dant foliage. This place is a great health resort for the people of Denver, who stoutly maintain that the Yosemite Valley, Niagara Falls, Delaware Water-gap, and European Alpine scenery are tame and commonplace when compared with the scenery of Boulder Cañon.

MR. MERRIMAN: Traveling in Colorado does not seem to be very difficult, judging from the quickness with which we manage to transport ourselves from place to place.

BERTRAM: Of course we are specially privileged, as with us time and distance are annihilated and we travel on the wings of the wind. But, as a matter of fact, the development of the railroads in Colorado within the past few years is one of the most wonderful features of that wonderful land. They are all narrow-gauge, of course, but they seem to laugh at engineering obstacles. They pierce through the narrowest ravines and ascend the steepest mountains with an audacity that compels admiration. I understand that the civil engineers constructing the narrowgauge lines in Hindostan, sent a representative to inspect the Colorado lines, and have followed many of the plans adopted by the latter.

I have preserved two sketches showing different views of the celebrated Boulder Cañon. My last sketch tells its own story. I cannot define the exact position of this cañon, but it is a vivid picture of many a weary, patient pilgrimage through these rocky defiles and mountainous solitudes. Let us wish the travelers

a safe journey and a prosperous future.

The time for closing the conversation having now arrived, the proceedings became informal, and, in due season, the club adjourned, to meet in a week's time at the house of Mrs. Victor.

CHAPTER VIII.

ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND THE YELLOWSTONE PARK.

HE third tour, namely, a trip to the famous Yellowstone Valley, was the subject of a conversation by the Club at the residence of Mrs. Victor, who had undertaken the duty of leadership on the occasion.

The preliminary session of business was soon over, and Mrs. Victor began as follows:

I do not know whether to be sorry or glad that it has fallen to my lot to lead this Club to the wonderful region of the Yellowstone Park. Lady Duffus Hardy, in writing of the Sierras and Pacific Coast mountain region, enthusiastically says: "To all those who are in search of health, of novelty, and who are able to enjoy the noblest, the grandest, and most varied scenery this world can boast, I would say, 'Go westward, across the Rocky Mountains, the glorious Sierras, and sit down at the Golden Gate." I would take the liberty of adding-Do not omit the journey to the great National Park of the Yellowstone.

We start, if you please, from Ogden, and travel north to Virginia City-not the Virginia City of Nevada, of which we heard on a previous evening, but its deserted and forlorn namesake of Montana. Here we provide ourselves, being a

large party, with guides, mules, and all the necessary paraphernalia of a camp, for a long journey is before us. Or we can go by stage to the lower Geyser Basin on Madison River-it takes the better part of two days to do this—and make our headquarters at a hotel there. We can find there horses, guides, and all necessaries for our explorations.

THE PRESIDENT: It is an extended picnic, I presume.

MRS. VICTOR: Indeed it is. Remember that the Yellowstone Park is sixty-five miles one way by fifty miles another. We have a good We have a good deal before us, I assure you. I need hardly say that we have chosen the month of August for our trip, as the region is now in its full summer glory, and traveling is unimpeded by the

snows; a very important consideration, as we may be detained ten or fifteen days sight-seeing in this locality.

As we have to compress this into a single evening on this occasion, I shall not go into the minute and hourly details of our journey, but simply take up such points of interest as are sketched for us in these beautiful pictures.

Here is a charming view of Yellowstone Lake, a magnificent sheet of water, of varied outline, but averaging say twenty-two miles by about twelve. It is seven

thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight feet above the sea, and the surrounding hills rise from three thousand feet to five thousand feet higher. The physical contour of these hills is very romantic. The lake is deep and the waters clear as crystal. The guides say that there is excellent salmon trout fishing in its waters. Now please remember that this is the highest lake in North America. There is only one lake on the whole continent that has a higher elevation. I forget the

name.

CLARA: I can tell you; Lake Titicaca, in South America.

MRS. VICTOR: It is glorious to stand on the shores of this lake in its wild solitude,

Rocky Mountains and the Yellowstone Park.

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and think that we are upon the dividing ridge of this great country of ours. the snows and springs of this region, and by the stream of the Upper Yellowstone from the south-east, it sends forth from its northern shores the noble Yellowstone River, the main tributary of the Missouri, while from the adjacent hills burst forth streams which flow westward and southward, and empty themselves in the California Gulf, or the Pacific Ocean.

JOHN: Is this lake always smooth and limpid?

MRS. VICTOR: Towards evening, as the mountain breezes blow upon it, its surface becomes rough, and like all mountain lakes it is of course subject to occasional storms. But the general aspect of the lake during the summer is calm and peaceful.

KATE: I wish to ask, at this point, why you enter the valley from the north or north-west, instead of from the south?

MRS. VICTOR: The Yellowstone Valley is walled in on all sides by stupendous mountains, and those in lower Wyoming to the south are particularly difficult of transit.

lake.

GILBERT: I see smoke to the left in the mid-distance on this picture of the

MRS. VICTOR: Probably from forest fires, most of which result from carelessness on the part of travelers.

GILBERT: Are there Indians in this region?

There was a

MRS. VICTOR: Oh yes. There is a large Indian reservation in Wyoming. Speaking of Indians, I read in a recent number of Appleton's Magazine of a rather romantic adventure with the Indians in Yellowstone Park. party of four, two gentlemen tourists, a guide, and a soldier from Fort Ellis. Suddenly the guide detected a cloud of dust far away to the south, which he said must indicate the proximity of Indians. By-and-by the Indians came nearer. The rifles were made ready, but as the savages approached they made signs which meant peace. They were four in number, and the writer says that four more picturesque savages could not have been desired to lend romance to the situation. One had on a bright blue coat faced with scarlet. All were well armed with rifles. They said, in broken English, that they were going to a council up in Montana. Subsequently the travelers learned that the tribes of the Utes, to which these

THE LOWER FALLS.

Indians belonged, had just broken out into a revolt, massacred an agent and a number of soldiers, and were decidedly on the war path.

MR. GOLDUST: In this case ignorance was perhaps bliss to the travelers. They would have been rather uneasy if they

had known all the facts.

MR. MERRIMAN: People do not get their daily papers regularly away up in

these wilds.

MRS. VICTOR: Our next view is of the Lower Falls. Their height or rather depth is three hundred and sixty feet, and they are inexpressibly and grandly beautiful. I should say that they are situated about fifteen miles from the northern extremity of the lake. About a quarter of a mile from the Lower Falls are the Upper Falls, with a depth of one hundred and forty feet; and just before these are a series of beautiful rapids. We now prepare to enter the Grand Cañon, an immense chasm or cleft, with its walls from a thousand to fifteen hundred feet high, from which the river seems to wind along at the bottom like a silver thread. We have a picture here showing a portion of this cañon, with the Lower Falls in the distance. The Grand Cañon is twenty miles in length, so that you see we have a long task before us to explore it. And here I would ask the Professor to favor us with some information about the geological features of this wonderful gorge.