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62 GARDEN OF THE GODS.

 

sweep over them, assume every possible hue, and
whose mountains are white with snow}; and when white
clouds roll over stupendous heights, the sheet of snow
is taken away as if lifted up by nature’s great chamber-
maid. Then appears the parti-colored rocks, white and
black and red, and yellow and gray, and brown, as if all
the paint-shops of the universe had been emptied from
heaven upon massive mountains, that a wonderful land
might be named ‘Colorado.’

* From east to west, almost at the base of the moun-
tain range on the eastern side, and for many miles,
continuous stone palisades have been projected up-
ward. These walls are red and white and gray. Their
thickness varies from one to five hundred feet, and
their height from 500 to 2,000 feet. Think of a solid
stone wail, projected upward, of thickness equal to
the width of Main street, and rising 1,000 feet above
the tops of the tallest structures in the city, and extend-

ing twelve or fifteen miles from Chelsea to the line of

the State of Mississippi, and beyond this majestic wall,
within a mile, the mountain range constitutes another
impassable barrier. Between this lofty palisade and
the abrupt cliffs are the famed ‘Gardens of the Gods.’
Through this mighty palisade, its summit jagged, rent
by lightning and tempest, and worn by rain and hail,
there are three gateways, each two or three miles from
the other. The eastern entrance is so narrow that our
mustangs could not gain admittance.

“The area of this first garden between the palisades
and the cliffs is narrow, but the very wildness of the