74 



At the last bend of Hardy's Colorado, with Signal Mountain 

 on the border in full view, we gave our tired animals plenty 

 of time to drink, for the next water would be twenty-four 

 hours beyond. 



When we had left the eastern point of the Cocopahs well 

 behind, the wind began to blow strongly from the west, soon 

 increasing to a gale. The sky remained clear, except that a 

 yellow circle of dust-laden air obscured the horizon, and so 

 much fine sand was flying that one had to face to leeward 

 to breathe. Eventually the wind became so strong that the 

 yielding creosote bushes flattened almost against the ground, 

 and I could scarcely sit on my poor horse, who kept his nose 

 turned way from the blast. All the while the sun was shining 

 brightly, and the storm recalled the description of the dry 

 gale off Point Concepcion in ''Three Years before the Mast." 

 Finally we camped in as sheltered a spot as could be found. 

 The wind howled until midnight, after which it calmed. 



A seven hours' march next morning brought us to the 

 first irrigation ditch, at the edge of civilization. After water- 

 ing the animals here, we passed once more through the 

 wonderful alfalfa fields, filled with fat cattle and round horses 

 that were in such strong contrast to our jaded brutes. Scaup 

 ducks and coots were resting contentedly on one of the ponds, 

 and another was filled with long-legged, wading stilts, a rare 

 sight in their white and sable plumage. Half a dozen road- 

 runners scurried along the ruts of the highway that led us into 

 Mexicali, which we reached at noon. 



On April 23, Mrs. Murphy and I began a second journey 

 into Baja California, taking only a light outfit on two pack- 

 burros. We turned eastward at a point north of the Cerro 

 Prieto, crossed the stagnant sloughs of the New River, the 

 salty waters of which were unfit even for our animals, and 

 spent several days in the vicinity of Volcano Lake. This 

 fluctuating reservoir of river water, with its adjacent mud 

 volcanoes and hot, sulphurous springs, lies on the crest that 

 divides the Salton Basin from the fan of the Colorado Delta. 

 The extraordinary topographic, geologic, and botanic fea- 

 tures of the region have been well described by MacDougal 

 (1906, 1914), and Barrows (1900). 



