MOJAVE VALLEY TO MOUTH OF BLACK CANON—PAINTED CANON. 79 
the Colorado commences ; every point of the view is scanned with eager interest. We can 
distinctly see to the north the steep wall of one side of the gorge where the Colorado breaks 
through the Black mountains. Whether this is the ‘‘Big Cafion” or not it is certainly of far 
grander proportions than any which we have thus far traversed. 
: Fig. 21.—Cottonwood Valley. 
At the head of the Cottonwood valley we threaded a cafion formed by the passage of the 
river through a spur that connects the Black and Dead mountain ranges. It was only two or 
three miles in extent, and the sides were of moderate height, but the gorgeous contrast and 
intensity of color exhibited upon the rocks exceeded in beauty anything that had been witnessed 
of a similar character. Various and vivid tints of blue, brown, white, purple, and crimson, 
were blended with exquisite shading upon the gateways and inner walls, producing effects so 
novel and surprising as to make the cafion, in some respects, the most picturesque and striking 
of any of these wonderful mountain passes. 
The country above and adjoining the river is tolerably open. There is no more alluvial land, 
but low gravel hills can be traced as far north as the base of the Black mountains. Just above 
the Painted cafion, and forming a part of the spur that has been alluded to, is a symetrical and 
prominent peak, Mount Davis, which presents the most conspicuous landmark north of the 
Dead mountain. At the base of Mount Davis the river divides and forms a round island of 
considerable extent, at the foot of which is a rapid that has created some trouble and detention. 
A few scattered Mojave families inhabit the Cottonwood valley. We saw no fields under culti- 
vation, and the residents brought neither corn nor beans to trade. One of them agreed to take 
a letter for me to Lieutenant Tipton, and to guide the pack-train from the Mojave valley until it 
Should overtake us. This may be at no great distance ahead, for Ireteba, while admitting that 
we may reach the mouth of the Black cafion, still maintains that we can never get the steamboat _ 
