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Show 8R EXPLORATION OF THE OARONS OF THE COLORADO. time unknown; and there are traditions, among the people who inhabit the pueblos that still remain, that the canons were these unknown lands. Maybe these buildings were erected at that time; sure it is that they have a much more modern appearance than the ruins scattered over Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Those old Spanish conquerors had a monstrous greed for gold, and a wondmfullust for saving souls. Treasures they must have; if not on earth, why, then, in heaven; and when thoy failed to find heathen temples, bedecked with silver, they propitiated Heaven by seizing the heathen themselves. There is yet extant a copy of a record, made by a heathen artist, to express his conception of the demands of the conquerors. In one part of the picture we have a lake, and near by stands a priest pouring water on the head of a native. On the other side, a poor Indian has a cord about his throat. Lines run from these two groups, to a central figure, a man with beard, and full Spanish panoply. The interpretation of the picture writing is this: "Be baptized, as this saved heathen; or be hanged, as that damned heathen." Doubtless, some of these people preferred a third alternative, and, rather than be baptized or hanged, they chose to be imprisoned within these canon walls. .August 17.-0ur rations are still spoiling; the bacon is so badly injured that we are compelled to throw it away. By an accident this morninO' the 1 · , o' sa eratus 1s lost overboard. We have now only musty flour sufficient for ten ~ays, a few dried apples, but plenty of coffee. We must make all haste possible. If we meet with difficulties, as we have done in the canon above we may be compelled to give up the expedition, and try to reach the Mormo~ settlements to the north. Our hopes are that the worst places are passed, but our barometers are all so. much injured as to be useless so we have lost our reckoning in altitu~e, and know not how much descent ~he river has yet to make. The stream is still wild and rapid and rolls thr·ouo-h a na h 1 ' o rrow c anne . We make but slow progress, often Iandino- ao-ainst a wall and I' b' _1 • o o • , c 1m mg arounu some pomt, where we can see the river below Alth l · d · oug 1 very anx- Ious to a vance, we arc determined to run with <rreat caution lest b th , · d 1 . o ' , y ano er accl ent, wo ose all our supplies. II ow precious that little flour has become! NINE DAYS' RATIONS. 89 We divide it among the boats, and carefully store it away, so that it can be lost only by the loss of the boat itself. We make ten miles and a half, and camp among the rocks, on the right. w~ have had rain, from time to time, all day, and have beon thoroughly drenched and chilled ; but between showers the sun shines with great power, and the mercury in our thermometers stands at 115°, so that we have rapid changes from great extremes, which ·are very disagreeable. It is especially cold in the rain to-night. The little canvas we have is rotten and useless; the rubber ponchos, with which we started from Green River City, have all been lost; moro than half the party is without hats, and not one of us has an entire suit of clothes, and we have not a blanket apiece. So wo gather drift wood, and build a fire ; but after supper the rain, coming down in torrents, extinguishes it, and we sit up all night, on the rocks, shivering, and are more exhausted by the night's discorp.fort than by the day's toil. .August 18.-The day is employed in making portages, and we advance but two miles on our journey. Still it rains. While the men are at work making portages, I climb up the granite to its summit, and go away back over the rust colored sandstones and greenish yellow shales, to the foot of the marble wall. I climb so high that the men and boats are lost in tho black depths below, and tho dashing river is a rjppling brook; and still there is more canon above than below. All about 'me are interesting geological records. The book is open, and I can road as I run. All about me are grand views, for the clouds are playing again in the gorges. But somehow I. think of the nino days' rations, and the bad river, and the lesson of the rocks, and the glory of the scene is but half seen. I push on to an ungle, where I hope to get a view of the country beyond, to see, if possible, what the prospect may be of our soon running through this plateau, or, at least, of meeting with some geological change that will let us out of the granite; but, arriving at the point, I can see below only a labyrinth of deep gorges. .August 19.-Rain again this morning. Still we are in our granite prison, and the time is occupied until uoon in making a long, bat! portage. After dinner, in running a rapid, the pioneer boat is upset by a wave 12 COL |
