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Show • 109 E./. Doc. No. 41. Re )Or~ makes th di stance of the mnuth. of ~he Colorado, frot:n the nIo , si· ng, eq· ~ hly miles. ' but unle . th. nver 1 v r. y c1r o ol k C' d, th1h cannot be; Lieut. Hardy, of th' royal n~vy, d tc~m ~net t 1e mout to be in latit ud 31° 5~' north , and. lon g1tud 114. 1,: . . . Th growth on the n y r bottom 1s <'O:ton wood, w tllo\\ of~~~~ lent kinds, quisctum hycmal e, (sco unng ru ~ h,) and a nut11t10us gra. 8 in mall quantitie. . . . . After crossing, we a ·en <led the nvcr t~ree qu:nt e1. of a mt.le, l 'Oltnt •r·cd ·111 imm n e sand Jnft, and from that po111l " ' l re\V '11 ' 1 C ]'[ · untl· 1 we 1 •1 lt <I tl1e gr at highway bet we n 'onora anc a 1 erma lo , < • • • 11 1. 1 1 1. . 1 cr the Coot of this drift wluch IS conttnua y uut s ow y L sa onh ' . ] 1 1 ·1.1 l en t:. roa ·l1ing down the valley. Pro op1s. gJ an< u. osa, Wl u sage, ant e hcdra C'ompo~e the growth· the first 1 uxunant. p vV. balled at a dry arroyo, a few feet to th ) left of th~ road, 1, 1· g ·1 ea<tll nto the Colorado ' wher thcr w.a.~ a hole five or 1x f et u' CP, which by de<.>pe~in~ fu;ni heel . ufT1c1ent wa.tcr 1·o r t l1 e. men. W c arc ) rt, by the mcll callon of the barometet, hut 20 or 30 feet aboYc th river, and where tb sands from th desert to the !lorth haYe not n ·roached, the scfil appears good. Th re ar' rcma~n of zequias about fi,·e miles. b.ack, and wh ·re we halted, the r.emam~ of Indian settlement , but 1t ts probable tl~e wat r }~as been cut off by the drift and cannot now be brought from the ~·1vcr above: I mad! ob en·ations at night for time and latttude, and foun~1 the po. ition of th 1 place to be north latitude 32° 40' 22" , and long1lude 114° 5G' 2 ",west of Gre nwirh. . . We tied our animals to the mezqutte tree , (pro.sopt.s gl.anclulo a,) and remarking on th way that they showed an 1n ·l 1n at10n to eat the hcan of thi plant, we sent th m n to colle ·t them; the few gath •red w 1 cat~ n with avi<lity. Novcrnbe?· 26.-The dawn of day found vC'ry man on hors eback, and a bunch of gra s from the Uolorada tied b ·i1ind him on t~e cantle of his ,ad dle. After getting well under way, the keen au at 26° Fahrenh ·it mad it mot comfortable to waH. We traveled four mile along the saT}cl buttr, in the same direction as ye tcrday, about south 75° w t, (marrnetic,) we moun teLl the butte. and found, after a short di lance, a firm r footing covered wilh fragment of lava, rounded by water, and many agates. \V e were now fairly on the cl ·s rt. Our course now inclined a few degre s more to the north, and at 10, a. m., we fou n cl a large patch of gram a, ~here we halt .cl for an hour, and then pursued our way over the plams cover d wtth fragments of 1ava, traversed at intervals by sand butte , until 4. P· m., when, after trave11ing 24. mil s, we reached the Aramo or cotton wood. At this point, the captured paniards informed u.s, that failing to ftnd water, they bad gone a league to the west, m pursuit of th ir horses, where they found a running stream. yY e a~cording1y sent parties to search, but neither the water nor thclf trail could be found. N<·ither was there any cotton wood at the Alamo, as it name would signify; but Francisco saicl that it \vas nevcrtbel ss th pla c, the tree having probably been covered by the encroachments of the Ex. Doc. No. 41. 