by the crowd, but retains all of the natural charm of freshness which the old resorts have lost. Here nature rides in all of her wild beauty, and has not yet been perceptibly marred by the disboiling hand of man. Aside from the luxury of the bass which the place affords, the visitor can find a great deal to please him. The climate is healthful, and the weather pleasant nearing most of the year. In the near vicinity much can be found in nature that is interesting. Never-failing mountain streams, deep canyons, and dark forests wait to be visited and explored, while curiosities in animal and vegetable life abound. Not far off is a place where perfect geodes of Celsedoni are found. Mining and ranching are the leading industries of the country, and a visit to some neighboring mine or cattle ranch is not without interest to the novice. But if he starts out on such a trip, he must decide to make a day of it, as the country is sparsely settled and the distance is long between camps. The accommodations where he stops are not always luxurious. The welcome is cordial, and the entertainment comfortable. The new experience is also delightfully romantic. CHAPTER X of Arizona sketches by Joseph A. Monk This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Reading by Bologna Times. CANYON ECHOES The Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona is the union of the Rocky and Sierra Nevada mountains in their southward trend, and forms the southern rim of the Great Basin. This depression was once a vast inland sea, of which nothing remains but the Salt Lake of Utah, and is drained by the Colorado River. The entire plateau region is remarkable for its grand scenery, abysmal chasms, sculptured buttes, and towering cliffs, which are brightly colored as if painted by artist gods, not stained or dobbed by inharmonious hues, but beautiful as flowers and gorgeous as the clouds. The plateau is an immense woodland of pines known as the Coconino Forest. The San Francisco mountains, no less than 13,000 feet high, stand in the middle of the plateau, which is also the center of an extensive extinct volcanic field. The whole country is covered with cinders, which were thrown from active volcanoes centuries ago. The track of the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad, clear across Arizona, is ballasted with cinders instead of gravel that were dug from pits on its own right away. Near the southern base of the San Francisco Mountains is the town of Flagstaff, built in a natural forest of pine trees. It is sometimes called the Skylight City because of its high altitude, rarefied atmosphere, and brilliant sky. It is said to have been named by a company of soldiers who camped on the spot while out-hunting Indians when the country was new. It happened to be on the 4th of July, and they celebrated the day by unfurling all glory from the top of a pine tree, which was stripped of its branches and converted into a Flagstaff. Here is located the Lowell Observatory, which has made many valuable discoveries in astronomy. It is a delightful spot and offers many attractions to the scientists, tourists, and health-seekers. One of the many interesting objects of this locality is the Ice Cave, situated eight miles southwest of the town. It not only attracts the curious, but its congealed stores are also drawn on by the people who live in the vicinity when the domestic ice supply runs short. The cave is entered from the side of a ravine, and its opening is arched by lava rock. How the ice ever got there is a mystery unless it is, as Mr. Volce claims, glacial ice that was covered and preserved by a thick coat of cenders, which fell when the San Francisco peaks were an active eruption. As far as observed, the ice never becomes more nor ever gets less except what is removed by mining. The region is unusually attractive to the naturalist. It is the best field for the study of entomology that is known. But all nature riots here. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, in his report of a biological survey of the San Francisco Mountains and Painted Desert, states that there are seven distinct life zones in a radius of 25 miles running the entire gamut from the arctic to the tropic. The variety of life which he found and describes cannot be duplicated in the same space anywhere else upon the globe. But the greatest natural wonder of this region, and it is claimed by competent judges of the whole world, is the Grand Canyon of Arizona, which is 72 miles north of Flagstaff. Thurber's stage line, when it was running, carried passengers through in one day, but after the railroad was built from Williams to Bright Angel, the stage was abandoned. However, it is an interesting trip, and many people make it every summer by private conveyance who go for an outing and can travel leisurely. It is a good natural road and runs nearly the entire distance through an open pine forest. Two roads leave Flagstaff for the canyon, called, respectively, the summer and winter roads. The former goes west of the San Francisco Mountains and intersects with the winter road that runs east of the peaks at Cedar Ranch, which was the midway station of the old stage line. The summer road is the one usually traveled, as the winter road is almost destitute of water. The road ascends rapidly from an elevation of 7,000 feet at Flagstaff to 11,000 feet at the summit, and descends more gradually to Cedar Ranch, where the elevation is less than 5,000 feet, and in distance is about halfway to the canyon. Here, Cedar and Penion trees take the place of the taller pines. Cedar Ranch is on an arm of the painted desert, which stretches away towards the east over a wide-level plain to the horizon. From this point, the road ascends again on an easy grade until it reaches an elevation of 8,000 feet at the canyon. During the long drive through the pine woods, the appearance of the country gives no hint of a desert, but beautiful scenery greets the eye on every hand. The air is filled with the fragrance of pine and ozone that is as exhilarating as wine. No signs of severe windstorms are seen in broken branches and fallen trees. If an occasional tree is found lying prostrate, it was spelled either by the Woodman's axe or one of nature's destructive forces, fire or decay or both. But the large number of shattered trees which are encountered during the day gives evidence that the lightning is frequently very destructive in its work. The bark of the pine trees is of a reddish-gray color, which contrasts brightly with the green foliage. The winter road furnishes even more attractions than the summer road on which line a railroad should be built through to the canyon. Soon after leaving town, a side road leads to the cliff dwellings in Walnut Canyon. Along the wayside, a signboard points the direction to the bottomless pit, which is a deep hole in the ground that is only one of many such fishers in the earth found on the Colorado Plateau. Four miles east of Canyon Diablo, a narrow fisher from a few inches to several feet wide and hundreds of feet deep, has been traced and a continuous line over one hundred miles. Further on, a group of cave dwellings can be seen among the rocks upon a distant hill. A turn in the road next brings the Sunset Mountain into view. Its crest glows with the colors of sunset, which unusual effect is produced by colored rocks that are of volcanic origin. Black sunders cover its steep sides and its brow is the rim of a deep crater. Between Sunset Peak and O'Leary Peak is the black crater from which flowed at one time thick streams of black lava that harden into rock and are known as the lava beds. Scores of crater cones and miles of black sunders can be seen from Sunset Mountain, and lava and cinders of this region look as fresh as if an eruption had occurred but yesterday. A peculiarity of the pine trees which grow in the cinders is that their roots do not go down but spread out upon the surface. Some of the roots are entirely bare while others are half buried in cinders. They are from an inch to a foot thick and from ten to fifty feet long according to the size of the tree which they support. The cause of the queer root formation is not apparent. The whole plateau country is