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Show 442 Ex. Doc. No. 41. At 3 o'clock, we had reached the" Vcrm<·jo," but we found no water in the river, and were obli~<'d to proce<·d six miles further, where W(' found some pool::;. Here the watH had a saltish taste, but \\as quit· plcat'ant; the ~round around the pools was whitcnc(l with a saline cfllntl'Sr<·ncc. Ht•re we oblitincd many 1H'antiful crystals of carbonate of lime. Th<.•re were al~o many pla('('S wht·rc a dark variety of this rock appeared, bulg-ing from the earth in convex mas~<'S of three or four fc •l in diameter. Our mules scemecl to relish th · salt gra~s with infinite gusto, and the water was no h~Rs pleasing to them; but wootl was scarce in the vicinity of the poruls, therefore we did nol ft•cl perft•etly satisfied, ;uul at last were fain to hav<' recourse to the artcmisias. 'l'he "obionc caJH'scens' grows so abundant as to fill th<' neck bottoms, and, with the yellow willow, arc two of the most characteristic plants. On the banks of the "El Rio Caimdiano," I got a curious variety of" oxybaphus," delicate branching species, arul a variety of asclepias, al::;o "<t•n.olhera sinnata." Seplrmbrr 21.-A ftcr a march of four milcR, we reac-hed the Cim mar on c ito. This stream ii-i C'Om posed of two I arge branches c.ach of which the road crossrs about sixty yards above their june~ t10n. Soon after leaving thi:.; river, we md TJi('uU·nant ~~lliot of tlte .M_issouri volunteers; he hn1l a l011g train of wagons, an1l was on hts way to Bent\; to bring up the government stores that h~tl bern left _th<~rc. I now procured, through the kindness of LteUtl:llant ]i~llwt, a s~etch or lll) route from this place to Santa Fe, \ 1 th all tlH• wa ten n g p lac('s and good pnstu rc grounds ma rkrd thereon, and mtt<')t verbal information that was ol grl'ctt value to ro~. I also 1<'<lrn •d that G<•neral }(carney inl<·ruled leaving Santa F.c . on the 25th J~roxit~lO .. I th('refore det ermined to travel as <'xpecl~ tLOusly as pos:-abl<·,_ Ul tunc to ~o with the army, in case my scrVl~'(.' S should be requtr(•(l. As it was too late to reach the "Oeato" t~ts day, ~wa s !?rn·d to camp on _the Rayada, ten miles distant fto~n the ltltll~ Cumnaron; about mtth\ay we crossccl thr "l>oiii," ~h.t~:h \\aS dr), and at l~:t reached the Rayatla, which was full of cxccll~nt water. On th1s str<'am W<' lmtl tlH~ "populus monilifera" antl tl11dcPts ~f willow, nnd I got a beautiful srarlet plant," ch~lon e bar bat a, and a pensl~·m on, with st'arl ct {1 0 we rs. • In the af~ern?on, we tried to catch some prairie dogs by fo rcing ~hern ou~ of th<·t.r hole~ with water. W<~ poured bud et aft<'r bucket ln.~o. thcll' dw<•lltn~s.wlthont Hooding them. One dog ::;howed itself ne.u the mouth of 1t~ bunow, but, as soon as i't. s·tw us ·tg'lin re-treated. ·' I' ' • September 22 -We sla ·t, l t · 1 • , • • • c 1 e < a ~ u n r 1 ~ <' , an < , b r f o r c w <' h a d go n c wfae•, .p .1, ss·}e< l two little nlls of clea1· --··atcr C t' · · • 1 1 .. · on mumg our JOurney, . 1 e.u._u~l a _arge shallow pool, th<~ hores of whieh were covered wey1 th tlAufc k, ~ahn. e· cll.l orcsccn<·e·' tb ' whitenc s ... "' · f' 1 t the Nt•S pam u o c. . tu pas~tng 1t, we entered a narrow gorg' the tops of the bluffs on each sule were crowned with a stratum df amaygdaloidal ~~ap of a ~lad( purple color and v<~. icular. Presently we rcaehed e cxtrcmtty of the gorge, and ascended to a "mesa" or horizon· Ex. Doc. No. 41. 