Light is thrown on the ancient text by a statement already in part quoted: "We fear that we shall have to stay here =clinging= to the rocks until daylight. Our little Indian gathers a few dry stems, ties them in a bundle, lights one end, and holds it up. The others do the same, and with these torches we find a way out of trouble. =Helping= each other, holding =torches= for each other, one =clinging= to another's =hand= until we get footing, then supporting the other on his shoulders, so we make our passage into the depths of the canyon. And now Captain Bishop has kindled a huge fire of driftwood, on the bank of the river. This and the fires in the gulch opposite, and our own =flaming torches=, light up little patches, that make more manifest the awful darkness below. Still, on we go, for an hour or two, and at last we see Captain Bishop coming up the gulch, with a =huge= torch-light on his shoulders. He looks like a fiend waving brands and lighting the fires of hell, and the men in the opposite gulch are imps lighting delusive fires in inaccessible crevices, over yawning chasms.... At last we meet Captain Bishop with his flaming torch" (n. 65). And so the brilliant description continues. What is all this but the =chuh yuen= of the ancient record? Here surely is "an illumination of torches." Torches and Climbing, say the Ancients. Torches and Climbing, say the Moderns. [Illustration] We can readily understand why the ancient occupants of the stone houses in the Grand Canyon, should have used the torches so liberally and conveniently supplied by nature throughout the region where their light is too often sadly or desperately needed. We have been informed by a modern visitor that ruined cave habitations are to be seen along "lofty and inaccessible ledges." And these dwellings "were reached by very narrow, precipitous, and devious paths, and being extremely difficult to attain by the occupants themselves, presented an impregnable front to invaders." Surely here torches would often come in handy. Dr. Fewkes believes that the ancient occupants of the cliff or cave houses chose hazardous sites in order to be out of the reach of enemies. He says: "The pressure of outside tribes, or what may be called human environment, probably had much to do originally with the choice of caves for houses. The experienced archaeologist also draws attention to Jackson's remark that finger imprints answering to those of women, "may still be traced in the mortar" of the dwellings (n. 66). Many interiors indeed are covered with smooth plaster in which the impressions of small and delicate fingers appear.