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Show 66 EXPLORATION OF TOE OANONS OF TUE COLOR.ADO. anxiety, hugging the wall on the left, and carefully examining the way before us. Late in the afternoon, we pass to the left, around a sharp point, which is somewhat broken down near the foot, and di~wover a flock of mountain sheep on the rocks, more than a hundred feet above us. We quickly land in a cove, out of sight, and away go all the hunters with their guns, for the sheep have not discovered us. Soon, we hear firing, and those of us who have remained in the boats climb up to see what success the hunters have bad. One sheep has been killed, and two of the men are still pursuing them. In a few minutes, we hear firing again, and the next moment down come the flock, clattering over the rocks, within twenty yards of us. One of the hunters seizes his gun, and brings a second sheep down, and the next minute the remainder of the flock is lost behind the rocks. We all give chase ; but it is impossible to follow their tracks over the naked rock, and we see them no more. Where they went out of this rock walled canon is a mystery, for we can see no way of escape. Doubtless, if we could spare the time for the search, we could find some gulch up which they ran. We lash our prizes to the deck of one· of the boats, and go on for a short distance ; but fresh meat is too tempting for us, and we stop early to have a feast. And a ft~ast it is f Two fin e, young sheep. We care not for bread, or beans, or dried apples to night; coffee and mutton is all we ask. July 28.-We make two portages this morning, one of them very long. During the afternoon we run a chute, more than half a mile in lenoth nar-b ' row and rapid. This chute has a floor of marble ; the rocks dip in the direc-tion in which we are going, and the fall of the stream conforms to the inclination of the beds; so we float on water that is gliding down an inclined plane. At the foot of the chute, the river turns sharply to the right, and the water ro!ls up against a rock which, from above, seems to stand directly a.thwart Its. course. As we approach it, we pull with all our power to the nght, but It seems impossible to avoid being cariied headlong a()'ainst the cliff, and we are carried up high on the waves-not against the ~·ocks for the rebounding water strikes us, and we are beaten back, and pass on ~ith safety, except that we get a good drenching. · After this the walls suddcnl 1 · h h · ' Y c ose m, so t at t e cafi.on 1s narrower • NARROW OA.RON. 67 than we have ever known it. The water fills it from wall to wall, giving us no landing place at the foot of the cliff; the 1iver is very swift, the canon is very tortuous, so that we can see but a few hundred yards ahead; the walls towAr over us, often overhanging ~o as to almost shut out the light. I stand on deck, watching with intense anxiety, lest this may lead us into some danger; but we glide along, with no obstruction, no falls, no rocks, and, in a mile and a half, emerge from the narrow gorge into a more open and broken portion of the canon. Now that it is past, it seems a very simple thing indeed to run through such a place, but the fear of what might be ahead made a deep impression on us. At three o'clock we arrive at the foot of Cataract Cailon. Here a long canon valley comes down from the east, and the river turns sharply to the west in a continuation of the line of the lateral valley. In the bend on the right, vast numbers of crags, and pinnacles, and tower shaped rocks are seen. We call it Mille Crag Bend. And now we wheel into another canon, on swift water, unobstructed by rocks. This new canon is very narrow and very straight, with walls vertical below and teiTaced above. The brink of the cliff is 1,300 feet above the water, where we enter it, but the rocks dip to the west, and, as the course of the canon is in that direction, the walls are seen to slowly decrease in altitude. Floating down this narrow channel, and looking out through the canon crevice away in the distance, the river is seen to turn again to the left, and beyond this point, away many miles, a great mounta.in is seen. Still floating down, we see other mountains, now to the right, now on the left, until a great mountain range is unfolded to view. We name this Narrow Canon, and it terminates at the bend of the river below. As we go down to this point, we discover the mouth of a stream, which enters from tho right. Into this our little boat is turned. One of tho men in the boat following, seeing what we have done, shouts to Dunn, asking if it is a trout-stream. Dunn replies, much disgusted, that it is "a dirty devil," and by this name the river is to be known hereafter. The water is exceedingly muddy, and has an unpleasant odor. Some of us go out for half~ mile, and climb a butte to the north. The course of tho Dirty Devil River can be traced for many miles. It comes |