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seems to know. They speak about going home by way of 

 Saltillo, but others wish to conquer Durango on the way home. 

 For a trip to California there exists not the slightest possibi- 

 litypnly now have I recelved definitive news in Chihuahua about 

 the hike there by general Kearney, and, if I had condemned my 

 trip to Chlhuahua already earlier, I did it now even more so, 

 as it robbe d me of a glorious opportunlty to go with that corps. 

 I cannot undertake such an expedltion baseai on ny own finances, 

 as my resources have shrunk so much that I will name a oommittee 

 of ways and means to get those affairs in order. All I can do 

 now, is to leave it to circumstances and my good fortune, which 

 has left me so recklessly on this trip, to be trusted again. 

 Nevertheless I am in good spirits, hecause the pleasure to stand 

 ajarain on my own feet, makes me even for get the future. My baro - 

 meter has until now proved strong and found a kind of attachment 

 between us. I carried it over 100 miles on my back, and took care 

 to be well served by it. It travels much better by wagen than by 

 mule, but I have taken certain precautions, which pernit its 

 transport also on a pack animal.I lay it always upside down, that, 

 if a little air should penetrate in the lower part of the pipe, 

 the upper one will remain at least its vacuum.Both my thermorae- 

 ters for boiling point have unf ortunately been broken, though how 

 this happened I do not know. My sextant is in good shape, but my 

 timepiece is'nt worth anything. It does not function reliably, and 

 stops entirely at times. I find my telescope equally insuff i- 

 cient for the Observation of the eclipses of the satellites of 

 JuDiter. My calender for this year does not even contain these 

 eclipses. Should you have the opportunity to send to me an ame- 

 rican astronomical calender or the nautical almanach( only the 

 Condensed Version of it) for this and the next year, it would be 





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