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Ex. Doc. No. 41. 435 



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cost me some labor, and. that I valued highly, would have 

 been destroyed. 



September 12. — When daylight appeared, I again congratulateil 

 myself on the escape of last night. * The ground for a considerable 

 space around the fire was one black patch, and this extended to 

 within two feet of my tent. We quickly struck our camp and 

 started for ^^hole in the rock,'^ which is 7 miles from the Willows. 

 As we crossed the Timpa, at the Willows, and were going south, 

 we had that stream on our left hand side. Where we camped the 

 banks were composed of high, rugged sandstone rocks, covered 

 with a dense growth of • cedar and pinyon, (pinus monophyllus.) 

 We noticed along the road many sky-larks (alauda alpestris) and 

 meadow larks, (sturnella neglecta,) differing slightly from the com- 

 mon meadow lark in its note, and in its tail feathers, which, in this 

 bird, are nearly equal; also the flicker, (picus auratus.) 



While riding along the road, some distance in advance of the 

 wagon, I noticed a number of prairie dogs seated near the entrance 

 of their burrows, some squatted, half concealed in the mouth of 

 their dwelling, and were barking most vehemently on my approach; 

 but there was one that stood straight^up upon his hind legs, pre- 

 senting his white breast and belly to full view. Although I had 

 never fired off my mule, I could not resist this opportunity of pro- 

 curing a prairie dog. I drew up my gun and fired, with the 

 quickness of thought; my mule turned directly about, and had made 

 several springs in the direction of the wagon before I could check 

 her. I now rode back, but could not identify the spot where 

 the prairie dog had been sitting. After a little time spent in 

 fruitless search, I continued my journey, resolved .not to fire off 

 from a mule*again. 



We had to search about "hole in the rock" for some time before 

 we found water, and this was covered with a thick, green scum, 

 fit only for' the magpies and ravens that we started away from it; 

 but, on hunting down the stream, we found some clear water in a 

 very deep hole. On its margin, in the shade of some willows, there 

 were many frogs sitting; now and then one would make a dart 



and gulph down a passing fly, so quick that we could scarce per- 

 ceive the frog's motion. We killed a dozen of these frogs and had 

 them cooked for supper. 



This afternoon a young German, who accompanied the ox 

 wagons, entered my camp. I had seen him several times at Bent's 

 fort. On his approach, he greeted me with a salutation from 

 Horace, "quid agis, dulcessime rerum." For some time I did not 

 know in what language he had spoken, his pronunciation being: so 

 uitierent from that of an American. He brought me a specimen of 

 the horned lizzard (agama cornuta) and a species of centipede. 

 ^ In the evening, Pilka caught me a gopher. I was obliged to kill 

 it, as It struggled ^o hard to get away; fighting furiously with 



Its sharp teeth, and cutting the cord with which I had tied it. I 



preserved the skin, also the skull; but the latter was fractured 

 by the blow I had given, and the two upper incisors broken off. 

 We could now see the high, rockv peak that marks the entrance 



