steamboat fifty feet long was built in Philadelphia, which, being in sections convenient for transportation, was shipped by way of Panama to the Gulf of California, and put into service at Fort Yuma, at the mouth of the Colorado River, for an ascent of that stream. The expedition thus conducted by Lieutenant Ives resulted in the exploration of a large territory which was before his advent therein a _terra incognita_, except that it had been partially traversed in 1540 by a few Spanish explorers, acting under orders of the Viceroy of New Spain, whose reports, however, were so crude as to be almost valueless. Ives succeeded in ascending the Colorado a distance of 425 miles in his steamboat, which he concluded was within seventy-five miles of the head of navigation during the most favorable season. The practical results were not of very great value, but his reports were extremely interesting, chiefly for the descriptions of marvelous scenery which they contained. Or, as he writes, “The region explored after leaving the navigable portion of the Colorado—though, in a scientific point of view, of the highest interest, and presenting natural features whose strange sublimity is perhaps unparalleled in any part of the world—is not of much value.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: NEAR HANCE’S CABIN, GRAND CAÑON OF THE COLORADO.—The Grand Cañon of the Colorado, in Northwestern Arizona, is the supreme natural wonder of the world. It is formed by the Colorado River cutting its way through the high plateau of that region. It is not a mountainous district, but a level plateau, and for this reason the tourist sees no indication of the wonders soon to be unfolded to his astonished vision until he is right upon the brink of the awful chasm which gashes the earth in many places to a depth of more than one mile, at the bottom of which the river writhes and dashes like a tortured serpent. The towering cliffs on either side reflect all the colors of the rainbow, and when they are illuminated by the noonday sun the scene is indescribably beautiful as well as grand. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: TEN-MILE PASS, NEAR KOKOMO, COLORADO.]