ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 113 



for; first, the intense heat of the sun upon the open and exposed 

 plains ; and secondly, the desiccation to which every thing here 

 is subject. The air feels like the breath of a sirocco, the tongue 

 becomes parched and horny, and the mouth, nose, and eyes are 

 incessantly assailed by the fine pulverized lava, which rises 

 from the ground with the least breath of air. Bullets, pebbles of 

 chalcedony, and pieces of smooth obsidian, were in great requisi- 

 tion to-day ; almost every man was mumbling some of these 

 substances, in an endeavor to assuage his burning thirst. The 

 camp trailed along in a lagging and desponding line over the 

 plain for a mile or more, the poor horses heads hanging low, 

 their tongues protruding to their utmost extent, and their riders 

 scarcely less drooping and spiritless. We were a sad and most 

 forlorn looking company, certainly ; not a man of us had any 

 thing to say, and none cared to be interrupted in his blissful 

 dream of cool rivers and streams. Occasionally we would pass 

 a ravine or gorge in the hills, by which one side of the plain was 

 bounded, and up this some of the men would steer, leaping over 

 blocks of lava, and breaking a path through the dense bushes ; 

 but the poor searcher soon returned, disheartened and wo-begone, 

 and those who had waited anxiously to hear his cheering call, 

 announcing success, passed onward without a word. One of our 

 men, a mulatto, after failing in a forage of this sort, cast himself 

 resolutely from his horse to the gi'ound, and declared that he 

 would lie there till he died ; " there was no water in the cursed 

 country, and he might as well die here as go farther." Some 

 of us tried to infuse a little courage into him, but it proved of no 

 avail, and each was too much occupied with his own particular 

 grief to use his tongue much in persuasion; so we left him to 

 his fate. 



Soon after night-fall, some signs of water were seen in a small 

 valley to our left, and, upon ascending it, the foremost of the 



party found a delightful little cold spring ; but they soon exhausted 



15 



