276 
The Colorado River 
cascades in the afternoon of this day were perfectly clear, and 
often fell several hundreds of feet, vanishing in spray, and pre¬ 
senting varied and exquisite effects in combination with the 
rich tones of the wet brown sandstone, and the background 
of dark grey sky. They ever increased in number, and directly 
opposite that night’s camp one fell straight down for about two 
hundred feet, disappeared in mist to gather again on a ledge 
below, and shot out once more, a delicate silvery thread against 
the dark mass of the cliff. The next day we passed a group 
of three canyons entering at one point, to which the name 
Trinalcove was given, as they appeared from the river like 
alcoves rather than canyons. The river was now very winding 
with walls frequently vertical. There were no rapids, though 
the water as a rule moved somewhat swiftly. The days were 
growing short, and the night air had an autumnal chill about 
it that made the camp-fire comforting. At the end of sixty- 
two miles the walls broke up into buttes and pinnacles, thou¬ 
sands of them, suggesting immense organs, cathedrals, and 
almost anything the imagination pictured. One resembling a 
mighty cross lying down was in consequence called the “Butte 
of the Cross.” ^ This was practically the end of Labyrinth Can¬ 
yon, and sweeping around a beautiful bend, where the rocks 
again began to come together, we were in the beginning of the 
next canyon of the series, two years before named Stillwater. 
At the suggestion of Beaman, the bend was called Bonito. On 
leaving our camp at this place the walls rapidly ran up, the 
current grew swifter, but the river remained smooth. The 
canyon was exceedingly “close,” the rocks rising vertically 
from the edge of the water. There were few places where a 
landing could be made, but luckily no landing was necessary, 
except for night. The darkness fell before we found a suitable 
camp-ground. Some of our supplies had now to be used with 
caution, for it became evident that we would run short of food 
before we could get any more. 
Long ago, no one knows how long, we might have been 
able to purchase of the natives who, a few miles below this 
camp, had tilled a small piece of arable land in an alcove. 
Small huts for storage were found there in the cliffs, and on a 
^ Actually a pinnacle and a butte—not a single mass. 
