Ex. Doc. No, 41. 539 



-camp on tlie banks of the ^^ Pawnee fork.^' This day we marched 

 inors than twenty-one miles. On the road we found two more 

 -Steers. With them we replaced those w^hich we had s^.arted wi^b. 

 in the morningj and which were almost exhausted. W'nen we first 

 came in sight of the timber on ^^ Pawnee fork/' my c'aief anxiety 

 was to keep my men from laboring too severely; the wagon ran 

 <iIong at the rate of three miles an hour, and I was obliged lo walk 

 rapidly in order to keep out of the way. 



^ My whole party had done their duty bravely; in, the mo'-^t literal 

 sense, we had worked like horses. I could not a.sk my n*ien to do 

 more. Should a heavy fall of snow come it would be impossible 

 to proceed w^ith the wagon. Ij therefore, dete,rmined to give each 

 one^as much provision as he would choose tc, carry o'n our coming 

 pedestrian excursion to the settlements. We had now between 

 580 and 300 miles to march. We deterKxi/ied to ?iccoraplish this 

 journey in twenty days. 



Two. of my men, Brown and Presto^ii, agreed to stay with the 

 ;sick man. They were now on the high road, vrhere they would see 

 every one who passed, and would hav/e, before a great while, an 

 opportunity of joining the return p^irty, which was preparing to 

 leave Santa Fe Avhen my command s^jt out. While here they would 

 have everything they could wish. There was an abundant supply 

 of tiuiber, a never failing stream oY good water, and we would be 

 . obliged to leave a large quantity of provisions, as no one would 

 care to load his own back for the gratification of his stomach. 



February 13 — We now set earnestly to work, making our packs 

 of provisions and bedding as light and compact as possible. We 

 baked all the bread w^e intended to carry. Each one provided him- 

 self with 20 biscuit or rolls, one for each day. We also took a few 

 pounds of dried buffalo meat, which is light and compact, but 

 swells up in boiling water- We each had a tin cup, which would, 

 on an emergency, answer fc^r a colTee pot. We, therefore, added 

 the luxuries of coffee and sugar. As for bedding, a buffalo robe 

 3nd a blanket were all that any one would be willing to carry three 

 hundred miles, when he r^>collects the additional weight of his pro- 

 t "visions. But 1 adopted a plan which made my blanket worth two. 

 I had it sewed so as to form a bag. This, trifling as it may seem, 

 'greatly augmented my comfort. 



We were all of us very careful to dry our clothing before going 

 to bed; no one who observes this precaution, and who is provided 

 ■^'ith a buffalo robe, need ever get frozen. 



February 14. — I still found means to carry my 'Nevr Mexican 

 specimens further on. My books and some of my papers were put 

 into a box and ^^ cached;" for greater safety the spot was fixed so 

 ^S to resemble a grave, and a tombstone of board was erected to 

 OJark the spot, and engraved with the name of "Tom Poco,'' who 

 ^ith *^Tom Bien" were, according to some of my men, the most 

 famous persons in New Mexico; perhaps these persons originated 

 only in their metamorphoses of the words '^ tampoco" and " tam- 



bien.'' ' 



The most valuable box was lashed to the fore axle of the wagoti; 



/ 



C'n. 



