HOW THE EVENINGS WERE SPENT. 73 
Indian, who had been captured by his present master some 
_ years ago. This savage had many accomplishments, and, 
amongst others, he knew the war songs and dances of many of 
the neighbouring tribes. He was very fond of our camp, for 
he seldom went away empty-handed; and when the fires were 
blazing up and a good circle had been formed for him, he 
would come and sing his war songs until far into the night. 
A different dance accompanied each chant; the music was 
very wild and plaintive—a dreary dirge in a minor key—at 
_ particular parts it became very slow and piano, then a quick 
- movement usually followed, the dance corresponding with the 
Music, until the climax was reached by a series of yells 
_ which made the whole cafion re-echo with unearthly sounds. 
Our oft-repeated applause had the effect of exciting the little 
_ fellow to such an extent that he usually kept it up until he 
_ was quite exhausted. 
; So melancholy were the intonations of all these curious 
chants, that they seemed to be the fitting funeral march of a 
people speedily and for ever passing away from their place 
“amongst the nations of the earth. ; 
_ Three-fourths of the cafion was traversed and surveyed in 
four days; the remaining fourth, however, presented the most 
‘ formidable obstructions; for large masses of wall-rock had 
; had we succeeded in getting our mules and horses over one 
; pile of débris than a fresh one lay across our path. We 
| gradually entered, however, a more broken and open country, 
and gaps in the walls became proportionately frequent. 
Confusion seemed here to reign supreme; no longer did the 
abrupt walls hem us in, but large masses of rock, I may say 
sides of mountains, lay piled up all around. We measured 
one ‘perpendicular cliff, which, from its position, was acces- 
