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Show 436 Ex. Doc. No. 41. to the Raton pass. It looks .1 ike a huge, recta~ gu ~a r block, whose longest sides are para1l 1 w1th the honzon, and IS s1tuated on a h\gh bluff. September 13.-We started this morning with the intl'ntion of camping at some pools,. at the hc.a~l of :1n <diluent o~ the "Rio Purg-atorio," calh•d "hol e m the pratrH' ;" but, on reachwg the desired locality, we found not one drop of water; the bottoms of the dry pools W('re deeply indented with the tracks of oxen, so closely crowded together as 1 o encroach upon each other; showing how eagerly the poor beast had crowclcd here. The earth was baked hard; not one sign of moisture to be seen. We had already marched 15 miles, but must now procerd 12 miles further to the Rio Purgatorio, whNe we were certain of finding an abundance of water an<~ plenty . of ~r ood. On the. road we met an ox, walking 1 e is u reI y m l he d 11 e c t 10 n of the U n tic d S talc s. It had doubt I css failccl of its strength, on this long stretch, for want of water. V.le scareh(•d t!1e Purgatory for plums, eurrants, and grapes. Although we found bushe · and vines in abundanc<·, tlrc fnut hacl all g~nc. "'_Ne h<'re. saw several flickers, with red lined wings 11 nd tads, (ptcus Mextcanus) ALo the common flicker, and large flocks of the "yellow headed bla<"k bird, or troopial. As our animals showed great signs of weariness, I concluclt'd to remain here to ·morrow. It was evident that our mult•s could not support the fatigues of such march<'S as we made to -day over a cr!u·•t.-y ~') ,Jc~t:· ,i' " ct " ~' ,, ~• • d rdfordi~g such Hl('agre pa 1 sturage; t : f:'· '•·-·; p.uc;.cd by tbe t:xces!'IVC .drought that has pre-vi'd(\, 1 tl11s .summer. . ~he watrr .at "holes In the p rair i<·," is gt'nera11y conl:>~dcrcd unf::ul~ng. Whde .hunting for water in the n<'lghborhoo< l ol these hole -, we found 1n the blu ffs whirh were of slaty structure, fragments of li~rge. fossil shells, r~ <·111 bling the innoceramus.; the fracturt>s Rhowtng Innumerable fib1 es per p<'tHlil'ular to the ~ur!etccs of the sht>~ls. Scatt~·rc d around on tht' top<> of little mouu rls, we ~ound beautiful rombotdal pieces of semi-transparent carbonate of l1 me. 'Frot'? this place on, we notieed the abundance of the artetmsias, t~1e ob10nc eancsccn~, and "Frcmontia vermicularis," and a beautiful ycllo~ compostlact·ous pl.aut, "senct:io fil 1folus;" cac:ti of several spcctPs, cove.red t.he pla1ns. As we approaehed the river, we began to [eel qu1.te c!Lheartenctl at the numbPr of hills that sccml'd to spnng up tn oruc1· to s<.'p<nate us from the wished for goal. Our mouths were J?archetl with long endured thirst· no one !~ad had~ drop of :w.at~~ stnce morning, for we were disapp'ointcrl al . holts 1n the pra1nc. At lengt.h, however, we f(•achcd a high r u 1 g c , an cl w h t n t h e top ~as a tt am e <I , a s p 1 en d i d s (' t~ n e :--u <1 d en I y burst upo.n us. On ~he nght, rose the cloud-capped summits of the Spamsh pE.'aks; 1n front, the crates of the ~~. t •.• f·orn } . l . l l I . t'- "'"t\ 0}} p tl ss' I w 11\: 1 Issue< ll~ muc 1 WI.she<l for" Rio Purgrtorio." This stream, tu.ruwg to thP left, ht:'\ciits c~ursc onward, parallel with the front o.f a htgh roc~y esr·arpmcnt, Its valley mar ked by tlark groves of t~mbcr: A ~1st¥ vap?r seemed to prot:ced from both rock and nver, 1ncreasmg 1n soilness, vti1ing both river and escarpment, and Ex. Doc. No. 41. 