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Show [ 174 J 264 pursuit of the horses. The plain appca~ed covered priuci_Pall y with the zygo. phyllu1n Cahfornicum alr ady mentiOr~ed; a11d the hue of our road was nw.rked by the skeletons of hor~es, wb1ch were trewed to a con, iderable breadth over the plain. \Ve were afterw arus always warueu_. on cutering one of these loug trelches, by the bones of thes~~ ar.umal~, which had perished before they conld reacl1 the water. About mtdrught we reached a consider. able stream bed, now dry, ~he discharge of th.e water of this ba in, (when it collected any,) down wlnch we descended 1n a northwesterly direction The creek bed was overgrown with shrubbery, and several hour befor~ day it brought us to the eutrauce of a canon, where we found water, and encamped. This won.l canon i, used by the " paniard ' to signify a defile or gorge in a creek or river, where higlt rocks pr s in close, and make a narrow way, usnally diflicult, and oflen impossible to be passed. In the morning we found that we had a very poor camping ground: a swampy, salty spot, with a liltle long, unwholeson1e grass; and the water which rose in springs, being uscfnl only to wet the month, but entirely to~ salt to drink. All around was sand and rocks, atH.l skeletons of horses which had uot been able to find support for their Jives. As we were about to start, we found, at the distancu of a few hundred yards, among the hills to the southwan.l, a spring of tolerably good water, which was a relief to our clve'); but the place wa too poor to remaiu long, and therefore we continued on thi morning. On the creek were thickets of spi?·o!obittm odoratum (acacia) in bloom, and very fragrant. Passing through the cauon, we entered another sandy b~sin, throuO'h which the dry stream bed continued its northwesterly course, in which di· rectiotr appeared a lJigh snowy mouutain. We travelled through a barren district, where a heavy gale was hlowing about the l~ose sand, and, after a ride of eight miles, reached a large creek of salt and bitter water, running in a westerly direction, to receive the stream bed we had left. It is called by the, paniards .llmargosa-the bitter water of the de~ crt. Where we ,'truck it, the streatB bend. ; and we continued in a northerl~ course up the ravine of its valley, pa~sing on the way a fork from the nght, ncar which occurred a bed of plauts, consi ting of a remark· able new grnns of cruc7fe-rtc. Gradually ascending, the ravine opened into a o-rcen valley where, at the foot of the n10unt.ain, were springs of excellent ~ater. we' encamped among groves of the new acacia, and there was an abundance of good grass for the animals. Th.is was. the best camping ground we had seen since we struck the Spams~1 trail. The day's jonrn \y was about 12 mil es. .flprzl 29.-To-clay we had to reach the .!lrchilette distant seven miles where the 1\lfexican party had been attacked; and, ieaving our encamp· meut early, we traversed a part of the desert, the n1o .. t sterile aud repulsive that we had yet een. It prorniuent features were durk sien·as, naked and dry.; ?n the plains a f~w straggling shrubs-among th m, cactus of seve.ral v~nct~e~. Fnentc~ pollltcd .ont one called by the Spaniard, bisnada, w~tch has a JUlcy pulp, slightly acid, and is eaten by the traveller to allay tlmst. Our conrse Wfl:S generally north; and, after crossin a- an intervening ridge, we descended .mt~ a sandy plain, or basin, in the middle of which was the f5rassy sp~t, with 1ts springs and willow bn~hes which constitntes a camp· mg place m the desert, and is called the ./Jrf'llilelle. The dead siJ,\nce of the place was ominous; antl, galloping rapidly np, we fouud only the 265 [ 174 J Ses of the two n1et1 : every thing else was gone. They were naked cmourpti lated, and p1. erccd wi.t 11 . an•o ws. I' f ernan d e7: had evH. lcntly fought, aud' ·th desperation. lie lay 1n advance of the willow half-faced tent, whicl ~Ieltered his family~ as if he had come out to meet daugcr, and to repulsP ·t from that asylum. One of his hands, and both his legs, had been cut ~fr. Giacomo, who was. a large ~tH.l. strong-looking man, was lying in one of tho willow shelters, P.terced w1th arrows. Of t~w women n.o trace c~uld be found, and it was ev1deut they ha~ been earned o.[ captt.ve. A httle lap-doa which had belonge<l to PD.blo s mother, remawed w 1th tlJc dead bodiesb~nd was frantic with joy at seeing Pablo: he, poor child, was frant ic with grief; and filled tho air wi.th .larnentations for hi· father and mother. Mi padte! Mi met1're .'-was his 1nccssant cry. When we beheld t~1is pitiable siaht., and pictured to ourselves the fate of the two women, earned off by sav~ges so brutal and so.I~athsome, all compunction for the scalpedalive Indian ceased ; and we rejotced that Carson and Godcy had been able to give so useful a lesson to these American Arab , who lie in wait to murder and plunder the innocent traveller. We were ali too much afi'ccted by the sad feeling which the place inspired to remain an unneccsary nwmcnt. The night we were obliged to pass there. Early in the morning we left it, ha vino- first written a brief account of what had happened, and put it in the cleft of a pole planted at the spring, that the approaching car a van tnigbt learn the fate of their friends. ln commemoration of the event, \Ve called the place .!lgua de lle'i·nande::IIernandez's spring. By observation, its latitude \Vas 35° 51' 21 ". /Jpri/30.-We continued our journey over a district similar to that of the day before. Fro in the sandy basin, iu \vhich was the spriug, we entered another basin of the same character, surrounded every where by mountains. Before us stretche J a high range, ri ing still higher to the left, and terminating in a snowy mountain. . After a day's march of 24 miles, we reached at .cvcnmg the b~d of .n stream from which the water had disappeared; a httle only remamed 111 holes, which we increased by dio-ging; and about a mile above, the stream, not yet entirely sunk, was spread out over the sands, nifording a little water for the animals. The streatn can1e out of the mountain · ou the left, very slightly wooded with cotton wood, "\villow, and acacia, and a few dwarf oaks ; and grass was nearly as scarce as \Vater. A plant with showy yellow flowers (Stanle,ya integ?'lfolia) occn1Ted abundantly at interv.al ~ for the last two days, and eriogon7.trn injla!urn \vas among tile character.Lstlc plants. May 1.-The nir is rough, and overcoats pleasant. The sky 1s blue, and the day bright. Our road was over a plain, towards the foot of thr. moun! ain; zygopltyllum Californicurn, now in bloom with a small yellow flower, ~~ characteristic of the country ; and cacti were very abundant, and 1t1 nch fresh bloom, which wonderfully ornaments this poor country.. We encamped at a spring in the pas , which had been the stte of an old village. Ile~e we found excellc:nt grass, but very little water. .w c dug out the old spnug, and watered some of our animals. The tnountam here "\vas wooded very slightly with the uut pine cedars and a dwarf species of oak ; and among the shrubs were Ptaslti~t tride;,tata, artemisia, and epl~edra occidentatis. The uumorous hrubs which constitute the vegetatiOn of the plains are now in bloom "\Vith flowers of white, yellow, red, nnd purple. The coutinual rocks, and' want of water aud gra s, begin to be vcty h~rd OL <>ur mules and hon .. cs ; but the princ~pal loss is occasioned by their cnpplcd |
