i€4 TRAVELS IN 
tlful and ferene, and we direded our courfe 
towards the north : notwithftanding, however, 
the mildnefs of the weather, my cattle were fq 
weak that, after a march of three hours, they 
refufed to dr^w, and obliged me to halt. In 
the afternoon they v^ere able to proceed only- 
two leagues farther. 1 was then un(-er the ncr 
ceffity of unharnefling, and of abandoning three 
of my oxen, which funk tli rough fatigue, and 
probably died on the fpot, as whe never faw 
them afterward?. In the night I loft five 
more, which I faw miferably perifli in the 
place where they had lain down, without my 
being able to afford them relief; and fo weak 
and exhaufted were the remainder, that, ano- 
ther league, and they would all perhaps be rt- 
duced to the fame melancholy fituation. We 
had found, irideed, during the whole day, 
neither water nor pafturage : yet I refumed my 
journey, but v^dth the precaution of fending 
out, in all dh'eQions, fiich of my people as I 
could fpare, in order to difcover, if poffible, a 
fpring and a little herbage, near which we 
might encamp. 
But vain and fruitlefs was the precaution : 
the foil, in this frightful defert, prefented every- 
where 