scarce of water. The Grand Canyon drains the ground dry to an unusual depth. The nearest spring of water to the canyon at Grandview is Cedar Spring, forty miles distant. Until recently all the water used at the canyon was either packed upon burrows from springs down in the canyon or caught in ponds or reservoirs from rains or melted snow. Since the completion of the railroad the water is hauled in on cars constructed for that purpose. The watershed of the canyon slopes away from the rim and instead of the storm water running directly into the river it flows in the opposite direction. Only after a long detour of many miles does it finally reach the river by the little Colorado or Catarac Creek. Now that the Grand Canyon is made accessible by rail over a branch road of the Santa Fe from Williams on the main line it has reached in comparative ease and comfort. But to stop at the Bright Angel Hotel and look over the guardrail on the cliff down into the canyon gives merely a glimpse of what there is to see. A brief stay of one day is better than not stopping at all but to get even an inkling of its greatness and grandeur days and weeks must be spent in making trips up and down and into the canyon. After having seen the canyon at Bright Angel the next move should be to go to Grand View 14 miles up the canyon. An all-days stage ride from flag staff to the canyon was tiresome but the two hours drive through the pine woods from Bright Angel to Grand View is only pleasant recreation. Seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time does not necessarily produce the startling and lacrimose effects that have been described by some emotional riders but the first sight never disappoints and always leaves a deep and lasting impression. As immense as is the great chasm it is formed in such harmonious proportions that it does not shock the senses. But as everything about the canyon is built on such a grand scale and the eyes not being accustomed to such sight it is impossible to comprehend it, to measure its dimensions correctly or note every detail and form and color at the first glance. As the guide remarked God made it so blank big that you can't lie about it. To comprehend it at all requires time to reeducate the senses and make them accustomed to the new order of things but even a cursory view will always remain in the memory as the event of a lifetime in the experience of the average mortal. Distance in the canyon cannot be measured by the usual standards. There are sheer walls of rocks that are thousands of feet high and as many more feet deep but where the bottom seems to be is only the beginning of the other chasms which lie in the dark shadows and descend into yet deeper depths below. The canyon is not a simple empty chasm which is the universal conception of a canyon but consists of a complex system of sub and side canyons that is bewildering. Out of its depths rise an infinite number and variety of castellated cliffs and sculptured buttes that represent every conceivable variety of architecture. They have the appearance of a resurrected city of great size and beauty which might have been built by an army of titans then buried and forgotten. A trip into the canyon down one of the trails makes its magnitude even more impressive than a rim view. The distance across the chasm is also much greater than what it seems to be which is demonstrated by the blue haze that fills the canyon. The nearby buttes are perfectly distinct but as the distance increases across the great gorge the haze gradually thickens until the opposite wall is almost obscured by the mist. The myriads of horizontal lines which mark the different strata of rocks have the appearance of a maze of telegraph wires strung through the canyon. A ride leisurely on horseback along the rim trail from Thurber's old camp to Bissell's Point seven miles up the canyon is easily made in a day. It presents a panorama of magnificent views all along the rim but Bissell's is conceded to be the best viewpoint on the canyon. From this point about 30 miles of river can be seen as it winds in and out deep down among the rocks. The Colorado River is a large stream but as seen here a mile below and several miles out it dwindles into insignificance and appears no larger than a meadowbrook. The river looks placid in the distance but it is a raging turbulent torrent in which an ordinary boat cannot live and the roar of its wild waters can be distinctly heard as of the rushing of a distant train of cars. A second day spent in riding down the canyon to Grand View Point and back is equally delightful. Looking across a band in the canyon from Grand View Point to Bissell's Point the distance seems to be scarcely more than a stun's throw yet it is fully half the distance of the circuitous route by the rim trail. There are three trails leading into the canyon and down to the river the Bright Angel, Grand View, and Hans trails which are at intervals of eight and twelve miles apart. They are equally interesting and comparatively safe if the trip is made on the back of a train pony or burrow with a competent guide. The Hans trail is a loop and is twenty miles long. It is seven miles down to the river, six miles up the stream, and seven miles back to the rim. It was built single-handed by Captain John Hans who has lived many years in the canyon. The trail is free to pedestrians but yields the captain a snug income from horse hire and his own services as guide for tourists who go over the trail. Captain Hans is an entertaining recontour and he spends many interesting yarns for the amusement if not the edification of his guests. The serious manner in which he relates his stories makes it sometimes hard to tell whether he is unjust or earnest. His acknowledged skill in mountaineering and felicity in romancing has won him more than a local reputation and a distinguished title of Grand Canyon Guide and Prevericator. He relates how, once upon a time, he pursued a band of mountain sheep on the rim of the canyon. Just as he was about to secure his quarry the sheep suddenly turned a short corner and disappeared behind some rocks. Before he realized his danger he found himself on the brink of a yawning abyss and under such a momentum that he could not turn aside or stop his horse. Together they went over the cliff in an awful leap. He expected to meet instant death on the rocks below and braced himself for the shock. As the fall was greater than usual, being over a mile deep in a perpendicular line, it required several seconds for the descending bodies to traverse the intervening space, which gave him a few moments to think and plan some way of escape. At the critical moment a happy inspiration seized and saved him. On the instant that his horse struck the rock and was dashed to pieces, the captain sprang nimbly from the saddle to his feet unharmed. To prove the truth of his statement he never misses an opportunity to point out to the tourists the spot where his horse fell and chose the white bones of his defunct steed bleaching in the sun. At Moran's point there is a narrow cleft in the rocks which he calls the fat woman's misery. It received its name several years ago from a circumstance that happened while he was conducting a party of tourists along the REM trail. To obtain a better view the party assayed to squeeze through the opening in which attempt all succeeded except one fat woman who stuck fast. After vainly trying to extricate her from her uncomfortable position he finally told her that there was but one of two things to do. Either remain where she was and starve to death or take one chance in a thousand of being blown out alive by a dynamite. After thinking a moment she decided to try the one chance in a thousand experiment. A charge of dynamite was procured and the fuse lighted. After the explosion he returned to the spot and found the result satisfactory. The blast had released the woman who was alive and sitting upon a rock. He approached her cheerfully and said, Madam, how do you feel? She looked up shocked but evidently very much relieved and replied, Why, sir, I feel first rate, but the jolt gave me a little toothache. He tells another story of how he once took a drink from the Colorado