OCR Text |
Show , l•'ignrc 26.-Mnrble Cnnon. MOUTll OF TllE COLORADO onrQUITO. 77 It is a peculiar feature of these walls, that many projections are sot out into the river, as if the wall was buttressed for support. The walls themselves are half a mile high, and these buttresses are on a corresponding scale, jutting into the river scores of feet. In tho 'recesses betwoon these projections there are quiet bays, except at the foot of a rapid, when thoy are dancing oduies or whirlpools. Sometimes those alcoves have caves at the back, giving them the appearance of great depth. Then other caves are seen above, forming vast, dome shaped chambers. Tho walls, and buttresses, and chambers are all of marble. The river is now quiet; the canon wider. Above, when the river i at its flood, the waters gorge up, so that the difference between· high and low water mark is often fifty or oven seventy feet; but hero, high-water mark is not more than twenty feet above the present stage of the river. Sometimes there is a narrow flood plain between the water and the wall. Here we first discover mesquite shrubs, or small trees, with finely divided leaves and pods, somewhat like the locust. August 10.-Walls still higher; water, swift again. Wo pass several broad, ragged canons on our right, and up through these we catch glimpses of a forest clad plateau, miles away to the west. At two o'clock, we roach the mouth of the Colorado Chiquito. This stream enters through a ca:tlon, on a scale quite as gr$lnd as that of the Colorado itself. It is a. very small river, anu oxcoeding-ly muddy and ~alt. I walk. up tho stream three or four miles, this afternoon, cros~ing a.nd recrossing where I can easily wade it. Then I climb several hundred foot at one place, and can see up tho chasm, through which tho river nm , for several miles. On my way back, I kill two rattlesnakes, and find, on my arrival, that another has been killed just at camp. A~tgust 11.-W' remain at this point to Jay for the purpose of dotermining the latitude and longitude, measuring the height of the walls, drying our rations, and repairing our boats. Captain Powell, early in the morning, takes a barometer, and goes out to climb a point between the two rivers. I walk down tho gorge to the loft at tho foot of the cliff, climb to a. bench, and discover a trail, deeply worn in tho r ck. Where it eros os the |