LACK OF FERRIES. 75 
of De marauding incursions of the Apa- 
he the 4 of September we reached the 
usual ford of the Rio del Norte, six miles 
above El Paso; but the river being somewhat 
flushed we found it impossible to cross over 
with our wagons. The reader will no doubt 
be surprised to learn that there is not a single 
ferry on this ‘Great River‘of the North’ till 
Wwe approach the mouth. But how do people 
cross it? Why, during three-fourths of the 
year it is everywhere fordable, and when the 
freshet season comes on; each has to remain 
on his own side or swim, for canoes even are 
very rare. But as we could neither swim our 
wagons and merchandise, nor very comforta- 
bly wait for the falling of the waters, our only 
alternative was to unload the vehicles, and 
ferry the goods over in a little ‘dug-out’ about 
thirty feet long and two feet wide, of which 
we were fortunate enough to obtain possession. 
We succeeded in finding a place shallow 
enough to haul our empty Wagons across: 
but for this good fortune we should have been 
under the necessity of taking them to pieces 
(as I had before done), and of ferrying them 
on the ‘small craft’ before mentioned. Half 
of a wagon may thus be crossed at a time, 
by carefully balancing it upon the canoe, yet 
there is of oon no little danger of capsiz- 
ing during the passage. 
This rs even when fordable often occa- 
sions a great deal of trouble, being, like the 
Arkansas, embarrassed with many quicksand 
