AFLOAT IN CANOES
The two Indians were off long before daylight, and just as the others
were having a wash at the edge of the river they heard the crack of a
rifle some distance up the cliff.
"Bear!" Jerry exclaimed; "and I reckon they have got it, else we should
have heard another shot directly afterwards. That will set us up in food
for some time. Get the fire made up, Tom, you won't have to eat horse
steak for breakfast unless you like."
The Indians returned half an hour later laden with as much bear-flesh as
they could carry.
"I vote we stop here for two days," Harry said. "We have got a lot of
meat now, but it won't keep for twenty-four hours in this heat, so I
vote we cut it up and dry it as the Indians do buffalo-meat; it will
keep any time. Besides, we deserve a couple of days' rest, and we can
practise paddling while the meat dries. We got on very well yesterday,
but I do want us to get quite at home in the boats before we get to a
bad bit."
The proposal was agreed to, and as soon as breakfast was over the whole
of the meat was cut up into thin slices and hung up on cords fastened
from tree to tree.
"It ought to take three days to do it properly, and four is better,"
Harry said. "Still, as we have cut it very thin, I should think two days
in this hot sun ought to be enough."
"Are there any fish in the river, uncle?"
"I have no doubt there are, Tom, grists of them, but we have got no
hooks."
"Jerry has got some, he told me he never travelled without them, and we
caught a lot of fish with them up in the mountains just after we started
before. I don't know about line, but one might unravel one of the
ropes."
"I think you might do better than that, Tom. The next small animal we
shoot we might make some lines from the gut. They needn't be above five
or six feet long. Beyond that we could cut a strip of thirty or forty
feet long from one of the hides. However, we can do nothing at present
in that way. Now let us get into the canoes and have a couple of hours'
paddling. After dinner we will have another good spell at the work."
By evening there was a marked improvement in the paddling over that of
the previous day, and after having had another day's practice all felt
confident that they should get on very well. By nightfall on the second
day, the meat was found to be thoroughly dried, and was taken down and
packed in bundles, and the next morning they started as soon as it was
light. It was agreed that the boats should follow each other at a
distance of a hundred yards, so that the leader could signal to the one
behind if serious difficulties were made out ahead, and so enable it to
row to the bank in time. Were both drawn together into the suck of a
dangerous rapid they might find themselves without either boats or
stores, whereas if only one of the boats was broken up, there would be
the other to fall back upon. Harry's boat was to take the lead on the
first day, and Tom, as he knelt in the bows, felt his heart beat with
excitement at the thought of the unknown that lay before them, and that
they were about to make their way down passes probably unpenetrated by
man. Passing between what had seemed to them the entrance to a narrow
cañon, they were surprised to rind the river widen out. On their right a
great sweep of hills bent round like a vast amphitheatre, the
resemblance being heightened by the ledges running in regular lines
along it, the cliff being far from perpendicular.
"I should think one could climb up there," Tom said, half-turning round
to his uncle.
"It looks like it, Tom, but there is no saying; some of those steps may
be a good deal steeper than they look. However, I have no doubt one
could find places where it would be possible to climb if there were any
use in doing so, but as we should only find ourselves up on bad lands we
should gain nothing by it."
"I don't mean we should want to climb up now, uncle; but it seemed a
sort of satisfaction to know that there are places where one could climb
in case we got the boats smashed up."
"If we had to make our way up, lad, it would be much better to go by one
of the lateral canons like the one we came down by. I can see at least
half a dozen of them going up there. We should certainly find water, and
we might find game, but up on the plateau we should find neither one nor
the other."
On the left-hand bank of the river the cliffs fell still farther back in
wide terraces, that rose one behind the other up to a perpendicular
cliff half a mile back from the river. There was a shade of green here
and there, and the chief pointed far up the hill and exclaimed "Deer!"
"That is good," Harry said. "There are sure to be more of these places,
and I should think we are not likely to starve anyhow. We can't spare
time to stop now; we want to have a long day's paddle to see what it is
going to be like, and we have got meat enough for the present. If we
happen to see a deer within rifle-shot, so that we can get at him
without much loss of time, we will stop, for after all fresh meat is
better eating than dry."
"I should think it would be, uncle," Tom said. "From the look of the
stuff I should think it would be quite as tough as shoe leather and as
tasteless."
"It needs a set of sharp teeth, Tom, but if you are hard set I have no
doubt you will be able to get through it, and at any rate it constitutes
the chief food of the Indians between the Missouri and the Rockies."
