102 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



w 



three-quarters of a mile long and half a mile wide. The water had 

 receded to a pool, diminished to one half its size, and the approach 

 to it was through a thick soapy quagmire. It was wholly unfit for 

 man or brute, and we studiously kept the latter from it, thinking 

 that the use of it would but aggravate their thirst. 



One or two of the men came in late and, rushing to the lake, 

 threw themselves down and took many swallows before discovering 

 their mistake; but the eflfect was not injurious except that it in- 

 creased their thirst. 



At the point where we left the sand, sketches were taken of the 

 objects by which our pilot wended his way; these may serve to 

 guide future travellers. From this point the traveller may go di- 

 rectly to the gap exhibited in the sketch, nearly magnetic west, 

 through which the trail passes. 



A few mezquite trees and a chenopodiaceous shrub bordered the 

 lake, and on these our mules munched till they had sufficiently re- 

 freshed themselves, when the call to saddle was sounded, and we 

 groped silently our way in the dark. The stoutest animals now 

 began to stagger, -and when day dawned, scarcely a man was seen 

 mounted. 



th the sun rose a heavy fog from the southwest, no doubt 

 from the gulf, and sweeping towards us, enveloped us for two or 

 three hours, wetting our blankets and giving relief to the animals. 

 Before it had dispersed we came to a patch of sun-burned grass. 



When the fog had entirely dispersed we found ourselves entering 

 a gap in the mountains, which had been before us for four days. 

 The plain was crossed, but we had not yet found water. The first 

 valley we reached was dry, and it was not till 12 o'clock, m., that 

 ye struck the Cariso (cane) creek, -within half a mile of one o( 

 its.sources, and although so close to the source, the sands had al- 

 ready absorbed much of its water, and left but little running. A 

 mile or two below, the creek entirely disappears. 



We halted, having made fifty-four miles in the two days, at the 

 source, a magnificent spring, twenty or thirty feet in diameter, 

 highly impregnated with sulphur, and medicinal in its properties. 

 JNo vessel could be procured to bring home some of the water for 

 analysis, but I scraped a handful of the salt which had effloresced 

 to the surface of the adjacent ground, and Professor Frazer finds It 

 to contain sulphate of lime, magnesia, and chloride of sodium. 



Ihe spring consisted of a series of smaller springs or veins, 

 varying in temperature from 6S° to 75°. This variation, however, 



"^U ^r ^r"" ''^^^'''^ *° *^^ different exposures of the fountains in 

 which the thermometer was immersed. The growth was cane, rush, 

 and a coarse grass, such as is found on the marshes near the sea 



snore, 



-The desert oyer which we had passed, ninety miles from water 

 to water, is an immense triangular plain, bounded on one side by 

 the Colorado, on the west by the Cordilleras of California, the 

 coast chain of mountains which now encircles us, extending from 

 the Sacramento river to the southern extremity of Lower Califor- 

 nia, and on the northeast by a chain of mountains. . mntinuation of 



