Ex. Doc. No. 41. 77 



In the sanely arrbyos 'where our fires burn^ that look as if they 

 had been formed but a year or two sinccj was broken pottery, and 

 the remains of a large building, similar in form^ substance, and ap- 

 parent antiquity to those so often described. Strolling over the 

 hills alone, in pursuit of seed and geological specimens, my thoughts 

 went back to the St%tes, and when I turned from my momentary 

 aberrations, I was struck most forcibly with the fact that not one 

 object in the whole view, animal, vegetable, or mineral, had any 

 thing in comrnon with the products of any State in the Union, with 

 the single exception of the Cottonwood, which is found in the wes- 

 tern States, and seems to grow wherever water flows from the ver- 

 tebral range of mountains of North Amerlcaj this tree we found 

 growing near the summit of the Pinon Lano range of mountains, in- 

 deed, always where a ravine had its origin. 



In one view could be seen clustered, the larrea Mexicana, the 

 cactus, (liing) cactus, (chandelier) green wood acacia, chamiza, 

 prosopis odorata, and a new variety of sedge, and then large open 

 spaces of bare gravel. 



^ The only animals seen were lizzards, scorpions, and tarantulas. 

 I made elaborate observations for time and latitude, and for longi- 

 tude by measurement of lunar distances. Anxious to observe eclip- 

 ses of Jupiter's satellites, I determined once more to try the small 

 telescope with which the satellites of Jupiter could just be discerned. 

 I strained my eyes for two nights in succession to see^if I, could . 

 discover the moment of immersion and emersion of I and III satel- 

 lites of Jupiter, which were .visible from our camp. My efforts 

 were fruitless, and the result to myself is a distressing nervous af- 

 fection of the eye, which may injure the correctness of my other 

 observations of this night. 

 t... The resulting latitude of the place is 32^ 57' 43". 



longitude' «' " 7/i. 23m. 19^. 



Rate of chronometer 2075, losing 12" 7^. per day. 

 The height by barometer 2115 feet above the sea. 

 The latitude was deduced from 13 circum-iheridian altitudes of be- 

 ta aquarii, and 12 altitudes of polaris. The longitude from 8 dis- 

 tances between alpha arietis and the ]> , 9 of regulus and the 5 , and 

 5 of aldebaran and the T> . 



J^ovember 7. — About two miles from our camp the San Pedro 

 joins the Gila just as the latter leaps from the mouth of the canon. 

 The place of meeting is a bottom three miles wide, seeming a con- 

 tinuation of that of the Gila. 



It is principally of deep dust and sand, overgrown with cotton 

 wood, mezquite, chamiza, willow, and the black willow. In places 

 there are long sweeps of large paving pebbles, filled up with drift 

 wood, giving the appearance of having been overflowed by an im- 

 petuous torrent. The hills on both sides of the river, still high, 

 but now farther off, and covered to the top with soil producing the 

 mezquite and pitahaya, as the day advanced, began to draw in closer, 

 and before it closed, had again contracted the valley to a space . 

 little more than suflScioat for the river to pass: and at halt, after 



