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Show • , 552 Ex. Doc. No. 41 cumber the expedttion of the tw~nty laundresses L~armng t.ba.t the most of them wished to go wtth the dct~chrnent t~ the Arkausas, I ordered them all to be s· nt there. Wtth a su~c1ent nl!mbeJ: fable-bodied mPn (hu~bands of the women) to take care of tt, th' ~elachmcnt <J.mounte<l to eight):six, and was placed under the eom mand of Captain Brown. , . I urged every preparation for the t~areh, but It wa::, 1mpo~s1ble ~· (~ com plcte th('m before the 19th of October ; the battalwn was paid, with treasury drafts, on the 16l~l and 17tl:. The.re was no ~al t pork in Santa Fe, and a sufficiency dtd not arrtve ~nttl the evcnwg of the 16th. BQef cattle, furnished under a prevwus contract for the battalion were rtceived ·the night of the 17th; and a quantity of p~ck saddles the same evening. On the 19th o~ Octo ber I marched out of Santa Fe, and encamped at Agua F:w . At the' earnest request of two captains and t~r~e sergea?ts, the1_r w1vc:s were permitted to accompan:y. the exped 1 110n~ havmg thctr owu wagons and mulef', and provisiOn~. The rations lu:1 d been issued to tht' com pant s, arHl t!acb ha.d three mule wagons, an<i one drawn by oxen_; (these la~t were to be sent back on leaving the ri\er.) .'l'he ratwn~ :vere ' tXt)' days of flour and salt, sugar and roffee; thnt} t1ays of ptckled pork, (tnd twenty of soap. . , The mules furntsheti me were mostly poor an u worked Jo wn; tlu..: half of them were utterly unfit to commence an ordinary mate~ . A number, as well a· of oxen, were l~ft behind, unable to walk, 111 the first forty miles. Thus, I was obhge~ to exchange th~m two for one, and to purcha ·e many others. 1• or the first 150 m~les, 011 the Rio Grande there was, al that sea: on, no grass Jescrvwg t1H· name. I purchast.:d, when I could, corn J.nd fodder,. but in very small quantities. I had 380 sheep pur c ha~ ~.:d 1 nPar Socorro1 and beeves, to make up the sixty dct>·:., ra tion ~. . About 75 miles below that pom , L became ·o nvtnced lhat tlH· march must fail unle.:.;s some irupr o\en t:ut was made . I was mareh ing about eigh't miles a day, in as_ man) hotu:s,. through tl1t· deep sand; the mules overworkerl, growmg- poorer, g1vmg out, dy1ng· and left behind each da) . From the opinions of the guid es; there was also rea ~on to appre hend that the supply of provi::;ions wus inadequate; and Uu .. ox wagons wen' thtu to go back. There were twenty-two men on the sick report, who, with the utms and knap .. ac'k~ of others, encumbered the wagon~. I called on the assistant surgeon and com pany command(.·rs for list~ of those tht>y believed worthless fo1 the march; fifty-eight namec; werf• soon given to me . Cnptain Burgwin's camp was 58 mile above. [ rcsolvt>d, then, to ;,end bru.Jc. these fifty-eight men, with twenty- ix days rations, with on_e o.x wagon, and to leave the other two there, to be _;;ent for, rctatnWR the teams; and to make another redurtion of baggage . Many tentfo; and camp kettles were left in the wagons, and all the up right poles, for which musket werE! useu as substitutes. (The backs of the tents were opened, ancl a pie ce inserted, so as thus to bee.: om e vcr j I arge and near 1 y CL rcu lar, in w h1ch ten men were .H> I I • .. Ex. Doe. No. 4J.. cot?modated.) The oxen I used in mule w(l.gon_., ; packed tho~P unfit for draught, and al so, t~ough Yery lightly, the poor extr<L m~Icsj The detachment went m command of a lieutenant, who r~ Ct:> Ivcc or.der _to report, ~or ultimate in tructions, to the office t commandtng 1n ~he. terntory. A calculation showed that by these measures, With mcrcased means of transportation, the Ioaus ~ere reduced 20 per. cent.; and a! so that the rations (or half ra tions) of the battaho~ were increased by eight days. Then, an ,. only then, could I begw t? sec my way to the cncl, with.confiden ce . Aft fl r t h e s e .t w o w t! t· d tn g s o f t h e o l d , the f c e b l e an d sick 1 y , from the battal10n, _lads ond old grey-headed men· till remained . The nume:ous gutdes and hirelings you sent to me I found at the lowest VIllage_; they had been idle for weeks; and I found 1 was to venture, With my wagons, into a wide region unknown to any of them. ' Th~ _r~ ver route. im pro red gre~ t] y, an_d, opposite, was appa ren tl y a p_racttcable gap 111 the mountam barncr, between mine and the Ch th uahua road, ( tbe fine but bad 1 y watered stretch known as tht> J?rnada del ~uerto.) Abou~ thirty miles lower, and in the vic inity of a po1nt called San Diego, the mountains which so far haJ confine<~ the road to t~•e ri,·er, break off, and th~n I turned short to ~he_ nght, on t!le arid. table 1anJ of l\Iexico, which I found stuJ deu WIth a r_ro~:Ujl() n. 0 f l ola ted m.oun tain~,. of vol <.:an ic OJ igin. My method, n~'', \\as tlHs: Leroux, With five, SIX or scYen other would g~~ a .da~ In a.dTance, exploring for water, in. the best pradticable ? u e c t l o ~ , fin d 1 n g a s p n n g o r a p u d d 1 e , (so m <' tun e · a h o l e in n e a rJ } 1naece , ·1ble rocks?) he '~o.ultl send a man back, who would meet me, and be the guide. 1huo; operation would be repeated until hi. number was unsafely reduced, when be wou:d await me or r e ~ urn to take a f~· e ·h departure. This was the plan, but, ev~r var) _ Jng a~d uncert~w, atten?ed, of course, with much anxiety; ancJ, somett~e~, the I_nconventence o neglect or tardines:s on the part ot the guides,. makwg the road, oncr or twice, to \'ary irom the bette cour ·p, which. a rnore thorough )Xaminati0n, in the first in tan cP. ' w o u I d h a ,-e d 1 "' c· o -v e red . ' u c h, . w i t h so ~l e '"i c i s sit u d e . o f 1 is k ~ n d s u lfe ring, an d the a c < • i - deuta/ atd of a little tOJ,fused InformatiOn from a tradino- party we ~ncountere~J, was the manner of my progre ·s for about 250 miles, from .t~e RtO Grande to the ,'an Pedro, a tributary of the Gila· but J anttctpate. · ' Thus I .r cachc(l tl1e o·J o cl c V a c b n6 ·1 ;:l, a out ~ ) mt e s ~out h from t h .... copper m1ne , on an old road to Yanos, used for transportincr th t> ort". rr:o t~e west appeared a vast ~rairie opening, bet wee~ th · mountc:lln~; 1t. was the course; but the principal guides had each his drea.d or It, founded upon Yagu? information, from Indians, of it.. ~estttut10n of water; and watenng places might exi t, and not bP found hy u"'. They. had e~plored about 25 miles of it, finding an out of the way an_o Insufficient hole of water, ten miles distant. I ascend en a }ugh peak, and, there takw o- the bearings of dista_ nt landmarks, '"'·hich they professe~ to kno~·, £·arnestly consulte,l With them and the interpreter, who had lately pa sed through |