32 MOUTH OF THE COLORADO—PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERIMENTS. 
increased by the necessity of propping the section up to allow room after they should be 
rivetted together to slide the timbers beneath. The most hazardous undertaking of all will be 
to lower the boiler into the hull, and this has not yet been commenced. All kinds of rude 
expedients have had to be resorted to to make up for the small force of men, and the absence 
of proper timber and appliances, and the ingenuity of our engineer has several times been 
severely exercised. The rough handling that the pieces had experienced in the course of the 
trip from New York, particularly during the Isthmus transit, had bent them so badly out of 
shape that at first Mr. Carroll viewed them with a kind of despair, but patience and labor have 
gradually overcome these embarrassments, and the pigmy, but prettily modelled boat, begins 
now to assume somewhat of its future appearance. 
Captain Walsh has been obliged to withdraw his crew in order to have certain work attended 
to on board the schooner, and every week two of my own half dozen men have to absent them- 
selves for a day, and ascend the river fifteen miles to procure drinking water, which we are 
compelled to use with great economy. 
The new moon tides are now approaching. A few days ago, when the water was at its 
lowest stage, the surface at high tide was twelve or fifteen feet below the level it attained at 
the period of full moon, while at low tide it was several feet higher.. During the autumn and 
winter the full moon tides rise higher than those of the new moon, but in spring and summer 
it is said that the reverse occurs. Similar alternations take place in the comparative heights 
of the day and night tides at different seasons, but I believe that no opportunity has ever been 
afforded of keeping a tide-record for a sufficiently long time to exhibit the annual changes and 
fluctuations. 
In a {day or two the boats to take away the Monterey’s cargo are expected down, and it is 
desirable that the water should rise before that time sufficiently high to float her out into the 
stream, so that she can discharge the freight from her own deck to those of the steamers. In 
spite of all our panegyrics upon the advantages of the position occupied by the Monterey, her 
worthy captain has, for the past two weeks, viewed the situation of his vessel with rueful dis- 
gust and forebodings, and is waiting with eager interest for the tide of to-night, which he 
hopes will set her once more afloat. 
The northwester of last week exhausted itself at the end of three days, and since then there 
has been an uninterrupted succession of the delicious weather experienced before. There 
being a little photographic apparatus along, I have taken advantage of the mild and quiet 
interval to experiment, and having constructed out of an india-rubber tarpaulin a tent that 
entirely excluded the light, have made repeated efforts to obtain a view of camp and the 
riyer. The attempt has not met with distinguished success. The chemicals seem to have 
deteriorated, and apart from this the light is so glaring, and the agitation of the atmosphere 
near the surface of the ground so great, that it is doubtful whether, under any circumstances 
a clear and perfect picture could be secured. 
Our two Indian friends have departed. I suspect that there was a rupture of amicable rela- 
tions between them and the cook, whom, indeed, they must have sadly annoyed by their per- 
severing presence at his fire. All their faculties and thoughts, if they had any, seemed to be 
concentrated in viewing the preparations for eating. At night, when the cooking operations 
were concluded, they would indulge in a little conversation and become quite boisterous while 
laughing and talking over the culinary events of the day. I never caught them asleep; at 
whatever hour of the night I happened to be about, I would find them stil] sitting up plates 
ing over each other and the fire, or peering curiously, with their bright eyes at en and m 
astronomical instruments. Now that they have gone, the nights are profoundly quiet, exce A 
ing for the occasional howling of a wolf, or the low hoarse murmur into which the cues of the 
spring tide flow has subsided. 
_ The transit has been adjusted in good position, and I have been engaged in testing the rates 
