. Ex. Doc. No. 41. 517 



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him moving aTiout lest he should .lie. In a little while, by the help 

 of ropes, which we attached to the uppermost felloes of ihe hind 

 wheels, we dragged the wagon out, and immediately hitching up 

 the beast that had got wet, we kept him in brisk motion until his 

 limbs teginned their wonted flexibility. 



Having marched four miles further, we reached "El Rio iVToro,'» 

 and by being extremely careful to cut away all the ice, we crossed 

 without any accident. But the fording ol these rivers delayed us 

 so long that our day's march did not exceed ten miles. 



We encamped about three-fourths of a mile from the road, in a 

 mountain gorge, where the high precipices which surrounded us 

 comph^ely protected us'from the cutting winds. We had snow- 

 water for our own use, and drove our mules to a spring wLich was 

 about a mile distant, near "Ponds in the prairie " 



One of my men was perfectly overcome by the cold, and gave up 

 «»ntirely. We were obligtd to put him to bed and we gave him 

 large doses of rum. He complained of a pain in his chest and 

 seemtd to be tormented wlih extreme thirst. 



This evening the duty of guard mounting commenced; I cautioned 

 the sentinels to be vigilant, which was hardly necessary, as my 

 inen had already heard, at "Los Vegas," of the Arapahoes and 

 their horrible attroci ies. 



Jamianj 4.— We were up long before day; the wind blew biting 

 cold_ until ten o'clock, when the sun shone forth with some warmth. 



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that had come forth 

 njoy the, sun's rays- I fired several 

 times at different ones with a shot-gun; I wished 1o obtain one 

 without injury to the skin, but I did not succeed in killing any. . 



^Naturalists say, that the prairie dog remains dormant during the 

 wjnter season; wherever we met with the villages of these little 

 animals, we found them as lively as if it was samuier; we must, 

 therefore, conclude that this animal does not hibernate. 

 ■ Wc saw great numhers of the antelope, they had congregated in 

 den^e herds, and were seeking shelter irom the cold winds in the 

 deep valleys and gorges. . 



Soon we arrived at some volcanic hills; which rise up just before 

 reaching the '^ Rio Ocate;" in their vicinity there was but little 

 snow. Heie we found that the fore axl^tree of our leading vvagoa 

 Was broken in the hub of the wheel. With great care we mannged 

 to reach the Ocate, but w*^re obliged to unload before we could 

 cross. Here we encamperl, and endeavored to make ourselves as 

 <'omrortab!e as possible. We had plenty of cedar wood for fuel, 

 but not one stick of tiiaber fit to repair our wagon. 



Nt^ar our camp were the carcasses of several oxen, upon which 

 the wolves and ravens were gorging themselves. I also noticed 

 'Some beautiful magpies, *^ Pica melanoleuca," and I killed a fine 

 one. 



Janvary 5, — Wc now endeavored to patch the broken part of the 

 nxle. The lower " skeen" of th^ spindle was broken, we changed 

 It for the upper one, and then sUrted, determined to proceed until 



we should be obliged to leave' this wagon. After marching five 



We now noticed a great many prairie dogs 

 from their habitations to enjoy the sun's r 



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