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Show 262 WESTERN WILDS. the whole tract may be of great value. We rose thence by a succession of white sand hills to a horrible desert, which extended some twenty miles. Our horses suffered from both heat and thirst, and the water-in our canteens was soon simmering warm. As we neared a low range of gray and chalky- looking hills, the sage- brush appeared a little more thrifty, and sometimes showed a faint green tinge, indicat-ing there was water somewhere in the vicinity. A faint track, as if made by sheep or goats, crossed our trail, whereat the guide whirled his horse toward the ridge, ran his eye along the peaks, and selecting one which to my eye in no way dif-fered from the rest, exclaimed, " Toll!" and we started for* it. At the mouth of the gorge was a sickly little cottonwood in a small depres-sion, at which the guide remarked: " Toll pasar muchos anos " ( water many years ago), and we struck up the nearest gulch. The rock every- where was crumbling away ; it was like riding up a mountain of chalk. At the foot of, and partly underneath a large cliff, we found two holes, scooped out by Indian hatchets, and containing a gallon or so of water to each, the one almost cool and the other blood warm. After treating ourselves to a quart or so each, my horse drank the cool one and the burro the other, and we struck into the desert again. On the western side, my guide had told me, we should see the last Nava-joes; but we soon met most of the colony driving before them their little herds, and to the guide's question they replied that the grass there was gone, the water dried up to one spring, and that was hoh-kawah ki wano ( decidedly not good). Though I did not quite under-stand this, I saw, by its effect on the guide, that it wr as bad news for us, who had already ridden forty miles. There was but one family left, and the girl showed us a specimen kettle of the water. It was horrible stuff, but we must have some of it, and climbing an hour we reached the pool. All around it the sand-stone had been trodden to powder and was drifting into the water, which was green, slimy, full of vile pollywogs, and looked and smelt as if ten thousand goats had waded through it. The horse and burro drank with many sniffs and brute protests, and John and I downed a pint or so each ; but it was a signal triumph of catholic stomachs over protesting noses. We had no more than reached the plain till both of us were sick, and in an hour I dismounted, unable to ride further. John ran ' about in great distress, gathered some dry yellow flowers, and burnt them under my nose, producing a violent sneezing and retching. Placing his hand on my stomach, he indicated, by most expressive signs, that " it must come up." Having lighted my pipe |