River. The water is never very clear in the muddy stream, but at that particular time it was unusually murky. He had nothing with which to dip the water and lay down on the bank to take a drink. Being very thirsty he paid no attention to the quality of the water but only knew that it tasted wet. The water, however, grew thicker as he drank until it became bald up in his mouth and stuck fast in his throat and threatened to choke him. He tried to bite it off but failed because his teeth were poor. At last, becoming desperate, he pulled his hunting knife from his belt and cut himself loose from his drink. Different theories have been advanced to account for the origin of the Grand Canyon, but it is a question whether it is altogether due to any one cause. Scientists say that it is the work of water erosion, but to the layman it seems impossible. If an ocean of water should flow over rocks during eons of ages it does not seem possible that it could cut such a channel. Water sometimes does queer things but it has never been known to reverse nature. By a fundamental law of hydrostatics water always seeks its level and flows in the direction of least resistance. If water ever made the Grand Canyon it had to climb a hill and cut its way through the backbone of the Buckskin Mountains, which are not a range of peaks but a broad plateau of solid rock. Into this rock the canyon is sunk more than a mile deep from six to 18 miles wide and over 200 miles long. In order to make the theory of water erosion tenable it is assumed that the Colorado River started in its incipiency like any other river. After a time the riverbed began to rise and was gradually pushed up more and more by some unknown subterranean force as the water cut deeper and deeper into the rock until the Grand Canyon was formed. Captain Hounce has a theory that the canyon originated in an underground stream which tunneled until it cut its way through to the surface. As improbable as is this theory it is as plausible as the erosion theory but both theories appear to be equally absurd. At some remote period of time the entire southwest was rent and torn by an awful cataclysm which caused numerous fissures and seams to appear all over the country. The force that did the work had its origin in the earth and acted by producing lateral displacement rather than direct upheaval. Whenever that event occurred the fracture which marks the course of the Grand Canyon was made and breaking through the enclosing wall of the great basin set free the waters of an inland sea. What the seismic force began the flood of liberated water helped to finish and there was born the greatest natural wonder of the known world. There are canyons all over Arizona and the southwest that resembled the Grand Canyon except that they were made on a smaller scale. Many of them are perfectly dry and apparently never contained any running water. They are all so much alike that they were evidently made at the same time and by the same cause. Walnut Canyon and Canyon Diablo are familiar examples of canyon formation. The rocks in the canyons do not stand on end but lie in horizontal strata and show but little depth anywhere. Indeed the rocks lie so plumb in many places that they resemble the most perfect masonry. The rimrock of the Magolan Mesa is of the same character as the walls of the Grand Canyon and is an important part of the canyon system. It is almost a perpendicular cliff from one 3000 feet high which extends from east to west across central Arizona and divides the great northern plateau from the southern valleys. It is one side of an immense vault or canyon wall whose mate has been lost or dropped completely out of sight. In many of the canyons where water flows continuously effects are produced that are exactly the opposite of those ascribed to water erosion. Instead of the running water cutting deeper into the earth it has partly filled the canyon with alluvium thereby demonstrating nature's universal leveling process. Even the floods of water which pour through them during every rainy season with an almost irresistible force carry in more soil than they wash out and every freshet only adds new soil to the old deposits. If these canyons were all originally made by water erosion as is claimed why does not the water continue to act in the same manner now but instead completely reverses itself as above stated. There can be but one of two conclusions either that nature has changed or that scientists are mistaken. The Aravipa in southern Arizona is an interesting canyon and is typical of its kind. Its upper half is shallow and bounded by low rolling foothills but in the middle it suddenly deepens and narrows into a box canyon which has high perpendicular walls of solid rock like the Grand Canyon. It is a long narrow valley sunk deep into the earth and has great fertility and much wild beauty. It measures from a few feet to a mile in width and drains a large scope of rough country. The surface water which filters through from above reappears in numerous springs of clear cold water in the bottom of the canyon. In the moist earth and under the shade of forest trees grow a variety of rare flowers, ferns, and mosses. Where the canyon begins to box a large spring of pure cold water issues from the sand in the bottom of the wash which is the source of the Aravipa Creek. It flows through many miles of rich alluvial land and empties into the San Preto River. The valley was settled many years ago by men who were attracted to the spot by its rare beauty, fertility of soil, and abundance of wood and water. The land is moist and covered by a heavy growth of forest trees which will average over 100 feet high. The trees are as large and the foliage as dense as in any eastern forest. Being sunk deep in the earth the narrow valley at the bottom of the canyon can only be seen from above. When viewed from some favorable point it has the appearance of a long green ribbon stretched loosely over a brown landscape. The side of it is a pleasant surprise to the weary Wayfarer who after traveling over many miles of dreary desert road finds himself suddenly ushered into such pleasant scenes. The canyons of Arizona are unrivaled for grandeur, sublimity, and beauty and will attract an ever-increasing number of admirers. The central southeast of Canyon Diablo station on the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad stands the meteorite mountain of Arizona on a wide open plain of the Colorado Plateau. It is 200 feet high and as seen at a distance has the appearance of a low flat mountain. Its top forms the rim of an immense round bowl-shaped hole in the ground that has almost perpendicular sides is one mile wide and over 600 feet deep. The hole originally was evidently very much deeper than it is at the present time but it has gradually become filled with debris to its present depth. The bottom of the hole has a floor of about 40 acres of level ground which merges into a talus. This formation is sometimes called the crater because of its shape but there is no evidence of volcanic action. Locally it is known as Coon But which is a misnomer but meteorite mountain is a name with a meaning. It is not known positively just how or when the mountain was formed but the weight of evidence seems to favor the meteorite theory which is that at some remote period of time a monster meteorite fell from the sky and buried itself in the earth. Mr. F. W. Volts who has lived in the country 20 years and is an intelligent observer of natural phenomena has made a careful study of the mountain and it is his opinion that such an event actually occurred and that a falling star made the mountain. When the descending meteorite with its great weight in terrific momentum hit the earth something had to happen. It buried itself deep beneath the surface and caused the earth to heave up on all sides.  