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Show [ 23] 24 September 18.-Last night we were much annoyed by the loud snorting of one of the mules that had been fastened near some brush; he awoke us all, and we were ?bliged to let him loose; there were either wolves or bears prowhng around our camp. This morning the mule was not to be found; we .had a l~ng hunt after him; at length Pilka found him three or four mdes off m a narrow gorge. It was now so late that were obliged to give up all idea of marching. Soon Lieutenant Simp·son's. wagons arri.ved, and in the evening the ox teams of Mr. St. Vram; the tradmg wagons haye sus-tained another upset. • In the neighborhood of the caml? I collected sev~ral species. of compositaceous flowers; also a species of bull rush, (Juncus tenurs,) and a variety of the yucca and " gilia pulchelJ a.'' Great numbers of wolves, the large grey wolf, were prowling around our camp; (canis nubilius;) it was, doubtless, one of them that had so terrified the mule last night. Mr. St. Vrain gave me a prairie dog that he had shot; I pre· serveJ the skin, although the head of the animal was much injured by the rifle ball. This even.ing, a couple of hours before sunset, I ascended a little slope that gave me a fine view of the mountain masses that were piled to the height of one thousand feet above our heads; all around me, and the valley below, were en \·eloped in the dark p·urple shadows of evening, whilst the high mountain to the east, and the plane sloping up from its base,. were bathed in the golden light of the sun. Near me the landscape seemed quietly sleeping, except when one or two men gathered around the camp fires, while on the plain, a-t the mountain's bal)e, the men were driving our mules down to water. What a beautiful contrast these broad masses of light and shade; this serenity of sleep with the liveliness of life. . .September: 19.--We. had no sooner left camp than we commenced tne ascent o.f a long htll, whose top forms the dividing ridge of the w~ter.s runmng north from those running south. From the top of th1s ndge on~ has a magnificent view. As the road is very tortu· ous, .at. one hme one beholds the Spanish peaks directly in fro~t; but 1t 1s only for a moment, as the road immediately bends Its course to the south. The bottom of the gorge was now comparatively level; we travelled along quite rapidly, until near the " embouchure" of the pass, when we again encountered difficult <rround. Whilst riding along some. distance in advance of the wag~n, I discovered beyond ; sud~e~ nse t~at screened me, three large grizzly bears ("ursus erox ) m the mtddle of the road, marching directly towards me. They were then not more than 100 yards distant· I lowered my h~ad. to prevent being seen, and rode back and told Pilka to get hls. ~lfle; h.e hurried foJ.'ward, and stooping down behind a rock ~.att~d theu approa?h; they came to within fifty yards of him, but 18 nfle snapped tw1ce; the third time he put on a fresh cap and .stood up to take aim. At the loud report of th~ cap the bears all rose erect, snuffing the air. At last they caught sight of the cause 25 [ 23] of their alarm, when they scrambled up the perpendicular sides of the rocky gorge and ran off. We often afterwards congratulated ourselves that the rifle did not go off, for had the bears been wounded they would have created dire havoc amongst our mules; and they were all crowded in such a narrow pass, that it would have been very difficult to have saved any of them. There are few animals more to be dreaded than the grizzly bear. Soon after this adventure, we commenced the passage of one of the most rocky roads I ever saw; no one who has crossed the Raton can ever forget it. A dense growth of pitch pine interferes with the guidance of the teams; in many places the axle~rees were frayed against the huge fragments of rock that jutted up between the wheels as we passed; pieces of broken wagons lined tne road, and at the foot of the hill we saw many axletrees, wagon tongues, sand-boards, and ox yokes, that had been bro~en and cast aside . . The pass was now full of the wild.cherry, the blar.k locust, the currant, and the plum. In the rocky portions we saw the pine, (p. vigidus,) the spruce, and the pinon, (P. monophyllous,) and near the dividing ridge the delicate hare bell, (campanala rotundifolia,) the flax, (L. perenne,) and through the whole extent of the gorge, the bright s<;arlet gillia, ("G. pulchella,") blue larkspur, the geranium Fremontia, and the lupine. The pine has been found useful in an economical point of v1ew, as from it is procured tar for the wagons. We now issued upon the plains, once more to see the beautiful galardias and helianthoid composita, and listen to the lively barking of the prairie dogs. At length, after a journey of 17 miles, we encamped three -fourths of a mile above the crossing of the "Rio Caiiadiano," where we found a fine stream of cool water, clear, too, as crystal, and running over a clean pebbly bottom, shaded•by large cotton wood trees and willow thickets, on which the hop vine clambered, covered with a luxuriant growth of its chaffy fruit. SeptembeT 20.-As the ox teams moved too slow for me, I determined to wait for company no longer, but with Mr,. Nourse and Pilka to push on for Santa Fe. So we arose early this morni~ g, intending to camp on the "Rio Vermejo," which is 20 miles distant. We travelled over a fine prairie, covered with a luxuriant growth of grass; in many places it had been very marshy, and was overgr. own with the cat-tail, "typha," and cane grass, "arundo phragmttes." These plains look much greener than those to the north of the Raton. We saw a band of elk or warpiti, (C. canadensis.) We also saw many herds of antelope, in troops of 10 or 20, and 'the lar~e grey hare were running about in all directions. Amongst the buds we discovered the turkey vu1tuTe, the raven, the meadow lark, (S. ne-glecta,) a~d. the sky latk, (alanda alpestris.) . . . . The pra1ne was, in many places, yellow w1th the se~ecw. fihfohus, and beautiful patches of the purp1 e verbena, (V. pmnatdfida,) .were constantly recurring. The Mexican poppy was abundant, and of the cacti we had the "opuntia" and "cereus cespitosa." |