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he had left us ; and we were pained to see that hisymind was deranged. It 
appeared that he had been lost in the mountain, and hunger and fatigue, 
joined to weakness of body, and fear of perishing in the mountains, had 
erazedhim. The times were severe when stout men lost their minds from , 
extremit suffering—when horses died—and when mules and horses, 
ready to die of starvation, were killed for food. Yet there was no mur- 
muring or hesitation. , Kea 
A short distance below our encampment, the river mountains terminated 
in precipices, and, after a fatiguing march of only a few miles, we encampe 
on a bench where there were springs and an abundance of the freshest » 
grass. In the mean time, Mr. Preuss continued on down the river, and, 
unaware that we had encamped so early in the day, was lost. When night 
arrived, and he did not come in, we began to understand what had hap- 
pened to him; but it was too late to make any search. . 
March 3.—We followed Mr. Preuss’s trail for a considerable distance 
along the river, until we reached a place where he had descended to the 
stream below and encamped. Here we shouted and fired guns, but ived 
no answer; and we concluded that he had pushed on down the stream. I 
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. 
determined to keep out from the river, along which it was nearly impracti- J 
cable to travel with animals, until it should form a valley. At every step 
the country improved in beauty ; the pines were rapidly disappearing, and 
oaks became the principal trees of the forest. Among these, the prevailing 
tree was the evergreen oak, (which, by way of distinction, we shall call the 
live oak ;) and with these, occurred frequently a new species of oak bearing 
a long slender acorn, from an inch to an inch and a half in length, which 
we now began to see formed the principal vegetable food of the inhabitants 
of this region. In a short distance we crossed a little rivulet, where were 
two old huts, and near by were heaps of acorn hulls. The ground round ~ 
about was very rich, covered with an exuberant sward of grass; and we 
sat down for a while in the shade of the oaks, to let the animals feed. We 
repeated our shouts for Mr. Preuss; and this time we were See vith 
ananswer. The voice grew rapidly nearer, ascending from the river; but 
when we expected to see him emerge, it ceased entirely. We had called up 
some straggling Indian—the first we had met, although for two days back 
we had seen tracks—who, mistaking us for his fellows, had been only un- 
deceived on getting close up. It would have been pleasant to witness his 
astonishment ; he would not have been more frightened had some of the 
old mountain spirits they are so much afraid of suddenly appeared in his 
path. Ignorant of the character of these people, we had now an additional 
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