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Show [ 174] 116 tle near his lodge. Shortly afterwan.ls, a party ~f mo:mtaiucers galloped up to us-fine-looking and hardy rnen, dressed Ill ~lnns and mounted 011 good fat horses; amona them were several Connectlcnt metl. a portion of Wyeth's party, whom I had seeu tile ye:u l>e(ure, alld other were men from the westrru tates. Continuing down the river, we encamped at noon on the 14th at its month, on the Arkansas river. A Jwrt d istnnce above our encampment on the left bank of the Arlwn as, is a 7meblo, (as the Mexican~ callthei: civilized Indian villages,) where a lltltllbt'r ot' mountaine rs, who had mar. ried Spanish women in the valley of Taos, had collectNltogethcr, ami oc. cupied them elves in fanning, carryinO' 011 at tile same time a t.le~ultory lndian trude. They were priw.:ipally Am('ric~ws, ant.l treated u with ail the rude hospitality their situation adntittt'd : hnt as all commercial intcrconr e with New Mexico was now interrup!et.l, i11 consequence of l\Iexican decrees to that efi'ect, there was nothiuO" to he ha<l in thr. w:1y ()f provi ion. They had, however, a fine stock of cattle, and furni !led us an abnrH.lance of excelleut mille I learned here that \lax well, in company with two other men, had started for Taos on the morninrr of the D1h, but that he would probably fall into the bauds of the Utah Indian~, conuuonly called the Spunish Yules. As .1\laxwellllad no k11owledge of thC'ir hein~ in the vicinity when be eros ed the Arkuu~as, lti::; clluucc or c::;en pe was very doubtful; but I uid llOt entertain lllUCh apprehension for !tis life. havinrr great confidence in his prudence and courage. I was further informed tha~ the_re. had been a popul~r tumult among the pueblos, or civilized Jndian3, restdmg ncar Taos,_ agan1st tltc "fr;rf'igners" of that pl:1ce, in which they bad plundered thctr houses and ill -trcntcd th~;ir families. Among those whose property had been de~troy(·d, was Mr. Beanhir.n, father-in-law of Maxwell, from whom r had expected to ohtain . uppli\'S, <liH.l. who had been obliO'ed to n1ake his e cape to Snut a Fe. By this position of am1irs, onr expectation of ohtai11in,. mplies from Taos was cut otr I had here the satis!'action to meet o~r :O:-> "(wtl butlido hunter of 1 '42, Christopher Car ou, \\'hose services I cotJsid ·red tny~clf fortunate IO. ecure ngain; and as n reinforcement of mule was absolutely ~ecessury, r despatched him immediately, with an acconnt of ottr ncc<'s I· tJes, to Mr . . charles Bent, who e pri11cipal post is on the Ark:11\~:1 s rivrr, about 7 5 mtles below Fontaine-qui-bou it. lie was directed to proct'ed from tha.t post by the nearest route across the conntt·y, nncl mert me with what ammal. he should be able to obtain at t. Vrain's fort. I also ad· mitted i.nto the par~y Charle Towns-a native of St. Louis, a serviceable man, wtth many of the qualities of a aood voyaO"eu1-. AccordinO" to our ob· servatw. ns, t he la"ntdu e of the mouthb of the riv0e r is 3 ° 15' 23"b: its longt.· tude 104° 58' 3?"; and its elevation above the sea 4,880 feet. .. On the morumg of tlte 16th, the time for Maxwell's arrival having ex· pued, we resumed our journey, leaviug for him a note in which it was stated.that I would wait for him at St. '"vrain' fort uutil ~he morning of tho 26th, m the event that he should succeed in his commission. Our direction wa~ up the Boilit!g Sprin.O' river, it being my iutentiou to visit the celebrated spnngs from whtch the n ver takes its name aud which arc on it upper wate1:s, at the foot of Pike's peale Our ani~als fared well while we were on tlns stream, th~re being every where a great uhundancc of pd lt'. ""~" tnett lfplophylla, 111 b~oom, was a characteristic plant along the riv ~r, gen· erally ll1 large bun~hes, with two to five flowers on each. Beautiful clus· 117 [ 174 J tcr~ o~ the pl_unt re~embling mirab.iti.s jrt!