236 CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS 



we plunged through thickets of fragrant chamise 

 and glades ennobled with oaks, and at early evening 

 came to what was formerly the Indian village of Agua 

 Caliente. Some years ago the old population were 

 evicted and their neat cottages coolly appropriated 

 by the whites. The place is now known as Warner's 

 Springs, and has become a summer resort on a small 

 scale, the attraction being the hot sulphur springs 

 from which it took its old Spanish name. 



McSandy made for his old bivouac, in the dis- 

 mantled Indian church. Apart from scruples on the 

 religious score, which McSandy thought high-flown, 

 I preferred the open air, so chose a spot beside the 

 warm creek for my camp. It is reported by some old 

 traveller that the Indians of Agua Caliente were in 

 the habit, on cold nights, of sleeping in the creek, 

 with the grassy bank for pillow. At this season there 

 was no need to adopt this simple dodge. Farther on 

 in my journey I found people in Imperial Valley 

 soaking their couches with cold water before going 

 to bed, for better comfort on sultry nights. 



On calling at the store for mail and the news I 

 learned that two days after I passed Clay Point a 

 party of three men met disaster a few miles farther 

 south. One perished of thirst, the others barely 

 escaped with their lives. ^ 



1 While preparing these pages at least four cases of this kind have 

 come to my notice in the local newspaper. The latest, a typical one, 

 reports the end of a prospector who was found dying beside one of 

 the so-called "poison springs" on the northern part of the desert. 

 He had reached the place famishing for water and probably had drunk 

 too much. So every year the desert takes its toll. 



