^K^^^m 



XI. 



©n tfie ^reat ^anil^ ©expert. 



E were now on the borders of a desolate region, 

 extending westward from three to four hundred 

 (Q^JU miles ; as truly a desert as the Great Sahara ; a 



land of sand, gravel and rocks; with occasional brackish 

 springs and streams which lost themselves awhile under the 

 surface, again to appear ; their courses, when above ground, 

 marked by stretches of salt grass and thorny shrubs and 

 prickly plants. In all this domain there was not an inhabited 

 building, not even a tent for the protection of its savage 

 inhabitants, such as are used by the Indians of the East, for 

 they lived in caves or flimsy hovels made from reeds and 

 mud. A glance eastward over the shores of the Rio Virgin 

 showed mountain after mountain, bare and bleak, rolling 

 backward until lost to view in the haz}^ distance. 



The next morning we intended to have made an early start, 

 as we had a twenty mile desert to cross before reaching water, 

 but we were detained until ten o'clock by being unable to find 

 one of our horses. A party of eight men, who had an outfit of 

 their own, and who had joined us a few days previously for 

 protection, became impatient of the delay and pushed forward, 

 heedless of the consequences. We watched the little party with 

 interest as it slowly moved away from our night's encampment 

 toward the trail which strikes the bluffs some two miles distant. 

 10 (153) 