The impact of the meteorite upon the earth not only caused an upheaval of the surface but it also crushed and displaced the rocks beneath. As the stellar body penetrated deep into the earth its force became more concentrated and either compressed the rocks into a denser mass or ground them to powder. The plan on which the mountain stands is covered by a layer of red sandstone a variable thickness as it is much worn in places by weather erosion. Below the top covering of red sandstone lie 300 feet of limestone and beneath the limestone 500 feet more of white sandstone. This arrangement of the rocks is plainly seen in the walls of Kanyan Diablo. The displaced strata of rocks in the hole are tilted and stand outwards and great boulders of red sandstone and limestone lie scattered all about. If the hole had been made by an explosion from below large pieces of rock from each one of the different rock strata would have been thrown out. But while as just stated there are plenty of huge blocks of red sandstone and limestone there are no large pieces of white sandstone. After the superficial layers of rock had been broken up and expelled en masse the deeper rock of white sandstone being more confined could not reach the surface in the shape of boulders but had first to be broken up and ground to powder before it could escape. Then the white sandstones in the form of fine sand was blown skywards by the collision and afterwards settled down upon the mountain.  In the vicinity of the mountain about 10 tons of meteorites have been found varying in size from the fraction of an ounce to one thousand pounds or more. Most of the meteorites were found by Mr. Volts who searched diligently every foot of ground for miles around. The smaller pieces were picked up on or near the rim and they increased in size and proportion as they were distant from the mountain until on a circle eight miles out the largest piece was found. Meteorites were found upon all sides of the mountain but they seemed to be thickest on the east side. The rider first visited the mountain in the summer of 1901 and it was the greatest surprise of his six weeks trip sightseeing in northern Arizona where are found many natural wonders. He was fortunate enough to find a three pound meteorite within five minutes after arriving on the rim which Mr. Volts said was the first specimen found by anyone in over four years. Professor G. K. Gilbert of the United States Geological Survey visited the mountain several years ago to investigate the phenomenon and if possible to determine its origin by scientific test. He gave the results of his researches in a very able and comprehensive address delivered before the Geological Society of Washington D.C. The existing conditions did not seem to fit his theories and he concluded his work without arriving at any definite conclusion. After disposing of several hypotheses as being incompetent to prove the origin of the mountain, he decided to try the magnetic test. He assumed that if such a meteorite was buried there the large mass of metallic iron must indicate its presence by magnetic attraction. By means of the latest scientific apparatus he conducted an elaborate magnetic experiment which gave only negative results. He discussed at length the various hypotheses which might explain the origin of the crater and concluded his notable address as follows. Quote, still another contribution to the subject while it does not increase the number of hypotheses is nevertheless important in that it tends to diminish the weight of the magnetic evidence and thus to reopen the question which Mr. Baker and I supposed we had settled. Our fellow member, Mr. Edwin E. Howell, through whose hands much of the meteoric iron has passed, points out that each of the iron masses, great and small, is in itself a complete individual. They have none of the characters that would be found if they had been broken one from another. And yet as they are all of one type and all reach the earth within a small district it must be supposed that they were originally connected in some way. Reasoning by analogy from the characters of other meteoric bodies he infers that the irons were all included in a large mass of some different material, either crystalline rock, such as constitutes the class of meteorites called stony, or else a compound of iron and sulfur, similar to certain nodules discovered inside the iron masses once on and to. Neither of these materials is so enduring as iron, and the fact that they are not now found on the plane does not prove their original absence. Moreover, the plane is strewn in the vicinity of the crater with bits of limonite and mineral frequently produced by the action of air and water on iron sulfides, and this material is much more abundant than the iron. If it be true that the iron masses were thus embedded like plums in an astral pudding, the hypothetic buried star might have great size and yet only small power to attract the magnetic needle. Mr. Howe also proposes a qualification of the test by Volumes, suggesting that some of the rocks beneath the buried star might have been condensed by the shock as so as to occupy less space. These considerations are imminently pertinent to the study of the crater and will find appropriate place in any comprehensive discussion of its origin. But the fact which is peculiarly worthy of note at the present time is their ability to unsettle a conclusion that was beginning to feel itself secure. This illustrates the tentative nature not only of the hypotheses of science, but of what science calls its results. The method of hypotheses and that method is the method of science founds its explanations of nature wholly on observed facts, and its results are ever subject to the limitations imposed by imperfect observation. However grand, however widely accepted, however useful its conclusions, none is so sure that it cannot be called into question by a newly discovered fact. In the domain of the world's knowledge there is no infallibility. After Professor Gilbert had finished his experiments, Mr. Volts tried some of his own along the same line. He found upon trial that the meteorites in his possession were non-magnetic, or practically so. If these, being pieces of the larger meteorite which was buried in the hole, were non-magnetic, all of it must be non-magnetic, which would account for the failure of the needle to act or manifest any magnetic attraction in the greater test. Mr. Volts also made another interesting discovery in this same connection. All over the meteorite zone are scattered about small pieces of iron which he calls iron shale. It is analogous to the true meteorite, but is burnt or dead. He regards these bits of iron as dead sparks from a celestial forge, which fell from the meteorite as it blazed through the heavens. In experimenting with the stuff, he found that it was not only highly magnetic, but also possessed polarity in a marked degree, and was entirely different from the true meteorite. Here was a curiosity, indeed, a small insignificant and unattractive stone possessed of strong magnetic polarity, a property of electricity that is as mysterious and incomprehensible as is electricity itself. Another peculiarity of Canyon Diablo meteorite is that it contains diamonds. When the meteorite was first discovered by a Mexican sheepherder, he supposed that he had found a large piece of silver because of its great weight and luster, but he was soon informed of his mistake. Not long afterwards, a white prospector who heard of the discovery undertook to use it to his own advantage by claiming that he had found a mine of pure iron, which he offered for sale. In an attempt to dispose of the property, samples of the ore were sent east for investigation. Some of the stone fell into the hands of Dr. Foote, who pronounced it to be a meteorite and of celestial origin. Sir William Crooks, in discussing the theory of the meteoric origin of diamonds, says, the most striking confirmation of the meteoric theory comes from Arizona. Here, on a broad open plane, over an area about five miles in diameter, were scattered from one to two thousand masses of metallic iron. The fragments varying in weight from half a ton to a fraction of an ounce. There is little doubt that these masses form part of a meteorite shower, although no record exists as to when the fall took place. Curiously enough, near the center, where most of the meteoric dicks have been found, it is a crater with raised edges three-quarters of a mile in diameter and about six hundred feet deep. Bearing exactly the appearance which