CHAPTER IX. 
THE RIO VIRGEN AND THE U-IN-KA-RET MOUNTAINS. 
We' have determined to continue the exploration of the canons of the 
Colorado. Our last trip was so hurried, owing to the loss of rations, and 
the scientific instruments were so badly injured, that we are not satisfied 
with the results obtained, so we shall once more attempt to pass through the 
caflons in boats, devoting two or three years to the trip. 
It will not be possible to carry in the boats sufficient supplies for the 
party for that length of time, so it is thought best' to establish depots of 
supplies, at intervals of one or two hundred miles along the river. 
Between Gunnison's Crossing and the foot of the Grand Canon, we 
know of only two points where the river can be reached one at the Cross 
ing of the Fathers, and another a few miles below, at the mouth of the Paria, 
on a route which has been explored by Jacob Hamblin, a Mormon mis 
sionary. These two points are so near each other that only one of them 
can be selected for the purpose above mentioned, and others must be found. 
We have been unable, up to this time, to obtain, either from Indians or white 
men, any information which will give us a clue to any other trail to the 
river. 
At the head waters of the Sevier, we are on the summit of a great 
water-shed. The Sevier itself flows north, and then westward, into the lake 
of the same name. The Rio Virgen, heading near by, flows to the south 
west, into the Colorado, sixty or seventy miles below the Grand Canon. 
The Kanab, also heading near by, runs directly south, into the very heart 
of the Grand Canon. The Paria, also heading near by, runs a little south 
of east, and enters the river at the head of Marble Canon. To the northeast 
from this point, other streams, which run into the Colorado, have their sources, 
until, forty or fifty miles away, we reach the southern branches of the 
