330 
The Colorado River 
end to end, and our efforts might as well have been made with 
a teaspoon, though in many other rapids the kettles had 
proved effective. Here and there, as we shot down, I could 
look back under a canopy of foam and see the head of a great 
black rock. Fortunately we safely cleared everything, and in 
probably less than a minute we were at the bottom, lying to 
in an eddy, bailing fast and watching for the other boat. No 
sign of any living thing could be discovered as we peered up 
the rapid, which from below had the appearance of an almost 
vertical fall. Presently at the top of the foam a white speck 
moved, clearly seen against the dark background. It was the 
Canonita on the edge of the fall. I can see her yet, pausing 
for an instant, apparently, and then disappearing completely 
amidst the plunging waters. A minute later she reappeared 
at the bottom and ran alongside of us in good order. Owing 
to the large amount of water there seemed to be not much 
danger of striking a rock, and our boats did not capsize easily. 
After the plunge was begun we did not try to guide the boats— 
it would have been useless. The fall here was about eighty feet 
in a third of a mile. Some of the men called it the Sockdologer. 
The picture of it from above, on page 219, does not give a cor¬ 
rect impression, as the plate was too slow, but it was the best 
that could be done at the time. The canyon continued very 
narrow at the bottom, the river averaging about one hundred 
and fifty feet. Late in the afternoon we arrived at a much 
worse place than the Sockdologer, though the fall was not 
so great. Landing on the left on some broken rocks, we saw 
no chance of getting around the rapid there, so we crossed to 
the right and landed on another little pile of rocks in a small 
alcove. The walls rose vertically, or nearly so, from the water’s 
edge. We saw the only thing to do was to lower one boat, 
with two men on board, by her line for some distance (a 
hundred feet of best Manila rope were attached to each boat 
by a strong iron ring; in the stern was also an iron ring), and 
from the stern let the other cautiously down to the very head 
of the fall, where there was a second pile of rocks which re¬ 
ceived the boat between them and held her fast. The upper 
boat was then pulled back to where we had remained, the line 
