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Show I 23] 98 · I 1 obtained a he?.utiful yellow finch, which "Preserve the skw'.'f. a ..ls loa "espertina." In the evening I sent some t bc.the nncrt •, . l l)roves o·h c vd. laae o bt. p ·os ~"hi e h is 2.1. mdcs from, an c to the f'C ' " !1. • 1 men to 1 e . b On tl! eir r eturn, they sa1d that t 1ey saw , near north of, ont )camp. u . usl ca rved · stone. It was now too late the ru, int!sn. so fc aIr ve~i;nosg,, . aa nccl nwoe mrrched s. o early in the m. orning that I to see ls leavet h1.ts sto n e for some one e 1s e to ex a m1ne.· h' must ne ec 0 W r to-day gi·eat numbers ofmagp1es, w Ich, . Decemb eT 3 .. hthee J~aa;~~s wer~ feasti!•g on the in numerab le carln company, Wl\hat still str~wed the ro ad. We saw hHgc flocks of cstaeslslcasr op_f yosx,e wn h·.l Ch \\.e r e fly. in rr ga ily amongst the groves of cedar b · - t 1 t oYer the hills and va ll eys. and pmon nafi c . f. the valley of the P ecos river, in which vVehavea me VlCWO If Ih l ] 1· es the , f S Jo se at which pl ace I encampec; or ac to\\ n ° an ' · · ·1 . h t th· heard to· at tb e 1. ou te through this town ·was s1x mt ts s or er an that throu o·h San Miguel· . . . . b . At l h is 1 1 a c e t h e r i ·r e r P c c o s 1 f: 5 0 f e e t w H1.e ; . 1 t s w at .e r s a 1 ~ e au- · II 1 1 tifu y c ear, anc 1 flow• alonc,.r.. with bo ·reat rap .i cltty, ahs. h1 f la nxious tto · 1 ·'th those of the Gulf of Mexico, 1nto w LC t 1ey cmp y mmg e " 1 • • · 1 P · I l l after h an·n g J· O·i nec1 tl1ose· of the Rw del Norte, at t 1e resH o ( e Rio Grande. . · 1 f h bl' We had an excellent road to· day; It 1s. former rom ~ e crum wg down of tpe coarse decomposing grantte rocks, which form the neighborina sierras. . . D be 0 ecem r 31 ·- We were all up before daylight; and,, havmgtg tvt edn our animals a liberal allowance of corn_ and "~acate, . we s ar ~ , highly delighted with the idea of savt~g several miles by ~omg direct to "Ojo Vernal," instead of pa~smg thr?ugh San. M1guel. Having, with infinite labor, succeeded m mount~ng the h1gh bl.uff which borders the river, we selected the p~amest road, whtch seemed to be marked with the wheels of Amencan wagons, but before we had proceeded far, a severe s_now sto.rm a~ose. \Ve n.ow urged our animals rapidly forward, with the Intenho.n of reachwg the timber where we should be sheltered f1 om the v10lence of the storm. The wind blew, ·with great forc.e, directly in our fa c e~; the snow fell thick and fast; we could fCarcely see, and our ammals could scar c~ ly be forced to face the cold blast. ~very mo.ment ou~ progress was more and more impeded, as the fallmg sno'~ wcreaw in depth· at length, we reached a forest of pine and ptfion. e now enc;mped, and tbe men soon heaped up huge pine log~, and, l:aving set the;n in a bl~ze, we ga~here(l aro~ncl, endeavonn~ ~~ dispel the numbness wh1ch had setzed our lunbs. After seHr hours' continuance, the storm at length ceased, and we resumed our march. Nearly all signs of the road had, by this time, become concealed by the snow; b~t we f~llo":ed, as well as we c~ulcl, th~ track we had been pursumg, untd we found ourselYes mvolv~. among precipitous cliffs and impassable ravin~s. We were now 0 liged to retrace ~·ur steps, and soon got out into the coun~Y where we could see. The storm l1ad entirely cleared away. .e could now perceive the high "mesa," which lies between San ~~guel ana Ojo Vernal.. We, . therdor.e, took a course direct for t 18 99 [ 23 ] a· and before we had marched far, we arrived at a. hacienda,. m~s ' we ~btained a auide, who soon put . us on the nght road . Ab~~~ sunset we rcachbed the village near Ojo Vernal, and encamp.ed . The man who drove my t.eam wa~ nearly frozen to cleath. He ~om-lained much of a sensatiOn of stckness, and t~e men_ were- o?Itged p b h'm for some time in order to restore cuculat10n to his sys-to ru I I ' · 1 · h gave him a large dose of rum, and had hun ta 'en mto t e ~:~e of one of the Mexicans. This man, had he walked as other~ did, would not have suffere~. . The snow was now five inches deep. Towards evenmg a fresh breeze sprang up, which drifted the ~no~ along the surface. of the ..-oad. Everything was covered; even t?e dark forests of pme and ·erlar were hidden beneath rob es of white; and now and then, when ~haken by the wind, they· cast off the snow in cloud_s that rose up like smoke bursting from cannon's mou~h. At the v11lage where we encamped, were some men, who ha.d JUSt returned from a h~nt . They had killed se,·e ral bla ck-taded. de~r, "cerv.us macrotis." Theie animals exceed the common deer m size, and 1n the length o'f their hair; their tail is round, and has a large round tuft at the end; their ears are very large. January 1, 1847.-This morning, at an early hour, we marle our arrangements for marching. We had passed the night quite comfortably, for the snow was so piled around ou.c tents that the wind could not gain admittance. The morning was excessively cold clouds of snow were drifting about, bqrne rapidly along by the1 strong wind. I now found 'that one of my men was ill with the measles. I wished to leave him here, where he could be taken care of, but he preferred to proceed; so I had him wrapped up warmly and put into the wagon. ~he man who came so nigh freezing yesterday, had recoYered sufficiently to be able to walk. In a little time the wind died away, and the sun arose; his genial heat was truly grateful to us. The snow commenced to melt, and the walk·ing became slippery and extremely laborious. After a tedious m~rch, we reached " Vegas." Here one again nieets with the infinttely extended prairies, whic.h give birth to the tributaries of "E.l Rio de. los .Gall in as," and of " El R_io Moro/' and following on m the duecbon of the "El Rw Caiiadtano," are at last limitec by the cross timbers. It is from " Los Ve<Yas" and " Tacalote 11 that trails have been made which cross the Canadian at the mou;h Qf~he "Arrojo de los Yutas." This is the shortest route to the ~mted States, and \l'ould be the best route, if the road was defi~ Itely marked out. At "Vegas" I tried to purchase corn for the \ava~ada,". but the only per~on who possessed the corn, prepared a~ Wished 1t, seemed determ med to take advantage of my necess~ y, a.nd asked me an exorbitant price. Having offered in gold t 1 e pnce I had been accustomed to give, it was refuserl and .J was P aceu under the necessity of taking the corn, and ~otified the ~wner to that effect. The town was in a state of ·great excitement 1rot the occurrence of some recent depredations of the Arrapaho a:d Iahs, wh? had d.ri ven off the flocks and herds of the Mexicans ad killed and scalped the "pastores." We everywher |