101 afnd, whi ·h.h 1 r t rmin ~lr. in a bluff 40 feeL high, making th arc o a gr at Ctr · ' convextng to th 1 north. De ccnding this bluff, we found in what had been lhc channel of a stream, now ov rgrown '"·ith_a f•w i\1 -('o ndition<·d rnczCJuite, a ] a r g e h o 1 ' w h c r c p er so n · had. e" 1 d en t 1 y d u g f o r w a l ' r. It was n c _ ces ary. to ha.It to re t 0~1r ani.mah, and the tim was o··rupitd in de<•pcntng lht ~ holr, wht ·h after a long . trug ric, showed signs of w a t c ~·. A n o 1 d <: b am 1~ a g n e b a~ k ct, usc d by o n c of the o fTi (' e r s as a pan mer, wa lowered 111 th • hole, to pr ' V<'nt th? nutnbling of the sand. Aft.cr many.cffort.s to k eep out the cav1ng and, a ba~~ketwork of willow tw~gs cflr ·ted the obj ect, a~l(l mu('h to the joy of all, the .b ~ sk<>t, wlu ·h wa. now 15 or 20 I t below the stnface .filled w 1 th water. The or <1 e r was now g i v c n for a c h m 1' , to d 1 <H~ a c a ro p -k e ~ tl e of w at r? an .d C_a p t a i n Turn e r was p i aced in c h a r g c of t h e s p n n g , to s e e fa 1r rli t n b u l i o n . When th me ~.e were. upplied, th firmne. of the bank, gave hopes that the ~nun~ls mtght bE>. '~at red, ancl each party wa nolifie<! to have thetr antmal In wa1tlng; the importat.t bu iness of watenn. g .t~cn comru.en cd , UI?On tl:e sue ·css of which depend ,d the p o s s 1 b 1 b t y of t h '1r ad van c 111 g w 1 t h us a foot f u rt !J r. Two buckets for e~ch animal were a II o ~C'd. At 10, a. m., when my t~rn came, CapUun Moore had succeed elJ, by great >xc rti ons, in opemng anot~1cr well, and the on~ already opened b ·gan to flow m~re freely, tn ons quence of w.hLCh, we cou ld afford to g ive each an1~al as much as he could dr111k. The poor brute , none of wh t c~ hacl ta ted water in forty-eight hour~l and some not for the last stxty, <:1 u tered roun cl the w 1l and ~cram bled for prec •d •n cc. At 12 o'clo ·k I had watered all my animaL, thirty-seven in number, and t.urned o.vcr the well to Capta;n M core. The antmals ~dl had .an at;hing void to fill, anll al1 night was hca ~d the munchmg of st1 ·ks, and their p iteo us ·rics for more ·ongemal food. . Novernbe'r 27 and 2 -To-day w tartecl a few minu trs after ~un-n e. Ou.r co urse was a winding on , to avoid Lhe :and -drift . The Mex1can hacl informed u that the wat rs of tlw salt lake ~om e t hi ~ t y or f o r t y m i I c s d i, tan t, w c r e too ~a 1 t to u ~· e, b u t o t h e; 1nfor.mat10n .led us to think th intellige nc • wa wron r. \Ve accordingly lned to reach il; about 3, p.m., we discngag ·d ourst•lvcs from the and an<l w nt du (marrnetit;) west over an Immense le~el of clay detritus, bard and smbooth as a bo~Iing gr • n. The desert was almost de ti1 ut nt vegetation, now and then an e,rhedra, ccno thera, or bunchc of ari tid a were , t•en, and occaSlOnally the level. was covcrecl wi lh a growth of obion cane ccns, and a low bush wtth ,mall oval plaited 1 ·;ncs, unknown. Th heavy ~an I had JHOved too murh for many hor:c and some mu1_c , and all tl~c effort · of their driv ·r · could bring them no farthez than the muldle of this dreary dc.ert. About o do('k, as we approached th lake, the stcn ·h of dead animal · confirmed th reports of th Mc.·icans, and put to ilight all hope of our b 'ing abl to u ·c the water. The ba in of the lal e, as well as l could judge at nighl, i about |