would be produced had a mighty mass of iron or falling star struck the ground, scattering in all directions, and buried itself deep under the surface. Altogether, ten tons of this iron have been collected, and specimens of Canyin Diablo meteorite are in most collectors' cabinets. An ardent mineralogist, the late Dr. Foote, in cutting a section of this meteorite, found the tools were injured by something vastly harder than metallic iron, and an emery wheel used in grinding the iron had been ruined. He examined the specimen chemically, and soon after, announced to the scientific world that the Canyin Diablo meteorite contained black and transparent diamonds. This startling discovery was afterwards verified by Professors Freidel and Mwisan, who found that the Canyin Diablo meteorite contained the three varieties of carbon, diamond, transparent, and black, graphite, and emphorist carbon. Since this revelation, the search for diamonds in meteorites has occupied the attention of chemists all over the world. Here, then, we have absolute proof of the truth of the meteoric theory. Under atmospheric influences, the iron would rapidly oxidize and rust away, coloring the adjacent soil with red oxide of iron. The meteoric diamonds would be unaffected and left on the surface to be found by explorers when oxidation had removed the last proof of their celestial origin. That there are still lumps of iron left in Arizona is merely due to the extreme dryness of the climate, and the comparatively short time that the iron has been on our planet. We are here witnesses to the course of an event which may have happened in geologic times anywhere on the Earth's surface. About a year ago, several mineral claims were located in the crater by a company of scientific and moneyed men. The required assessment work was done and a patent for the land obtained from the government. The object of the enterprise is for a double purpose, if possible to solve the mystery of the mountain, and if successful in finding the hypothetical buried star to activate and appropriate it for its valuable iron. A shaft has been sunk 195 feet deep, where a strong flow of water was encountered and a bed of white sand which temporarily stopped the work. A gasoline engine and drill were procured and put in operation, and the drill was driven down 40 feet further when it stuck fast in white quicksand. It is the intention of the company to continue the work and carry it on to a successful finish. Nothing of value was found in the whole dug, but some of the workmen in their leisure hours found on the surface two large meteorites weighing 100 and 150 pounds respectively besides a number of smaller fragments. The meteorite mountain is in a class by itself, and is in a way as great a curiosity as is the Grand Canyon. It is little known and has not received the attention that it deserves. It is, indeed, marvellous, and only needs to be seen to be appreciated. CHAPTER XII of Arizona sketches by Joseph A. Monk This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, reading by Bologna Times. The Cliff Dwellers In the canyons of the Colorado River and its tributaries are found the ruins of an ancient race of cliff dwellers. These ruins are numerous and are scattered over a wide scope of country, which includes Arizona and portions of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. Many of them are yet in a good state of preservation, but all show the marks of age and decay. They are not less than 400 years old and are, in all probability, much older. Their preservation is largely due to their sheltered position among the rocks and an exceptionally dry climate. The houses are invariably built upon high cliffs on shelving rocks in places that are almost inaccessible. In some instances they can only be reached by steps cut into the solid rock, which are so old and worn that they are almost obliterated. Their walls so nearly resemble the stratified rocks upon which they stand that they are not easily distinguished from their surroundings. The cliffs are often sloping, sometimes overhanging, but more frequently perpendicular. The weather erosion of many centuries has caused the softer strata of exposed rocks in the cliffs to disintegrate and fall away, which left numberless caverns wherein this ancient and mysterious people chose to build their eerie homes to live with the eagles. The houses are built of all shapes and sizes, and apparently were planned to fit the irregular and limited space of their environment. Circular watchtowers look down from commanding heights which, from their shape and position, were evidently intended to serve the double purpose of observation and defense. In the search for evidence of their antiquity, it is believed that data has been found which denotes great age. In the construction of some of their houses, notably those in the Mankos Canyon, is displayed a technical knowledge of architecture and a mathematical accuracy which savages do not possess. And the fine masonry of dressed stone and superior cement seem to prove that Indians were not the builders. On the contrary, to quote a recent writer, the evidence goes to show that the work was done by skilled workmen who were white masons and who built for white people in a prehistoric age. In this connection it is singular, if not significant, that the natives, when first discovered, believed in a bearded white man whom they deified as the fair god of whose existence they had obtained knowledge from some source and in whose honor they kept their sacred altar fires burning, unquenched. The relics that have been found in the ruins are principally implements of the stone age, but are of sufficient variety to indicate a succession of races that were both primitive and cultured and as widely separated in time as in knowledge. The cliff dwellings were not only the abodes of their original builders, but were occupied and deserted successively by the chipped stone implement maker, the polisher of hard stone, the basket maker, and the weaver. Among the relics that have been found in the ruins are some very fine specimens of pottery which are as symmetrical and well-finished as if they had been turned on a potter's wheel and covered with an opaque enamel of steniferous glaze composed of lead and tin that originated with the Phoenicians and is as old as history. Can it be possible that the cliff dwellers are a lost fragment of Egyptian civilization? The cliff ruins in Arizona are not only found in the canyons of the Colorado River, but also in many other places. The finest of them are Montezuma's Castle on Beaver Creek and the Casablanca in Canyon de Shelley. Numerous other ruins are found in the Rio Verde Gila River, Walnut Canyon, and elsewhere. The largest and finest group of cliff dwellings are those on the Mesa Verde in Colorado. They are fully described in the great work of Nordenskold who spent much time among them. The different houses are named after some peculiarity of appearance or construction like the cliff palace which contains more than 100 rooms, longhouse, balcony house, spruce tree house, etc. He obtained a large quantity of relics which are also fully described consisting of stone implements, pottery, cotton and feather cloth, osier and pomelo mats, yocca sandals, weaving sticks, bone auls, corn and beans. Many well-preserved mummies were found buried in graves that were carefully closed and sealed. The bodies were wrapped in a fine cotton cloth of drawn work which was covered by a coarser cloth resembling burlap and all enclosed in a wrapping of pomelo matting tied with a cord made of the fiber of cedar bark. The hair is fine and of a brown color and not coarse and black like the hair of the wild Indians. Mummies have been exhumed that have red or light-colored hair such as usually goes with a fair skin. This fact has led some to believe that the cliff dwellers belong to the white race, but not necessarily so, as this quality of hair also belongs to albinas who doubtless lived among the cliff dwellers as they do among the Mokis and Zunis at the present day and explains the peculiarity of hair just mentioned. These remains may be very modern as some choose to believe, but in all probability they are more