437 itsrlf hlrnclPrl with the sky; the intrrm ecliale ~pace fillerl with variou-. ly sltacll'd hills tha.l an• eov1•rc•<l with yellow, parched gra::~s; tht· l'ort•~rrounrl n·lit>\"t·d by (•Ju.:;tering thid(l·ts of' silver l<'afed ar· t<•misia;n while the whnll• is unitPd by the road that passl's along on· r s w t•ll in g hi 1l an d s i n k i n g c I a 1 e ; ~ o t h a t I. h e e y < t r a Y l' I s i n ~ t a n t I y to the fartht•st extremr, unimpt•d<·d by any abruptnPS'i. The whole scene wt~s increa~t><l in effect by the appearance of an ox that rame slowly towards us, whose loneliness p<·rfectcd the repose of the lanclscupr. \ V <.' n o w b <' g a n to f r c I v <' r y a n xi o us f o r n cw s fro m a n I a F c. Mr. Ward, who had gone to Santa Fe, antl who promised to be at t h c f o r l so m e t 1 m • s i n c c , had n o t a r r i v c d , n c· i t b e r h a tl w c m c t an y o n e o n t h e r o a d , a n d n o n e w s h a cl b <' r n tt' c • e i v e d , r x l' <' p t t h f. r u m o r that Gcnpral Kearny ha<l entered 'ant,\ F6 .. Still, we knl:w ?ot how he had brt•n H'<'<'tv('d, nor wlwtlu·r the· !1nc of communacat10n was not g uarclt'<l by gu<'rrillas. Mr: St. Vra~n spoke. of go.ing on ns far as the Rio "Bn~<'ii.ula," to gn1u some 1nformat1on wath regard to th(• stat<• of the <;ountry that we would have, to p~:s through. Daily, prr~ons had passecl the fort gotng to anta 11 c, but none ltatl come baek," nu II a Y<'l'll.J g.t ret1·orsum: " September 14.-Spent the tlny on the bau.k~ of the ... Puq~atory; not inappropriately named, as one pluu~cs mto a pf~rtcct Ercbus, amongst the ruggt~d rocks of the Raton. . . Our peopll· kdled five deer, and Mr. SL: yratn kdl.ccl a very fat ant c l o p e ; R o t he cam p was a s c e n c o f f e s tt n t y. At rll ~ h t ~ e gat h - ere d a r o u n d o u r s o <' i a l fi r e s ; t h r v o y a g c u r s g rt' w . t a l k a t 1 v <> , an cl told marvellous tal es, and we all devoured meat wtth the voractty of beasts of prl'Y· It is not unusual fo: two mc~1 to <·at a fcHc quarter of venison without the accom parumen t of bread, or even of salt. Tv-day I again saw thr re<l shafte<l fli ekcrs; and cndea,·ored to get a shot at tht•m bul thry were too shy to be approached. I, however, obt.tiued ~ beauliul male specimen of the tloopia l, (age-laiu zan thocl· pIt a I us.) . I made a sket~,;h of the SpaniHh pe<dcs; there W('r<· ltght clouds hanging around th ·m, h llt although they lent great beauty to the mount~ins by the ever varying contour of thl·ir shadows, that curved abou~ \11 "mazt'S intriC'ale, eccentric, intervolv(•d, yet regular, wben most irregular th<'y set·m," ancl tht• rays of light that pterced these clouds Wt•J(t ever changing; thus, the s<tme scene prtsented an end-less vru i<.·ty. . . Along the banks of the str0am we noticed ~rrat quanttttcs of r?tton wood, (P. monolifcrn,) and lorust trre!', (Hobin~~ pseucloacasta;) also the hox elder, (accr tu·gundo,) and <l<·n:•· tlllckct~, ~om~ OS(•cl o~ tbc plum and the <·lH·rry interwoven w1th grape nn~s, 1c1rmetl tmp enl'lrablc thickets, wht·rc the d •er, the hare, the rabbit, an: I, w d d t.u r k l' y , J o u n d .t see 11 rt' s h t' l t e r . d . 1 h <' P hu n s a r e co v en' cl w it h a sa llll c c ffi orr c en c r, an rl t h e g r 0 1~ n 15 quite l.Jarc in many placP~, where the antmals had \)(•<•n l.'ckJng t h e g r 0 u n d , and h a v c t r a m p I e cl tl ow n the h e r b ,, g P • W c s t d 1 fi n tl the dwcllingn of the gopher and prairie dog around us; and the |