to drop back about half a mile to make a camp.  Wheeler was weary and dispirited, though he maintained an outward show of cheerfulness toward the men, and the next morning the Dragon was faced again.  They tried to find some remnant of the lost cargo, but it had completely vanished.  Everything had been swept away forever.  All the party were despondent, one boat was badly damaged, and the diminution of the rations made the outlook gloomy.  The damaged boat was therefore sent with a crew back to the place at the mouth of the canyon where the barge had been left.  With the exception of Wheeler and Gilbert none of the party believed the cataracts now ahead could be surmounted.

“Mr. Gilbert and myself,” writes Wheeler, “propose to reassure the men by taking the first boat across the rapids.  Portage of the stores is made to the wash at the head of the rapids, which consumes the greater share of the day, and half an hour before twilight a rope is stretched and the emergency prepared for.  The entire force is stationed along the line, and the cast-off is made.  In five minutes the worst part of the rapid is over, and just as the sun sinks gloomily behind the canyon horizon, the worst rapid is triumphantly passed amid the cheers and exultations of every member of the party.”

The following day, October l3th, they reached the narrowest part of the river, a channel less than fifty feet wide, but the canyon on top is, of course, very broad.  With many portages and other arduous toil the party slowly climbed up the river, sometimes making less than three miles, sometimes a little more.  The rapids grew worse and worse, and the smooth stretches in between shorter and shorter.  On the 15th Gilbert’s boat broke away, and he and Hecox were swept so far down the stream that the rest could not reach them.  They were obliged to remain where they were through the night with nothing to eat.  The main camp was at a place where there was barely room for the men to sleep amongst the rocks.  They were all gloomy enough, and starvation was beginning to show its dreaded shadow amidst the spray.  On the 16th they were compelled to carry the tow-line fully a hundred feet above the water to get it ahead.  At another portage the rope broke and the boat was instantly thrown out into the rapid by the fierce current.  Fortunately she was not capsized, and they managed again to secure her and make a second attempt, which succeeded.  Climbing to the top of the granite they discovered it was comparatively level, and they believed they could travel over it, if necessary, as far as Diamond Creek.  The rations for some time had to be dealt out on allowance, and at night, for safety, Wheeler put the entire stock under his head as a pillow.  On the 17th they met with particularly bad rapids, one with a fall of ten and a half feet where the river was only thirty-five feet wide.  The force of such pent-up waters may be imagined.  The party had here one advantage over the river farther north, at this season; it was much warmer in this part of the Grand Canyon.