“te it 
yt © ee os 16 a Oke . 
ie * ; 
and halted for the day near running water; the grass was all burn- 
ed dry, and not a green sprig to be seen. Three buttes were passed 
of singular appearance; some idea of which will be given by the 
sketch. They were composed of lime-stones and were garnished 
at their bases with nodgledof carbonate of lime, like those described 
yesterday. A part of our road was on the dry bed of a river, paved 
with argillaceous lime-stone, containing, now and then, the impres- | __ 
sion of oyster shells very distinctly. The valley in which we are 
now encamped presents the appearance of a crater, being surround- © 
ed with buttes capped with stunted cedar, (juniperus Virginianus.) 
The stratification, however, appears regular, and to correspond on 
ent sides of the valley. 
cactus three feet high, with round limbs shaped like a rope, three 
and a half inches in diameter, branching atright angles. It is said 
the Mexicans make hedges of it 
~ Colonel Doniphan’s regiment passed our camp about 4, p. m. 
The water was in pools, charged with vegetable matter and salt. 
"Phe formation of the adjacent hills was distinct; first, a stratum 
of lime-stone, ten feet thick, then hard sand-stone, with amonites 
~ and a variety 0 er shells, &c., overlaying blue marl. From the 
sides of uded geodes, with crystallized lime-stone, and 
the gro rywhere strewed with detached pieces of ferru- 
_ ginous sand-stone. On these hills we found cedar growing, very — 
_ stunted; ‘issouri flax; several varieties of wild currants; a very — 
stunted growth of plums; moss and cacti im great variety, but di- *4 
_ minutive. — . saat 
7 ‘The latitude of this camp, by nine observations on Polels, out 
of the meridian, is 37° 44’ 56". 
_. The longitude derived from the chronometer, by an estimate of 
The barometer reading indicates a height above the sea of 4,761 
x feet. : > : * cs 
August 4.—The road wound through the valley of the Timpas. 
- The soil, being impregnated with lime, rendered the dust, which 
_ fose in dense columns, distressing. | ‘ 
. =~ Dwarted cedar skirted the road on each side. The’strata of hills 
_ son either side of the valley were the same as described yesterday; 
but the ferruginous nodules and. blocks of sand-stone “were more 
frequent. , ets . 
_..... Thirteen miles’ march brought us to the crossing of the Timpas. 
The only water we found there was in a hole 40 feet in diameter, — 
“into which the men rushed with great eagerness, disturbing’thae : 
vegetable deposit formed on its surface, and thereby rendering it | 
unfit for use. Nine miles farther on We came to ‘the hole in the 
- rock”—a large hole filled with stagnant, though drinkable, water. | 
_ We saw at times, during the day, a few antelopes, rabbits, wild 
oe 
- 
; 
¥ 
‘ 
al time derived from eight measurements of the double alti- 
-arcturus on the west, and-seven of alpha aquile in the east, — 
m. 06 
