520 RINGGOLD BARRACKS 
forming thick woods. In passing a gully where 
the road was much washed away, the tongue of one 
of the wagons was broken and had to be repaired with 
ropes. Encamped after dark on the open plain, amid 
an abundance of grass. 
December 28th. The prairie continued grassy, in- 
terspersed with the prickly pear and low mezquit, 
opening occasionally for a few miles without shrubbery. 
The road became quite sandy and heavy for the ant 
mals. In the afternoon, stopped at Sal Colorado, a 
miserable cattle rancho with a well, where we stopped 
to water our animals. This place is called forty miles 
from Ringgold, which is a large estimate. There are 
pens and corrals here, used for catching and securing 
mustangs, in which this portion of Texas abounds. 
Continued our journey to Santa Teresa, five miles fur- 
ther, where we encamped. Here was a deserted ran- 
cho in ruins, with three wells near. It had been used, 
like that at Sal Colorado, for ensnaring wild horses. 
Last year the Comanches attacked it, murdered the 
occupants, burned the houses, and took away all the 
cattle, mules, and horses. It has not since been occu- 
pied. In two of the wells, which were about fifteen 
feet deep, the water was brackish; but from the third 
we procured good water with some difficulty. 
December 29th. The mustangs came around our 
camp in great numbers last night. They so alarmed 
the mules that, fearing a general stampede, the guard 
was obliged to fire upon them, which drove them off. 
The road to-day was heavy ; the country an open roll- 
ing prairie, covered with luxuriant grass, and dotted 
with clusters of mezquit and oak. Now and then would 
