I 



516 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



heard borru^ accounts of diabolical mulilations to wLich the bodies 



of the viitims had been subiectod. 



The AmeriCiins here, too, seemed anxious about sonac insurrec- 

 tionary symptoms which were daily developing. 



January 2. — We procured as much corn as we could well carry 

 in our WHgons, and I gave the owner a draft for a blank amount, 

 leaving the quartermaster to decide what was the market price* 

 We were detained a long while in crossing some *^ ai:equias," 

 which had been filled with water during the night, and were now 

 covered with ice. It was with great difficulty that our mules could 

 be forced upon the ice, they had become so fearTuI of falling, and 

 it was near eleven o'clock before we got clear of these troublesome, 

 acequias. 



Soon after crossing the *^Rio de los Gallinas,'' we saw^ large 

 herds of antelopes, apparently from two to three hundred animals 

 in each herd, but the snow on the ground exhibited the hunters in 

 such bold relief as to prevent all possibility of approaching them 

 without being observtd. One of our hunters, by the name of 

 Rajmond, seeing the fruitlessness of continuing the pursuit, drew 

 up his rifle and Hred, although 400 yards distant; we all fell deeply 

 disappointed when we saw the whole herd bound away, but betore 

 thty ran very far one of thtra stopped and lay down, and soon a 

 second shot laid it on the ground to rise no more. Shortly after 

 Ibis occurrence, we met a train of 50 commissary wagons going to 

 Santa Fe. They had no corn ior their oxen, and the poor beasts 

 were suffering from want of sustenance and from exposure to the 

 cold. Several of them lay d)ing by the road side. We encamped 

 near ''El Arroyo de Sepullo," at the foot of a lofty mass of rocks 

 which completely sheltered us from the winds. Here we built our 

 fires, and at night the huge projecting masses of rock, which 

 beetled over our liUle camp, seemed, as they were illuminated by 

 the ruddy glare of our fires, to be threatening to topple down.. I 

 suffered intense agony from my feet having been frosted. The 



reatest reiief I could obtain was by keeping them firmly pressed 



o the ground. I ba<l Inadvertently mounted my mule after having 



walked in the wet snow, which had soaked through my moi casins, 



and when I came to dismount my left foot was frozen fast to the 



stirrup, so that I was obliged to draw my case knife and use it to 

 free mjself. 



This morning the wind blew keenly, but we started before the 

 sua was halt an hour high. After marching one mile we reached 

 the crossing of the Sepullo. Here we had a siege of troubles. 

 The ice was very thick, and it required some time to cut our way 

 across the stream, for the ice was not sufficiently strong to bear the 

 weight of the wagons. The river banks were steep, and as the wagon 

 rushed down to the water, the mules became frightened and swerved 

 from the road we had cut, and, getting upon the firm ice, they were 

 not able to keep their feetj several of them fell, and one, after 

 making many vain efforts to rise again, gave up in despair, and we 

 were forced to drag him out of the stream by main streno^th. As 

 he had got very wet, and the air was freezing cold, we had to keep 



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