I 



104 WAGON REPAIRS. 



the caravan. At Rock Creek, a distance of 

 six or seven miles, we were joined by those 

 who had gone in pursuit of the stock. All 

 the oxen were found, except some half a 

 dozen, which were never recovered. No 

 mules were lost : a few that had broken loose 

 were speedily retaken. The fact is, that 

 though mules are generally easiest scared, oxen 

 are decidedly the worst when once started. 

 The principal advantage of the latter in this 

 respect is, that Indians have but little induce- 

 ment to steal them, and therefore few attempts 

 would be made upon a caravan of oxen. 

 We were now enteringr a region of rouffh 



O ^ i^gi^-'ii. <Ji A'^'-'to 



and in some places, rocky road, as the streams 

 which intervene from this to the mountains 

 are all bordered with fine sandstone. These 

 rugged passes acted very severely upon our 

 wagons, as the wheels were by this time be- 

 coming loose and ' shackling,' from the shrink 

 of the wood, occasioned by the extreme dry- 

 ness and rarity of this elevated atniosphere. 

 The spokes of some were beginning to reel 

 in the hubs, so that it became necessary to 

 brace them Avith ' false spokes,' firmly bound 



with * buffalo tug.' On some occasions, the 



wagon tires have become so loose udou the 



felloes as to tumble off while travelling. The 

 rnost effective mode of tightening slackened 

 tires (at least that most practised on the plains, 

 as there is rarely a portable forge in company), 

 IS by dri\ing strips of hoop-iron around be- 

 tween the tire and felloe— simple wedges of 

 wood are sometimes made to suddIv the place 



