We were much better provided for than the first party.  We had a guide, our boats were superior, our plan for supplies was immeasurably better, both as to caring for what we took along and what we were to receive at the several indicated places—­mouth of the Uinta, mouth of the Dirty Devil, Crossing of the Fathers, and the Paria.  We also had rubber life-preservers to inflate at the more dangerous points.  Mine did me little good, as I soon found it was in my way and I never wore it; nor did Hillers wear his.  As we handled the oars of our boat we concluded it would be safer to do it in the best manner possible, and not be encumbered by these sausages under our elbows, but we always placed them behind us at bad places, ready for use; all the others, however, wore theirs and seemed to find no objection to them in the way of interference.  A cork jacket could be worn easier when rowing, and I would recommend it, but the thing of first importance is to have the right kind of boats, and know how to handle them.  An humble spirit is also a great safeguard.  After starting, the usual number of slight accidents occurred, but there was nothing to interfere with our steady progress into the silent, lonely land, where the great Dragon, whose tail we were now just touching, tore the air to tatters with his writhings.  Our light oars were snapped like reeds, but luckily we had plenty of extras, and some ten-foot ones were cut down to eight, and these proved to be strong enough.  On the morning of the 23d we were treated to a snow-storm and the air was very cold.  It soon cleared, however; and the sun shone again bright and warm, and we went on rejoicing.  The next day we reached the mouth of Black’s Fork, and after this the river was deeper and we were less troubled by grounding, the boats being only three inches out of water at the gunwales.  The area between Black’s Fork and the Green was strewn with beautiful moss-agates.  I longed to secure a quantity, but this was out of the question.  Geese and ducks floated on the water around us, but with our rifles it was difficult to get any.  There was not a shot-gun in the party.  We soon came in sight of the superb snow-covered Uinta range, extending east and west across the land, and apparently an effectual barrier to any progress of the river in that direction, but every day we drew nearer to it.  Some of our men shot three deer, and we had fresh meat for a day or two, “jerking” all we could not consume in that time.  There was plenty of game along the river here and for a long distance down, but we were not skilled hunters, nor did we have time to follow game or manoeuvre for it, so our diet was mainly confined to what Andy could produce by his manipulation of the supplies we carried.  The day following the one that gave us the deer, the river became very winding, and a fearful gale blew across it, carrying sand into our eyes and some water into our boats.  In the late afternoon we bore down on a ridge, about one thousand feet high, which