ancient than modern. Mummies encased in wood and cloth have been taken from the tombs of Egypt in an almost perfect state of preservation, which cannot be less than two thousand years old and are, perhaps, more than double that age. As there is no positive knowledge as to when the cliff dwellers flourished, one man's guess on the subject is as good as another's. An important discovery was recently made near Mankos, Colorado, where a party of explorers found in some old cliff dwellings, graves beneath graves, that were entirely different from anything yet discovered. They were egg-shaped, built of stone and plastered smoothly with clay. They contained mummies, cloth, sandals, beads, and various other trinkets. There was no pottery, but many well-made baskets, and their owners have been called the basket-makers. There was also a difference in the skulls found. The cliff-dweller's skull is short and flattened behind, while the skulls that were found in these old graves were long, narrow, and round on the back. Reverend H. M. Baum, who has traveled all over the Southwest and visited every large ruin in the country, considers that Kenyon de Chelly and its branch, Del Muerto, is the most interesting prehistoric locality in the United States. The Navajos, who now live in the Kenyon, have a tradition that the people who occupied the old cliff houses were all destroyed in one day by a wind of fire. The occurrence, evidently, was similar to what happened recently on the island of Martinique, when all the inhabitants of the village of Saint-Pierre perished in an hour by the eruption of Mount Pele. Contemporaneous with the cliff-dweller's, there seems to have lived a race of people in the adjoining valleys who built cities until the soil. Judged by their works, they must have been an industrious, intelligent, and numerous people. All over the ground are strewn broken pieces of pottery that are painted in bright colors and artistic designs, which, after ages of exposure to the weather, look as fresh as it newly made. The relics that have been taken from the ruins are similar to those found in the cliff houses and consist mostly of stone implements and pottery. In the Gila Valley, near the town of Florence, stands the now-famous Casa Grande ruin, which is the best preserved of all these ancient cities. It was a ruin when the Spaniards first discovered it and is a type of the ancient communal house. Its thick walls are composed of a concrete adobe that is as hard as rock, and its baselines conform to the cardinal points of the compass. It is an interesting relic of a past age and an extinct race, and if it cannot yield up its secrets to science, it at least appeals to the spirit of romance and mystery. Irrigating ditches, which were fed from reservoirs, supplied their fields and houses with water. Portions of these old canals are yet in existence and furnished proof of the diligence and skill of their builders. The ditches were located on levels that could not be improved upon for utilizing the land and water to the best advantage. Modern engineers have not been able to better them, and in many places the old levels are used in new ditches at the present time. Whatever may have been the fate of these ancient people, their destruction must be sought in natural causes, rather than by human warfare. An adverse fate probably cut off their water supply and laid waste to their productive fields. With their crops of failure and all supplies gone, what else could the people do but either starve or move, but as to the nature of the Exodus, history is silent. Just how ancient these works are might be difficult to prove, but they are certainly not modern. The evidence denotes that they have existed a long time. Where the water in the canal flowed over solid rock, the rock has been much worn. Portions of the old ditches are filled with lava, and houses lie buried in the vitreous flood. It is certain that the country was inhabited prior to the last lava flow, whether that event occurred hundreds or thousands of years ago. It is claimed that the Pueblo Indians and cliff dwellers are identical, and that the latter were driven from their peaceful valley homes by a hostile foe to find temporary shelter among the rocks, but such a conclusion seems to be erroneous in view of certain facts. The cliff dwellings were not temporary camps, as such a migration would imply, but places and the permanent abode. The houses are too numerous and well constructed to be accounted for on any other hypotheses. A people fleeing periodically to the cliffs to escape from an enemy could not have built such houses. Indeed they are simply marvelous when considered as to location and construction. The time that must necessarily have been consumed in doing the work, and the amount of danger and labor involved, labor in preparing and getting the material into place, and danger in scaling the dizzy heights over an almost impassable trail, it seems the boldest assumption to assert that the work was done by a fleeing and demoralized mob. Again, it would be a physical impossibility for people who are only accustomed to agricultural pursuits to suddenly and completely change their habits of life, such as living among the rocks would necessitate. Only by native instinct and daily practice from childhood would it be possible for any people to follow the narrow and difficult paths which were habitually traveled by the cliff dwellers. It requires a clear head and steady nerves to perform the daring feat in safety. To the truth of which statement, modern explorers can testify who have made the attempt in recent years at the peril of life and limb while engaged in searching for archaeological treasures. Judged by the everyday life that is familiar to us, it seems incredible that houses should ever have been built or homes established in such hazardous places, or that any people should have ever lived there. But that they did is an established fact, as there stand the houses which were built and occupied by human beings in the midst of surroundings that might appalled the stoutest heart. Children played and men and women wrought on the brink of frightful precipices in a space so limited and dangerous that a single misstep made it fatal. It is almost impossible to conceive of any condition in life or a combination of circumstances in the affairs of men that should drive any people to the rash act of living in the houses of the cliff dwellers. Men will sometimes do from choice what they cannot be made to do by compulsion. It is easier to believe that the cliff dwellers, being free people, chose of their own accord the sight of their habitation, rather than that from any cause they were compelled to make the choice. Their preference was to live upon the cliffs, as they were fitted by nature for such an environment. For no other reason, apparently, do the Mokis live upon their rocky and barren maces away from everything which the civilized white man deems desirable, yet in seeming contentment. The Supais, likewise, choose to live alone at the bottom of Cataract Canyon, where they are completely shut in by high cliffs. Their only road out is by a narrow and dangerous trail at the side of the canyon, which is little traveled as they seldom leave home and are rarely visited. To affirm that the cliff dwellers were driven from their strongholds and dispersed by force is pure fiction, nor is there any evidence to support such a theory. That they had enemies, no one doubts, but being possession of an impregnable position where one man could successfully withstand a thousand to surrender would have been base cowardice and weakness was not a characteristic of the cliff dwellers. The question of their sustenance is likewise a puzzle. They evidently cultivated the soil where it was practicable to do so, as fragments of farm products have been found in their dwellings, but in the vicinity of some of the houses there is no tillable land and the inhabitants must have depended upon other means for support. The wild game, which was doubtless, abundant, furnished them with meat and edible seeds, fruits, and roots from native plants like a penion pine and mesquite, which together with the saguaro and mescal supplied them with a variety of food sufficient for their sustenance as they do in a measure the wild indian tribes of that region at the present day. End of chapter 12


