The Tidal Bore 
125 
fathom the real cause of these singular changes of speed. Sud¬ 
denly, as they were descending, people of the same tribe they 
had fired on stood on the shore and shouted, making signs for 
them to land, that their boats would be capsized, but, thinking 
it a scheme for robbery and murder, they kept on, though they 
refrained from shooting. Late in the evening they landed, 
making their camp on a low point where the canoes with their 
rich cargoes were tied to some trees. Pattie’s father took the 
first watch, and in the night, hearing a roaring noise that he 
thought indicated a sudden storm, he roused his companions. 
Cliffs of the Rio Virgen, about 2500 Feet High. 
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey. 
and all was prepared for a heavy rain, when, instead, to their 
great consternation, the camp was inundated by “a high ridge 
of water over which came the sea current combing down like 
water over a mill-dam.” The canoes were almost capsized, 
but this catastrophe was averted by rapid and good manage¬ 
ment. Even in the darkness, in the face of a danger unex¬ 
pected and unknown, the trappers never for an instant lost 
their coolness and quick judgment, which was so often their 
salvation. Paddling the canoes under the trees, they clung to 