For the next three hours they paddled along on the quiet surface of the
river. The other canoe had drawn up, since it was evident that here at
least there was no reason why they should keep apart.
"I didn't expect we should find it as quiet as this, Harry," Jerry
Curtis said. "It is a regular water-party, and I should not mind how
long I was at it if it were all like this."
"We shall have rough water enough presently, Jerry, and I expect we
shall look back on this as the pleasantest part of the trip. It seems to
me that the hills close in more towards the end of this sweep. It has
made a regular horseshoe."
"I reckon it depends upon the nature of the rock," Ben put in.
"That is it, you may be sure, Ben. Wherever it is soft rock, in time it
crumbles away like this; where it is hard the weather don't affect it
much, and we get straight cliffs. I expect it is there we shall find the
rapids worst. Well, we shall soon make a trial of them, I fancy. It
looks like a wall ahead, but the road must go through somewhere."
A quarter of an hour later Harry said: "You had better drop back now,
Jerry, there is the gap right ahead. If you see me hold up my paddle you
row ashore. When we come to a bad rapid we had better all get out, and
make our way down on the rocks as far as we can, to see what it is like.
It will never do to go at it blind. Of course we may find places where
the water comes to the wall faces on both sides, and then there is
nothing to do but to take our chance, but I don't propose to run any
risks that I can avoid."
There was a perceptible increase in the rate of the current as they
neared the gorge, and when they came within a short distance of it Harry
gave the signal to the boat behind, and both canoes made for the shore.
As they stepped out on to the rocks the chief pointed to a ledge far
above them. "There will be time for Hunting Dog to shoot a deer," he
said, "while we go down to see cañon."
Tom in vain endeavoured to make out the object at which the Indian was
pointing. Hunting Dog had evidently noticed it before landing, and upon
Harry giving a nod of assent, started off with his rifle. The others
waited until Jerry and his companions joined them, and then started
along the rocks that had fallen at the foot of the cliffs. They were
soon able to obtain a far better view of the gorge than they had done
from the canoe. The river ran for a bit in a smooth glassy flood, but a
short distance down, it began to form into waves, and beyond that they
could see a mass of white foam and breakers. They made their way along
the rocks for nearly two miles. It seemed well-nigh impossible to Tom
that the boats could go down without being swamped, for the waves were
eight or ten feet high, with steep sides capped with white. At last the
gorge widened again, and although the cliff to the right rose
perpendicularly, on the other side it became less steep, and seemed
lower down to assume the same character as that above the gorge.
"It looks pretty bad," Harry said, speaking for almost the first time
since they had started, for the roar of the water against the rocks,
echoed and re-echoed by the cliffs, rendered conversation an
impossibility. "It looks bad, but as far as I can see there are no rocks
that come up near the surface, and the canoes ought to go through the
broken water safely enough."
"It is an all-fired nasty-looking place," Jerry said; "but I have heard
men who had been in the north talk about rapids they had gone through,
and from what they said about them they must have been worse than this.
We have got to keep as near the side as we can; the waves ain't as high
there as they are in the middle, and we have got to keep the boat's head
straight, and to paddle all we know. If we do that, I reckon the canoes
will go through."
They retraced their steps up the gorge. Hunting Dog was standing by the
boat with the dead deer at his feet. Jerry picked it up. "I had better
take this, I reckon, Harry. You have got one man more than we have;" and
he and his two companions went on to their boat.
"Now, what do you think, Tom?" his uncle said. "Can you trust your head
to keep cool? It will need a lot of nerve, I can tell you, and if her
head swerves in the slightest she will swing round, and over she will
go, and it would want some tall swimming to get out of that race. You
paddle as well as the chief,--better, I think,--but the chief's nerves
are like iron. He has not been practising steering as you have, but as
there seem to be no rocks about, that won't matter so much. I ought to
be able to keep her straight, if you three paddle hard. It may need a
turn of the paddle now and then in the bow, but that we can't tell. So
it shall be just as you like, lad. If you think your nerves can stand it
you take your usual place, but if you have doubts about it, it were best
to let the chief go there."
"I think I could stand it, uncle, for I have been out in wherries in
some precious rough seas at Spithead; but I think it would be best for
the chief to take my place this time, and then I shall see how I feel."
Harry said a few words to the chief in his own language, and Leaping
Horse without a word stepped into the bow, while Tom took the seat
behind him.
