$ [074 J _ 266 
feet, the greater part of those left being im excellent order, and searcely a 
Gay passes without some loss; and, one by one, Fuentes’s horses are con- 
stantly dropping behind. Whenever they give out, he dismounts and cuts 
_. of their tails and manes, to make saddle: irths #the last advantage one can 
“gain fromthem. =~ ‘iit: Gane ak a rsa ea "i 
The next day, ina short but rough ride of 12 ‘miles, we crossed the 
mountain; and, descending to a small valley plain, encamped at the foot 
of the ridge, on the bed of a creek, where we found good grass in sufficient 
quantity, and abundance of water in holes. The ridge is extremely tugge 
and broken, presenting on this side a continued precipice, and probably 
affords very few passes. Many digger tracks are seen around us, but no 
Indians were visible. AFR ee 
' May 3.—After a day’s journey of 18 miles, in a northeasterly direction, 
‘we encamped in the midst of another very large basin, at a camping ground 
called das Vegas—a term which the Spaniards use to signify fertile or 
marshy plains, in contradistinction to Janos, which they apply to dry and 
sterile plains. Two narrow streams of clear water, four or five feet deep, 
gush suddenly, with a quick current, from two singularly large springs; 
these, and other waters of the basin, pass out in a gap to the eastward. 
The taste of the water is good, but rather too warm to be agreeable ; the 
temperature being 71° in the one, and 73° in the other. They, however, 
afforded a delightful bathing place. Raise ae 
May 4.—We started thi ing earlier than usual, travelling in a north- 
easterly direction across the plain. The new acacia (spirolobium odoratum) 
's now become the characteristic tree of the country; it is in bloom, and 
its blossoms are very fragrant. The day was still, and the heat, which 
soon became very oppressive, appeared to bring out strongly the refreshing 
scent of the zygophyllaceous shrubs and the sweet perfume of the acacia. 
The snowy ridge we had just crossed looked out conspicuously in the 
northwest. In about five hours’ ride, we crossed a gap in the surrounding, 
ridge, and the appearance of skeletons of horses very soon warned us that we 
were engaged in another dry jornada, which proved the longest we had 
made in all our journey—between fifty and sixty miles without a drop of 
ter. 
Travellers through countries affording water and timber can have no 
conception of our intolerable thirst while journeying over the hot yellow 
sands of this elevated country, where e heated air seems to be entirely 
deprived of moisture. We ate occasionally the disnad and moistened 
8.) y ex- 
; ne ¢ mi ight, 
when, after a hard and uninterrupted march of 16 hour: our wild mules 
began running ahead; and in a mile or two we came to a bold running 
stream—so keen is the sense of that animal, in these 
eating at a distance thi ! ig ASR Samp digi, Rare : 
According to the information we had received, Sevier river was a tribu- 
the Colorado; and this, accordingly, should, have been one of its 
r 
