TO PUEBLO DE LOS ANGELES. 193 



Amid the scenes described I slowly wended my way over 

 the gravelly plains and beneath the rays of a warm sun. My 

 feet were now blistered to a painful extent, and sweltering under 

 the weight of my yet heavy load, I sickened at the thought 

 of the many leagues which lay between me and the next 

 stopping place, which was thirty miles from where I passed the 

 night. Besides, I was chronically hungry and Avould get no 

 water till night, except by making long detours to out-of-the- 

 way ranches. There was not a shade tree along the road; but 

 in the afternoon I was greeted Avith the sight of a large live- 

 oak rising in solitary grandeur above the level plain to the 

 left of the trail. It seemed so inviting that I went out of my 

 way to rest under its shade, which was near a hundred 

 feet in diameter. As I was anxious to reach El Monte, the 

 first settlement, before dark, I did not remain long. The trail 

 now bore away from the Sierra and towards the coast. Towards 

 sundown I came across some large beds of prickly pears, some 

 as high as six feet and scattered over acres of ground. The 

 leaves w^re from an inch to two inches in thickness, oval- 

 shaped, six to ten inches long, standing one above the other at 

 right angles, and covered with spines. It bore a purple fruit 

 which stopped my thirst to a certain extent, but left my tongue 

 and lips full of barbed thorns, difficult to dislodge. 



Night was approaching, and in company with two or three 

 brother stragglers I hurried on for El Monte, but darkness 

 overtook us before we arrived. The sight of lights in the dis- 

 tance quickened our steps, for we knew we were nearing the 

 end of our journey. Crossing the dry, sandy bed of a narrow 

 river we ascended a bluff and found ourselves in the dark 

 street of a village. Getting a drink at the first house we came 

 to we hunted up a place to stop all night. We found a sort of 

 a hotel, and before an open fire in the bar-room rested awhile. 

 Then we went out to supper. This was spread on a table, and 

 we had benches to sit on and knives and forks to eat with. To 



