Portage of the stores is made to the wash at the head of the rapids, which consumes the greater share of the day, and half an hour before twilight a rope is stretched and the emergency prepared for.

The entire force is stationed along the line, and the cast-off is made.

In five minutes the worst part of the rapid is over, and just as the sun sinks gloomily behind the canyon horizon, the worst rapid is triumphantly passed amid the cheers and exultations of every member of the party." The following day, October 13th, they reached the narrowest part of the river, a channel less than fifty feet wide, but the canyon on top is, of course, very broad.

With many portages and other arduous toil the party slowly climbed up the river, sometimes making less than three miles, sometimes a little more.

The rapids grew worse and worse, and the smooth stretches in between shorter and shorter.