TO DELAWARE CREEK. 103 
was about a half allowance for ten days. The coffee 
and sugar was all gone. 
November 2d. Our route kept on in a westerly 
course, near the river, which we occasionally distin- 
guished on our right by the rushes and other plants 
peculiar to salt marshes, which grew upon its banks. 
The same barrenness continues, with scarcely a living 
object. A few blackbirds and sparrows are all that 
have been seen. Passed five more dried carcasses of 
oxen lying by the road. Fell in with a cow and 
yearling calf, and after a pretty good chase succeeded 
in lassoing the cow. She would not, however, consent 
to be driven with the train, when she was tied behind 
a wagon; but so furious did she become at being 
deprived of her liberty, that it was found necessary to 
shoot her. The calf was then followed a mile or more, 
and shared the same fate. Both proved very fat, and 
a most welcome addition to our supply of food in its 
diminished state. Passed several depressions near the 
river, which appeared to have been filled with water. 
A white efflorescence on their surface showed the extent . 
of the saline matter with which the soil was impreg- 
nated. Crossed an arroyo or dry bed of a stream, 
covered with the salty incrustations before alluded to, 
which we took to be the ‘t Toyah Creek” of the maps. 
At four o’clock, encamped on the margin of the Pecos, 
about two miles from the creek. The shrubbery 
to-day exhibits a larger growth than any we > 
seen since we crossed the river. 
November 3d, Sunday. I was desirous to rest 
to-day; and had we been any where except on the 
banks of the Pecos, I certainly would have done so. 
