ANXIETIES. | 129 
We were now, by —— fifteen hundred feet above 
the level of the ocean. 
Our horses had lately become a source of great anxiety to 
us. Accustomed to be cornfed and stabled, they had fallen 
_off terribly since fed entirely on grass and picketed in the 
open air, but this was not all; no horse should ever, on a 
trip of the kind, be ridden out of a walk, and then only in 
extreme eases; he should be allowed the freedom of his 
head, never fretted and never ridden mpre than fifteen miles 
in a day, or twenty at the farthest. 
Now no man could be more careful of his stock than Cap- 
tain Marcy, but with all his watchfulness and daily caution, 
it was impossible to control the wilfulness of some and the 
inadvertence of others; the results began to show themselves, 
much to our dissatisfaction. The best kind of stock for such 
service is mules and Indian ponies; they are raised in the 
country and acclimated, and this fact was clearly proved on 
our trip, for whilst those we had were fat and in good 
spirits, our northern horses were all drooping and miserably 
thin. As for oxen, I would not take them at all, or if I did, 
always the Texas cattle. The objections I make to them 
are these: they suffer from heat, from flies, and the want of 
water is 6 them destruction ; besides, they are so miserably 
slow. I should take mules -for draught or packing, and 
ponies for the saddle. I know that objection is made to 
horses and mules on account of the depredations of the wild 
Indians, and the consequent necessity of having a large force 
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