be neither prudent,
or in fact possible, to ascend the river much higher, and we accordingly
commenced making preparations for a boating expedition."*

* Reconnaissance of the Gulf of California and the Colorado River
made in 1850-51, by Lieut. G. H. Derby. Ex. Doc, 81, 32nd Congress, 1st
Session, Senate.

The ebb tide ran at the rate of five and a half miles an hour, and the
next day they saw, as it was running out, the "bore," or tidal wave,
booming in to meet and overwhelm it.

"A bank of water some four feet in height, extending clear across the
river, was seen approaching us with equal velocity; this huge comber
wave came steadily onward, occasionally breaking as it rushed over
shoals of Gull and Pelican islands; passing the vessel, which it swung
around on its course, it continued up the river. The phenomenon was of
daily occurrence until about the time of neap tides."

At Howard's Point the vessel was anchored while the party continued the
exploration in the small boat. The Cocopas whom they met were entirely
friendly. These people wore no clothing beyond the breechcloth, and were
plastered from head to foot with mud. The width of the river varied
from two hundred yards to half a mile. At one place they passed a Cocopa
village, near which lay an old scow made from waggon-boxes which
had floated down from the ferry at Yuma. On the 13th they met Major
Heintzelman coming down-stream, and as he had taken field notes Derby
considered it unnecessary for him to proceed, and they went back in
company to the ship, arriving there the same afternoon. The vessel was
then worked three miles farther up, where her cargo was discharged to be
taken by teams to the fort. Heintzelman was accompanied by a Dr. Ogden
and a Mr. Henchelwood, "proprietors of the ferry." The Craig gang had
been destroyed earlier this year, and these men had probably established
a new ferry. While lying at this berth, the vessel was roughly tumbled
about by the tidal wave, till she broke from her anchor and drifted
rapidly up-stream. This was the highest and most powerful spring tide,
and the situation was full of peril. The captain, Wilcox, calmly took
the helm himself, steered toward the bank and ordered his men to leap to
the ground from the jib-boom, carrying the kedge anchor. By this means
the mad rush of the vessel was stopped, and by the use of logs and
cables she was kept a safe distance from the bank. When the stores were
finally lande