SPY CAMP. 251 



time, most luckily furnished us with a breakfast, though nothing further 

 entered our mouths till the morning of the third day from this, when, com- 

 ing to the site of a recent Indian encampment, we succeeded in gathering 

 a few pieces of dry buffalo hide, that lay scattered about — so hard and tough 

 the wolves had tried in vain to gnaw them ; these, after being boiled soma 

 twelve or fourteen hours, afforded us a paltry substitute for something bet- 

 ter, but of so glutinous a nature it almost cemented the teeth employed in 

 its mastication. 



The two days following we were again doomed to go hungry and began 

 to talk seriously of the imminent danger of starving to death. 



This interval had brought us into the caiion of de las Aminas, where, 

 having struck camp, several of the men sought a temporary respite from 

 the torments of hunger by eating roasted cacti ; — the article at tirst tasted 

 well, and from the recommendation of the essayists, several were induced 

 to partake of it quite heartily. 



But the lapse of a brief hour or two brought with it the " tug of war," 

 when the inherent properties of the cacti began to have their elfect upon 

 the enervated systems of the participants. 



The painful consequences of this strange diet at first were a weakness 

 in the joints, succeeded by a severe trembling and a desire to vomit, accom- 

 panied with an almost insufferable pain in the stomach and bowels. 



Three or four of the unfortunate sufferers were in such extreme pain they 

 rolled upon the ground for agony, with countenances writhing in every im- 

 aginable shape of frightful distortion. 



Hereupon it was decided to sacrifice -one of our animals as a last resort, 

 which was promptly done, and we ended our fast of nearly seven days' con- 

 tinuance with a feast of mule meat. 



I had heretofore cherished a decided repugnance to this kind of food, but 

 am in justice bound to say, it proved botli sweet and tender, and scarcely 

 inferior to beef. The supply thus obtained lasted till we came among buf- 

 falo, when ample amends were made for previous abstinence. 



The only game encountered during the march was an occasional band of 

 antelope or wild horses, whose extreme vigilance and caution set at defi- 

 ance all attempts to approach them, and sported at the phrensy of our des- 

 perate efforts. 



Our camp, at the termination of this arduous and eventful journey, was 

 n a small grove of cottonwood, about eighi hundred yards below the point 

 at which the trail, from Bent's Fort to Taos, crosses the right hand fork of 

 the de las Animas. 



It was faced on the north by a broad sandy prairie, gently undulating, 

 that, at intervals, disclosed a good soil, and led to a distant ridge of pine-clad 

 hills ; while from the west, at a distance of some twenty or thirty miles, 

 the proud and isolated summits of the Spanish Peaks, or Huaquetories, 

 arose to view, and from the southwest, the lofty and noble iierras tentfladas 

 that skirt the heads of the Cimarone and Colorado, whose broad tops 

 showed themselves in beautiful contrast with the sharp, snow-clad moun- 

 tain forming the eastern boundary to the valley of Taos ; then, upon the 



