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Show 84 EXPLORATION OF TilE CANONS OF THE COLORADO. the boats to the end of her line, when she reaches a corner of the projecting rock, to which one of the men clings, and steadies her, while I ex~mine an eddy below. I think we can pass the other boats down by us, aud catch them in the eddy. This is soon dono and the men in the boats in the eddy pull us to their side. On the shore of this little eddy there is about two feet of gravel beach above the water. Standing on this beach, some of the men take the line of the little boat and let it drift down ag~inst another projecting angle. Here is a little shelf, on which a man from my boat climbs, and a shorter line is passed to him, and he fastens the boat to tho side of the cliff. Then the second one is let down, bringing the line of the third. When tlw second boat is tied up, the two men standing on the beach above spring into the last boat, which is pulled up alongside of ours. Then we let down the boats, for twenty five or thirty yards, by walking along the shelf, landing them again in the mouth of a side canon. Just below this there is another pilo of boulders, over which we make another portage. From the foot of these rocks we can climb to another shelf, forty or fifty feet above the water. On this bench we camp for the night. We find a few sticks, which have lodged in the rocks. It is raining hard, and we have no shelter, but kindle a fire and have our supper. We sit on the rocks all night, wrapped in our ponchos, getting what sleep we can. August lfi.-Tllis morning we find we can let down for three or four hundred yards, and it is managed in this way: W o pass along the wall, by climbing from projecting point to point, sometimes near the water's edge, at other places fifty or sixty feet above, and hold the boat with a line, while two men remain aboard, and prevent her from being dashed against the rocks, and keep the line from getting caught on the wall. In two hours we have brought them all down, as far as it is possible, in this way. A few yards below, the river strikes with great violence against a projecting rock, and our boats aro pulled up in a little bay above. We must now manage to pull out o: this, and clear the point below. 'fhe little boat is held by the l;>ow obhquely up the stream. We jump in, and pull out only a few strokes, and sweep clear of the dangerous rock. The other boats follow in the same manner, and the rapid is passed. • BHEAKI£HS. 85 It is not easy to describe the labor of such navigation. We must prevent the waves from dashing tho boats against tho eliffs. Sometimes, where the river is swift, we must put a bight of rope about n rock, to prevent her being snatched from us by a wave; but where the plunge is too great, or the chute too swift; we must let hor leap, and catch her below, or the undertow will drag her under tho falling water, and sho sinks. Where we wish to run her out a little way from shore, through a channel between rocks, we first throw in little sticks of drift wood, and watch their course, to see where we must steer, so that she will pass the channel in safety. And so we hold, and let go, and pull, and lift, and ward, among rocks, around rocks, and over rocks. And now we go on through this solemn, mysterious way. The river is very deep, the canon vory nanow, and still obstructed, so that there is no steady flow of the stream; but the waters wheel, and roll, and boi_J, and ~e aro scarcely ablo .to determine wherd'we can go. Now, the boat IS earned to the right, perhaps close to the wall; again, sho is shot into the stream, and perhaps is dragged over to the other sido, where, caught in a whirlpool, she spins about. We can neither land nor run as we please. The boats are entirely 1mmanageable; no order in their running can be preserved; now one, now another, is ahead, each crew laboring for its own preservation. In such a place we come to another rapid. rrwo of tho boats run it peiforce. One succeeds in landing, but there is no foot-hold by which to make a portage, and she is pushed out again into the stream. The next minute a gr:n.t reflex wave fills the open compartment; she is water-logged, and dnfts unmanageable. Breaker after breaker rolls over her, and one cap~izes her. The men are thrown out; but they cling to the boat, and she dnfts down some distance, alongside of us, and wo are ablo to catch her. She is soon bailed out, and the mon are aboard once moro; but the oars aro lost, so a pair from the "Emma Dean" is spared. Then for two miles we find smooth water. Clouds are playing in the c~non to day. Sometimes thoy roll down in great masses, fi1ling the gorge with gloom; sometimes they hang above, from wall to wall, and cover tho canon with a roof of impending storm; and we can peer long distances up and down this canon corridor, with its |