z 
. INTENSE HEAT. 189 
the most earnest search none could be found until late in the 
afternoon, when the Major, always active and on the alert, 
who had been scouring the country around, found tolerable — 
water both in quantity and quality in a ravine at the foot of 
a rough and sterile declivity, more than half a mile from any 
good camping ground. 
All this time we had been toiling along the top of the 
ridge, but now heat and thirst had done its work with our 
oxen; some laid down in the yoke, some were turned out, and 
all were panting and lolling their tongues out—a sure sign of 
exhaustion. 2 
Orders were given to halt and encamp, which we did on 
the top of the ridge, where there was plenty of buffalo grass, 
and soon our thirsty animals were refreshed, as far as the 
limited supply of water would allow, and we making ourselves 
as comfortable as canvass coverings, with the thermometer at 
one hundred and six degrees in the shade could make us— 
the changes in the temperature from heat to cold, and then 
to heat again, in the last thirty-six hours, being very sur- 
prising and trying. 
Our course had been west of north, and the Brazos could 
be seen in the distance about twelve miles from camp.* 
eT rhea 8 a thet alth. 1h had 1} d 
may surp ig. y 
the Little Witchita, the Big Witchita, and the Brazos, three large streams, we 
should suffer so much for water. The fact is, as the sequel will prove, that 
these streams take their rise in 8 gypsum formation, and are 
with this mineral as to be undrinkable. Branches of tliem contain good water 
but the main streams are salt and bitter. 