(lpa were numerous, and glyc: yrduza lepuloltt wus a dtara tcnsttc of tl1e bottoms Currants nearly npc wer al>nndant, and amon~ the shrubs wlticlt covered the bottom was a v<·ry luxuriant grow tit of chenopod iaccons ~llfubs, fonr to ix feet high. On tlto aflt'rttoou. of the 17th we ?ntercd among the broken ridges at the foot of the mountams, where the rtVl'r made several forks. LeaviuO' the camp to folio\~ slowly I rode alt .ad in the afternoon in search of the springs_ In the ntean_ tune, tile clouds, whtc!t had bcr.n gathered all the afternoon over the ntottnl~tns .. b ~a11 to rol I dowtt their sides; and a storm so violent burst upot t nw, that 1~ appeared I had entered the 'torehouse of the thunder storms. [ C~lltt!Hled, however, to ric~e alo~1g up the river u11til about snnset, ami was bcgtnmnO' to be U!i>llbtful of findttJO" the sprins;s before the next ~ay .. when I r.ame snt.ldenly upon a large m~oth rock about twenty yards 111 c~ramL. Ier,. where the ~at.er from s.evcra.l spnn$"s \~as bubblillg and boiling Uj~ 111 the 1111d tor~ wl.lltC tnCI'UStilltOll Wtth whtcft lt had COVl'Ted a portion oi tlte I'11Ck . . As tlu~ <.ltd uot orr '~polio with a d scription given me by the hunters I d1d. not, top to ta~te the water, but, dismounting, walked a little way up tlte nver, and passu.trr through a narrow thicket of , hrnbbery bordcr~ llO" tlw ~rca.m, ~tcpp d dncctly UJH)ll a llnge white rock, at the foot of whtch the nver ·~lt·eady bucomc '·t to_rrcnt, roam ·d along, brok 'll by i\ small fall. .. A deer wht~h J:ad b C'tl drrnkn.JC't at tile spring was startled by my appllMCh, anu, spungttto- across tltc nvcr, bonuded off np til • mountain. l~l_the npp1'1' part ~f tile ro~k , wll.icll had apparently been formed by deposttwn, was a lH':tuiJful wlt1te bas1n, ov<'rllullg by Clll"''allt bushes iu which tile cold clear wat~~ r bubbled up, k~pt !n cotJ~tant motion l>y the escapin gas, and overtlo\":lll~ the_ rock, ':'htch 1t had almost etttirely cover d with ~smooth c.ru~t o( glt.st?lllttcr w httc. I It ad all day rcfraiued from drinklllg, rc 'I"VJ.nO" mys IL Ior the spring· and a· I could tlOt well be more wet tha11 the ram ha~ ::tlr?ady made me, I lay down by the sid of the basin and dra11k ltca_rltly ol thl' deli:jlttl"nl wat e r. Tlw a11nexcd skP!Ch i only; rude 011 but lL will enable yon to form son1e i<lca of the charact r of the sc?ucry and. the' be~nty of this spot, immediately at the foot of lofty mount~ llls, l>cautt.fully ~trnb ·:cd, wlJtcll ~wvep closely round, shutting up the htt.lc valley Ill a ku~d oi cove .. A~ i~ was beginning to grow <lark, I rode q~t,t~kly dow~1 the nver, 011 whtch I {onnd the camp a few miles below. _ll~e mo.rumg of L_lw lS~h was beautiful i.tttd clear, auu, all the people bem anx;wns to dnnk of these famou waters, we encamped immediately at tl1e s~rtllg_-:, and :-~pettt there a very plensaut day. On the opposite side. of the n.~er ts another locality or springs, which are entirely of the same nature. I he water has a :rery agreeable taste, which 1.\tlr. Prcn s fouud very mnch to resemble that oi the fa.mons Sclt?r springs iu the grand duchy of Na~san, a conn try famous for wtnc and mtneral waters; and it is almost Clltu·cly of the same character tltonglt still more aO"reeable than that of the ~am? us Bear spriwrs, uear Bear river of' the Great alt luke. Tile followH~ g ts an analysis of au ineru: tution with which the water bad covered a p1ece of wood lying ou the rock : Carbonate of lime Carbonate or magnesia - 'nlphate of lime ~ Chloride of calcium . (.;hloride of magnesia. 92.25 1.2L .23 |