The day turned out very cloudy with sprinkles of rain and Prof.decided to wait still longer to see if Beaman could get a good photograph, and we had another night of insect opera.

The next day by noon the photographer had caught the scene and we continued our descending way.

The river was perfectly smooth, except a small rapid late in the day, with walls on both sides steadily increasing their altitude.

Desolation in its beginning is exactly the reverse of Lodore and Split Mountain.

In the latter the entrance could hardly be more sudden, whereas the Canyon of Desolation pushes its rock walls around one so diplomatically that it is some little time before the traveller realises that he is caught.