612 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



of grass; it is called Bayou Cita. The mules appear to like the dry^ 

 grass on the hill sides better. We are near a corn patch of some 

 California Indians. We may consider ourselves as partly in the 

 country. It looks poorly here. It must be said the distance over 

 Ihe Jornada is 91 miles, or thereabouts; end to cross it properly, one 

 should come to it pr<^pared wUh a little corn for each animal — say 

 a peck — and then it could be passed 'without difficultyj by making 

 three oi four days of it over the plains. The constant seeinfj pieces 

 of pottery shows that Indians have trarersed it time out of mind. 

 "In fact, at one place, was evidence of a former abode of Indians, 

 (diggers,) as they arc called— probably the lowest order of the 

 human race — living on lizzards, bugs, seed, &c.,and naked as they 

 came into the world, except the covering of grass which the women 

 hang around their loins. How far from being arrayed in purple 

 and fine linen, and feasting sumptuously every day, or from the en- 

 joyment of the fi uits of man's intellect, in the bright pages of mod- 

 ern literature! The vegetation on the Jornada is the creosote bush, 

 the mesquitcjthe FremoLtia, and occasional!) patches of thin grass, 

 mostly on the higher lands of it; a few willows grew on the dry 

 ^ stream, where we found the second well. Before leaving camp thi^ 

 morning, a mule was found cast in a hollow opposite to camp, and 

 was not recognized as any one of those belonging to the column, 

 tut after getting it out, it proved to be a poor thing which had 



' heen abandoned to die 50 miles back, and which had followed our 

 trail, and getting near cam,p, had mistaken the way, and got in bad 

 ground, and fallen so as not to be able to extricate itself, the fog 

 of the 28th no doubt being its salvation; it brought with it one 

 other mule left back 30 miles, but it had passed several we would 

 like to have seen come with it. 



J^ovember 30. — Laid by at the Bayou Cita, to be a green spot, no 

 doubt, in the memory of our animals. It would be considered a 

 poor camp on the Arkansas, but here it is fine; the green grass 

 reaches two or three miles along the narrow Valley where the water 

 cones to the surface, and then all is dry and barren again, except 

 the^reenness given by the stink-bush and its kindred plants, inhabi- 

 tants only of dry places. A few willows on the water furnish fuel, \ 

 and the mountains hang over, high and bleak, destitute of trees, and 

 almost vegetation, composed of granite and other silicious rocks, 

 rived and torn with the volcanic action, and seamed with volcanic 

 . matter. The granite is various in kind; some of it beautiful struc- 

 ture and micacious; the agave abounds, and the Indians have baked 



^ it in every direction, using as fuel the dried stalks of cactus, and 

 "bushes of various kinds. The fish-hook cactus is found here. Our 

 men killed a horse to-day for food, the first animal we have found 

 "necessary to sacrifice for the satisfaction of appetite. Our men 

 were inspected to-day. Poor fellows! they are well nigh naked 

 seme of them barefoot — a sorry looking set. A dandy would think 

 that, in those swarthy sun-burnt faces, a lover of his country will 

 see no signs of quailing. They will be ready for their hour when 

 it comes. I ascended one of the mountains near camp, and when 

 about 3,000 feet above camp, found myself surrounded by peaks. I 



^ 



