PESCADO PUEBLO.

h-e-a-p high; the water go h-oo-woogh, h-oo-woogh; water-pony li-e-a-p
buck; water catch 'em; no see 'em Injun any more! no see 'em squaw any
more! no see 'em papoose any more!"

Those who have seen these wild Indian ponies rearing alternately before
and behind, or "bucking," as it is called in the vernacular, will
appreciate his description.

At last we come to calm water, and a threatening roar is heard in the
distance. Slowly approaching the point whence the sound issues, we come
near to falls, and tie up just above them on the left. Here we shall be
compelled to make a portage; so we unload the boats, and fasten a long
line to the bow of the smaller one, and another to the stern, and moor
her close to the brink of the fall. Then the bowline is taken below and
made fast; the stern line is held by five or six men, and the boat let
down as long as they can hold her against the rushing waters; then,
letting go one end of the line, it runs through the ring; the boat leaps
over the fall and is caught by the lower rope.

Now we rest for the night.

_June 2.--_This morning we make a trail among the rocks, transport the
cargoes to a point below the fall, let the remaining boats over, and are
ready to start before noon.

On a high rock by which the trail passes we find the inscription:
"Ashley 18-5." The third figure is obscure--some of the party reading it
1835, some 1855. James Baker, an old-time mountaineer, once told me
about a party of men starting down the river, and Ashley was named as
one. The story runs that the boat was swamped, and some of the party
drowned in one of the canyons below. The word "Ashley" is a warning to
us, and we resolve on great caution. Ashley Falls is the name we give to
the cataract.

The river is very narrow, the right wall vertical for 200 or 300 feet,
the left towering to a great height, with a vast pile of broken rocks
lying between the foot of the cliff and the water. Some of the rocks
broken down from the ledge above have tumbled into the channel and
caused this fall. One great cubical block, thirty or forty feet high,
stands in the middle of the stream, and the waters, parting to either
side, plunge down about twelve feet, and are broken again by the smaller
rocks into a rapid below. Immediately below the falls the water occupies
the entire channel, there being no talus at the foot of the cliffs.

We embark and run down a short distance, where we find a landing-