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Show [ 174 J 258 tirely unfit for drinking. Ilcre we turned ~irectly to ~he eastw~rd, along the trail, which, from l~emg seldo~ n ed, 1s almost ~mpcrccptlble; and, after trav llinO" a few mtl s, our gnu.le halted , and, poullmg to the hardly visible trail, "~qui cs camino," sai<.l .he, "nose pie1·rle-v~t siemp~·e." lie pointed out a black bulle on the pl.am at the ~o?t of. the n1?untam, w~ere we would find water to encamp at 111ght; and, c:rtvmO" lnm a p1c ... cnt of ktnvcs and scarlet cloth, \Ve shook hands aud parted. I le bore ofl' south, and in a day's ride would arrive at San Fern~udo, one ~r several. 1~1i ss ion? in this part of California where ~he c~m:try ts o beauLifnl that Jt IS considered a paradist.>, and the name of 1t.s pnnctpal town ( Puebla de {os .!lngelrs) would make it anO"elic. We coutmucd on throuO"h a succe ston of valleys, and came iuto .. ~most bcautifnl spot of 11o-wcr field : iu teJ.d of" green, the hills \verc purple and oraugc, with unbroken b~ds, int? which each col?r was separately gathered. A pale str:nv color, \VIth a bnght yellow, the nch red orange of the poppy miugled with fields of purple, covered the sp_ot :vith a floral beauty; and, on the border of the saudy deserts, scrmed to mvJte the traveller to go no farth er. Ridino· along thronoh the perfnrued air, we soon after entered a defile ovcrgro\VIl with the ominou') ar!em,isia t1·identata, \vhiclt conc.lnctcd us into a sandy plain covered mvre or less densely with forests of ,yucca. . . !laving UO\V the snowy ridge on our n oht we contlllucd our way towards a dark butte bclonginO" to a low sierra in the plain, and which our guide had poiutcd out for a la11dmark. Late iu the day the familiar growth of cottonwood, a ]inc of which was visible ahead, indicatctl our approach to a creek, which we reached where the water spread out into samls, and a little below sank entirely. llerc our guide had inlcnued we should pass the nicrht; but there was not a blade of grass and, l10ping to find nearer the mouutain a little for the night, we turned up the stream. A hundred yards above, we fouud the creek a fine stream, 1 G feet \vide, with a swift cnrrent. A dark night overtook us \Vhen \VC rcnchrd the hills at the fool of the ridge, and we were obliged to encamp without g rass; tyillg up what animals we could secure in the darkness, the greater part of the wild ones having free runge for the ui<~ht. Here the stream \\ra' two feet deep,,wifl and clear, i ·suing from a neirrlllJoring sno\v peale A few miles before reachi11g this creek, we had cro .. scd a broad dry river bed, which, nearer the hills, the hunters had found a bold and handsome . trcam. .llpri/18.-Some parties were cngao-cd in hun tin ()" up the ~cnttered hors~s, and others in searching for grass above; both \vc rc ~ uccessful, and late m the day we encamped among some spring heads of the river, in a hollow wl~ich wa~ covered with only tolerably good grasses, the lowe: ground bemg enttre1y overgrown witb ·Jaro-e bunches of the coarse stlff grass, (carea: sitchensis.) Onrlatitnde,byobscrvation was34°27'03"· and ]onO"itude 117° 13'00", Travelling close along the ~ouutain, we f~llowed l~p, in the afternoon of t~e 1 Dth, another lream, in hopes to find a grass patch like that of the prcvwus ?ay, but were deceived; except some scattered bunch grass, the~e was noth1~g but rock and sand; and even the ferlility of the rnountalll scem~d wnbered by the air of the desert. An1ong the few trees was the nut pmc, (pinus 1nonophyllus.) . Our road the 11ext day was still in an easterly Jirectton along the .ndge, o:cr very bad travelling gronnd, brok n and confotmdcd with cnppled tl ees and shrubs; and, after a difficult march of 18 miles, a general shout • 259 [ 174 ] aunounced that we had struck the great objP.ct of our search-THE S . . h . d" ~ PANI 1£ TRAIL-Which cr 1 e 1 \\ 1ras run0r~mg ~~·cctly 11orth.. The road itself, and it course, were cg na y w.ppy 1scovencs to tlS. Swcc the middle of D. ber we harl · 11 b r 1 ecc m- 1 1 contmua y 1 cc~1 t~rccc soutfh by mountains and by de erls, and 110w wonlr .1ave to mace SIX ucgrees o nor~lting, to regain the latitude 011 which we wtshcd to cross the Hocky mouutam . The conrsc of the road therefore, was what we wautcd; and, ~uce more, we felt like going hotne: wur~s. A road to_1 travel ou? an 1 d the. ?