Ex. Doc. No. 41. 501 



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cloths, costing about 25 cents, sell for $2. A wagon contains 

 from two to three thousand dollars worth of goods. 



Jfovemher 22. — We have had somenews to-day that caused quite an 

 excitement* The people of Chihuahua have had spies out, far ad-' 

 vanced in the direction of the route by which General Wool will 

 hare to approach, and they now say that he is not coming at all. 

 This has so encouraged the Mexicans that they have determined to 

 send a force here and capture the wagons, and valuable goods of 

 the traders. 



J^ovemher 23. — A cold' wind, that continued to blow all day, 



obliged us to gather around our camp fires; but even then it was 



almost impossible to be comfortable; one must keep constantly 

 revolving in order to have all sides warm- ^ 



While slotting by the fire last night, we heard the sound of horses'' 

 hoofs on the frozen ground; hailing those w^ho approached, we 

 found that they were from a trader below, who was sending to 

 Socorro to procure medical aid for a sick man, and to inform us ail- 

 that he had received most positive information with regard to an 

 intended march of the Mexicans from below, and urged all to join 

 in an application for the volunteers at Socorro to come down and 

 encamp where they w^ould be ready to assist us. 



Jfovemher 24. — When we first arose, the river was frozen acrpss, 

 but by breakfast time the ice was floating down the rapid current 

 in great quantities, with a constant murmuring sound as the frag- 

 ments grated together. 



The river is here full of sand bars- At one place we plucked a 

 reed, ^^arundo phragmites,'' and without difficulty threw it across 

 the river, which ^at that place was not more than 50 feet wide to' 

 the bar, but the water is now very low. 



As one of the axe helves had been broken, we were forced to 

 supply it with a piece of "mezquit;" it was very difficult to get 

 a straight piece of suflficient length. 



During the day, we sent up an express to the volunteers, desiring 

 them to move down the river. 



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jyovemher 25. — This morning we walked down to a trader's 

 camp below us. We found he had made preparations for remain-, 

 ing here some time. His men had constructed a log house, which 

 they had thatched with poles and rushes, so that it was quite com- 

 fortable. 



On our return to camp, we found that the volunteers had come 

 down the river, and had encamped on the opposite side, about two 



miles above us. 



'N'ovemher 26. — The weather is still extremely cold; the river was 

 again running full of ice, and the water in the camp buckets had 

 frozen to the thickness of three inches; still, the midday sun feels 

 very wa^m. 



This morning I got a sparrow-hawk, ^' Falco sparvenus. lo- 

 day I heard an anecdote that aTcounts for one of our common say- 

 ings. It is related that a white man and an Indian went hunting; 

 and afterwards, when they came to divide the spoils, the wnite 

 man said, "You may take the buzzard and I will take the turkey, 



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