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Show [ 23] 102 miles we reached a deep gorge, into which we prepared to ?e- 1' T~ ere I found the "sand-board" of some wagon which scene . u . . ]' · w h' d had been broken in passmg thts abr~pt dec lVIty. e ac 1eve the d · t ·11 safety but J'ust we as l'!rrtved oppostte the salt lake, the weasgcoenn wI heel bro' ke entirely, off. I 1. mmer1.1· ate 1y or d erec1 t 11 e mu 1e s to be unhitched, and we set to work to sphce the broken axle-tree. The piece of wood that I had picked up was of goorl seasoned. oak, a~d of the <:xact width of the axle tree. By sunset ·we l1.ad fimshed the wood work, and it was now necessary to put. on the uons. To-day we saw great numbers of antelopes; In ?~c hf'rq there must have been nearly two hundred; and the pra1n.e dogs w~re running about as if it were not winter. The morn.tng was qutte warm and the little snow upon the road thawed rap1dly. Several of m; men are now sick wit~ the measels; the poor fellows are suffering much. We are obhg~d to travel, ,and can take no c~re of them, and they are necessanly very II\UCn e~·posed ~o the Inclemencies of the weather. Those who yet retamed theu wonted health attend to their duties with such zeal as seems to show tha.t they know how much depends upon their efforts; and I am truly grateful to them for their support. January 6.-At 3 o'clock this morning w,e we.re awakened b.y the beating of the snow against our tents. 'Ihe wt~d blew a.hurnccane , and the pelting of the snow flakes s~urtded hke paltenng of hail. We had been obligecl to enr.amp in an open valley, by the side of the wagon which had been broken; and in this expose.d situation we hRd to abide the fury of the storm. Fortunately 1t soon cleared away, and we were able to resume our labor of repai ring the a-'_lletree. Our mules were loosened from their pickets, and permitted to range in the neighboring forests of pine and cedar, while the guar.d built large fires, and under the shelter of the trees passed thell' 'time more comfortably than any others of the party. At length we finished our work, and commenced packing up our baggage. I noticed around our camp great numbers of skylarks, (" alauda alpestris.") Some ic1ea may be formed of the immense numbers in the flock, when I state that 25 were killed at one shot. Among them were several snowlarks, ("plectro-phanes nivalis,") one of which I skinned. After returning to camp, we saw the raYens engage(l in chasing some of the birds which had been wounded. They showed th.ems; Ives as skilful in hawking as the faleon genus, and in a Itttle t1me they captured five or six birds. Then an amusing scene took -place, for the successful bird -catcher was sure to be attacked by some of his fellows, who endeavorecl to make him drop his prey. We did not interfere, for we thought it best to let the wounded be devoured at once, than to· die a ling~ring death. • At two o'clo~k this evening we commenced our march. 'I'he road.was covered with snow, which was in many places ver:y.deep, ~nd m some places covered with a hard crust, wh\ch was sufficiently strong to bear the weight of our mules altho~o-h it broke thr0ugh beneath the wheels of our wagon. To~ards e~ening we met some 103 [ 23 J men who were plodding their way on fo~t to Santa F6. They saicT~ that they lratl been obliged to leave thell' wagons on account o{ the depth of the snow, as it was impossible for 1hcir hal.f-starv d oxen to drao- them any further. They spread the most dtscouraging reports ~mong my men, with regard to the possibility of passing the Raton cai'ion; !'tating ,that the snow was five feet deep, and that the hill sides were coYerccl with ice. We encamped near the head of a little stream which empties into the Ocate, in a grove of cedar trees. 'I'hc evening air was bitiniT cold, and the faces of the men, when tbcy · first gathered arougd the fire, were covered with frost- work and ice, from the con11e lati on of their breath; ieicles bung from the hai~· on their fore 0 heads, and their moustache and bea:ds were one mass of ice. This night was so bitter cold that I found it was vain to get asleep, and went out ancl sat at the watch-fires of the guard. Not a cloud was to be seen, the air was beautifully clear, and the brilliant constella~ ions blned so brightly as to appear to have approached a few millions of miles nearer to our globe. Janurtry 7.-After marching about six miles, we crossed the "Rio ~ayado" on the ice, w~ich was sufficiently strong to bear the wetght of ?ur wagons. Here we saw the train of commissary ·wagon~, to which the. men whom we met yesterday belonged. A_ few ~ersons had remamed to take cha.rge of the train; they seemed to thtn~ that they would have to spend the whole winter here. Pa.ssmg onward, we commenced the <~seent of a long hill; it was the Jee side, and the snow had settled here to the depth of from on~ to tw_o feet. ·Every fe.w 1~o~n~nts we were obliged to stop anti rest our ~mmals. ~twas \nth m,lnite labor that the poor bea--ts succeeded 1n flounrle.nn~ through the fleep Jrifts, until they at length arrived at thP: plam from which the snow had been blown, when our prog~ ess bec~me comparatively easy, and we soon reache<l "El Rio C~~~aroncito." We had much trouble in crossing this ri,·er beino- 0 Igrd to unhitch the mules and work the wagons aero. s b; hanl 1u;anuary 8.-At four o'cJock this morning, our animals were ·h nerl 1loose, to graze upon the tender shoots of the w ilio w a 11 cl -w Tt e.se they could find. had he wol~es ~1ad become emboldened by the feeble resistance thry roadme~w.Ith fro~ the broken down oxen which they ftnd on the ,1bou. h his m~rnmg they attacked our mules, woundillg one badly ' Ast; e ~ostrd s,_ and gnawing off the " cabrestoe~ " of the rest. Vermi ': '~Id . n.ot Intend to marc~ this. day farther than "El Rio the J h' ]" ~ I c h w a s o n J y t en m d e s d I s t a n t ' ,,. e d i cl n o t start u n ~ i l sun ac l'l"en W I b l river· as it ~ . e were encamper rtween the fork of the the i~e withwa_s necessary to cross the other branch, we roughened bank axes, and scattered sand and gravel over it. As the s were steep and f , · 1 h } · they could not roztn, we tter t e Hndcr wheels so that the ground . revolve, an~! wrapp.ed the felloes in contact with attaehed ro ':Isth coarse .chams, to Increase the friction; and having men were sf t' to \he hmd axletree, so that we might hold back to hold backa lOl~~ ~t.the head of the wheel mules, to force the~ . emg now ready, we moved slowly up to the. |