We were not aware of its existence until we were immediately
upon its brink, when a spectacle exceeding in grandeur anything we had
previously witnessed burst upon our sight Not a tree or bush, no outline
whatever, marked its position or course, and we were lost in amazement
and wonder as we rode up and peered into the yawning abyss.
In depth it could not have been less than one thousand feet, in width
from three to five hundred yards, and at the point where we first struck
it, its sides were nearly perpendicular. A sickly sensation of dizziness
was felt by all three of us, as we looked down, as it were, into the
very bowels of the earth. Below, an occasional spot of green relieved
the eye, and a stream of water, now visible, now concealed behind some
huge rock, was bubbling and foaming along. Immense walls, columns, and,
in some places, what appeared to be arches, filled the ravine, worn by
the water undoubtedly, but so perfect in form, that we could with
difficulty be brought to believe that the hand of men or genii had not
been employed in raising them. The rains of centuries, failing upon the
extended prairie, had here found a reservoir and vent, and their sapping
and undermining of the different veins of earth and stone had formed
these strange and fanciful shapes.
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