Expedition to John Day River 1 8 1 



were only looking for heads, though we sometimes 

 saved knucks and jints." This accounts for the 

 scarcity of skeletons among the first collections 

 made. I saw to it that my party should care for 

 every bone discovered. 



I realized then, that if we were to make our ex- 

 pedition a success, we should have to climb where 

 no one before us had dared to go. It was a serious 

 matter to scale those almost perpendicular heights; 

 one took one's life in one's hand in attempting it. 

 They were, of course, entirely bare of vegetation, 

 and where the slope was not too steep, they were 

 covered with angular fragments of rock which 

 rolled from under one's feet and were likely to 

 send one flying into the gorge below. But I laid 

 the situation before my two men, explaining to them 

 that unless they were willing to face the danger, we 

 should have to give up the expedition, as we had 

 explored the safe ground without results; and they 

 courageously agreed to follow where I led. 



So every morning we started out for a day of 

 perilous enterprise, each with a collecting bag over 

 his shoulder and a well-made pick in hand. The 

 latter was used not only for digging out fossils, but 

 was absolutely indispensable as an aid in climbing, 

 and as an anchor in case we began to slip. We 

 were never sure when we left camp in the morning 

 that we should all meet there at night, since a single 



