ii8 
The Colorado River 
them all the stolen beaver-skins, five mules, and their dried 
buffalo meat. After this interchange of civilities the trappers 
went on to where the river forked again, neither fork being 
more than twenty-five or thirty yards wide. The right-hand- 
fork pursued a north-east course, and following it four days 
brought them (probably in Middle Park) to a large village of 
the “Nabahoes.” Of these they inquired as to the pass over 
the mountains (Continental Divide) and were informed they 
must follow the left-hand fork, which they accordingly 
did, and on the thirty-first day of May, 1826, came to the 
gap, which they traversed, by following the buffalo trails 
through the snow, in six days. Then they descended to the 
Platte, and went on north to the Yellowstone, making in all 
a traverse of the whole Rocky Mountain region probably 
never since surpassed, and certainly never before approached. 
A few months later a lieutenant of the British Navy, R. W. 
H. Hardy, travelling in Mexico, chartered in the port of Guay- 
mas a twenty-five-ton schooner, the Briija or Sea Witch, and 
sailed up the Gulf of California. Encountering a good deal of 
trouble in high winds and shoals he finally reached a vein of 
reddish water which he surmised came from ‘‘Red River,” and 
at two o’clock of the same day he saw an opening ahead which 
he took to be the mouth of the river. An hour later all doubt 
was dispelled, and by half-past six he came to anchor for the 
night at the entrance, believing the tide to be at nearly low 
water. ‘‘In the middle of the night,” he says, ‘‘I was awak¬ 
ened by the dew and the noise of jackals. I took this oppor¬ 
tunity of examining the lead which had been left hanging 
alongside, to see what water we had. What was my astonish¬ 
ment to find only a foot and a half. The crew was sound 
asleep. Not even the sentinel was able to keep his eyes open. ’ ’ 
They got off without damage at the rise of the tide, but the 
next day misfortune awaited the schooner. The helmsman 
neglecting his duty for a moment as they were working up the 
stream, the vessel lost headway, and the fierce current immedi¬ 
ately swept her, stern foremost, into the bank and broke the 
rudder. After much labour the Bruja was finally again placed 
in the stream, where they waited for slack water, expecting 
