"Mr. Bass and Dad go off to hunt for the horses and mules we are to use on
the trip. The burros will not travel fast enough, though they are going to
put me on a large burro they name Belshazzar.
"After lunch each spends the afternoon as he chooses. Mr. James invites me
to come and visit a snuggery that he has established, where I find him
writing. He reads what he has written, also part of Browning's 'Rabbi Ben
Ezra.'
"Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1901. At and preparing to leave Shinumo. The magnitude
of the undertaking appalls me. It is so much more tremendous than I
anticipated.
The Start. "The saddling and packing of the animals occupies much time. We
start about nine o'clock with nine animals, six burros, two horses and one
mule. My Belshazzar is slow but very sure. Mr. James rides the mule, a red
creature, very nervous and excitable and which they tell me is not well
broken and does not like to be ridden.
Ascending the Trail. "We go up a long trail over a ridge, with loose soil,
quite barren. The ascent is not very steep but the hillside across which
the trail passes slopes down to canyons and precipices which suggest
unfathomable depths. At one place the trail, for about fifty feet, is over
ashes or some exceedingly loose material that allows the animals to slide
very quickly down towards the deep precipice on the right and the sight is
most trying to my nerves, but Belshazzar's deliberate walk and
sure-footedness soon restore my usual equanimity.
"From this we pass into a canyon or series of canyons where one can plainly
see that in the remote past a torrent has poured down, tearing away the
soil and tossing huge boulders about. Many naked rocky ledges show, and my
burro is occasionally required to carry me up stone steps.
Muav Canyon. "Presently we enter a narrow canyon through which flows a
clear, cool stream. Walls of red rock on both sides with, much gray stone.
Many large sycamores, cottonwoods and alders, grass and flowers, with
maidenhair ferns on the rocks. We stop for lunch under a big cottonwood
tree. About four thousand five hundred feet elevation. We leave this lovely
spot and go up the canyon which makes a sharp turn to the left. This is
Muav Canyon.
Climbing Higher. "After a little distance we emerge from this canyon and
leave the stream. Then begins a tremendous climb which I accomplish by
clinging to the coat tails of the guide with one hand and sometimes with
both hands, he holding tight to the burro's tail ahead of him. Belshazzar
accepts this - to me - novel situation with accustomed cheerfulness and does
his best to haul us up the mountain, stopping occasionally to recover his
breath.