·zgltt course to go, were joyful consola. tious to us; anu our amma s CDJOy~cl the beaten trade like our elves. Rclt~vcd fro.m t be rocks auJ brnsll '·our wdd ~ntll cs.~larted off at a rapid rate. and m.l5 nllles we reached a constderable nvcr, tunlwreu with cottonwood anu w~~owd, whe-re wde C1o~l1Jd1 a b 1 otto 1 .m of toJen~ble gra .. . As the animals hadsuucrc a great ea 111 lie ust ew days, I remained here all next d . to allow them the necessary rcpo:sc; and it was now tJc·ccs.-ary, at cv~l: favorab le place, to make a little ll:.~.lt. Between us nJJd the Colorado river w~ were aware th~t the cou~ltry was extrem.cly poor ill gras , a11d scarce for watc~·, there. bemg many JOrnadas, (days' JOtnncy,) 0)' Jong str 'tehC!s of 40 to 60 miles, Wit.hout ~vate~·, where the roa~ was marked by bon 'S of animab. ~Jthough Ill Cal1fonua we h~d n1ct w1th pe.ot~le wh? had passed over tllls tra1l, wo hau been able to obtam no ctJrrect Jlllormatwn about it; and thr greater p~rt o~ what we had heard w~ found to be ouly a tissue of falsehoo~ s. 1 he nve:s tll~t we found on It ~vcre uevcr UJCJJtioncd, and others, partlcularly descnbcd 111 name and locality, were .suiJscqueutly seen iu anot~ ler pa~t of tbc country. It was dcs?ribcd a a .tolerably good sandy road , wllh S? httJe rock as scarcely to reqmre the arllmal to be ·hod; and we found It. the roughest and rocl ic t roa<.l \~e had ever seen iu the country, ~nd which uearly clestr~yed our band of fltle nntle~ and l10r~es. L\lany anImals arc destroyed on lt every year by a disease. called the foot evil· aud a traveller should never venture on it witho11t having his animals well 'shod and also carrying extra shoes. ' Latitude 34° 34' 11 '' ; and. longitude 11 T' 13' 00 ". Tho morning of the ~2d was clenr an<.l bright, awl a, nowy peak to the southward shone out h1gl1 aud sharp I y defined. A · has becu usual since w~ c~ossed the mountains all<.l descc n~ ed into the hot plains we had a gale of ~vmd. \V c tra veiled down the nght uank of the stream, over £anus '~luch arc somewhat loose, aud have no verdure, but are occupied by varwu~ shnrbs. A clear bol<~ streatn, GO feet wide, au d. several feet deep, had a sttange appc~rance, runuwg bot ween perfect! y naked banks of sand. The yo, however, 1s somewhat relieved by willow , and the bcautiflll green of ~ le sweet cotto~nvoo~s with which it is well wooucJ . As we followed along ~f course, the ~1 ver, wsl ead of growiug con~Lautly larger, grad ually d win- ! ed away, as lt was absorbed by the and. vVc were uow careful to take t le tld cantping places of the annual Santa F6 C<lravaiJs, wl11ch, luckily for ~~'r lad not yet made their yearly pa sage. A drove of ~cveral thousand so~aud mules would entirely have swept away the ~ca uty gra s at the ~~~torwgylaces, and we sl~ould ha vo bec1~ o.bligod to. lea ~c the road to obd' 1 S~lbststeucc fur our ammals. After nclmg 20 nulcs 111 a northeasterly !l"ectJOn, wo f?und au olu encampment, where we halted. ~y 0.bscrvat10n, the elevation of this encampment is 2,250 feet. f t?nt 23.~The trail followed still along the river, which, in the course fn ° ~ormng, enti1~ely disappeared. We contiuued along the dry bed 1 whtch, after an mterval of about 16 miles, the water reappeared in |
