COLORADO PLATEAU, NEAR BIG CANON—SIDE CANONS OF FLAX RIVER. 109 
so exhausting that, during the last stretch, two or three of the men broke down, and had to 
have coffee and food sent back to them before they could proceed. 
The messengers, as expected, had not arrived, and our. non-return had occasioned some 
anxiety. The Mexicans were immediately despatched in search of the missing men. Directions 
had been given that if at any time a person should perceive that he was lost, he should wait 
quietly in one place for the arrival of the searching party. The two men had had the nerve 
to follow this plan, and, as soon as they were convinced of the hopelessness of finding the lost 
path, had selected a comfortable place and patiently waited during the rest of the day, all 
night, and till noon of the following day, when the Mexicans found them. Their trail could 
scarcely have been traced for any great distance over the rocks, and had they continued 
wandering through the mazes of the cafions they would probably have never again been 
heard from. 
The region east of camp has been examined to-day. The extent and magnitude of the system 
of caiions in that direction is astounding. The plateau is cut into shreds by these gigantic 
chasms, and resembles a vast ruin. Belts of country miles in width have been swept away, 
leaving only isolated mountains standing in the gap. Fissures so profound that the eye cannot 
penetrate their depths are separated by walls whose thickness one can almost span, and slender 
spires that seem tottering upon their bases shoot up thousands of feet from the vaults below. 
Fig. 35.—Side Cafions of Flax River. 
Towards the southeast, also, for a great distance, the surface is furrowed by these dives. 
They appear to extend nearly to the San Francisco mountains, and bar all progress eastward. 
Northward we can proceed no further, and the only course is to go back to the nearest water 
as a starting point, and from thence strike south, and, heading these formidable barriers, cross 
Flax river, and again travel north upon the — side of that stream. 
