JOHN C. FREMONT. 169 



every tiling like shore disappeared, and the vertical 

 wall came squarely down into the water. He there- 

 fore waited until we came up. An ugly pass lay 

 before us. '"We had made fast to the stern of the 

 boat a strong rope about fifty feet long, and three 

 of the men clambered along among the rocks and 

 with this rope let her down slowly through the pass. 

 In several places high rocks lay scattered about in 

 the channel ; and in the narrows it required all our 

 strength and skill to avoid staving the boat on the 

 sharp points. In one of these the boat proved a 

 little too broad, and stuck fast for an instant, while 

 the water flew over us : fortunately, it was but for 

 an instant, as our united strength forced her imme- 

 diately through. The water swept overboard only 

 a sextant and a pair of saddle-bags. I caught the 

 sextant as it passed by me, but the saddle-bags 

 became the prey of the whirlpools. We reached 

 the place where Mr. Preuss was standing, took him 

 on board, and, with the aid of the boat, put the 

 men with the rope on the succeeding pile of rocks. 

 "We found this passage much worse than the pre- 

 vious one, and our position was rather a bad one. 



n 



To go back was impossible ; before us the cataract 

 was a sheet of foam, and, shut up in the chasm by 

 the rocks, which in some places seemed almost to 

 meet overhead, the roar of water was deafening. 



15 



