8 Bird -Lore 



Extract from Journal of Elliott Coues' First Journey to the West* 



"July 8, 1864.— We read of the delightful and equable climate of New 

 Mexico; but we live and learn. Last night we shivered under blankets, 

 and blew our numb fingers this morning. By ten o'clock it was hot; at 

 eleven, hotter; twelve, it was as hot as — it could be. The cold nights 

 stiffen our bones, and the hot days blister our noses, crack our lips and 

 bring our eye-balls to a stand-still. Today we have traversed a sandy 

 desert; no water last night for our worn-out animals, and very little 

 grass. The 'sand-storms' are hard to bear, for the fine particles cut 

 like ground glass; but want of water is hardest of all. For some time it 

 has been a long day's march from one spring or pool to another; and 

 occasionally more; and then the liquid we find is nauseating, charged 

 with alkali, tepid, and so muddy that we cannot see the bottom of a tin 

 cup through it. Here at our noon -day halt there is not a tree — scarcely 

 a bush— in sight, and the sun is doing his perpendicular best. In the 

 Sibley tent the heat is simply insupportable, and we are lying curled up 

 like rabbits in the slight shade we can find in the rain-washed crevices 

 of the 'Well.' Jacob's Well is an undisguised blessing, and, as such, a 

 curiosity. It is an enormous hole in the ground, right in the midst of 

 a bare, flat plain; one might pass within a hundred yards and never sus- 

 pect anything about it. The margin is nearly circular, and abruptly 

 defined; the sides very steep — almost perpendicular in most places; but a 

 path, evidently worn by men and animals, descends spirally, winding 

 nearly half way around before reaching the bottom. It is, in fact, a 

 great funnel, a hundred yards wide at the brim, and about half as deep; 

 and at the bottom there is a puddle of green, slimy water. Tradition 

 goes, of course, that this is a 'bottomless pit;' and as the water had not 

 perceptibly diminished after all our party and five hundred mules and 

 cattle had had their fill, the story may go for what it is worth. The 

 water is bad enough — warm, and probably muddy, though the mud is not 

 visible, owing to the rich green color of the dubious liquid. It contains, 

 however, some suspicious looking creatures, 'four-legged fishes,' said the 

 man who caught several with hook and line. They suck the bait like 

 catfish, and look something like them, barring the legs and long, fringe- 

 like gills, t 



"It is a scene of utter desolation; our bodily discomfort begets vague 



* In connection with the preceding account by Captain Curtis the following extract from Coues' journal 

 made on the march described, is of especial interest. It is reprinted from the 'American Naturalist' for June, 

 1871. 



t They are the Amblystoma nebuhsum, a kind of batrachian related to the salamanders and tritons of our 

 brooks. The body is shining green above, with a few indistinct black spots, and silvery white below; eyes and 

 gills black; a yellow tint about the legs. They can live a long time out of water, as their skin seems to exude 

 a sort of perspiration that keeps them cool and moist. One that was quite dry and seemed dead, revived on 

 being placed in a bucket of water. 



