OCR Text |
Show PERILOUS POSITION- ANCIENT CRATER. 109 deep, which made the travelling slow and laborious. All trace of vegetation had vanished, and even the unfailing artemisia had disappeared. The animals were so tired and weak that the whole party was on foot, driving our herd before us. The mule which had given out in the afternoon was now unable to proceed, and had to be abandoned in the midst of the plain, where it no doubt perished. . Many others showed symptoms of extreme exhaustion, so that their packs had to be shifted and lightened repeatedly. I began to entertain serious fears that I should not be able to reach the mountain with them; nor was I certain that when we did reach it we should be able to find water in time to save their lives. The night was consequently passed in a state of great anxiety. We continued on until after midnight, crossing occasionally some little drains of salt water coming from the north, when we reached a small isolated butte, which was only a pile of barren rocks, with scarce a blade of grass upon it. Wood or water there was none; so, although the night was quite cold, we laid ourselves down, fireless and supperless, upon the sand, wearied to exhaustion by a continuous march of eighteen hours. The only sign of vegetable life to be seen here was a small chenopodeaceous plant, without leaves, but having long prickles. The artemisia had entirely disappeared. On each side of us, to the north and the south, was a rocky island or butte, similar in character to the one near which we had halted, but much larger. Monday, October 29.- On awaking early, we found the mules gathered around us, looking very dejected and miserable. They had searched in vain for food, and were now in nearly a starving condition. Before us, indeed, lay the mountain where we hoped to find both food and water for them, but between lay a mud-plain fifteen or twenty miles in extent, which must be crossed before we could reach it. I was much afraid the animals were too weak to succeed in the attempt, but it was our only hQpe. We set out, the whole party on foot, pursuing the same general course of south- west by west that we had followed yesterday. The island, at the foot of which we had slept last night, presented sections of sandstones and shales, which appeared to be of comparatively recent origin. They had evidently been somewhat altered by heat, but not to any great extent. At the north- east point of the island on our left, the strata were inclined at an angle of 70° to north- east. No fossils were found in them. Near the western side of this rocky protrusion, I observed what appeared |