wade to our armpits. Soon we come to
places so narrow that the river fills the entire channel and we wade
perforce. In many places the bottom is a quicksand, into which we sink,
and it is with great difficulty that we make progress. In some places
the holes are so deep that we have to swim, and our little bundles of
blankets and rations are fixed to a raft made of driftwood and pushed
before us. Now and then there is a little flood-plain, on which we can
walk, and we cross and recross the stream and wade along the channel
where the water is so swift as almost to carry us off our feet and we
are in danger every moment of being swept down, until night comes on.
Finding a little patch of flood-plain, on which there is a huge pile of
driftwood and a clump of box-elders, and near by a mammoth stream
bursting from the rocks, we soon have a huge fire. Our clothes are
spread to dry; we make a cup of coffee, take out our bread and cheese
and dried beef, and enjoy a hearty supper. We estimate that we have
traveled eight miles to-day.

The canyon here is about 1,200 feet deep. It has been very narrow and
winding all the way down to this point.

_September 11.--_Wading again this morning; sinking in the quicksand,
swimming the deep waters, and making slow and painful progress where the
waters are swift and the bed of the stream rocky.

The canyon is steadily becoming deeper and in many places very
narrow--only 20 or 30 feet wide below, and in some places no wider, and
even narrower, for hundreds of feet overhead. There are places where the
river in sweeping by curves has cut far under the rocks, but still
preserves its narrow channel, so that there is an overhanging wall on
one side and an inclined wall on the other. In places a few hundred feet
above, it becomes vertical again, and thus the view to the sky is
entirely closed. Everywhere this deep passage is dark and gloomy and
resounds with the noise of rapid waters. At noon we are in a canyon
2,500 feet deep, and we come to a fall where the walls are broken down
and huge rocks beset the channel, on which we obtain a foothold to reach
a level 200 feet below. Here the canyon is again wider, and we find a
flood-plain along which we can walk, now on this, and now on that side
of the stream. Gradually the canyon widens; steep rapids, cascades, and
cataracts are found along the river, but we wade only when it is
necessary to cross. We make progress with very great labor, having to