down any sort of a hole into any mountain.  We were floating directly toward a perpendicular cliff, and I could not see any hole any where, nor any other place where it could go.  Just as we were within a stone’s throw of the cliff, the river turned sharply to the right and went behind a high point of the mountain that seemed to stand squarely on edge.  This was really an immense crack or crevice, certainly 2000 feet deep and perhaps much more, and seemed much wider at the bottom than it did at the top, 2000 feet or more above our heads.  Each wall seemed to lean in toward the water as it rose.

We were now for some time between two rocky walls between which the river ran very rapidly, and we often had to get out and work our boat over the rocks, sometimes lifting it off when it caught.  Fortunately we had a good tow line, and one would take this and follow along the edge when it was so he could walk.  The mountains seemed to get higher and higher on both sides as we advanced, and in places we could see quite a number of trees overhanging the river, and away up on the rocks we could see the wild mountain sheep looking down at us.  They were so high that they seemed a mile away, and consequently safe enough.  This was their home, and they seemed very independent, as if they dared us fellows to come and see them.  There was an old cottonwood tree on bank with marks of an axe on it, but this was all the sign we saw that any one had ever been here before us.  We got no game while passing through this deep canon and began to feel the need of some fresh provisions very sorely.

We passed many deep, dark canons coming into the main stream, and at one place, where the rock hung a little over the river and had a smooth wall, I climbed up above the high water mark which we could clearly see, and with a mixture of gunpowder and grease for paint, and a bit of cloth tied to a stick for a brush, I painted in fair sized letters on the rock, Capt.  W.L.  Manley, U.S.A.  We did not know whether we were within the bounds of the United States or not, and we put on all the majesty we could under the circumstances.  I don’t think the sun ever shone down to the bottom of the canon, for the sides were literally sky-high, for the sky, and a very small portion of that was all we could see.

Just before night we came to a place where some huge rocks as large as cabins had fallen down from the mountain, completely filling up the river bed, and making it completely impassible for our boat.  We unloaded it and while the boys held the stern line, I took off my clothes and pushed the boat out into the torrent which ran around the rocks, letting them pay the line out slowly till it was just right.  Then I sang out to—­“Let go”—­and away it dashed.  I grasped the bow line, and at the first chance jumped overboard and got to shore, when I held the boat and brought it in below the obstructions.  There was some deep water below the rocks; and we went into camp.  While some loaded the boat, others with a hook and line caught some good fish, which resembled mackerel.