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Ex. Doc. No. 41. ^515 



mesa; and, before we had inarched far, we arrived at a hacienda, 

 "vvhere we obtained a guide, who soon put us on the right road. 

 About sunset we reached the village near Ojo Vernal, and encamped. 

 The man who drove my team was nearly frozen to death. He com- 

 plained much of a sensation of sickness, and the men were obliged 

 to rub him for some time, in order to restore circulation to his sys- 

 tem. I gave him a large dose of rum, and had him taken into the 

 house of one of the Mexicans. This man, had he walked as others 

 did, would not have suffered. - 



. The snow was now five inches deep. Towards evenincr a fresh 

 reeze sprang up, Vhich drifted the i^now along tlie surface of the 

 road. Everything was covered; even tne dark forests of pine and 

 cedar were hidden beneath robes of whitej and now and then, when 

 shaken by the wind, they cast off the snow in clouds that rose up 

 like smoke bursting from cannon's mouth. At ihe village where we 

 encamped, were some men, who had just returned from a hunt. 

 They had killed several black-tailed deer, ^^cervus macrotis.'' 

 These animals exceed the common deer in size, and in the length 

 t)f their hair; their tail is round, and has a large round tuft at the' 

 end; their ears are very large. 



January 1, 1847, — This morning, at an early hour, we made our 

 arrangements for noarching. We had passed the night quite com- 

 fortably, for the snow was so piled iround our tents that the wind 

 could not gain admittance. The morning was excessively cold 

 clouds of snow were drifting about, borne rapidly along by the 

 strong wind. I now found that one of my men was ill with the 

 measles. I wished to leave him here, where he could be taken care 

 of, but he^preferred to proceed; so I had him wrapped up warmly 

 and put into the wagon. The man who came so nigh freezing yes- 

 terday, had recovered sufficiently to be able to walk. In a little 

 time the wind died away, and the sun arose; his genial heat was 

 truly grateful to us. The snow commenced to melt, and the walk- 

 ing became slippery and extremely laborious. After a tedious 

 march, we reached '' Vegas." Here one again meets with the in- 

 finitely extended prairies, which give birth to the tributaries of 

 " El Rio de los Gallinas,'^ and of '' El Rio Moro," and following 

 on in the direction of the " El Rio Canadiano,'' are at last limited 

 by the cross timbers. It is from "LosVeajas" and ^^ Tacalote," 

 that trails have been made which cross the Canadian at the mouth 

 of the '^ Arrojo de los Yutas." This is the shortest route to the 

 United States, and would be the best route, if the road was defi- 

 nitely marked out. At '^ Vegas" I tried to purchase corn for the 

 " cavalada," but the only person who possessed the corn, prepared 

 as I wished it, seemed determined to take advantage of my neces- 

 sity, and asked me an exorbitant price. Having oifered in gofd 

 the price I had been accustomed to give, it was refused, and I was 

 placed under the necessity of taking the corn, and notified the 

 owner to that effect. The town was in a state of great excitement 

 from the occurrence of some recent depredations of the Arrapaho 

 Indians, who had driven off the ilocks and herds of the Mexicans, 



and had killed and scalped the «« pastores.'^ We everywhere 



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