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Show 434 Ex. Doc. No. 41. one is ohlig c1 to keep a sharp look out for it, as tl1eH is only one or two tree. ~H:atlt•rcd along its bottom, and thNH' almost hidden by pcrp<,ndindar banks, in many plac<•s 15 fed high. I should ;.ulvisc p<>rsom: to <'ncamp just befotc rcaclling th<.• three conical buttes, a sketch of which was maclc laRI y(•ar; as th<') point out this camping plan' thPy form a "\ery useful land mark. T h · w a t<• r s of the l<~ 1 R i o 'I'; m p a a r c g t' rH' r a II y v n y sa l in e , b u l the la t c rain h a tl so d i 1 u t c d t h c m t h :t t w c f o u n cl l h c m rather p lc a-sant. My lit1lt• party r<.>achcd this plare at 4 o'clock, hut the ox trains did not arrivt' until dark; many of' th(' men, who wore moecasins WCI'<.' ('Olllplaining rnosl bitterly of thr spines of the cactus· lJH'it~ feel were full of them. ' A s t h <' r r was no wood fit to burn , w <' were for c c d l o u e tl~ e g r <' as e b r u ::; h ~ so t ~ c " o y a g <' '.' r s . c a II i t o n a c c o u ~~ t o f i t s h u r n i n g w tl h such a b r tllt ant lq~ h l. It 1 s 1 n truth t h c o b 10 JH' canes c c n . This, ~vith the· artemi.ia tridentata and Fremontia vermit:ulari~, grows 1~ gn•at abundance along- th<' valley of the Timpa. (~row1ng among the sa~e T fot1nd th<' "linosyris dra<'lmculoi<lcs." It 1s hrre from three to four fed in height. We also found the "artcmi~:>ia cann." Septembe1· l I.-This mornin~ we ap;ain had a long c·hasc after our mul<'~ ; th<>y appearctl to br as wiltl as drer, but weal last c au ~ h t t h em . S h o. r ll y a f t t• r w <' had :-: t a rt c d , we p a ~ s c < 1 t he t h r c c c.omcal hutt~s; tht tr tops ~n· covt' r<·d with piecrs of carbonate of lunr, hl'auttfull~ nystahzecl. The country now lJ<•eamr more b r o k c n ; on t h e r ul g c s. w c r e s l' ;~ t t c n· d g r o v e s o f e e d a r t r e l' s, an < l t h e b~t~om lan~ls clad wtth thr stlvery looking foliage of the artemunas.. After a march of J9 miles, we l'Htnped at a plac<' rai led the Wt.llows. llcre the road crosst•s th<' Timpa; the rocks rise on Y ~ u r 1'1 ~ h t hand l o the lH' i g h t of 1 00 f 'et t b <' i r tops cover c d w1th C<'dar trees, ancl their sides clad with th'e currant (ribe ccrcum) and the tall cactus, "ca<.:tu. nndul ala." .Wht>n we fir~l arrivrd we had a long HP<Hch belort' we cou ld obtam any water. A l last found some braC'kish po ols half hicltlen by th.c tall c:an<• g.nu;;~, (arundo phragnntcs,) and border'<'<i with the cattall (t~pha lattf~l1a) and arrow'' <>ed, (sagittaria sa.gittcfolia.) Dun,ng t1.1e lllght, my te.nt came very ncar being burnt up. A man belongmg t? the ox tram entcretl my camp, and, throwing t4omc fuel upon the hrc, went to b<'d, 1£'aving th' fire burning. The gr~tss caught; all were asleep exc~cpt mys<'lf, and it was lucky for ~ c that l had sat up . I h card the roar i n g o f the fu· <' , an cl , l o o kmg out, found the flame · within a few feel of my tent. I shouted aloud, and. all the ffi<'n ~prang up, caugbt thc•ir blankets as thry rose, and wtth th(•m soon whipt out the fire. The grass was short, or they eould not so <'asily hav<' extinguished the flam e s. As t~ y h e a 1 t h w n s not y c t fi nn , l had s i n c e s t a r t in g b c• en y cry careful to lle the door o my l(•nt, to make it as close as possible; antl, when I endeavor d to rush out, I found mys('lf imprisoned. Had the tent caught, it woul(\ have be n a muC'h as 1 could have done to save myself; my note books and sketches that had Ex. Doc. N·o. 41. 