17 



[7] 



horses, two jack dams, (magpie^) meadow, larks, king tirds, and 

 bob o'lincolns. • . ^ " 



The pasture was so bad that Colonel Kearny determined to march 

 to the '^hole in the prairie,'' the neighborhood of which, thouglj 

 said to be destitute of water, affords some dry grass. 



D 



We passed a dead horse belonging to the infantry, black, with 

 crows, and a wolf in their midst, quietly feeding on the carcase. 

 This gave us unpleasant forebodings for our noble, but novr attenu- 

 ated, horses. 



W 



. at 10, p, m., the distance 



being 14i miles, and found grass, as we expected: we were agreea- 

 bly surprised to find water also. The night was delicious, and all 

 slept in the open air. The infantry were encamped here. 

 The total distance to-day was 36 miles. The horses w^ere 



now 



falling away in an alarming manner, but the mules seem to require 

 the stimulus of distention, and " ' "■ ■• ► - 



affords. 



nothing else: this the- dry 



grasg 



On the march, about sunset, the W 



(twin hills) rose 



suddenly to view, south 75*^ west; and then Pike's peak, 20 or 30 

 degrees' farther to north. At the same time the dim outline of the 

 great spine of the Rocky mountain chain began to shew itself. We 



were now 



crossing 



the dividing line between the waters of the 



Timpas and those of the Purgatory, or Los Animos, of the Span- 



iards. 



The vegetation was the same as that of j'esterday, as far as we 

 could judge from its burned and parched condition; to which may 

 be added a plant described by Dr. Torrey, as physalis perbalis, and 

 one eriogonum tomentosura. 



Height of this camp 5,560 feet. 



August 5. — To-day ^fe descended eleven and a half miles, and 

 reached the valley of the Purgatory, called, bj the mountain men, 

 Picatoire, a. corruption of Purgatoire, a swift-running stream, a 

 few yards in width, but no grass of any amount at the crossing. 

 The blighted -trunks of large cotton-wood and locust trees w^ere 

 seen for many miles along its course, but the cause of decay wag 

 not apparent. 



The growth of the bottom, which is very narrow, was black lo- 

 cust, the everlasting cotton-wood, willow, wild currants, hops, 

 plum and grape, artemisia, ^lematis Virginiana, salix, in ma-ny va- 

 rieties; and a species of angelica, but no fruit Avas on the bushes. 

 Iieyt)nd this stream five and a half miles, we encamped on the bed 

 of a tributary to the Purgatory, which comes down from the north 

 side of the Raton, or Mouse, which is the name given to a chain 

 of ragged looking m-ountains that strikes the course of the -Purga* 

 tory nearly at right angles, and separates the waters of the Arkan- 

 sas from those of the Canadian. The banks of the Purgatory, 

 where this stream debouches,-begin to assume something of a moun- 

 tain aspect,, different from scenery in the States. The hills are bare 

 ot vegetation, except a few stunted cedars; and the valley is said 



to be, occasionally, the resort of grizzly bear, turkeys, deer, ante- 

 lope, &c. . •' ^ 



3 



-Vr 



W 

 ^ 



