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Show 102 EXPLORATION OF TilE OANONS OF THE COJ~ORADO. around behind some great rocks, and is lost in the mad, white foam below. We stand frozen with fear, for we see no boat. Bradley is gone, so it seems. But now, away below, we see something coming out of the waves. It is evidontly a boat. A moment more, and we see Bradley standing on deck, swinging his hat to show that he is all right. But he is in a whn·lpool. W o have the stem-post of his boat attached to the line. IIow badly she may be disabled we know not. I direct Sumner and Powell to pass along the cliff, and see if they can reach him from below. Rhodes, Hall, and myself run to the other boat, jump aboard, push out, and away we go over the falls. A wave rolls over us, and our boat is unmanageable. Another great wave strikes us, the boat I'Olls over, and tumbles and tosses, I know not how. All I lmow is that Bradley is picking us up. We soon have all right again, and row to the cliff, and wait until Sumner and Powell can come. After a difficult climb they reach us. We run two or three miles farther, and turn again to the northwest, continuing until night, when we have run out of the granite once more. August 29.-We start very early this morning. The river still continues swift, but we have no serious difficulty, and at twelve o'clock emerge from the Grand Carron of the Colorado. We are in a valley now, and_ low mountains are seen in the distance, coming to the river below. We recognize this as the Grand Wash. A few years ago, a party of Mormons set out from St. George, Utah, taking with them a boat, and came down to the mouth of the Grand Wash, where they divided, a portion of the party crossing the river to explore the San Francisco Monntains. Three men-Hamblin, Miller, and Crosby-taking the boat; went on down the river to Callville, landing a few miles below the mouth of the Rio Virgen. We have their manuscript journal with us and so the stream is comparatively well known. ' To night we camp on the left bank, in a m,esquite thicket. The relief from danger, and the joy of success, are great. When he who has been chained by wounds to a hospital cot, until his canvas tent seems like a dungeon cell, until the groans of those who lie about tortured with probe and knife, nrc piled up, a weight of horror on his ea:·s that ] 1 e cannot throw off, cannot forget, and until the stench of festering wounds 'rllE G ltAND WASH. 103 and anresthetic drugs has filled tho air with its loathsome burtben, at last goes out into the open field, what a world he sees! How beautiful the sky; how bright the sunshine; what "floods of delirious music" pour from the throats of birds; how sweet the fragrance of earth, and tree, and blossom! The first hour of convalescent freedom seems rich recompense for allpain, gloom, terror.· Something like this are the feelings we experience to night. Ever before us bas been an unknown danger, heavier than immediate peril. Every waking hour passed in the Grand Canon has been one of toil. We have watched ~ith deep solicitude the steady disappearance of our scant supply of rations, and from time to time have seen the river snatch a portion of the little left, while we were ahungered. And danger and toil wore oz;tdured in those gloomy depths, where ofttimes the clouds hid the sky by day, and but a natTOW zone of stars could be seen at night. Only during the few hours of deep sleep, consequent on hard labor, has the roar of the waters been hushed. Now the danger is over; now the toil has ceased; now the gloom has disappeared; now the firmament is bounded only by the h rizon; and what a vast expanse of constellations can be seen! 1'he river rolls by us in silent majesty; the quiet of the camp is sweet; our joy is almost ecstacy. We sit till long after midnight, talking of the Grand Canon, talking of home, but chiefly talking of the three men who loft us. Are they wandering in those depths, unable to find a way out t are they searching over the desert lands above for water t or are they nearing the settlements t August 30.-W e run through two or three short, low canons to day, and on emerging from one, we discover a band of Indians in tho valley below. 'l'hey see us, and scamper away in most eager haste, to hide among tho rocks. Although we land, and call for them to return, not an Indian can be seen. Two or three miles farther down, in turning a short bend in tho river, wo come upon another camp. So near are we before they can see us that I can shout to them, aud, being able to speak a littlo of their language, I tell them we are fl'iends; but they all flee to the rocks, except a man, a woman, and two children. We land, and talk with them. They are with- |