100 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



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Report makes the distance of the mouth of the Coloradoj from 

 the crossing, eighty miles, hut unless the river is very crooked, this 

 cannot be; Lieut. Hardy, of the royal navy, determined the mouth 

 •to be in latitude 31° 51' north, and longitude IM"" 1'. 



The growth on the river bottom is cotton "^'ood, willow of differ- 

 ent kinds, equisetum hyemale, (scouring rush,) and a nutritious 

 grass in small quantities. . 



4 After crossing, we ascended the river three quarters of a mile, 

 where we encountered an immense sand drift, and from that point 

 until we halted, the great highway between Sonora and California 

 lies along the foot of this drift, which is continually but slowly 

 encroaching down the valley. Prosopis glandulosa, wild sage, and 

 ephedra compose the growth- the first is luxuriant. 



We halted at a dry arroyo, a few fee^ to the left of tlie road, 

 leading into the Colorado, where there was a hole five or six feet 

 -deep, w^hich by deepening furnished sufficient water for the men. 



We are yet, by the indication of the barometer, but 20 or 30 feet 



-^bove the river, and where the sands from the desert to the north 



have not encroached, the soil appears good* There are remains of 



zequias about five miles back, and where we halted, the remains of 



Indian settlements, but it is probable the water has been cut off by 



the drift, and cannot now^ be brought from the river above. 



1 made observations at night for time and latitude, and found the 

 position of the place to be north latitude 32° 40' 22^', and longitude 

 114^ 56' 28'', west of Greenwich. 



We tied our animals to the mezquite trees, (prosopis glandulosaj) 

 and remarking on the way that they showed an inclination to eat 

 the bean of this plant, w^e sent the men to collect themj the fe^r 

 gathered were eattn with avidity. 



J^ovemher 26. — The dawn of day found every man on horseback, 

 and a bunch of grass from the Colorada tied behind him on the 

 cantle of his saddle. After getting well under way, the keen air 

 at 26^ Fahrenheit made it most comfortable to walk. We traveled 

 four miles along the sand butte, in the same direction as yesterday? 

 about south 75^ w^est, (magnetic,) we mounted the buttes and found, 

 after a short distance, a firmer footing covered with fragments ot 

 lava, -rounded by water, and many agates. We w^ere now fairlj 

 on the desert. 



Our course now inclined a few degrees more to the north, and at 

 10, a^ m., we found a large patch of grama, where we halted for aii 

 hour, and then pursued our way over the plains covered with fr^g' 

 ments of lava, traversed at intervals by sand buttes, until 4 p. ^-J 

 when, after travelling 24 miles, we reached the Alamo or cotton 

 wood. At this point, the captured Spaniards informed us, that 

 failing to find water, they had gone a league to the west, in p^^' 



suit of their horses, where they found a running stream. ^^ ^ ^^j 

 cordingly. sent parties to search, but neither the water nor their trail 



could be found. 



is cither was there any cotton wood at the Alamo, as its name 

 would signify; but Francisco said that it was nevertheless the place^ 



the tree having probably been covered by the encroachments of the 



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