Heliopolis of the Greeks, once famous as the most magnificent of Syrian
cities, which passed successively under the rule of the Persians,
Greeks and Romans, was plundered by the Arabs in A. D. 639, by the
Christians and others during the Crusades, and was finally sacked and
dismantled by the Tartars, under Tamerlane.--Baalbek to-day exists only
as a mass of ruins; but its very ruins are of the utmost magnificence.
The most imposing are the remains of the Great Temple. But the most
beautiful is the Circular Temple--a semi-circular cella surrounded on
the outside by eight Corinthian columns. Within there is a double tier
of smaller pillars, the lower row being Ionic and the upper Corinthian.
In modern times, and, indeed, up to the present century, this was used
as a Greek church, but it is now deserted and choked with débris.
[Illustration]
TAJ MAHAL, AGRA, HINDOSTAN. This magnificent mausoleum is the glory of
Indo-Mussulman architecture. It was built by the Emperor Shah Jehan
for himself and his favorite wife, Nourmahal, who died in child-birth
in 1629. For twenty-two years twenty thousand men were employed in
its construction, the total cost reaching $16,000,000. Built of white
marble, it forms a quadrangle of one hundred and ninety square yards,
surmounted by a lofty dome, with smaller domes at each corner and four
graceful minarets one hundred and thirty-three feet high. The great
central hall is paved with squares of various-colored marbles, while
the walls, tombs and screens are ornamented by exquisite mosaic work.
The elegance and delicacy of the design and the elaborate perfection in
every detail of the workmanship are alike marvelous. It seems almost
like a castle built in a dream, a fabric of mist and sunbeams, which
would dissolve at a touch. Yet it has resisted the encroachments of
time and the barbarian despoiler, and has come down to our day almost
perfect.
[Illustration]
PEARL MOSQUE, AGRA, HINDOSTAN. The very name of the building is a
tribute to its beauty. It is undoubtedly the most elegant mosque of
Indian-Mahometan architecture. Although it gives the general impression
of lightness, grace, delicacy, it is by no means a small building.
Externally it is two hundred and thirty-five feet east and west by one
hundred and ninety feet north and south. The court yard is one hundred
and fifty-five feet square. The mass is also considerable, as the whole
is raised on a terrace of artificial construction, by the aid of which
it stands well out from the surrounding buildings. Its chief beauty
consists in its court yard, which is wholly of white marble from the
pavement to the summit of its domes. The interior is a bewildering maze
of columns of exquisite proportions.
[Illustration]
EL CAPITAN, YOSEMITE VALLEY, CALIFORNIA. The Yosemite Valley is one
of the most marvelous natural parks in the world. About nine miles in
length and from three-quarters of a mile to a mile and a quarter in
width, it is sunk almost a mile below the level of the surrounding
country. High granite walls rise sheer and inaccessible on each side.
Cataracts of the wildest and strangest beauty abound. Flowers of every
hue cover the ground. Where all is wonderful it might seem hard to
select. Yet by common consent the surpassing feature of the valley
scenery is the great cliff, known as El Capitan or The Captain. “It
is doubtful,” says Professor J. D. Whitney, “if anywhere in the world
there is presented so squarely cut, so lofty and so imposing a face of
rock.” Not indeed that it is the highest of the gigantic brotherhood.
Its three thousand three hundred feet are exceeded in its own vicinity
by over thousands of feet. But no other rock, here or elsewhere, has so
majestic and awe-compelling a presence.
[Illustration]
BIG TREES, CALIFORNIA. Rigid scientists call these trees _Sequoia
gigantea_. In England they are sometimes known as Wellingtonia, in
America as Washingtonia. But the pride of science and of patriotism
have had to bow to the will of the populace, which has been satisfied
with the simpler and therefore more energetic title of Big Trees. They
are confined to the western portion of the California range, occurring
in detached groups or groves at an altitude of from four thousand to
five thousand feet above the sea. Some of these vast vegetable columns
are upwards of thirty feet in diameter, and from three to four hundred
feet in height. One of the trees in the Mariposa Grove, represented in
the accompanying engraving--some twenty-five feet in diameter--stands
directly arching the roadway, and a miniature tunnel has been cut
through it which admits of the passage of a four-horse stage coach.
