. 
© 
Sc eae a V1 gee Te 
horses, two jack dams, (magpie,) meadow larks, king birds, and 
bob o’lincolns. fii . t 
The pasture was so bad that Colonel Kearny determined to march 
to the ‘hole in the prairie,’ the neighborhood of which, thougk 
said to be destitute ofswater, affords some dry grass. 
We passed a dead horse belonging to the infantry, black, with 
crows, and a wolf in their midst, quietly feeding on the carcase, 
This gave us unpleasant forebodings for our noble, but now attenu, 
ated, horses... : ‘, 
We reached the ‘hole in the prairie” at 10, p..m., the distance 
being 143 miles, and found grass, as we expected: we were agreea- 
bly surprised to find water also. The night was delicious, and all 
slept in the open air. The infantry were encamped here. 
The total distance to-day was 36 miles. The horses were 1 
falling away in an alarming manner, butthe mules seem to require 
the stimulus of distention, and nothing else: this the dry grass 
affords. ° 
a 
iards. ote ae 
The vegetation was the same as that of yesterday, as far as we 
could judge from its burned and parched condition; to which ma 
be added a plant described by Dr. Torrey, as physalis perbalisyand 
one eriogonum tomentosum. = : ae | 
a 
Height of this camp 5,560 feet. : 
August 5.—To-day we descended eleven and a half miles, and 
reached the valley of the Purgatory, called, by the mountain men, 
Picatoire, a corruption of Purgatoire, a swift-running stream, 
few yards in width, but no grass of any amount at the 
The blighted trunks of large cotton-wood and locust tr 
seen for many miles along its course, but the cause “of de 
not apparent. : 7 at 
The growth of the bottom, which is very narrow, was black lo- 
cust, the everlasting cotton-wood, willow, wild currants, hops, 
plum and grape, artemisia, clematis Virginiana, salix, in many va- 
rieties; and a species of angelica, but no fruit was on the bushes. 
3eyond this stream five and a half miles, we encamped on the bed ~ 
of a tributary to the Purgatory, which comes down fromthe north — 
side of the Raton, or Mouse, which is the name given to a chaim 
of ragged looking mountains that strikes the course of the Purg : 
tory nearly at right angles, and separates the waters of the Arkan: 
_ sas from those of the Canadian. The banks of the Purgatory, 
_ where this.stream debouches, begin to assume something of amoun: 
_ tain aspect, different from scenery in the States. The hills are bare ~ 
of vegetation, except a few stunted cedars; and the valley is said — 
tobe, occasionally, the resort of grizzly bear, turkeys, deer, @ 
eee “ lope, &c. iS ” 
he 
