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Show • ' , , 50 EXPLOHATIO~ OF TilE CANONS OF TITE OOLOHADO. it, into a more open country, which extends for a distance of nearly a mile, when we enter another canon, cut through gray sandstone. About three o'clock in the afternoon wo meot with a new difficulty. The river fills the entire channel; the walls are vertical on either side, from the water's edge, and a bad rapid is beset with rocks. We come to tho beau of it, and land on a rock in the stream; the little boat is let down to another rock below, the men of the larger boat holding to tho line; the second boat is let down in the same way, and the line of the third boat is brought with them. Now, the third boat pushes out from the upper rock, and, as we have her line below, we pull in and catch hor, as she is sweeping by at the foot of the rock on which we stand. Again the first Loat is let down stream tho full length of her line, and the second boat is passed down by the first to tho extent of her line, which is held by the men in the first boat; so she is two lines' length from where she started. Then the third boat is let down past the second, and still down, nearly to the length of her line, so that she is fast to the second boat, and swinging down three lines' lengths, with the other two boats intervening. lleld in this way, the men are able to pull her into a cove, in the left wall, where she is made fast. But this leaves a man on the rock above, holding to tho lino of the little boat. When all is ready, he springs from the rock, clinging to tho line with one hand, and swimming with the other, and w~ pull him in as he goes by. As the two boats, thus loosened, drift down, the men in the cove pull us all in, as wo come opposite; then we pass around to a point of rock below the cove, close to the wall, land, and make a short portage over the worst places in the rapid, and start again. At night we camp on a sand beach; the wind blows a hunicane; the drifting sand almost blinds us; and nowhere can we find shelter. The wind continues to blow all night; the sand sifts through our blankets, and piles over us, until we are covered as in a snow-drift. We are glad when morning comes. JulAJ 13.-This morning, we have an exhilarating ride. The river is swift, and there are many smooth rapids. I stand on dock, keeping careful watch ahead, and we glide along, mile after mile, plying strokes now on tho right, and then on the left, just sufficient to guide our boats past tl1e rocks into I |