"We sha'n't be long going down," Harry said, "I reckon the stream is
running ten miles an hour, and as we shall be paddling, it will take us
through in ten minutes. We had all better sit farther aft, so as to take
her bow right out of water. She will go through it ever so much easier
so."
They shifted their seats until daylight could be seen under the keel a
foot from the bow.
"I think that is about the right trim," Harry said. "Now paddle all."
The boat shot off from the shore. A minute later it darted into the
gorge, the Indian setting a long sweeping stroke. There were two or
three long heaves, and then they dashed into the race. Tom held his
breath at the first wall of water, but, buoyant and lightly laden as the
canoe was, with fully a foot of free board, she rose like a feather over
it, and darted down into the hollow beyond. Tom kept his eyes fixed on
the back of the chief's head, clinched his teeth tightly, and paddled
away with all his strength. He felt that were he to look round he should
turn giddy at the turmoil of water. Once or twice he was vaguely
conscious of Harry's shouts, "Keep her head inshore!" or "A little
farther out!" but like a man rowing a race he heeded the words but
little. His faculties were concentrated on his work, but he could see a
slight swerve of the Indian's body when he was obeying an order.
He was not conscious of any change of motion, either in the boat or in
the water round, when Harry shouted, "Easy all!" and even then it was
the chief's ceasing to paddle rather than Harry's shout which caused him
to stop. Then he looked round and saw that the race was passed, and that
the canoe was floating in comparatively quiet water.
"She is a daisy!" Harry shouted; "we could not do better if we had been
all Canadian half-breeds, chief. Now, we had better set to and bale her
out as quickly as we can."
Tom now for the first time perceived that he was kneeling in water, and
that the boat was nearly half-full.
Their tea pannikins had been laid by their sides in readiness, and
Hunting Dog touched him and passed forward his tin and the chief's, both
of which had been swept aft. The Seneca at once began to throw out the
water, but Tom for a minute or two was unable to follow his example. He
felt as weak as a child. A nervous quivering ran through his body, and
his hand trembled so that he could not grasp the handle of the tin.
"Feel bad, Tom?" his uncle asked cheerily from behind. "Brace up, lad;
it was a pretty warm ten minutes, and I am not surprised you feel it.
Now it is over I am a little shaky myself."
"I shall be all right presently, uncle." A look at the chief's back did
more to steady Tom's nerves than his own efforts. While he himself was
panting heavily, and was bathed in perspiration, the chief's breath came
so quietly that he could scarce see his shoulders rise and fall, as he
baled out the water with perfect unconcern. With an effort the boy took
hold of his dipper, and by the time the boat was empty his nerves were
gaining their steadiness, though his breath still came quickly. As he
laid down his tin he looked round.
"Heap water," Hunting Dog said with a smile; "run like herd of buffalo."
The other boat lay twenty yards behind them, and was also engaged in
baling.
"All right now, Tom?"
"All right, uncle; but it is lucky you put the chief in the bows. I
should have made a mess of it; for from the time we got into the waves
it seemed nothing but confusion, and though I heard your voice I did not
seem to understand what you said."
"It was a trial to the nerves, Tom, but we shall all get accustomed to
it before we get through. Well, thank God, we have made our first run
safely. Now paddle on, we will stop at the first likely place and have a
meal."
A mile farther they saw a pile of drift-wood on the left bank, and Harry
at once headed the canoe to it, and drawing the boat carefully alongside
they got out. A minute later the other canoe joined them.
"Jee-hoshaphat, Harry!" Jerry exclaimed as he stepped out; "that was
worse nor a cyclone. I would rather sit on the back of the worst kind of
bucker than jump over those waves again. If we are going to have much of
this I should say let us find our way back and ask the Utes to finish us
off."
"It was a rough bit, Jerry; but it might have been a deal worse if there
had been rocks in the stream. All we had to do was to keep her straight
and paddle."
"And a pretty big all, too," Jerry grumbled. "I felt skeered pretty nigh
out of my wits, and the other two allow they were just as bad. If it
hadn't been for your boat ahead I reckon we should never have gone
through it, but as long as you kept on straight, there didn't seem any
reason why we shouldn't. I tell you I feel so shaky that if there were a
grizzly twenty yards off I am blamed if I could keep the muzzle of my
rifle on it."
Tom had been feeling a good deal ashamed of his nervousness, and was
much relieved at hearing that these seasoned men had felt somewhat the
same as he had done.
