NATURE OF THE COUNTRY. 309 



him he lied, and even accuse him of being a Texan spy — tlireatening to try 

 and execute him as such ! 



Were this ever the reward of treason, how few would be traitors ! 



CHAPTER XXX. 



March dovs'n the Cimarone. — Junction of the two divisions. — Country between the 

 de las Animas and the Cimarone. — Perilous descent. — Caiion of the Cimarone.— 

 Soil and prevailing rock. — A fort. — Grandeur and sublimity of scenery. — Beauty of 

 rocks. — Cimarone of the plain. — Fruits and game. — Wide-spread desolation. — A 

 dreary country. — Summer on the Desert. — Remarks. — Encounter with Indians. — 

 Nature's nobleman. — Wild horses and different modes of catching them. — Failure of 

 expected reinforcements. — March into the enemy's country. — Ancient engravings 

 upon a rock. — Boy in the wolf's den. — A man lost. — Forced march. — Torment of 

 thirst. — Remarks. — The lost found. — Expulsion for cowardice, — its effect. 



Soon after the incident related at the close of the preceding chapter, an 

 express arrived from the Col. commandant, with dispatches ordering our 

 division to join him at a small creek near the Pilot Buttes, or " Rabbit 

 Ears," two noted landmarks situated some forty miles above the Santa Fe 

 trail, and nearly equidistant between the Arkansas and Cimarone. 



We accordingly took up our line of march and proceeded nearly due 

 south for two days and a half, to the Cimarone ; thence, down the valley of 

 the latter, five days' travel to the Santa Fe trail, and thence, west-north- 

 west, one day and a half to the place of rendezvous, which we found with- 

 out difficulty after a journey of one hundred and seventy miles. 



Between the de las Animas and Cimarone, we crossed a long reach of 

 arid prairie, slightly undulating and generally barren, with the exception 

 of small fertile spots among the hills, here and there, clothed with rank 

 grasses. 



In some parts, the cacti so completely covered the ground that it was 

 impossible to step, for miles in succession, without treading upon their 

 sharp thorns ; in others, the thick clusters of absinthe monopolized the vi- 

 cinity of creeks, nearly to the exclusion of all dissimilar vegetation ; and 

 yet in others, though of more brief space, naked sterility refused foot t 

 aught save gravel and stiff clay, or saline efflorescences. 



The water of most of the streams was so highly impregnated with mine- 

 ral salts, it was often unfit to drink. The creeks aflforded very little timber, 

 and frequently none at all. 



The section immediately at the base of the high table lands to the right, 

 exposed some beautiful spreads of fertile prairie, well watered and suitably 

 timbered. The soil, as a whole, presented all the prominent character- 

 istics of like portions of country previously described. 



The prevailing rock was limestone and sandstone, with various conglo- 

 merates, and exten.=;ive beds of gypsum. I noticed f ome very large speci- 



