Coronado proceeded eastward to about the western line of Missouri,
and, finding colonisation anywhere in the regions visited out of the
question, he returned in 1542 to Mexico, with his entire army
excepting a couple of padres.



CHAPTER III

The Grand Canyon--Character of the Colorado River--The Water-Gods;
Erosion and Corrosion--The Natives and their Highways--The "Green
River Valley" of the Old Trappers--The Strange Vegetation and Some
Singular Animals.

The stupendous chasm known as the Grand Canyon, discovered by
Cardenas in the autumn of 1540, is the most remarkable feature of
this extraordinary river, and at the same time is one of the marvels
of the world. Though discovered so long ago that we make friends with
the conquistadores when we approach its history, it remained, with
the other canyons of the river, a problem for 329 years thereafter,
that is, till 1869. Discovery does not mean knowledge, and knowledge
does not mean publicity. In the case of this gorge, with its immense
length and countless tributary chasms, the view Cardenas obtained was
akin to a dog's discovery of the moon. It has practically been
several times re-discovered. Indeed, each person who first looks into
the abyss has a sensation of being a discoverer, for the scene is so
weird and lonely and so incomprehensible in its novelty that one
feels that it could never have been viewed before. And it IS rather a
discovery for each individual, because no amount of verbal or
pictorial description can ever fully prepare the spectator for, the