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All right, we got ourselves a fight. Luffy is back and he means business this time. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the channel. My name is Jack the Buster. I, Shinobi. This was since 1.22 and 1.23 of our one piece watch for today. And again, Luffy has made his return and he has a plan. He's gotten insanely solid to hit on crocodile, laid him out. And my voice said, get up. I'm excited to get into it. If you're new to the channel, drop a sub and hit that big boy bell. Let's hop right into it. Get up, Gator man. Ah, he looks haunting.  He's like, all right, a real fight. That laugh bro, it never gets old. It, it, it, it. Wapo could never, okay. He's about to be up to them to stop this side of things. I'm surprised Zoro can even stand up. I'm gonna be honest. I mean, I know all of them had a really rough fight. I guess Usopp too, but his Zoro got cut down, bro. I mean, that's true. They literally could just look for whoever's going to fire it. Yeah. Just set up a perimeter. Yeah. Isn't that what they're saying? The suicide mission. I'm not shocked that he'd have a Baroque Works agent just like straight up take his own life for it. I'm shocked in the slightest. That boy huge. Oh no. They have this many Baroque Works to fight. Guys, come on. Zoro took down like a hundred of you. Oh, oh, shoot. Zoro and Sanji got their egos on the line. I like when both of them get real serious together. Dust devil. Now they got like an aerial scout. It helps a lot.  It's like a nuke. Oh shoot. You know, he means business when the straw hat comes off. Crocodile does seem very relaxed knowing he's figured out his weakness.  I guess he was caught him off guard, but Okay, dude. No, that's fair.  He's eccentric. I mean, technically Croc's a pirate too. He's realizing who brought her back. Miss all Sunday is so weird, bro. I don't get her. No, that's true. Oh yeah, you can dry stuff out. It's just about a balance between that and sand. That means Luffy can still get hits in. Man, just drinking the replenish. Oh no, but he does have a finite amount of water. It's not like he can find anywhere. So if he runs out, it's bad news. He's just going to grab it again. Oh, what? Oh, that's sick. Gum gum pistol shotgun. That is such a dope move. That is so cool, man. He's right. Like depending on your devil for it, like you can just use it in different ways. He's going to mix it up. Make them out. Oh no, don't waste it all. Sobless. Don't waste it, Luffy. You got one barrel, bro. I'm assuming he didn't bring more. He's already used to decent amount. Yeah, he can't. I would say it's a little different. The fact that he's figured out a weakness. The first battle, it felt like hopeless, which it kind of was. Is he drinking? What is he doing? You cannot be serious. He's like terrified of how little Luffy cares. Consequences of his actions right now.  Look, this looks like Mad Max. Shoot. He's like soaked.  Adolf rolled him. Bazooka straight to the chest and Water Luffy stands tall. She doesn't seem concerned in the slightest. And probably because she knows that crocodile can handle himself, but he's giving it to him. We in for it. I have a feeling crocodile is really holding on to what he can do still, which is probably realistic. But you know what I mean? Like it feels like I should be getting hyped and like, okay, like this is game set match, but I don't know, man. Like he said, they can use their powers in ways that are pretty unexpected. She's still looking for the weapon. He's not going to tell her. Yeah. Oh, oh, like she needs to show her how to use it too. Luffy's just standing there. Miniscingly. Oh, no. Papa's piss. Nico Robin. Oh, shoot. Do I call her Missile Sunny? You've just revealed her real name. Why was he like, oh, okay. No, you're like, yeah, no, I'll call you that. Dude, he looks creepy. He's draining the land. Just get rid of as much moisture as possible. Can he drain it from Luffy? Oh my God. My man's causing an earthquake. Luffy can only he can't stretch as much. I'm guessing because of all the water. He just absorbs it. You know, he see he absorbs things. I like how he actually gave him the honor of referring to him as Water Luffy. That is so dumb. I love it. There's limits to Water Luffy, aka how much water he has. I was about to say, I wonder if that would affect Luffy since he can't swim.   He's turning it all to sand decomposing everything. Oh my gosh. Damn. He is going scorched earth. Dude, the shadows. This is the power of a warlord. Oh my gosh. I'm like, I had to breathe. These are going to be a slow eight minutes. I can already tell. I love picturing the cannon here. Just like just hanging out. He's like, can I ghost like early? Am I allowed to start this early? There's so many buildings. How are you supposed to like accurately just fight him in eight minutes? If you're here. Oh, that is a large cannon actually. It's on a rooftop. I've seen Zoro hop like tower buildings and that he made that look really easy. Look, he's already up there and it took like 20 seconds. Oh my. Wait, this is a royal. Wait, that's a royal guard. That is an enormous can that has to be it. Surely that's it. Okay. Yeah, it's not. It's got to be like really high up. What do you see up there? Surely he'll see something. Hmm. Enhance, enhance, enhance. It's underground. I've got it. Yep.  That's the only possible solution.  Maybe it's not like just straight up a cannon. Maybe it's something else. Maybe he just did that to like as a red herring. Oh, she's famous. Oh, that's why he like was confused by it. Poneglyph. They said Poneglyph and something else. What was the other weapon? Oh, shoot. Oh, yeah, but Smoker's not here. He left.  I'm honestly shocked the Navy doesn't bend to her will. I guess because everything's been like a letter straight up until this point too. Okay, but the explosion is probably higher priority. Oh, no. That is so OP. I wonder why she's famous 20 years ago. Oh, he knows right away from her powers. Oh, she got a bounty. The child in that picture. What? Oh, she just started working for crocodile. Her eyes are kind of like mesmerizing. You guys don't win against her. She's got not many ships when she was eight years old. It's probably grown since then. That was it when she was eight. I guess it wouldn't grow if she didn't do anything else since then. Oh my God.  Zoro kind of likes her. I can't really figure that out though. I'm going to be honest. It's just because she looks like what's her name. I was going to say Kaya. Isn't that Usopp's love interest? Oh, no shot that she died here. No shot. There's too much happening. Go water loopy, go. Oh my gosh. It's all sand. God Anakin would hate it here.  Oh, dude, he looks really mad though. He looks pissed. Yeah, he made him take this drastic scorched earth factor. Don't worry, it'll come back. No, he didn't. This was part of the plan. It'll fall. Oh my God, they're going to see the hat fall. He's got something else ready. Surely he's got something else ready. He's out of water. He's not even watered a loopy anymore. Honestly though, I'm not shocked that they wanted loopy to be put at such a disadvantage that he didn't have both the barrel of water or the water in his system because then a crocodile could be like, oh yeah, you did just beat me because of this and this loopy is going to have to pull out all stops to take him down. He is a warlord. Let's go episode 123. Actually did almost catch him there. I swear it is going to fall back down. He specifically said you miss for a reason. It's going to go vertically and back down. Luffy learned those lineups. I swear surely, right? His shoes are gone. His sandals. Why would it do a shot of them going up if they're not going to fall back down? Right? Now are they going to fall down and hit him or hit Luffy and like fill him back up? We moisturize him. Yes. Yes. Oh, wait, no, they're going for Luffy. It's like the last scene of the SpongeBob movie like and he's back. My man was on the brink. Close one. The mortuary true airy temple royal tomb. So this is where the weapon is. I'm surprised he's actually showing her. I thought he would just die instead. That's it. You simply turned that. I feel like any random civilian could have done that. Little dangerous. Wow. Oh, she can. Oh, my gosh. Wait, I have a theory with the Pluto was the other. I think she's using crocodile and that's why she saved Luffy is she's as powerful as they say. That's why she saved Luffy because she knows that Luffy would have a chance against K stalking out and she He needs him out of the picture so that she can have the pona-glyph and what comes next. That's why she's blown me off.  