f I were asked to
describe it in a dozen lines, I should call it the arena of an
enormous amphitheatre. Its architect was Nature; the gladiators that
contended in it were volcanoes. During unnumbered ages those
gladiators struggled to surpass one another in destruction by pouring
forth great floods of molten lava. Even now the force which animated
them still shows itself in other forms, but harmlessly, much as a
captive serpent hisses though its fangs are drawn. But the volcanoes
give no sign of life. They are dead actors in a fearful tragedy
performed here countless centuries before the advent of mankind, with
this entire region for a stage, and for their only audience the sun
and stars.

I shall never forget our entrance into this theatre of sublime
phenomena. The Pullman car, in which we had taken our places at St.
Paul, had carried us in safety more than a thousand miles and had
left us at the gateway of the park. Before us was a portion of the
road, eight miles in length, which leads the tourist to the Mammoth
Springs Hotel. On one side an impetuous river shouted a welcome as we
rode along. Above us rose gray, desolate cliffs. They are volcanic in
their origin. The brand of fire is on them all. They are symbolic,
therefore, of the entire park; for fire and water are the two great
forces here which have, for ages, struggled for supremacy.

[Illustration: THE WATCHFUL SENTINEL.]

[Illustration: THE MAMMOTH SPRINGS HOTEL.]

No human being dwells upon those dreary crags, but at one point, as I
looked up at them, I saw--poised statue-like above a mighty pinnacle
of rock--a solitary eagle. Pausing, with outstretched wings above its
nest, it seemed to look disdainfully upon us human pygmies crawling
far below. Living at such a height, in voluntary isolation, that king
of birds appeared the very embodiment of strength and majesty. Call
it a touch of superstition, if you will, yet I confess it thrilled me
to the heart to find that here, above the very entrance to the
Wonderland of our Republic, there should be stationed midway between
earth and heaven, like a watchful sentinel, our national bird,--the
bird of freedom!

At length a sudden turn revealed to us our first halting-place within
the Park,--the Mammoth Springs Hotel. The structure in itself looked
mammoth as we approached it, for its portico exceeds four hundred
feet in length. Our first impressions were agreeable. Porters rushed
forth and helped us to alight