in regular order near together, formed a sort of mattress which was very comfortable.  If these were not to be had, the softest spot of sand was the next choice.  In putting the river suit on in the morning, there was often something of a shock, for it was not always thoroughly dry.  At length the welcome end of Desolation came, indicated by a lowering of the walls and a break, where we were surprised to see a solitary lame horse, but the next canyon, Gray, formed immediately.  This was at first called Lignite Canyon, but was afterwards renamed on account of the grey colour of the walls; an unusual feature.  The work here was similar to that in Desolation, and we were not sorry when we came to the foot of it, there going into camp to await the return of Powell.  One of our flags was planted at the end of an island below the canyon mouth, so that he might see it.  Opposite our camp was a very striking pinnacle then called Cathedral Butte, but later changed to Gunnison.  Here we took the boats out and gave them a good overhauling, which they badly needed.  The descent through Desolation and Gray had been nearly six hundred feet.

Fishing one evening, Hillers thought his hook had caught in a snag, but he was greatly surprised after carefully pulling in his line, to find on the end of it a sluggish fish four feet long, and as large around as a stovepipe.  We were to wait here till the 3d of September for Powell, but on the 29th of August three shots were heard in the valley outside; the Major’s signal.  W. C. Powell and I were sent to investigate.  We found him, with a companion, on the other bank, opposite the flag we had put up.  Arriving near our station, a man was sent to take their horses down to their camp, about five miles below, and they went with us on the boats.  Hamblin, the man with Powell, was not altogether comfortable in some of the swift places.  As we cleared the high butte marking the end of Gray Canyon, we perceived, stretching away to the westward from it, a beautiful line of azure-blue cliffs, wonderfully buttressed and carved.  At first these were called the Henry Cliffs, but afterward Henry was applied to some mountains and the cliffs were called Azure.  At the camp we found another man, like the first a Mormon and, as we learned later by intimate acquaintance, both of fine quality and sterling merit.  The supplies Powell had brought were three hundred pounds of flour, some jerked beef, and about twenty pounds of sugar, from a town on the Sevier called Manti, almost due west of our position about eighty miles in an air line.  The pack-train having failed to reach the mouth of the Dirty Devil, these additional rations were to carry us on to the next station, the Crossing of the Fathers; but they were not enough.  The other man with Hamblin was a cousin of the same name, and when they rode away one evening as the sun was going down, we were sorry to part with them.  Their course lay through a wild, desolate country, but we learned later that they had no trouble, though the day after leaving us they ran upon a large camp of Utes.  Fortunately the Utes were friendly.