TO THE GREAT SOUTH PASS. 83 



The morning of the 26th we crossed the river, and en- 

 camped at 10 o'clock on a high bkiff on its left shore. We 

 here had a fifteen-mile stretch to cross without water, and 

 allowing our animals three hours to feed, we filled our water 

 kegs^ and pushed on, our road laying over a desolate, rolling 

 plain covered with sage-brush. In the afternoon we entered a 

 broad, sandy valley, through which ran the dr}^ bed of a 

 stream. Ascending this valley to its upper extremity, we 

 crossed a sandy ridge and corralled about 10 o'clock at night 

 on a waterless plain. We made an early start the next morn- 

 ing, and rolling over a hilly and barren plateau, we descended 

 at noon into the valley of the Sweet Water, which was here 

 about a half a mile in width, and corralled. There being no 

 grass along the river, we drove the herd to the bluffs, which 

 were scantily supplied with bunch-grass. Several of our ani- 

 mals gave out during the forenoon. The river was here fringed 

 by a dense growth of willows, but the characteristic sterility 

 of this valley was manifest in the barren plain and bluffs 

 bordering it. Two miles from our noon's camp we came to 

 where a ridge of rocky hills extended across the valley 

 through which the river forced its way. The road over the 

 bluffs is a difficult one, and we encamped after night on its 

 farther side in a canon leading down to the river. 



Still continuing up the river, we came in the afternoon to 

 where another mountain wall intersects the valley, which, 

 below it, is about a mile in breadth. The river penetrates it 

 by a deep gorge, walled on either side by rocky, perpendicular 

 bluffs. The road leaves the valley by a deep canon (pro- 

 nounced kanyon, the Spanish for ravine or defile), which turns 

 to the right, and winds to the summit of the ridge, ascending 

 and descending several hills in the way. We encamped at 

 night near its summit. We found a considerable stream of 

 good water, a half a mile from the corral, the shores of which 

 were lined with timber. 



