Buddha Temple and Cloister; Manu Temple. To the left of the Bright Angel Gorge, quite an assemblage of buttes awaits inspection. The dominating pile almost opposite Brahma--across Bright Angel--is Buddha Temple, and below it is Buddha Cloister. Beyond this is another butte, which, however, at times, can scarcely be detected from the main walls of the Kaibab. Yet it is a separate butte of great proportions, and is named Manu Temple, after the great law-giver of the Hindoos. Buddha's elevation is seven thousand two hundred and eighteen feet, while Manu's is seven thousand one hundred and ninety-two.
Cheops Pyramid. To the left of Buddha Temple, and nearer to us, is a massive though less ornately carved monument than Buddha. It is Cheops Pyramid, a detached mass of the red-wall limestone, which, however, is rapidly losing its red color, owing to the disappearance of the red strata from above. Cheops is five thousand three hundred and fifty feet in elevation, and is of a peculiar shape, as of some quaint and Oriental device of symbolic significance.
Isis and Shiva Temples. Just above, and farther to the left, is a peculiar temple, resting upon sloping taluses of the red strata beneath, its cap formed of alone, narrow ridge of cross-bedded sandstone. It has two great cloisters in front, and is named Isis Temple, after the feminine god of the Egyptians. Isis has an elevation of seven thousand twenty-eight feet, and is the eastern support of the gigantic rock mountain which towers over all the lesser structures. This is Shiva Temple, a solid mass, sliced off from the main Kaibab. The elevation is seven thousand six hundred and fifty feet, and it is thus described by Dutton, who named it: "It is the grandest of all the buttes, and the most majestic in aspect, though not the most ornate. Its mass is as great as the mountainous part of Mount Washington. The summit looks down six thousand feet into the dark depths of the inner abyss, over a succession of ledges as impracticable as the face of Bunker Hill Monument. All around it are side gorges, sunk to a depth nearly as profound as that of the main channel. It stands in the midst of a great throng of cloister-like buttes, with the same noble profiles and strong lineaments as those immediately before us, with a plexus of awful chasms between. In such a stupendous scene of wreck it seems as if the fabled 'Destroyer' might find an abode not wholly uncongenial."Horus Temple. Guardian temples to the west of Isis are Horus and Osiris.
The former is nearer to the river. It is capped with the white sandstone, and is so closely sculptured that white fragments have fallen upon the sloping red talus beneath. The whole appearance is not unlike a giant hat of an Arab, with its streaming folds of white reaching far over the neck down the back. It rests upon a massive block of the red-wall limestone, which presents a bold face to the east. Its elevation is six thousand one hundred and fifty feet.
Osiris Temple. Behind Shiva is Osiris Temple, with an elevation of six thousand six hundred and thirty-seven feet. At the proper angle it is seen to be as prominent before Shiva as is Horus, but our angle of vision gives it the retreating effect. It is a gracefully domed temple in the cross-bedded sandstone, and clearly reveals its five hundred feet superior height over Horus.
The walls seen behind Osiris are not those of Point Sublime, as some suppose. This massive promontory on the north side is hidden by the nose of Maricopa Point. The walls are a portion of the Kaibab Plateau, leading towards Point Sublime, but not a part of it.
Ra Pyramid. In front of Horus is the tower of a symmetrically constructed pyramid in the red strata, far more like Cheops than is the structure of that name. It is five thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven feet above the level of the sea,--a memorial of the great Ra, far greater than any temple erected by human hands.
The Maiden's Breast. At the end of Maricopa Point is a majestic structure bigger than many national capitols combined, yet so small here as hitherto to have passed unnoticed. It is crowned, however, with a small nipple in red sandstone, to which the Havasupais give a name signifying the Maiden's Breast. It is five thousand four hundred and fifty feet high,--quite a height for any earthly maiden.
Miles of Walls of Varying Lengths. As we look at these wonderful walls, a new idea dawns upon us. The engineer tells us that the Canyon is two hundred and seventeen miles long. That, however, is only the length of the river, as it runs its winding way along. But the walls cannot thus be measured. Take the red-wall limestone and follow it on its devious way, in and out of deeply alcoved recesses, up side gorges and down again, around the curves of cloisters and along the bases of the great buttes. The aggregate distance followed will be many thousands of miles. The strata that have the longer course, on account of their greater extent of terracing, are those that make an eight-hundred-feet-wide band of gray and bright red sandstone, which rests above the red-wall limestone.
Angel Plateau and Indian Garden. Now let the eye fall upon the plateau beneath. This is named Angel Plateau. The green near its centre has the first claim. This green patch is called Indian Garden, for in past years, before the white man wrested his possessions from him, a certain family of the Havasupais used to farm in a crude way on this spot. When I first visited this plateau, some seventeen or more years ago, the remnants of the old Indian irrigating ditches could be seen. Now it is cultivated by the white man to good effect, and delicious watermelons and cantaloupe as well as tasty vegetables grow in abundance. This is called half-way down to the river in distance. The elevation is three thousand eight hundred and seventy-six feet, so that from our six thousand eight hundred and sixty-six feet we gaze down two thousand nine hundred and ninety feet. Many who go down the trail do not go below this plateau. A point can be seen, also the line of the trail leading to it, from which an excellent and extensive view of the raging river, with some of its rapids, may be had.
