278 AGUA PRIETA TO 
one “seen Distance — to-day, twenty- -one: 
‘May 30th. Soon after leaving Bacuachi, we turned 
from the valley and took the bed of the Sonora River. 
The mountains here approach so close together that 
the river has barely washed its passage through, and 
_ no valley or bottom is again seen for many miles. We 
entered this cafion by the bed of the river, which is 
but a few inches deep, crossing and recrossing it a 
hundred times during the day’s journey. Sometimes 
for miles we were so closely hemmed in by the perpen- 
dicular sides of this extraordinary defile, which rose six 
or eight hundred feet above on either hand, that we 
could not see a hundred yards before or behind us; 
and at other places, the dense foliage which sprung up 
from little islands, hung like a canopy over our heads. 
The whole course of the river through this cafion 
affords a series of most delightful scenes; and the first 
few miles of the ride through it will long be remem- 
bered by those who enjoyed it, as the most beautiful 
portion of our route. The rocks through which the 
stream has forced its way, exhibited the most pictu- 
resque and fantastic forms. Columns, turrets, towers 
and pyramids, as nature made them, decked with bril- 
liant flowers or bearing strange cacti, appeared at 
every turn. From projecting ledges sprung the yucca 
and agave, where there seemed scarcely soil enough to 
give them a foothold. The air was filled with a deli- 
cious perfume from the grape and mellilot ; and birds 
of brilliant plumage and sweetest song flitted across 
our path. 
It will hardly be necessary for me to remark, that 
