climb over piles of broken rocks.

Late in the afternoon we come to a little clearing in the valley and see
other signs of civilization and by sundown arrive at the Mormon town
of Schunesburg; and here we meet the train, and feast on melons and
grapes.

_September 12._--Our course for the last two days, through Paru'nuweap
Canyon, was directly to the west. Another stream comes down from the
north and unites just here at Schunesburg with the main branch of the
Rio Virgen. We determine to spend a day in the exploration of this
stream. The Indians call the canyon through which it runs,
Mukun'tu-weap, or Straight, Canyon. Entering this, we have to wade
upstream; often the water fills the entire channel and, although we
travel many miles, we find no flood-plain, talus, or broken piles of
rock at the foot of the cliff. The walls have smooth, plain faces and
are everywhere very regular and vertical for a thousand feet or more,
where they seem to break back in shelving slopes to higher altitudes;
and everywhere, as we go along, we find springs bursting out at the foot
of the walls, and passing these the river above becomes steadily
smaller. The great body of water which runs below bursts out from
beneath this great bed of red sandstone; as we go up the canyon, it
comes to be but a creek, and then a brook. On the western wall of the
canyon stand some buttes, towers, and high pinnacled rocks. Going up the
canyon, we gain glimpses of them, here and there. Last summer, after our
trip through the canyons of the Colorado, on our way from the mouth of
the Virgen to Salt Lake City, these were seen as conspicuous landmarks
from a distance away to the southwest of 60 or 70 miles. These tower
rocks are known as the Temples of the Virgen.

Having explored this canyon nearly to its head, we return to
Schunesburg, arriving quite late at night.

Sitting in camp this evening, Chuar'ruumpeak, the chief of the
Kai'vavits, who is one of our party, tells us there is a tradition among
the tribes of this country that many years ago a great light was seen
somewhere in this region by the Paru'shapats, who lived to the
southwest, and that they supposed it to be a signal kindled to warn them
of the approach of the Navajos, who lived beyond the Colorado River to
the east. Then other signal fires were kindled on the Pine Valley
Mountains, Santa Clara Mountains, and Uinkaret Mountains, so that all
the tribes of northern Arizona, southern Utah, southern