Damn, she killed all those men too. I said that she got...  You know it. How? I need to glance at my notes to remember her name too. I'm gonna be honest. There's a lot of names. A lot of names. Oh. Oh no. Please don't finish her off. Please don't. I didn't guess he doesn't really have beef with her. Yeah, he kinda did. Oh. Yeah, he is letting her live. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. Sorry, he's the villain. I won't laugh. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. I love how upbeat and uptempo the music is for people just dying here. Okay, Uisap, this is just, this is just in poor taste. I'm sorry. What if so? Hey, that's Barry. He's trying his best. Go, Tony, Tony, go. Yeah, it's so chaotic. Fine. They're desperate, bro. Bro, Sanji is hooping it. It has to be a huge cannon. Yes. Either it has to be close to square or very high up, far away, so it can travel. Guys, bring it in. I'm still feeling really good about my underground theory. Feeling great. Oh, there he stands. He's just chasing after him. Chasing after him is quite not having the water. She will tell him. She's inherently giving up that information to a pirate if she does. Oh, shoot. That's, that's a, that's a big moment, bro. She don't want to pirate which way warlord is going, but now I think she's seen firsthand this sort of corruption. That's why he said, like, that's the sort of sea we're in. Like, things are different around here. Her entire worldview is probably just rattled. I said her giving information to a pirate. That's big. It was necessary, though. Damn. Huge moment. Luffy, you're leaking. Oh, oh no. Oh, goodness. Man's barefoot and leaking blood. I think he didn't recover enough. Yeah. Oh, this makes me nervous. He's, he's literally falling over and trying to get there. Luffy? Is that how long it's been? We met Vivi at, like, Labun. I think it has been, like, 50 episodes. My goodness. I guess the whole chopper thing was in the middle, though. That's why it's been so long. That's what it is. Just a cube and she can decipher it. Here comes Papa. Ah, I see. Such chaos. There has to be some small detail or nothing. Maybe he's in the clock tower. Has anybody thought about that? And the clock tower is going to, like, swing open. And there's the cannon. I don't know, guys. Come on, let's get creative. Stop just running around the streets. Clearly someone would have seen him by now. I'll make some accurate prediction like the clock tower does swing open and everybody's going to say I pre-watched. I swear to God. I'm just a prophet. Oh, here he is. She's like, ha. I think she actually expected Luffy to stop him or at least to take a little bit longer for him to stop Luffy. What do these words mean? Sky-Ephema-Ris? B-Tine Dynasty? Oh, it's just a history. He's getting bored. Yeah, it's just history. Now the thing is, I wonder if she's lying to him. It's possible. Even Cobra's like, oh, thank goodness. Let her right here. Oh, no. He's going to be upset with her. Oh, no. Well, if she can't read it like that, he has no use for her. Four years ago. Hmm. You've been absolutely amazing for four years, but the fact that you can't read this, I guess that was her entire, yeah, that was her entire promise at the beginning. Like I said, I swear I bet she can. There's no way. It's an entire hidden chamber. But then the secret would die with her. Who else can read it? Why kill her? Why not figure it out? Oh, how did he? Oh my goodness. This business, you don't. Dude, the secret does die with her then. Oh my God. Yeah, okay, dude. Search the entire country without having a singular map to wherever this insane weapon is. Oh. He said no biggie. This entire place is about to collapse. Oh my God. He's... Oh. Maybe that's why he was fine taking them down here. He knew that. Cobra big brain. Oh, but the canineer is still out there somewhere. They showing Vivi's feet for free? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just going to go. There is a canineer on the loose. He's going to drink some water. A stray bullet. Hiding in plain sight. What? In the middle of all the combat? Why are they showing Usopp's random scuffle in the background? I'd like to get his attention. She grabbed his nose. Oh, they have a signal? Oh, very smart, actually. It's like a flare. Very smart. Go, guys. Go. Why that? Thank you for narrating this, Luffy. Oh, good. He's all rested. Ah, yes. Now the mission continues. Right there. Please see it. Please, God, see it. Okay, good. He does. Surely they're in there. Again, though. It looks Gatorish. Again, he has no water. What is he supposed to do? He knows he can't beat Crock like that. Also, Crock or not can turn into sand. Can he really be buried alive? Yeah. It's all coming to a head. My girl, she had an entire plan and everything, and he just sidestep stabbed her. RIP. That's tough, bro. Oh, Luffy's just... Okay. He's so like, does not care. Man sees everything collapsing around him. I think that's the honorable thing about Luffy.  He gets things done and he wants to get things done. He doesn't second-guess himself ever. This is what I'm starting to realize. That was the whole thing back with Arlong. Whenever he heard Nami talking about all the pain that's been caused, he didn't second-guess. He was like, all right, I'll go find him. Peace. Or whenever she was telling the whole backstory and everything and why she's a bad person for working for him. He was like, don't care about the story. I have my own sort of perspective on her. That's been his entire thing this entire time, and I'm glad it's consistent like that. Luffy isn't one to second-guess himself or question that sort of thing. He just, he does what he needs to do. He does what he thinks is the right thing. That's why he's such an unorthodox pirate. Pirates always look out for themselves when he's looking out for this entire land. He's going for crocodile. Even if that means a little bit, it's just his ego wanting to win a fight. But an amazing episode, especially this one. I don't know, just like the comedy aspects and everything. It all works so well together alongside the very serious themes like him just straight up stabbing Nico Robin, this partner of his for four years. Guys, this has been for episodes 122 and 123 of our One Piece Watcher. Do drop us on the channel if you are new. And I'll catch you guys in the next one. Peace, peace.


France looks to become the first country since Brazil in 1962 to win back-to-back World Cups. Morocco pushed them, but even without key players in their midfield, they showed their counter-attacking prowess, their depth, their pace up front, and their ability to track back. They're one of the most well-rounded teams and one of the best managers in the world and of course one of the best players. While Argentina boasts the best player in the world, Lionel Messi, who almost by sheer will of finding a second life with the national team, has Argentina in the World Cup final. Remember when they lost to Saudi Arabia? They're a mix of young talent and veterans, creativity, depth, and Messi at 35 years old has been criticized for not being able to do it with Argentina. Well now he has a chance to flip the script and banish the demons from their 2014 World Cup final loss to Germany. Both teams can win this, so look for value in props. I expect both teams to score Antoine Griezmann to assist and I like Messi and Mbappe any time assist or scores. But this moment feels bigger for Argentina and Lionel Messi and I'm sticking with my pre-tournament pick and I expect Argentina to win the World Cup.