ATTEMPT TO FORD THE SANTA CRUZ. I03 



and the ridge or hogback separating this from the main valley proved a 

 feasible, though far from excellent, highway for our cart. The slopes 

 were so much covered over with secondary materials, that I could deter- 

 mine little concerning the nature of the rocks which lay beneath. The 

 valley at this point had a width of perhaps ten miles, and as I rode 

 across it to the river, I noticed that the surface, instead of being level, was 

 covered over with numerous small rounded hillocks, each rising to a 

 height of from twenty to forty feet and from one hundred to two hundred 

 feet in diameter. On the summits, about the slopes and over the depres- 

 sions between these hillocks, were numerous large angular blocks of gneiss, 

 granite and other rocks, for the most part crystalline. I noticed that these 

 hillocks were arranged in series, crossing the valley at right angles. Each 

 series was separated from the one preceding or following by a narrow, 

 level valley, running at right angles to that of the river. It was clear 

 that the succeeding ranges of low hillocks were terminal moraines left by 

 a great glacier that had formerly descended the valley, at least to this 

 point, completely filling the basin now occupied by the great lake above, 

 and the river valley as well for some miles below. Everywhere as I rode 

 along through the hills and across the valley, I noticed that the surface 

 was as dry and parched as that of the plain above, even more so, in fact. 

 After a time I arrived on the bank of the river, at a point where, by a 

 number of small islets, it is broken up into several channels. I had been 

 told by Mr. William Clarke, a North American who had lived in the 

 country for the last forty years, that somewhere near the source the Indi- 

 ans were said to know of a place where the river was capable of being 

 forded. It occurred to me that if there was any such place anywhere 

 along the river, this must be the place. It would be a very great saving 

 to us if we could ford the stream at this point and proceed on our way 

 north. Being myself no novice at swimming, I resolved to determine for 

 my own satisfaction whether or not it was possible to ford the stream at 

 this place. From the nature of the current I could easily detect the 

 shoal waters, and by keeping a little on the upper side of the rifiles I suc- 

 cessfully crossed the first channel and with somewhat greater difficulty 

 gained the second of the series of small islets that lay between me and 

 the opposite shore. The third channel was considerably broader than 

 either of the two I had placed behind me, and its waters rolled along 

 with such an even and undisturbed surface that I could with difficulty 



