105 



tain, along an Indian pathway, and from the 

 crest — about 1000 feet above the valley — had an 

 extensive view of the desert, shading away into 

 gloomy indistinctness and blending with the 

 dull clouds that skirted the horizon toward the 

 East. To the right and left, as far as the eye 

 could reach, the mountain chain presented a 

 series of fantastic and rugged seratures well in 

 keeping with the sombre area of baron desola- 

 tion it hedged in. A few stunted mesquit trees, 

 a dwarf magey and a pretty fair representation 

 of the cactacia, constituted the flora of the 

 mountain. Descending the eastern slope at a 

 rather sharp grade, we re-entered the San Felipe 

 canon. "We received now and again puffs of hot 

 wind, giving us a foretaste of the furnace-tem- 

 perature of the broad, herbless plain below. The 

 canon sloped off rapidly, but with great regu- 

 larity, expanding into a valley two or three 

 miles wide and finally losing itself in the desert 

 ten miles beyond. The soil — if the term be ap- 

 plicable — consisted of detrital matter and de- 

 bris of the mountain rocks. A species of Ca- 

 talpa, with slender, pendulous pods, grew in de- 

 pressions marking the beds of winter torrents, 

 and clusters of a tall shrub covered with strong 

 secured prickles from the root to the extremi- 

 ties of the branches, gave warning not to ap- 

 proach them too closely. Succulent and arbo- 

 rescent Opuntias occurred in clumps and 

 patches ; and the Eohinocactns, with its rigid 

 fish-hook spines, lay often half covered in sand, 

 and our horses frequently started suddenly to 

 one side to avoid them. The columnar form of 

 a huge cereus crowning some rocky eminences 

 presented, often, a peculiar and picturesque ap- 

 pearance. Night overtook us in the valley, and 

 our progress was much impeded by the opuntias 

 constantly pricking the horses, rendering them 

 restive and fretful. The road grew worse and 

 worse every mile, and about 11 o'clock a dense 

 forest of bristling vegetation completely blocked 

 the way. In attempting to force the barrier, 

 my horse b.came furious and commenced plung- 

 ing, and I had to choose between throwing my- 

 self off into the spring moss or suffer the horse 

 to do it for me. I chose the first, and in at- 

 tempting to hold the infuriated animal, was 

 dragged and shoved alternately amongst opun- 

 tias higher than my head, until my clothes 

 were literally pinned to the tlesh from head to 

 foot by the barbed needle-like prickles. The 

 horse fared no better, but I felt no great conso- 

 lation on that score. Jose, with ins riata came 

 timely to the rescue, and the horse was secured 

 just as the bridle reins broke in my hand and 

 I came near experiencing the additional un- 

 pleasant mii-hap of being left horseless. Farther 

 progress for the night was out of the question. 

 The horse had freed him-elf from the saddle 

 and riding gear, and was so covered with spines 

 rankling in his skin, that to replace them was 

 impossible ; and even could the horse have 

 borne the saddle the rider could not have borne 

 the seat. So tying up in the most favorable -put 

 that offered, a light was struck and the residue 

 i)f the night spent in extracting prickles from 

 the flesh of man and horse. 



" July 18. — At early dawn started again and 

 had the good fortune to thread our way through 



the horrid grove without further mishap. A 

 smooth surface of baked clay, in which not even 

 a cactus could root itself, gave place to the dis- 

 integrated mountain deposite, and over which 

 we passed at a sweeping trot. A beautiful speci- 

 men of Selenite was picked up here, and water- 

 worn pebbles occasionally occurred. Two hours' 

 ride brought us on to an enormous clay deposite, 

 with fragments of thin bivalve shells — probably 

 the margin of the ancient lake. The soil be- 

 came gradually more sandy and the variety and 

 number of shells greatly increased. Finally 

 the entire deposite consisted of fine sand and 

 clay, with minute univalve shells in astonishing 

 quantities. Hillocks formed by drifting sand 

 accumulating around chimps of mesquit bushes, 

 leaving only the branches exposed, gave some 

 variety to the surface of the plain. A few 

 black 'i'abanis came buzzing about the horses, 

 and a large spotted winged Libellula flitted by 

 us. The presence of these insects was the more 

 remarkable as the distance to water was not less 

 than ten miles. Their appearance, insignifi- 

 cant as were the little creatures, was cheering 

 and relieved the sullen sadness always produced 

 by the total absence of animated beings. At 

 iu .-, a. m. we reached water, after thirteen and 

 a half hours' riding. Horses much fatigued, 

 hungry and half mad with thrist. Water brack- 

 ish and warm, proceeding from a large fountain 

 which rises up in the bed of a ravine, boiling 

 and bubbling with the constant evolution of gas 

 — proba Ay carbonic acid. It runs off north- 

 east in a stream yielding about 500 gallons per 

 minute ; but within half a mile it is lost in the 

 porous soil, and there is no further trace of it. 

 The ravine in which it rises comes from the 

 south-west, and is probably a continuation of 

 Cariso Creek. It here forms a little valley some 

 hundred yards broad, covered with bushes and 

 coarse giass — among which the stream mean- 

 dena from side to side of the valley. The de- 

 pression below the common level of the desert 

 is about forty feet. I will take occasion to men- 

 tion here that appearances presented by the bot- 

 toms of ravines, wherever I observed them, in- 

 dicated that water might any where be found at 

 a depth not exceeding forty feet. A small 

 grove of mesquit trees, (Prosopus Glandulosa) 

 with a heavy crop of dry legumes, stood on the 

 brink of the ravine. The fruit formed a wel- 

 come repast for the horses, and the slight shade 

 of the scattering boughs afforded us some pro- 

 tection against the hot sun -rays ; with blankets 

 spread over them a tolerable shade was pro- 

 duced, but afforded no barrier to the parching 

 blasts of wind that came like the breath of an 

 oven. I was driven to the water, where, with 

 the tail lushes bent into a kind of bower and 

 sitting up to the neck in the stream, I voted my- 

 self the presiding genius of the place, and half 

 dosing, rested comfortably for an hour. 



'•At 6i o'clock P. M-, started again, hoping to 

 reach the volcanoes by midnight. To lighten 

 the burden of the animals, all our provisions, 

 blankets and extra wearing apparel, were left be- 

 hind, taking no weight save our arms and sup- 

 ply of water. Two black buttes, betwixt which 

 our course lay, in a north-easterly direction, 

 served us as guides. Within two miles, came to 



