264 MULE-HUNTING EXPEDITION. 
shrub, as far as the eye could wander, had strug- 
gled into life. ’Tis true a stunted artemisia, or 
wild-sage bush, had fought its way inch by inch 
in its struggle for existence, and looked so old, 
dry, and parched, that your idea was, if you 
laid a finger on it, it would powder up like 
dried herbs; but whatever had been in shape 
of grass, or herb, or shrub, was gone, cleared 
bodily and entirely away by the field-crickets. 
Never shall I forget this insect array. On 
getting well upon the plains, I found every 
inch of ground covered with field-crickets; they 
were as thick on the ground as ants on a hill; the 
mules could not tread without stepping on them; 
not an atom or vestige of vegetation remained, 
the ground as clear asa planed floor. It was 
about twenty good long miles to the next water, 
and straight across the sand-plains, and, for that 
entire distance, the crickets were as thick as ever. 
It is impossible to estimate the quantity ; but 
when you suppose a space of ground twenty-seven 
miles long, and how wide I know not, but at least 
twice that, covered with crickets as thick as they 
could be packed, you can roughly imagine what 
they would have looked like if swept into a heap. 
It was long after sundown when we reached 
the water, tired, thirsty, and utterly worn-out; 