435 cost me some labor, antl that f vnlued highly, would have been destroy<•cl. Seplernl>rr 12.-When daylight Hppcaretl, I again congratulated myself on the <'Scapc of last ni~ht. The ground for a considerable s p a r <' a r o u n < 1 t h c fi r <' was o n c b I a l' k y at r h , an cl t h i s < • x t · n d t • d to within two ft>cl of my tent. W<' qutckly struck our eamp and starle<l for "hole in. the roek," which is 7 mil'S from the Willows. As we crossed the Timpa, at the Will ows, and w 'rc going south, we hacl that stream on our left hand side. Wh<•re we c:unpc<l the banks were composc<l of high, ru~gerl santlstone roek~, ec1v ·red with a d ·nse growth of cedar and pinyon, (pinns monopl~yllus.) W c noli c e d a l o n cr the r o a. d m a. n y sky- I a r k s (a I <l. 11 d a a 1 p c s t r 1 s) and meadow larks, (stu rn ella neg lt>da,) d iff 'ri ~g s 1 igh tl y frot?- tlH~ co t~mon meadow lnrl in its note, arul in its tad feathers, wlneh, w th1s bird arc n 'arly <'qual · also the flicker, (pints auratus.) Whil · ri(ling along the road, ~~me distance in adva.nrr of the wag o n , I n otic<.'< 1 a n ll m b · r o f p ri:\11'1 c d o g s s 'a t<• d n .c a r the en t r a n c e of their burrows, some squatte<l, half roneca lcd m th mouth of th 'ir dwcllincr ancl were barking most V<'hemrntly on rny approaeh; but th<·r wa~'onc that slood straight up upon his hind l<•gs, presenting his white bn•ast and belly to fu.ll vi<.:w. Altfto,~gb '· had n e v r it r e d o if m y m u I c J c o u l <I n o l r c ~ 1st l h t s o p p o r tu n 1 t y o f p r o - curing a prairie dog. '1 drew up my. gun and fucd, with the qui ck nc~$ of thought; my mule turnc(l dtrectly about, an(l had made scv nd springs in the dir •c·tion of the wagon b.<'fore T co·dd eh(•ck her. I now rode back, but could not Hi nttfy the. spot whc~e the prairie dog ha<l been Hitting. After a ltttlc tunc spent m fruitl ·s~ search: T conti nu e1l my journey, rcsolvctl not to fll'e off from a m ulc again. . W c h a tl to scar c h a b out " h o l c in tlH' rock" for some t 1m e b ·for c we founcl water, and this was covered with a thidc, green seu~, ftt only for the magpi '!:\ and raven· that we st;ut<•d away froll? tt; but, on hunting down the stream, we fount1 some clear. water JD .a v ry dc<'p hole . On its margin, in the shade of ·ome wtllows, thcte were many frogs itting; now a.n{l then one would make a dart antl gulph down a passing fly, so qui<'k that we could ~carce p~r-ceivc the frog's motion. W <' kill eel a dozen of the ·e frogs antl htld tht•m cooked for ~upper. . This afternoon a young German, w~o accomp~mctl the o; wagons, ent rc(l my camp. I had sren hun ~ev •raltun<'S ~tt B<'nt s fort. On hi approarh, he greet •d me w1th a sa1.utatton. from Horace, "quid ngis, dul ce·. imc r ·rum." .For some. ll.me I d.l(l not k~ow in what language }H• hatl spok ·n, las pronunnallon h~·mg so ddf 'rent from that of an American. Lf e brou~h t me a sp.ccuncn of the horned ltzzard (agama cornuta) and a species of c ·t~ttped · . . In the evening, Pilka caught m a gopher. l.was ob!tgecl to ~dl ~t, as it struCYgletl so hard to g •t awa.y; ftgl~ltng ft~no~s,ly. With 1 t s sharp t c t~1 , an d c u tt in g the cord w tt h w h l c h I h a cl t 1 e d 1 t. I preserved the skin also the skull· but the latter was fractured by the blow 1 had given, and the t~o upper incisors broken o~. We could now see the high, rocky peak that marks the entiance |