CHAPTER ITI. 
posed ae Buffalo bcbg Pe of the Canadian, and ro- 
Freaks of Nature—Melancholy Adventure of a Party 
of “Traders i 1832— 2—-Fea rs of being at-~ A bei val of a Party 
omancheros, and their wonderful Stories —Their Peculiari- 
Virtues—Ranchero Ideas of Distance, and their Mode of giv- 
ing Directions e Angostura, and erroneous Notions of the 
Texans— posing nec revealed—Solitary Berea nd 
of Pr avila sent back—Arrival at Santa Fé—Gov. Arm 
etc —A Flare-up’ with His Excellency. 
Tue Comanches having all disappeared, we 
resumed our march, and soon emerged into 
an open plain or mesa which was one of the 
most monotonous I had ever seen, there be- 
ing not a break, not a hill nor valley, nor 
even a shrub to obstruct the view. The only 
thing which served to turn us from a direct 
course pursued by the compass, was the in- 
numerable ponds which bespeckled the plain, 
and which kept us at least well supplied with 
water. Many of these ponds seem to have 
grown out of "buffalo wallows,—a term used 
on the Prairies to designate a sink made by 
the buffalo’s pawing the earth for the purpose 
of obtaining a smooth dusty surface to roll 
upon. 
