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The sand bank, at the foot of which we are encamped, is filled 
with serpentine, harder th; . that which is dug in such quantities 
from the site of Fort Marcy, near Santa Fé. 2 ee Slee 
Now and then we came to spots from which the waters were pre- 
vented from escapin by the sand, and had evaporated, leaving sa- 
line incruStations; about these we found growing abundantly 
atriplex and salicornia. 
We found to-day: ly.cium in great abundance, senecis longilobus, 
*martynia proboscidea, (cuckold’s horns,) and a small shrub with 
October 3.—The wagons from the r not being up, we laid by 
all day, in hourly expectation of thei: aland an order to march. 
An express from Colonel Dr: ee came up, informing us of his arrival 
ne Yes a ‘ ae 
About 12 o’clock in the day, a Mexican came into camp, with his - 
horse foaming, to say that the Navajoes had made an attack on the 
town of Pulvidera. One company of dragoons was immediately 
despatched to ‘the place, about twelve miles distant. . 
is camp was one of the prettiest of the whole march, on the 
curve of the river, fringed with large cottonwoods growing at in- 
tervals. The air was mild and balsamic, the moon shone bri htly, 
and all was as still as death, except when a flock of geese or sand- . 
cranes were disturbed in their repose. Several large cat fish and 
oe 
sand-cranes and geese are found quietly feeding within gunshot dis- 
October 4.—The wagons mounted the sand hills with great diffi- 
culty. The river inpinges so close on the hills as to make it ne- 
cessary, on the western side, to mount the table lands. T 1ese pl. 
Teaching. to the base of the mountains, are of the same chi 
. heretofore mentioned, of rolling sand hills; covered with obior 
scens, prosopis glandulosa, (romeria,) riddellia tagetina, paga-paga 
~an abundant shrubby plant, belonging to the family of the ama- 
tanths, but'a genus not yet described—a new dieteria, a new fallu- 
Sia, baileya multiradiata, abronia mellifera, and a few patches of 
grama. This last is the only nutriment the plains afford for horses 
and cattle; but mules and asses, when hard pressed, will eat the _ 
trato and the romeria. The chamisa grows to.a considerable height, © ~ 
and the stalk is sometimes two or three inches in diameter; a fire 
can be made of it sufficient to boil a kettle or roast anegg. To- 
by ea 
lava and trap, project from the east and west, closing the valley, 
Just leaving Sufficient space for the river to pass between. The 
é 3 4 See ee ee 
- Ma Rot Garden. i ae 
