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Many of the modern symbols are in imitation of the antique, 
and, doubtless, the medicine men of the present day resort to this 
mound to invoke their unseen spirits, and work the miracles which 
enable them to hold their sway amongst their credulous race. 
There are many more weird and mysterious looking places than this 
to be found along the banks of the Gila, and the first attraction to 
the modern Indian was, without doubt, the strange characters, he 
saw inscribed. 
ome of the boulders appear to have been written and re-written 
upon so often it was impossible to get a distinct outline of any 
of the characters. 
We descended into the broad valley of the Gila, skirted on the 
south side of the table land, black with basalt pebbles, resting on 
a stratum of the carbonate of lime upon which the river impinged 
at every flood, and widened its valley. 
The hills on the north side were of red and grey rocks, probably 
granite, irregular in form, varying from 500 to 1,000 feet. Finding 
no grass, we loosened our mules among the willows and cane. Pf 
Same as that described yesterday. Wherever we mounted to the 
‘table lands to cut off a bend in the river, found them dreary beyond 
description, covered with blocks of basalt, with a few intervals of 
dwarf growth of larrea. Now and then a single acacia raised its 
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solitary form and displayed its verdure in the black expanse. — We 
crossed the dry beds of two creeks with sandy bottoms. Under the ~ 
crust of basalt are usually sand-stone and a conglomerate of peb- 
bles, sand-stone, and lime. This last is easily undermined by the — 
river, and the basalt or lava then caves in. ; 
The bottoms of the river are wide, rich, and thickly overgrown 
with willow’ and a tall aromatic weed, and alive with flights of 
white brant, (wing tipped with black,) geese, and ducks, with 
many signs of deer and beaver. : 4 
At night I heard the song of the sailors calling the depth of the 
water, and presently, Williams; Lieutenant Warner’s servant, who 
had been missing all day, came out of the river with the hind quar- | 
ters of a large buck, perfectly intoxicated with his unexpected suce 
cess. ‘Twelve miles back, he let his mule loose, went in pursuit 0 
deer, and killed a buck. After lugging the whole of it for two 
miles, he lightened his load by leaving one-half. 
_ where the ground was cracked and drawn into blisters. The nig te 
Cans were inscribed on *he same rock. 
We encamped down in one of the deserted Beds of the Gila, “ee x 
* 
was cold, the thermometer at 6, a. m., 20°. ee 
Latitude of the camp 32° 55’ 52”. Longitude of the camp Tis 
, ay. 4 ? : +. 
November 18.—High wind from the northwest all day, showin, 
that there was still a barrier of snow-clad mountains between our 
selves and Monterey, which we must turn or scale, 
Carson pointed to a flat rock covered with fur, and told tha 
he had slaughtered a fat mule there: The names of several Ameri 
After travelling some teu or twelve miles through the valley, we 
