V 



Ex. Doc. No. 41. 441 



of their alarm, when tbey scrambled up the perpendicular sides of the 

 . rocky gorge and ran off. We often afterwards congratulated ourselves 

 that the rifle did not go ofFj for had the bears been wounded they 

 would have created dire havoc amongst our mules; and they were 

 all crowded in such a narrow pass, ttiat it would have been very 

 difficult to have saved any of them. There are few animals more 

 to be dreaded than the grizzly bear. 

 / Soon after this adventure, we commenced the passage of one of 



the most rocky roads I ever saw; no one who has crossed the Raton 

 vcan ever forget it. A dense growth of pitch pine interferes with 

 the guidance of the teams; in many places the axletrees were 

 frayed against the huge fragments of rock that jutted up between 

 the wheels as we passed; pieces of broken wagons lined the road, 

 and at the foot of the hill we saw many axletrees, wagon tongues, 

 sand-boards, and ox yokes, that had been broken and cast aside. 



The pass was now full of the wild cherry, the black locust, the 

 currant, and the plum. In the rocky portions we saw the pine, 

 . vigidus,) the spruce, and the piiion, (P, monophyllous,) and 

 near the dividing ridge the delicate hare bell, (campanala rotundi- 



) 



of the 



to see the beautiful 



gorge, the bright scarlet gillia, (^'G. pulchella,'') blue larkspur, the 

 geranium Fremontia, and the lupine. 



The pine has been found useful in an economical point of view, 

 as from it is procured tar for the wagons. 



We now issued upon the plains, once more 

 galardias and helianthoid composita, .and listen to the lively bark- 

 ing of the prairie dogs. At length, after a journey of 17 miles, we 

 encamped three-fourths of a mile above the crossing of the *' Rio 

 Canadiano," where we found a fine stream of cool water, clear, 

 too, as crystal, and running over a clean pebbly bottom, shaded by 

 large cotton wood trees and willow thickets, on which the hop vine 

 clambered, covered with a luxuriant growth of its chaffy fruit. 



September 20. — As the ox teams moved too slow for me, I 



determined to wait for company no longer, but with Mr. Nourse 



'' and Pilka to push on for Santa Fe. So we arose early this morn- 



H ing, intending to camp on the ^^Rio Vermejo," which is 20 miles 



distant. 



We travelled over a fine prairie, covered with a luxuriant growth 

 of grass;* in many places it had been very marshy, and was over- 

 grown with the cat-tail, "typha,"' and cane grass, '' arundo phrag- 

 mites." These plains look much greener than those to the north 



af the Raton. 



(C canadensis.) W 



many herds of antelope, in troops of 10 or 20, and the large grey 

 hare Were running about in all directions. Amongst the birds we 



) 



(S 



The prairie was, in many places, yellow with the senecio filifo- 

 lius, and beautiful patches of the purple verbena, (V. pinnatiffida,) 

 were constantly recurring. The Mexican poppy was abundant, and 

 of the cacti we had the " opuntia" and " cereus cespitdsa." 



^'* 



