ot 100 
Report makes the distance of the mouth of the Colorado, from 
the crossing, eighty miles, but unless the river is very crooked, this 
cannot be; Lieut. Hardy, of the royal navy, determined the mouth 
to be in latitude 31° 51’ north, and longitude 114° V’. 
The growth on the river bottom is cotton wood, willow of differ- 
ent kinds, equisetum hyemale, (scouring rush,) and a nutritious 
. grass in smal] quantities. 
ns 
~ 
After crossing, we ascended the river three quarters of a mile, 
where we encountered an immense sand drift, and from that point 
until we-halted, the great highway between Sonora and California 
lies along the foot of this drift, which is continually but slowly — 
encroaching down'the yalley. Prosopis glandulosa, wild sage, and | 
ephedra compose the growth; the first is luxuriant. | 
We halted at a dry arroyo, a few feet to the left of the road, 
leading into'the Colorado, where there was a hole five or six feet — 
‘deep, which by deepening furnished sufficient water for the men. 
We are yet, by the indication of the barometer, but 20 or 30 feet 
e the river, and where the sands from the desert to the*north | 
gly 
\ havea ncroached, the soil appears good. There are remains of 
~ gequias about five miles back, and where we halted, the remains of 
_ Indian settlements, but it is probable the water has been cut off by 
e drift, and cannot now be brought from the river above. 
_ I made observations at night for time and latitude, and found the 
position of the place to be north latitude 32° 40’ 22”, and longitude 
114° 56’ 28”, west of Greenwich. 
; We tied our animals to the mezquite trees, (prosopis glandulosa, ) ' 
» and remarking on the way that they showed an inclination to eat 
- the bean of this plant, we sent the men to collect them; the few 
_ -ogathered were eaten with avidity. i 
_ November 26.—The dawn of day found every man on horseback, 
anda bunch of grass from the Colorada tied benind him on the 
--eantle of his saddle. After getting well under way, the keen air 
_- at 26° Fahrenheit made it most comfortable to walk. We traveled 
- four miles along the sand butte, in the same direction as yesterday, 
- about south 75° west, (magnetic,) we mounted the buttes and found, 
. after a short distance, a firmer footing covered with fragments of |} 
‘Tava, rounded by water, and many agates. We were now. fairly , 
on.the desert. 
__ Our course now inclined a few degrees more to the north, and at } 
10, a. m., we found a large patch of grama, where we halted for an — 
~ hour, and then pursued our way over the plains covered with frag- , 
- ments of lava, traversed at intervals by sand buttes, until 4 p. m+ 
. when, after travelling 24 miles, we hele the Alamo or cotton 
wood. At this point, the captured Spaniards informed us, that 
S24 failing to find water, they had gone a league to the west, in pur 
_ suit of their horses, where they found a running stream. We 2c-— 
- cordingly sent parties to search, but neither the water nor their trail | 
- could be found. é 
Neither was there any cotton wood at the Alamo, as its name } 
a 
> would ss aed ; but Franciscovsaid that it was nevertheless the place, F 
the tree having probably been covered by the encroachments of the 
2 — : : Pr. 
ey en ee cae 
