v^ 



Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



575 



f 



further east, and resting upon the siipenncumbent strata of tKe 

 chalky substance, are la^rge masses of lighter colored trapj near the 



b 1 



; ^' 



( 



base of the black volcanic masses in the bed of the Del Norte, there 



rises a spring highly charged with carbonate 



of soda: in 



fact, 



throughout the valley of tie Del Norte, soda effloresces on the sur 

 face of the bottoms, in many places perfectly white. In passing 

 along the river, I saw the tracks of the otter, the catamount, the 

 wildcat, the bear, the raccoon, the polecat, the crane, the duck, the 

 plover, the deer, and the California quail. -The latter differs from 

 the quail of the United States: the male has a plume of black, and 

 the female of reddish feathers, and the plumage of both has more 

 blue in it than that of the United States. 



October 12.— Laid in camp, wondering why our pack-saddles did 

 not come; a wnsb was expressed for a parcel of Irish whe^l-cars ta 

 transport our baggage over the rough countryj the idea may be 

 worth something; a wheel car is a horse wheelbarrow. All persons 

 who have resorted much to packing for an army, know how de- 

 structive it is to animals. 



October 13 — Lt. Ingolls arrived with the pack-saddles and the 

 mail, containincr general orders No. 30 to 36, and letters which re- 

 quired answering. We had already moved our camp across the 



p with fine grama grass; we then stayed all day, 

 and completed our work, wi^ote to friends, and closed the door to 

 futu 



river, 'to a cam 



re communica 



_ tien with the,States, as we will now pass into the 



Apache^ coun'tryrwhere it is probable no one will dare follow us. 



October H.-'Marched at a quarter before 9, and got ^off pretty 

 well, afe we had almost a pack for every person; all were busy to 

 'the hour of starting, from the g.eneral down; but our pack-saddles 

 -were bad and our lash ropes worse; with a few cases of kicking 

 ana no accidents, we made our march down the river, 17 miles,) 

 and encamped opposite to the mountain San Diego. The coun ry 

 passed over was the same pretty much as before. The mountaia 

 San Diego appears to be composed of strata upheaved, and dipping 

 east, with a steep escarpment on the river; along its nver face are 

 seams of basalt; opposite to it, dipping south is a o;i*>^> f J^^^T 

 pact blue limestone, probably cretaceous. West of this ^^ ^ srnall 

 mountain with the strata dipping north, with ^^^eep escarpment to 

 the south; all this within five or six miles; about hpre our oad 



> ' The eastern part ot Isan Uiego 



to be covered with cedar bushes; but at the dis- 



"Was more broken than usual. 



tance we are from it, the best spy glass cannot distinguish tbecn 



from volcanic rocks. 