[Illustration]
GEYSERS, YELLOWSTONE PARK, WYOMING. The Geyser region in the
Yellowstone occupies some thirty square miles. Within this
comparatively limited area is a most stupendous exhibition of hot
springs, water geysers, mud geysers and steaming caldrons of boiling
water. No two of the geysers are alike. The Grotto simply churns and
makes a great noise. The others go off at various intervals; some every
hour, some all the time and some once a month; some on alternate days,
yet the day they are active going over ninety minutes. Nor is their
style of action the same. Some play with labored pumping, others throw
an unbroken stream; some wear themselves out in a continuous effort,
others subside only to recommence again repeatedly. An eruption may
extend from two to twenty minutes, the approximate time occupied by the
Grand, or even to one hour and twenty minutes, a period that the Giant
has been timed to play. The Grand is the largest geyser in the world,
shooting a vast column of water over two hundred feet into the air.
[Illustration]
GRAND CANON, YELLOWSTONE PARK. The Yellowstone Park is one of the great
natural marvels of the world. Within a compass of one hundred square
miles there are here gathered the loveliest valleys, the grandest
canons, the most marvelous mountains, lakes, rivers, springs and
cascades. In addition there are all sorts of natural phenomena: Sulphur
mountains, a mud volcano, petrified forests and over ten thousand
active geysers, hot springs, salfataras and boiling pools. Greatest of
all the sights is the Grand Canon, a ravine varying in depth from one
thousand to two thousand feet. The shelving sides of precipitous crags
slope down, presenting an endless variety of form and color, until
they meet at the bed of the Yellowstone River, which flings itself
impetuously along to meet the lake. “A great gulch let down into the
eternities,” such is the opinion of De Witt Talmage on this miracle of
nature.
[Illustration]
CLIFF-DWELLINGS, NEW MEXICO. Cliff-dwellers is the name given to more
or less savage people in the past who inhabited dwellings built on
projections from the face of cliffs, or cut out of the solid rock.
Sometimes the houses are four stories high, and divided into many
rooms. Often they are not to be distinguished from the rest of the
cliff. Such dwellings are found in various parts of the world, but
nowhere are they so abundant and so interesting as in Arizona, New
Mexico and California. It is generally supposed that the American
cliff-dwellers were the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians. In some
respects the cliff-dweller appears to have been better off than his
modern descendants; the canon walls sheltered him from cyclones and
the overhanging shelves of rock protected him from attack from above.
A series of cliff villages, lining the walls of Walnut Canon, in
Northeastern Arizona, for a length of five miles, was discovered in
1884.
[Illustration]
MASONIC TEMPLE, CHICAGO. For a long time it was held that Philadelphia
had the finest Masonic Temple in the world. Now that honor belongs to
Chicago. But it has only belonged to it since 1890, when the gorgeous
new building was begun at the corner of State and Randolph Streets. The
site measures one hundred and seventy feet on State Street and by one
hundred and fourteen on Randolph. Every inch of this space is covered
by the building, whose twenty stories tower up to the height of two
hundred and sixty-five feet. It rests on cement and iron foundations,
and its superstructure is of steel. The first three stories are faced
with red granite from Wisconsin, the remainder with gray brick that
is indistinguishable from the granite. An immense granite arch in the
centre of the State Street front forms the entrance, and opens into an
interior court, faced from bottom to top with different colored marble.
The first eleven stories are fitted up for shops, from the eleventh to
the sixteenth inclusive are business offices, while above the sixteenth
floor everything is devoted to Masonry.
[Illustration]
NIAGARA FALLS. The most stupendous cataract in the world is that formed
in the Niagara River, four miles below Grand Island. Here the current
begins to grow narrow and develops into rapids, which continue for
about a mile, with a descent of fifty-two feet, until the river plunges
over a mighty chasm. Goat Island, at the very verge of the cataract,
divides it into two sheets of water--the Horse-shoe, or Canadian fall,
with a descent of one hundred and fifty-eight feet, and a width of
about twenty-six hundred and forty; and the American fall, one hundred
and sixty-two to one hundred and sixty-nine feet deep, and about one
thousand wide. The volume of water thus precipitated is about fifteen
million cubic feet a minute. Nearly nine-tenths of this passes over
the Canadian fall. For some distance below the Falls there is still
water, the mass which has hurled itself into the abyss sinking and only
reappearing two miles below, where the whirlpool rapids begin.
[Illustration]
THE THOUSAND ISLANDS, CANADA. This, the largest group of river islands
in the world, lies in an expansion of the River St. Lawrence at
its emergence from Lake Ontario. New York State is on one side and
the Province of Ontario, Canada, on the other. The name is not an
exaggeration. On the contrary, the group consists of about fifteen
hundred rocky islands, remarkable for their great and varied beauty.