"What do you say, boys," Harry asked when breakfast had been cooked and
eaten, "if we stop here for to-day? Likely enough we may get some game,
and if not it won't matter, for the deer will last us a couple of days."
"You bet," Ben Gulston said; "I think we have had enough of the water
for to-day. I don't feel quite sure now I ain't going round and round,
and I don't think any of us will feel right till we have had a night's
sleep. Besides, all the rugs and blankets are wet and want spreading out
in the sun for a bit, and the flour will want overhauling."
"That settles it, Ben; let us get all the outfit out of the boats at
once."
After the things had been laid out to dry the two Indians went off in
search of game; but none of the others felt any inclination to move, and
they spent the rest of the day lying about smoking and dozing. The
Indians brought back a big-horn, and the next morning the canoes dropped
down the stream again. For some miles the river flowed quietly along a
wide valley. At the end of that time it made an abrupt turn and entered
the heart of the mountains. As before, Harry's canoe went in advance.
The cañon was here a deep gloomy chasm, with almost perpendicular sides,
and for some distance the river ran swiftly and smoothly, then white
water was seen ahead, so the two boats rowed in to the rocks at the foot
of the precipice, and the occupants proceeded to explore the pass ahead.
It was of a different character to the last. Black rocks rose everywhere
above the surface, and among these the river flowed with extraordinary
force and rapidity, foaming and roaring.
All agreed that it was madness to think of descending here, and that a
portage was necessary. The contents of the boats were lifted out, and
then one of them was carried down over the rocks by the united strength
of the party. They had gone half a mile when they came to a spot where
they could go no farther, as the water rushed along against the rock
wall itself. Some fifty yards further down they could see that the ledge
again began.
"We must go and fetch the other boat," Harry shouted above the din of
the water, "and let them down one by one. There is no other way to do
it."
The second boat was brought down, and another journey was made to bring
down the stores. The lariats were then tied together.
"Let us sit down and smoke a pipe before we do anything more," Jerry
said. "Three times up and down them rocks is worse nor thirty miles on a
level."
All were glad to adopt this suggestion, and for half an hour they sat
watching the rushing waters. As they did so they discussed how they had
better divide their forces, and agreed that Harry's boat should, as
before, go down first. Three men would be required to let the boat down,
and it would need at least four to check the second boat when it came
abreast of them. Although all felt certain that a single line of the
plaited hide would be sufficient, they determined to use two lines to
ensure themselves against risk.
"I should let them run out fast at first, Jerry, only keeping enough
strain on them to keep her head well up stream. Begin to check her
gradually, and let her down only inch by inch. When you see we are close
to the rocks, hold her there while we get her alongside, and don't leave
go till we lift her from the water. Directly we are out, fasten the
ropes to the bow of your canoe, then launch her carefully; and whatever
you do, don't let go of the rope. Launch her stern first close to the
wall, then two get in and get well towards the stern, while the other
holds the rope until the last moment. Then those two in the boat must
begin to paddle as hard as they can, while the last man jumps in and
snatches up his paddle. Keep her head close to the wall, for if the
current catches it and takes her round she would capsize in a moment
against those rocks. Paddle all you know; we shall haul in the rope as
fast as you come down. When you come abreast two of us will check her,
and the others will be on the rocks to catch hold of her side as she
swings in."
The first canoe was launched stern foremost, the four men took their
seats in her and began to paddle against, the stream with all their
strength, while Jerry and his companions let the lines run through their
fingers. The boat glanced along by the side of the wall. The men above
put on more and more strain, giving a turn of the ropes round a smooth
water-worn rock they had before picked out as suitable for the purpose.
The water surged against the bow of the canoe, lifting it higher and
higher as the full strain of the rope came upon it. The chief was
kneeling in the stern facing the rocks below, and as the canoe came
abreast of them he brought her in alongside. Harry held up his paddle,
the men above gave another turn of the ropes round the rock, and the
canoe remained stationary. Hunting Dog sprang out on to the rocks, and
taking hold of the blade of the chief's paddle, brought the canoe in so
close that the others were able to step ashore without difficulty. The
baggage was taken out, and the canoe lifted from the water, turned
upside down, and laid on the rocks.
