OCR Text |
Show 177 and so concealed by grass and bushes that a person might go within a rod of it without seeing i t . This we named Secret Spring, " wrote Martineau. ^ This feature of Secret Spring was a typical phenomenon in the Great Basin. Water was often nearby but was unknown except t o those familiar with the area. According to Martineau, water was often passed by unnoticed "because of the entire absence of willows or growth usually seen about a spring or brook."1" And even when water was found i t was "almost always brackish, sulphurous and unpalatable."1' In addition t o locating the spring, the four men also ascended a nearby mountain peak in the North Pahroc Range to obtain a view of the surrounding country. From Desert Spring Mountain, as they called i t , they could plainly see tbe Grant Range or "White Mountains" at an estimated distance of seventy-five miles. After returning to camp, the guide brought in an Indian who lived nearby. All around his wickiup lay the long black hair and bones of his wife. He admitted to the explorers that she bad died and he ate her during a tine of famine. The previous winter had been very severe, and hundreds of these people had died during the cold months when the usual diet of insects, r e p t i l e s , and rodents was difficult to obtain. Those that survived, i t was learned, had subsisted on grass and the inner bark of cedar and juniper t r e e s . Although he f i r s t claimed that her death was natural, and l a t e r that other Indians had killed her, he eventually confessed to k i l l i n g her himself for food.18 Despite the Indian's shocking admission, he was treated kindly by the company. Enough bread to l a s t four or five days was given to him-or so it was believed. But the poor native, who was l i t t l e more than a skeleton, began to down the food, with an appetite that amazed the explorers, until the entire Provision was consumed. He then went into his wickiup and brought out bis own stock of provisions which he ate before the whole company. Martineau, who had |