ang. The little vegetation which we had
found on the lower slope gradually disappeared as the walls grew
steeper, but a few scattered shrubs, sage-brush, and an occasional
juniper grew on the rocky sides, or in one or two side canyons which
entered from the south. These side canyons had the appearance of
running back for considerable distances, but we did not explore any of
them and could tell very little about them from the river.

After our noon lunch this day, in order to keep our minds from
dwelling too much on the rather depressing surroundings, we proposed
having a little sport. On two or three occasions we had made motion
pictures from the deck of the boats as we rowed in the quiet water;
here we proposed taking a picture from the boats as we went over the
rapids. The two boats were fastened stern to stern, so that the rowing
would be done from the first boat. My brother sat on the bow behind
with the motion-picture camera in front of him, holding it down with
his chin, his legs clinging to the sides of the boat, with his left
hand clutching at the hatch cover, and with his right hand free to
turn the crank. In this way we passed over two small rapids. After
that one experience we never tried it in a large rapid. As Smith had
said a few days before the boat bucked like a broncho, and Emery had a
great deal of difficulty to stay with the boat, to say nothing of
taking a picture. Once or twice he was nearly unseated but pluckily
hung on and kept turning away at the crank when it looked as if he and
the camera would be dumped into the river.

At one point in the lower end of Cataract Canyon we saw the name and
date A.G. Turner, '07. Below this, close to the end of the canyon,
were some ruins of cliff dwellings, and a ladder made by white men,
placed against the walls below the ruins.

On reaching a very deep, narrow canyon entering from the south,
locally known as Dark Canyon, we knew that we were nearing the end of
the rapids in Cataract Canyon. Dark Canyon extends a great distance
back into the country, heading in the mountains we had seen to the
south, when we climbed out at the junction of the Green and the Grand.
Pine cones and other growths entirely foreign to the growth of the
desert region were found near its mouth. A flood had recently filled
the bottom of this narrow canyon to a depth of several feet, but the
water had settled down again and left a little stream of clear water
running through the boulde