30 MOUTH OF THE COLORADO—COMPLETION OF WAYS. 
varying outlines bathed in hues of lustrous purple and gold. As the sun mounts higher, and 
the light becomes more intense, these grow indistinct, and are gradually lost in a bright mist 
of grayish blue that seems to blend the earth and sky. The nearer mountains, the water, 
and the flats, all partake of the same blue cast, and throughout the day are invested with a 
dazzling azure glare. Towards sunset this, in turn, passes away, the distant summits reappear, 
but in their true shapes, low down upon the horizon, and the tone of the landscape becomes a 
cold, leaden gray. 
The country is almost destitute of every kind of vegetable growth. Of animal life there 
are a few varieties. Waterfowl are abundant, and the coyotes are sometimes heard howling 
about camp after nightfall. A single California lion was encountered to-day by the wood 
party, but trotted off before any one could get a shot at him. 
December 5.—By noon a sufficient number of logs had been brought in, and all hands were 
set to work to prepare a place for the ways. The formation of the ground along the river is 
badly adapted for launching a boat. As it is level up to the very edge of the precipitous bluff 
that forms the western face of the channel, and as the water at the next full moon tides will 
probably not rise more than a foot above the surface, the ways cannot be built above ground, 
for they must be at least three feet high to admit of persons working under the bottom of the 
boat, and their upper surface must be as much as two feet below high water to allow the steam- 
boat to be floated off. The only resource therefore is to make an excavation large and deep 
enough to contain both the ways and the steamer, and to cut a ditch from it to the river to 
permit the egress of the boat when it is completed. A spot has been accordingly selected 
near the brink of the channel, and a space marked out fifty feet by fourteen, which will have 
to be excavated to the depth of four or five feet. It is a troublesome undertaking, for the 
digging is exceedingly laborious. The wet, heavy, and tough clay adheres to the spades like 
glue, and nearly every spadeful has to be scraped off with the hand. The men have, however, 
gone cheerfully and vigorously to work, and have already accomplished a considerable portion 
of the task. Mr. Carroll, meanwhile, is overhauling the different parts of the boat and 
machinery, everything of iron being badly rusted by the long sea voyage. 
Much hard work has been accomplished during the past three days, and all are glad that 
to-morrow will be Sunday, and a day of rest. 
December 6.—Not satisfied to pass a quiet day after the labors of the week, many of the men, 
seduced by the enticing weather and smooth water, started in a boat after breakfast on a 
clamming excursion towards the Gulf. A furious northwester set in about noon, and continued 
till dark, occasioning us a good deal of anxiety for the safety of the clam hunters. At sunset 
the horizon to the south was eagerly scanned, but they were nowhere in sight, and when night 
fell, and hour after hour passed without their appearance, there seemed to be ground for 
serious uneasiness. A long interval of painful suspense was at last relieved by the arrival of 
the missing party. All were safe, and the resentment naturally felt against those who have 
been the cause of an unnecessary solicitude was appeased when the excursionists came ashore. 
They were a sorry looking set. They had been caught in the gale, and were exhausted with 
rowing and bailing. They had not got any clams, but were hungry, wet, and bedraggled, and 
quite satisfied that it was useless to search for either pleasure or shellfish at the mouth of the 
Colorado. 
_ December 7.—This morning the excavation of the pit was completed, and from the pile of 
drift logs that the men had brought in some fifteen or twenty of the straightest and soundest 
were selected, and a row of posts sunk into the ground, about seven feet apart, along either 
_ side of the bottom. Each post is to be united to the opposite one by a cross log fitted upon 
the tops, making a kind of trestle, of which there will be half a dozen placed parallel to one 
_ another, and fastened together by cross and longitudinal braces. The upper surfaces are then 
be squared off to a genel level, and a rude substitute thus formed for ways, but one which 
Bd 
