APPENDIX 363 



"dry camp," such as are made on long stretches between 

 springs, or there may be a spring or well in the vicinity, 

 which is covered over to keep out animals, and is hidden 

 by drifting sand. Experienced men will have no difficulty 

 in quickly determining the nature of the camp. An inex- 

 perienced traveller should not enter the desert alone. If he 

 cannot find an experienced companion, he should proceed 

 with the greatest caution, gathering all possible informa- 

 tion about his route in advance, keeping himself abun- 

 dantly supplied with water and food, and never leaving 

 one water station without a definite idea as to the location 

 of the next. 



A traveller can rarely see exactly where water is to be 

 found, except by going over the camp-ground and look- 

 ing carefully for wells. Many of the wells are mere shafts, 

 twenty to forty feet deep, rectangular in shape and cov- 

 ered with a few boards, which may in turn be covered by 

 drifting sand. Only a few wells are equipped with a wind- 

 lass or pump. These conveniences, even if originally sup- 

 plied, quickly disappear as fuel for some traveller in need 

 on a cold winter night. He uses them to maintain his 

 camp-fire, justifying himself in the belief that self-preser- 

 vation is the first law. 



Fuel is scarce on the desert, especially in the vicinity 

 of the better-known springs, where it has been entirely 

 cleared away. The traveller, therefore, usually finds it 

 necessary to begin gathering brush and mesquit roots 

 long before he reaches the spring, so as to provide fuel 

 for cooking. Camp-fires are luxuries that can be indulged 

 in only among heavy mesquit and cottonwood timber, or 

 off the beaten lines of travel. 



One unacquainted with the desert should accustom 

 himself to its clear air and the resulting exaggerated de- 

 tail, which makes distant objects look near. No walks 

 without water or provisions to what appears to be a near- 

 by hill should be undertaken without definite knowledge 