Harry held up his hand to show that they were ready, having before he
did so chosen a stone round which to wind the lariats. The other boat
was then launched. Sam and Ben took their places astern and began to
paddle against the stream. As they were in the back-water below the
ledge of rock they were able to keep her stationary while Jerry took his
place and got out his paddle. When all were ready, they paddled her out
from the back-water. As soon as the current caught her she flew past the
cliff like an arrow, although the three men were now paddling at the top
of their speed. Harry and the chief pulled in the rope hand over hand,
while Hunting Dog and Tom went a short way down the rocks.
"Don't check her too suddenly, chief," Harry shouted. "Let the rope run
out easy at first and bring the strain on gradually."
"The ropes will hold," the chief said. "One stop buffalo in gallop, two
stop boat."
"Yes, but you would pull the head out of the canoe; chief, if you
stopped her too suddenly."
The chief nodded. He had not thought of that. In spite of the efforts of
the oarsmen the canoe's head was swerving across the stream just as she
came abreast of them. A moment later she felt the check of the rope.
"Easy, chief, easy!" Harry shouted, as the water shot up high over the
bow of the canoe. "Wait till she gets a bit lower or we shall capsize
her."
The check of the bow had caused the stern to swerve out, and when they
again checked her she was several lengths below them with her head
inclined to shore. More and more strain was put on the ropes, until they
were as taut as iron bars. A moment later Tom and Hunting Dog seized two
paddles held out to them, and the boat came gently in alongside.
"Gosh!" Ben exclaimed, as he stepped ashore, "it has taken as much out
of me as working a windlass for a day. I am blamed if I did not think
the hull boat was coming to pieces. I thought it was all over with us
for sure, Harry; when she first felt the rope, the water came in right
over the side."
"It was touch and go, Ben; but there was a rock just outside you, and if
we had not checked her a bit her head would have gone across it, and if
it had, I would not have given a red cent for your lives."
All day they toiled on foot, and by nightfall had made but four miles.
Then they camped for the night among the rocks. The next four days were
passed in similar labour. Two or three times they had to cross the
torrent in order to get on to fallen rocks on the other side to that
which they were following. These passages demanded the greatest caution.
In each case there were rocks showing above water in the middle of the
channel. One of these was chosen as most suited to their purpose, and by
means of the ropes a canoe was sheered out to it. Its occupants then
took their places on the rock, and in turn dropped the other boat down
to the next suitable point, the process being repeated, step by step,
until the opposite bank was reached.
At the end of the fourth day the geological formation changed. The rock
was softer, and the stream had worn a more even path for itself, and
they decided to take to the boats again. There was no occasion for
paddling now, it was only when a swell on the surface marked some hidden
danger below that a stroke or two of the paddle was needed to sweep them
clear of it. For four hours they were carried along at the rate of fully
twelve miles an hour, and at the end of that time they shot out from
between the overhanging walls into a comparatively broad valley. With a
shout of delight they headed the boats for shore, and leapt out on to a
flat rock a few inches above the water.
"If we could go on at that pace right down we should not be long before
we were out of the mountains," Tom said.
"We could do with a bit slower, Tom; that is too fast to be pleasant.
Just about half that would do--six miles an hour. Twelve hours a day
would take us out of the cañons in a fortnight or so. We might do that
safely, but we could not calculate on having such good luck as we have
had to-day, when going along at twelve miles an hour. The pace for the
last four days has been just as much too slow as this is too fast. Four
miles a day working from morning till night is heart-breaking. In spite
of our run to-day, we cannot have made much over a hundred miles since
we started. Well, there is one comfort, we are in no great hurry. We
have got just the boats for the work, and so far as we can see, we are
likely to find plenty of food. A job like this isn't to be reckoned
child's play. So far I consider we have had good luck; I shall be well
content if it averages as well all the way down. The fear is we may get
to falls where we can neither carry nor let the boats down. In that case
we should have to get out of the canon somewhere, pack as much flour as
we could carry, and make our way across country, though how far we might
have to travel there is no knowing. I hope it mayn't come to that; but
at any rate I would rather go through even worse places than that cañon
above than have to quit the boats."
"Right you are, Harry," Jerry agreed. "I would rather tote the canoe on
my back all the way down to Mexico, than have to try and make my way
over the bad lands to the hills. Besides, when we get a bit farther we
shall be in the Navahoe country, and the Utes ain't a sarcumstance to
them. The Ute ain't much of a fighter anyway. He will kill white men he
finds up in his hills, 'cause he don't want white men there, but he has
to be five or six to one before he will attack him. The Navahoe kills
the white man 'cause he is a white man, and 'cause he likes killing. He
is a fighter, and don't you forget it. If it had been Navahoes instead
of Utes that had caught us up in the hills, you may bet your bottom
dollar our scalps would be drying in their lodges now."
