Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/29



merry tumbling  stream  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in in  width,  formerly  almost  alive  with  trout,  and  shaded by the  foliage  of  overhanging  vines  and  branches. At rio'ht anoles  to  the  Pluton  canon,  from  its  northern  side, is a  gorore  about  half  a  mile  in  leno^th,  and  but  a  few  rods in unequal  width,  with  steep  walls  rising  from  50  to  150 feet. This little  off-shoot  is  called  the  Devil's  canon. From its  entrance  at  the  Pluton  canon  its  uneven surface rises,  and  at  the  upper  end  it  divides  in  two, and mingles  with  the  hills. A little  creek  with  minia- ture falls and  cascades  runs  through  it,  whose  waters at their  source  are  pure  and  cold,  but  which  as  they descend soon  become  contaminated  by  their  surround- ings. Sometimes a  partial  footpath  winds  by  the stream, between  the  rocks  and  mobile  earth,  but  often it is  undermined  or  sw^ept  away. The entrance  is  but a narrow  rocky  pass,  roofed  by  fallen,  but  yet  grow- ing trees, adorned  with  fantastic  roots,  and  partially covered with  debris  and  creeping  plants. This en- trance is called  Proserpine's  Grotto,  and  be^^ond  it the  canon  widens  a  little.

The scene  within  is  barren  and  ghastly. Bottom and sides  are  skinned  of  every  sign  of  vegetation, and scoriated  with  sulphur,  salts,  and  slimy  deposits. Around the  upper  portion  of  the  sides,  the  earth assumes a  reddish  hue,  below  which  it  is  marbled with the  ghastly  colors  of  festering  flesh,  patches  of pale  ashen  and  white,  patches  of  green  and  slaty  stain, yellow sulphur  snow  and  black  sulphur  root,  with  all the intermediate  shades  of  death  and  dissolution. Hot springs  burst  forth  from  hot  ground,  spitting, sputtering, hissing,  and  panting  in  unmanageable wrath. Through whistling  steam  and  sickening  sul- phur, yawn horrible  mouths  like  the  gates  of  Aver- nus. It is  as  utterly  infernal  a  place  as  can  well  be imagined,  lurid  and  murky,  and  sickening  with  heavy vapor. In every  hole  and  corner  this  model  Pande- monium seems inhabited  by  shadowy  fiends,  and every fiend  to  be  doing  his  best  to  render  his  little