443 tal plain; and~ when ~c looked to our right han1l, W<' saw anot~u~r hori~ontal pltun y •t lup;ht'r than tb<· one we wPrP th<•n trave ll.1ng on and roverc~1l a.l~o with a h<'d of volran ir rock about five f('('l in 'thidnless. Keeping close to the root of this higllc~t "nwsa," we rrarhctl th<~ " Oc-a.l<';" as it is a ca iioned, th,\t 1_s, ts pnc losr 1l wtth high rocky walls, we wt.~re fort'ell to go two mtl<•s up stn•;un in orcl<'r to n•ach the erm;~ing. As it was only 3 o'clo('k, :llld 1 bad hopNl of reaching the nt•xt ramping ground bdon~ ~larl , we continued our mareh althou<rh Wt' bad alr("ady eome 22 miles. We travelled until ni ght fell u~>on us without iindit~g any watl'r. 1 had not yet sufTicicntly rcco\crcd to hl'i\r such a .JOnrnl'y, and was obliged to .g<:l iulo the wap;on. The_ n.ip;ht was very da~·k, an<l we travelled along with consul<•rablt~ dtfTtrulty, ~s the <lnve~ rouhl carccly src the roatl. At lasl we ltt~ar d 1hc Joyful ny of ~at<.·r, and we found ourselves dose• uy some fin<' pools, tltat W<'rr, f c~t:t\~natcly, just in the rot.ld, or we ~·ould n_ot have seen them. J hts was an old camping plac<·, and m ltunttng around w_e sturnh l<~d on some charred sticks, that had ht~lp < d to cook the dwn ·r of tho c who ha1l pr<1 <"(1 d<~d us, an1lnow co_o ked ours ... , .. ... . We had now reached "pouch; tn the pnunc, 18 m~lc:s 11lst:mt fro m t h c () r ·:tt c ·w d h a. v c m a d e a d a y' s j o u r n c y o f tJ. 0 m d e s, h a ' 111 g ( ' ( . . . . " come from the H.ayada to th<' "ponds_tu the pnun ' . . Septemb er 2:3.-'0-le had st:nn·<·l) lcll our ramp wbrn the stgnR of civihzation broke upon us; in moving along the \.·dleys, w;, sa~ flo t k :s o f s h e <' p clr o v c s o f h o r ~ e ::; , a n d I a r g c lt e r d s o f c a tt I c · J h <' s e arc guarclc<l night and day by lads wbo, i_n thl' langua_1.~l' of t.l~c country,ar<' t •nncd "pastor<'s;" they were tnt~nahly d;ultn tatt(\t .<l blankets, and artn<'d witlt bows an1l arrows; thl~st~ anll thctr bi~ slH·phcrd dogs constitute their sole d<'fencc,_ although they nrc subject to be attacked by the Indians, antl tht~ll' flock~ illl(l h(~rds by Indians and wol V<'S. " · M " 1 After a marl'h of ftv<' mih·s, we n•arhcd thr Hw cn:o, .ani · 1 " 1 , I • v , ·tt h s t c <lint' w s 1 cr h t passwcr se-veral "cora <•s, or ene osuns," ' '. · n. f b 'l'l . t of one of thos<' hou'\eS w.ts o som<.• adobe houses. te proprt' or · 1 h . . A · 1 1> \ l· · · H'<' bt·cn tnurdertd )y 1. an mencan namc1 JOllt y, w to tM4 ~11 . 1 "prons." lle invited ns to a\icrhl antl enter }liS house, wh ~n· 1 t rca t c 1 l u s t o m i I k c o o I f r o tn t he <' c 11 a r . l n hi s h o u: c t h ~~ r c w t' r el 1 ' ·rr 1 · 1 ·o ~tt~s fustls nfl<'s, an< a 1 o z c n fn <' 1 o e k s o f 1 h · ~ r <' n t 011 < ~ , <.' s 1 P l t: ' • • ' • .. 1 T . I t• tl t I . l o tl sf's w ~: r <' (' w M c x t c ,l n s. ffiUS(ctS. he n•Sil {'11l~ 0 ll' 0 tel 1 · · . . r l " · . ltcntl' " or l1quor. As we pas~<'tl by tht~y pro1 nc< us sotn(' •1q_uat < ' 1 h I l ' · · 1 t wl1 ·h thc•y S<'Ctnl'l mur to d them that we dtd nol wtst any; a. 1 c. IV 1 ,. ·l'- surprised erying ont "Vmd. no qui<•r<' aquarclt.enl~·! ffil · ctrl 1·~ ' • 1\1 • l ·t· 1. r tllls nsk of betng ( e m n. tc n.o es Amtncano. " .l'IOt.WlllS1. c\lHl 'w g Thc~'y th. l'n hroucrhl us nat10na.ltzed ' we refused the aquan11 cn c. ·1 . b l t • ·c an1l 1t IHoVC< o some fresh mutton, that I consentcl to pur<.at,\S ' ' be excellent. · M The There is very rl'oo<l l)asturc gronntls a1_ong the ~to .· cl>trlo. t its V"ll · n ·1 1 I tncren ·· 1n \\lt 1 0 " ey t: from GO to 70 mL t 1s ong, an1 ' junetion with the valley of thl• Caiiacliano. R. s llo·" S 1 l 1ort y after eross·w g th' " M oro," we. for h• t 1 t h c " 10 ~ cPu ' 1 · 1 r w•ttcr The both of these streams contain an abundant supp Y 0 ' • |
