The Mesilla Valley independent. [volume] (Mesilla, N.M.) 1877-1879, 1878-04-27

nor DO We hear, aHglat Of its fury. The sol
eInn stiffness Of death perTades the scene;
the waters as We see them are as if polished.
and as stationery as the mighty walls that
look down ON them from such fearful height
Fairly awed INTO brasado As reckless as il
is strange to US, We erawl out upon tottcring
ledges TO peer into sheer depths of untold
ruggedness; we grasp with death-like clutch
some Cverhanging lirnh. and crawl out upon
a Promontory. beside which the apex of the
highest cathedral spire in the world would
be As a sapling in height. We crawl where
at home ke would hardly dare look with
telescope, and in the mad excitement Of the
hour tread with perfect abandon Drinks the
bare thought Of which in subsequent sober
senses makes US faint Of heart and dizzy Of
head.
Eager now for stlll greater horrors Of
depth, blind to everything but an intolerable
deaire to behold the most savage 0E natures
upheaxals, the short ride to the Reya44 Gorge
is made with Ily-concealed impatience If
our ffrst experience upon the brink Of the
Grand Canyon wss startling. this Is ataolu-
tely terrifying, and the bravest at the one
point become most abject Of towards IN COM
pariSon at the other At the first point of
observation, the walls. though frightfully
steep are neverthless sloping to more or less
extent; here at the Royal Gorge they are
shesx precipices, as prepsndicular IS the
talicst hose, as straight as If built By line.
So narrow is the gorge that one would think
the throwing d stone from side to side the
easiest OF accomplishments, yet no hving
man has ever done it, or succeeded in throw
ing any object so that tt would fall into the
water below.
Many tourists are content with the ap-
4IAlling yiew from the main walIs. butothers
noFc venturesome. work theiF war COO to
1000 feet down the ragged edges og moun-
tain that has parted and actually slid into
the chasm; and as We have come to see it
all, the Chamber down must lie accomplished.
For some distance we scramble over and be-
tween mUEstrous bOulders. and then reach
the narrow and almost absolutely perpendi-
calar crevice Of gigantic mass of rock,
down which We must let ourselves 100 fest
or more. As we reaci, the shelf Or lodge Of
rock upon which the great rock has fallen
and bcca sundcred, We glance back, but only
for 4 second thought Of our daring
making US grow sick and dizzy. Bur step
or two more and the descent just made sinks
into utter insignifcancc. compared to what
IS before Us. Then We had the huge walls
Of the parted rock as the rails Of staircase; !;
now we have naught bus the smooth, rounded
surface of the Storm washed boulders to cling
TO, and on either side Of our narrow way
depths at the bottom of which mans body
could never be discovered with human eye.
Behind Ms the PERCEPTIONS rocks over and
through which We came; alead of US the
slender barrier Of rock oycrhanging the ap-
pa'ling chasm, and all there exists between
us and it.
cewarsis at heart, pale Of face, and with
painful breath, VIC slowly crawl on hands
and knees to the ledge, and as 'fatrd murderer
feels the knotted moose fall down over head,
50 feel We as onr eyes extend beyond the
rocks 10 catch one anfnt glimpse Of tho
eternity of space. Few dare to look more
than once, and dne glance suisices fur com
prcllension Of the meaning of the word depth
never before even drealnei Of. and never af-
tefwarsl forgotten. The gorge is s,boe feet
sheer depth, and most prccapitoas aud su-