"That is so, Jerry," Ben put in. "Besides, the Navahoes and the Apaches
have got no fear of white men. They have been raiding Mexico for
hundreds of years, and man to man they can whip Mexikins out of their
boots. I don't say as they haven't a considerable respect for western
hunters; they have had a good many lessons that these can out-shoot them
and out-fight them; still they ain't scared of them as plain Indians
are. They are a bad lot, look at them which way you will, and I don't
want to have to tramp across their country noways. It was pretty hard
work carrying that boat along them rocks, but I would rather have to do
so, right down to the plains, then get into a muss with the Navahoes."
"How far does the Navahoe country come this way?"
"There ain't no fence, Tom, I expect. They reckon as it's their country
just as far as they like to come. They don't come up as far north as
this, but where they ends and where the Utes begin no one knows but
themselves; and I reckon it shifts according as the Navahoes are busy
with the Mexicans in the south, or have got a quiet spell, and take it
into their heads to hunt this way."
For many days they continued their journey, sometimes floating quietly
along a comparatively wide valley, sometimes carrying their boats past
dangerous rapids, sometimes rushing along at great speed on the black,
deep water, occasionally meeting with falls where everything had to be
taken out of the canoes, and the boats themselves allowed to shoot over
the falls with long ropes attached, by which they were drawn to shore
lower down. It was seldom that they were without meat, as several
big-horns and two bears were shot by the Indians. They had no doubt that
they could have caught fish, but as a rule they were too tired when they
arrived at their halting-place to do more than cook and eat their
suppers before they lay down to rest.
"I reckon it won't be very long before we come upon a Mexican village,"
Harry said one day, after they had been six weeks on their downward
course. "I have heard there is one above the Grand Cañon."
The scenery had varied greatly. In some of the valleys groves of trees
bordered the river; sometimes not even a tuft of grass was to be seen.
Occasionally the cliffs ran in an even line for many miles, showing that
the country beyond was a level plateau, at other times rugged peaks and
pinnacles resembling ruined castles, lighthouses, and churches could be
seen. Frequently the cliffs rose three or four thousand feet in an
almost unbroken line, but more often there were rounded terraces, where
it would have been easy to ascend to the upper level. Everywhere the
various strata were of different colours: soft grays and browns, orange,
vermilion, purple, green, and yellow. They soon learned that when they
passed through soft strata, the river ran quietly; where the rocks were
hard there were falls and rapids; where the strata lay horizontal the
stream ran smoothly, though often with great rapidity; where they dipped
up stream there were dangerous rapids and falls.
Since the start the river had been largely swollen by the junctions of
other streams, and was much wider and deeper than it had been where they
embarked; and even where the rapids were fiercest they generally found
comparatively quiet water close to the bank on one side or the other.
Twice they had had upsets, both the boats having been capsized by
striking upon rocks but an inch or two below the surface of the water.
Little harm was done, for the guns and all other valuable articles were
lashed to the sides of the boats, while strips of hide, zigzagged across
the ends of the canoes at short distances apart, prevented the blankets
and rugs and other bulky articles from dropping out when the boat
capsized.
Since the river had become wider and the dangers less frequent, the
boats always kept near each other. Upsets were therefore only the
occasion for a hearty laugh; for it took but a few minutes to right the
canoe, bale it out, and proceed on their way. Occasionally they had
unpleasant visitors at their camp, and altogether they killed ten or
twelve rattle-snakes. In some of the valleys they found the remains of
the dwellings of a people far anterior to the present Indian races. Some
of these ruins appeared to have been communal houses. At other points
they saw cliff-dwellings in the face of the rock, with rough sculptures
and hieroglyphics. The canons varied in length from ten to a hundred and
fifty miles, the comparatively flat country between them varying equally
in point of appearance and in the nature of the rocks. As they got lower
they once or twice saw roughly-made rafts, composed of three or four
logs of wood, showing where Indians had crossed the river. The journey
so far had been much more pleasant than they had expected, for as the
river grew wider the dangers were fewer and farther apart, and more
easily avoided; and they looked forward to the descent of the Grand
Cañon, from which they knew they could not be far distant, without much
fear that it would prove impracticable.