noon
Our chief anxiety was about water , as yet not a single cascade had we met with , nor the smallest rivulet trickling down the sides of the mountains . So lofty were the rocks , that we could nowhere see even the tops of the mountains above us . We concluded that we were at some distance from the snowy peak we had discovered the day before , which would probably have sent down a stream to afford us the water we required . We stopped to rest at noon , where the gorge opened out slightly and the ground bore a sufficient amount of grass to enable our horses to crop a scanty meal . As we were anxious to get into a more fertile region before nightfall , we did not remain longer than was necessary . The shades of evening came on far sooner than would have been the case in the plain . The cliffs rose on every hand , towering as high , or even higher , than at the entrance of the gorge .