They are of all shapes and sizes, some just peeping above the surface
of the waters, others extending several miles in length, some wild and
bare and rocky, others covered with the most luxuriant foliage. Hence,
a trip through the St. Lawrence River at this point is full of the most
bewildering yet enchanting surprises.
[Illustration]
VICTORIA BRIDGE, MONTREAL, CANADA. Montreal is situated on the south
side of the island of the same name, at the confluence of the Ottawa
and the St. Lawrence Rivers. To connect it with the mainland the
Victoria Bridge was thrown across the St. Lawrence. Work was begun in
1854. In 1860 the bridge was formally opened by the Prince of Wales
during his tour through Canada and the United States. This is one of
the greatest triumphs of engineering and architectural skill. The total
length is nearly two miles, or, to be exact, nine thousand one hundred
and ninety-four feet. It rests upon twenty-four piers and two abutments
of solid masonry. The central span is three hundred and thirty feet
long.
[Illustration]
THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. A stately and magnificent building
devoted to both branches of Congress--the Senate and the House of
Representatives--as well as to the United States Supreme Court and the
Library of Congress. It stands upon an eminence commanding a beautiful
view of the city, and itself forms the most impressive feature in the
landscape. The centre building of freestone is flanked by two wings,
mainly of marble, and crowned by an iron dome, painted white. From
the ground to the top of the nineteen-foot Statue of Liberty, which
surmounts the dome, is three hundred and seven and a half feet; the
diameter of the dome is one hundred and thirty-five and a half feet.
Thus only four domes in Europe can surpass it: St. Peter’s at Rome,
St. Paul’s in London, St. Isaac’s in St. Petersburg, and the Invalides
in Paris. The building covers an area of about three and a half acres.
Its total cost has been over $13,000,000. The corner-stone was laid by
Washington in 1792. The marble extensions were begun in 1851.
[Illustration]
THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D. C. As the official residence of the
President of the United States, this mansion has a unique interest.
It is not in itself, however, a pretentious or imposing structure.
Yet it has some elegance in its very democratic simplicity. Built of
freestone, like the original Capitol, and painted white like that, its
color has given it its name. The model which the architect had in view
was the Palace of the Duke of Leinster in London, and he has followed
his prototype very closely. The corner-stone was laid in 1792; the
building was first occupied by President John Adams in 1800; it was
burned by the British in 1814, and restored and re-occupied in 1818.
Since that time there have been staccato clamors for a more magnificent
entourage for the chief executive officer of the United States, but
nothing further has been accomplished.
[Illustration]
INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA. This plain, but substantial brick
building, which stands on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, is ever
memorable as the birthplace of the American republic. Here the General
Assembly of Pennsylvania gave way to the Continental Congress. Here
George Washington was elected commander of the American forces (June,
1775). And here, on July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence
was adopted by Congress. Four days later it was read from before the
building to an excited and exultant multitude. The halls have been
restored as far as possible to their original condition; the east room,
where the Declaration was signed, is ornamented with portraits of
the signers and the west room is a museum of revolutionary and other
relics. The famous Liberty Bell, which was rung as a signal to the
people that the Declaration had been adopted, is now suspended under
the tower in full view of the public. The building dates from 1729–34.
[Illustration]
THE EAST RIVER BRIDGE, between New York City and Brooklyn, more
familiarly known as the Brooklyn Bridge, is a massive suspension
bridge, the largest in the world, which connects New York with
Brooklyn. Its colossal towers and ponderous cables loom up
conspicuously before the stranger who approaches New York from the
riverside. Begun in 1870, it was opened for traffic May 24th, 1883, at
a total cost of $15,000,000. The whole length of the bridge is five
thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine feet. From high water mark to the
floor of the bridge is one hundred and thirty-five feet. The central
span (itself measuring one thousand five hundred and ninety-five and
a half feet) is suspended to four cables of steel wire, each fifteen
and three-quarter inches in diameter. The width of the structure is
eighty-five feet, which includes a promenade for foot passengers, two
roadways for vehicles, and two railway tracks on which run passenger
cars propelled by a stationary engine from the Brooklyn side.
[Illustration]
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.
A few very simple typographical errors were corrected.
This book always uses “Canon,” never “Canyon.” It contains several
likely typographical errors or misspellings, most of which have not
been changed by the Transcribers. Some are noted below.
Page 42: “mertons” was printed that way.
Page 72: “Propylacum” was printed that way.
Page 120: “Andulasia” was printed that way.
Page 162: “Michel Angelo” was printed that way.
Page 178: “sea of Marmora” was printed that way.