168 JOHN C. FREMONT. 



ance of our boat, and so confident in her powers, 

 that we would not have hesitated to leap a -fall of 

 ten feet with her. We put to shore for breakfast at 

 some willows on the right bank, immediately below 

 the mouth of the canon ; for it was now eight 

 o'clock, and we had been working since daylight, 

 and were all wet, fatigued, and hungry. ' 



"We re-embarked at nine o'clock, and in about 

 "twenty minutes reached the next canon. Landing 

 on a rocky shore at its commencement, we ascended 

 the ridge to reconnoitre. Portage was out of the 

 question. So far as we could see, the jagged rocks 

 pointed out the course of the canon, on a wending 

 line of seven or eight miles. It was simply a narrow, 

 dark chasm in the rock ; and here the perpendicular 

 faces were much higher than in the previous pass, 

 being at this end two hundred to three hundred, and 

 farther down, as we afterward ascertained, five hun- 

 dred feet in vertical height. Our previous success had 

 made us bold, and we determined again to run the 

 cafion. Every thing was secured as firmly as possible, 

 and, having divested ourselves of the greater part of 

 our clothing, we pushed into the stream. To save our 

 chronometer from accident, Mr. Preuss took it and 

 attempted to proceed along the shore on the masses 

 of rock, which in places were piled up on either 

 side; but, after he had walked about five minutes, 



