It was difficult to decide sometimes just where to draw the line; in one rapid we tried to go through, the Nell struck a rock, knocking Thompson out and nearly capsizing, but no real harm was done.

The walls increased to nearly three thousand feet, and the rapids followed each other in quick succession every day.

At one point we saw, a couple of thousand feet above on the right a gigantic example of the natural arches.

Beyond this the walls began to grow somewhat lower.

Our life through this gorge, as well as through some others, might be described by the monotonous phrase, "Got up, ran rapids, went to bed." There was no time to do anything else.