MOUTH OF THE COLORADO —BUILDING OF HULL. 31 
we hope will well enough answer the purpose. While the carpenter was employed in fitting 
this rough frame work the other hands undertook the task of moving the boiler up to the side 
of the pit. It weighs three tons, and though the distance was only twenty-five or thirty yards, 
there being no convenient moving appliances, it took ten men nearly the whole day to work it 
along through the deep mud into its place. 
The steamboat was built to order in Philadelphia at very short notice, and was put together 
and tried upon the Delaware river before being taken to pieces for shipment. The trial trip 
had to be made only three days before the boat was to start for New York in the California 
steamer, and there was no time to remedy a serious defect that had been developed. The 
boiler had been ordered, for special reasons, to be of unusual dimensions for the size of the 
boat, and the weight, resting upon the weakest portion of the hull, occasioned, while the 
steamer was in motion, a vibration and bending that threatened to break her in two amidships. 
To guard against this disaster, Mr. Carroll proposed to stiffen the hull by bolting four stout 
pieces of scantling along the bottom—it being impossible to place them inside—and to fasten 
others athwart, before and behind the boiler. The timber and the bolts for this object were 
provided in San Francisco, but nearly sixty holes have to be drilled, by hand, through the 
thick iron sections, for the bolts to pass through. All day long Mr. Carroll and the black- 
smith, perched on a little mound of clay, a trifle less damp than the surrounding surface, have 
been patiently pounding holes, and have half finished the required number. 
A keen and boisterous northwester has roared since morning about our ears, impeding work» 
and making every one uncomfortable. It has been something like a Texas norther. The 
temperature fell considerably as it sprung up, and the rapid evaporation from the wet earth 
added an extra chill. 
A little before dark, just as work had been suspended, and the steam from the cook fire was 
announcing the evening meal to be in an advanced state of preparation, two dirty looking 
beings hove in sight, and came trotting over the flats, directing their way with unerring 
sagacity towards that part of camp where the eating arrangements were progressing. The 
appearance of our party, with the bustle of the camp, and the piles of steamboat pieces and 
freight lying about must have been rather a novelty, but neither these nor the unusual 
spectacle of the schooner standing near the top of the bank had any apparent interest for the 
new comers, but established to leeward of the fire, where they could inhale the odor of the 
victuals, they sat watching the cook and the supper with an air of mingled wishfulness and 
veneration. They informed us that they were Cocopas, a tribe that live along the Colorado 
for fifty miles from the mouth. Directions were given that they should be fed, though those 
who have had some experience with these Indians say that it is quite impossible to satisfy 
their hunger. After they had devoured what was conceived to be a sufficient quantity, I 
endeavored by signs to persuade them to carry a letter to Fort Yuma. They understood what 
was wanted, but positively declined the duty, informing me, by an expressive gesture, and 
several emphatic repetitions of the word ‘‘ Yumas,”’ that if they attempted to execute the 
commission they would certainly be knocked in the head by the Yuma Indians, amongst whom 
they would be obliged to pass. They appear to have a great dread of their neighbors, and if 
our two visitors are fair specimens of the Cocopas the latter are much inferior to the other 
Colorado tribes. Their figures are not as well proportioned, and their faces are devoid of 
expression. Their clothing consists of a narrow strip of cotton, tied about the loins, an 
unseasonable dress for this time of year. 
December 14.—The past week has been a monotonous, but a busy one. The ways having 
been completed the eight sections of the hull were moved upon them, and the fitting and 
rivetting together commenced. It was a troublesome operation to carry the heavy and 
awkardly shaped masses of iron to the side of the pit and lower them into position, and great 
was the satisfaction of the men as each in turn was lodged in its sities bg difficulty was 
