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Show • 96 EXPLORATION OF THE CANONS OF THE UOLORADO. to the rh·er; but about eleven o'clock to day we discover an Indian garden. at the foot of the wall on the right, just where a little stream, with a naiTow flood plain, comes down through a side canon. Along the valley, the Indians have planted corn, using the water which burst out in springs at the foot of the cliff, for irrigation. The com is looking quite well, but is not sufficiently ad "lanced to give us roasting ears; . but there are some nice, green squa hes. We caiTy ten or a dozen of these on board our boats, and hurriedly leave, not willing to be be caught in the robbery, yet excusing om ~elYe by pleading our great want. We run down a short distance, to where we feel certain no Indians can follow; and what a kettle of squash sauce we make! True, we have no salt with which to season it, but it makes a fine addition to our unleavened bread and coffee. Never was fruit so sweet a the e stolen squa be . After dinner we push on again, making fine time, finding many rapids, but none so bad that we cannot run them with safety, and when we stop, just at du~k, and foot up our reckoning, we find we have run thirty five mile again. What a upper we make; unleavened bread, green squash sauco, and tr ug coffee. We ha"le been for a few days on half rations, but we have no .. tint of r ast quash. A £ w days like thi , and we are out of prison. .Ar1gu t 27.-This morning the river takes a more southerly direction. The dip of the rock, is to the north, and we are rapidly running into lower formations. Unle our course changes, we shall very soon run again into the granite. Thi give u orne anxiety. Now and then the river turns to the west, and excite hopes that are soon destroyed by another turn tQ the .,outh. ~.\.bout nine o'clock we come to the dreaded rock. It is with no little misginng that we ee the river enter these black, hard '~ails. At its very entrance we he\Ye to make a portage; then we have to let down with lines pa.st some ugly rock~. Then we run a mile or two farther, and then the rapids below can be eeu. About leY n o'cl ck we come to a place in tho river wh ro its ems much worse than an~T we have yet met in all its course. A little creek come~ do",l from the left. We land first on the right, and clamber up over .. - RAPIDS AND FALLS. 97 the granite pinnacles for a ~ile or two, but can see no way by which we can let down, and to run it would be sure destruction. After dinner wo cross tq examine it on the left. High above the river we can walk along on the top of the granite, which is broken off at tho edge, and set with crags and pinnacles, so that it is very difficult to get a view of the river at all. In my eagerness to reach a point where I can see tho roaring fall below, I go too far on the wall, and can neither advance nor retreat. I sta11d with one foot on a little projecting rock, and cling with my Land fixed in a little crevice. Finding I am caught here, suspended 400 feet above the river, into which I should fall if my footing fails, I call for help. The men come, and pass me a line, but I cannot let go of tho rock long enough to tn,ko hold of it. Then they bring two or three of the largest oars. All this takes time which seems very precious to me; but at last they arrive. The blade of ono of the oars is pushed into a little crevice in tho rock beyond me, in such a manner that they can hold me pressed against the wall. Then another is fixed in such a way that I can step on it, and thus I am extricated. Still another hour is spent in examining the river from this side, but no good view of it is obtained, so now we return to the sido that was first examined, and the afternoon is spent in clambering among the crags and pinnacles, and carefully scanning the river again. We find that the lateral streams have washed boulders into tho river, so as to form a dam, over which the water makes a broken fall of eighteen or twenty feet; then there is a rapid, beset with rocks, for two or three hundred yards, while, on the other side, points of the wall project into the river. Then there is a second fall below; how great, we cannot tell. Then there is a rapid, filled with hugo rocks, for one or two hundred yards. At the bottom of it, from tho right wall, a great rock projects quite half way across the river. It Las a sloping surface extending up stream, and the water, coming down with all the momentum gained in the falls and rapids above, rolls up this inclined plano many feet, and tumbles over to tho left. I decide that it is possible to let down ovot· tho first fall, then run near the right cliff to a point j nst above tho second, where we can pull ont into a little chute, and, having run over that in safety, we must pull with all our power across the stream, to avoid the great rock below. On my return to the boat, I announce to tho men that wo are to 1:3 COL |
