e the first wave below, but we cut through it, and then the men
pull with all their power toward the left wall, and swing clear of the
dangerous rock below all right. We are scarcely a minute in running it,
and find that, although it looked bad from above, we have passed many
places that were worse.

The other boat follows with more difficulty. We land at the first
practicable point below and fire our guns as a signal to the men above
that we have come over in safety. Here we remain a couple of hours,
hoping that they will take the smaller boat and follow us. We are behind
a curve in the canon, and cannot see up to where we left them, and so we
wait until their coming seems hopeless, and push on.

And now we have a succession of rapids and falls until noon, all of
which we run in safety. Just after dinner we come to another bad place.
A little stream comes in from the left, and below there is a fall, and
still below another fall. Above, the river tumbles down, over and among
the rocks, in whirlpools and great waves, and the waters are lashed into
mad, white foam. We run along the left, above this, and soon see that we
cannot get down on this side, but it seems possible to let down on the
other. We pull up stream again for two or three hundred yards and cross.
Now there is a bed of basalt on this northern side of the canon with a
bold escarpment, that seems to be a hundred feet high. We can climb it,
and walk along its summit to a point where we are just at the head of
the fall. Here the basalt is broken down again, so it seems to us, and I
direct the men to take a line to the top of the cliff, and let the boats
down along the wall. One man remains in the boat, to keep her clear of
the rocks, and prevent her line from being caught on the projecting
angles. I climb the cliff, and pass along to a point just over the fall,
and descend by broken rocks, and find that the break of the fall is
above the break of the wall, so that we cannot land; and that still
below the river is very bad, find that there is no possibility of a
portage. Without waiting further to examine and determine what shall be
done, I hasten back to the top of the cliff, to stop the boats from
coming down. When I arrive I find the men have let one of them down to
the head of the fall. She is in swift water, and they are not able to
pull her back; nor are they able to go on with the line, as it is not
long enough to reach the higher part of the cliff, which