200 THE YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 
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 
alkali, tepid, and so muddy that we cannot see the bottom of a 
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 
are lying curled up like rabbits in the slight shade we can find 
the rain-washed crevices of the ‘Well.’ Jacob’s Well is an uno 
guised blessing, and, as such, a curiosity. It is an enormous 
in the ground, right in the midst of a bare, flat plain; one n 
pass within a hundred yards and never suspect anything abe 
The margin is nearly circular, and abruptly defined ; the sides 
steep — almost perpendicular in most places ; but a path, evidently 
worn by men and animals, descends spirally, winding nearly ħ 
way around before reaching the bottom. It is, in fact, a great 
nel, a hundred yards wide at the brim, and about half as ¢ 
and at the bottom there is a puddle of green, slimy water. 4 
dition goes, of course, that this is a ‘bottomless pit;’ and as 
` what it is worth. The water is bad enough— warm, and pro 
muddy, though the mud is not visible, owing to the rich ¢ 
color of the dubious liquid. It contains, however, some § 
cious looking creatures, ‘four-legged fishes,’ said the man 
caught several with hook and line. They suck the bait like 
fish, and look something like them, barring the legs and lot 
fringe-like gills.* j 
‘It is a scene of utter desolation ; our bodily discomfort } 
vague fears, and a sense of oppression weighs us down. — 
leaden minutes creep on wearily and noiselessly, unbroken e1 
the hum of an insect; two or three blackbirds, hopping listh 
about, as if they wished they were somewhere else but had 
energy enough to go there, are the only signs of life msi 
our faithful animals and ourselves.” 
* They are the Ambilystoma nebulosum, a kind of batrachian related me sais! 
ey can live pep stn dees out of water, as their skin seems to 
perspiration that keeps them cool and moist. One that was quite dry and 
dead, revived on being placed in a bucket of water 
