et >—+—__ 64 MANITOU. . —o<_ >> sadly weather-worn; there are great fissures near the summit, and stone ‘pickets’ five hundred feet long have fallen to the plain, and there are rough projec- tions along the top of this mighty wall, designed, no doubt, to exclude saurians and troublesome reptiles that were wont to invade this delightful vegetable gar- den when cultivated by the Hesperides and those jolly old people we were wont, in boyhood, to read about in mytholoyvical stories. The width of this inclosure is not more than one mile, while the stone wall extends westwardly far into the mountains. It is estimated that five thousand people, during the past summer, have visited these marvelous places, and, strangely enough, a greater number of Europeans have been attracted, in view of distance traversed, than of our own country- men. A roadway across this garden leads to Manitou Springs. Sulphur, iron, soda, arsenic, and all ingre- dients that nature compounds and adds to healthful bev- erages, distinguish these fountains, boiling and bubbling up as if expelled from the earth’s bosom by the tremen- dous pressure exerted by Pike’s Peak. The shadow of this monarch of mountains falls upon them each day after four o’clock, and cool breezes in this summer time of prairie seas, as pure’ and refreshing as these peerless fountains, give vigor to life, and freshness to youth, and ruddy hues to beauty’s cheek. Saratoga and Virginia watering places have no such attractiveness as is prof- fered by these sublimest mountain fastnesses, by bound- less plains, by an atmosphere as clear and winds as soft as those that sweep over lands most favored of heaven.