104 
HORSE-HEAD CROSSING 
But a due regard for our safety rendered it necessary 
that we should not stop until beyond its waters and 
the miserable barren region near it. Should a rain 
set in, it would make the roads almost impassable for 
loaded wagons, so tenacious is the soil. The grass, 
too, but barely sustained life in our worn-out animals. 
We saw around us evidence of what the road would 
be in wet weather. Some teams seemed to have 
passed over it at such a time, leaving ruts six inches 
deep in the soft, muddy soil. Every day we noticed the 
clouds with fear and trembling, and watched each 
change in the weather. The roads are now hard and 
smooth, and have been so since we struck the river. 
Our route has been over the same flat and desert 
plain before described. Not a living thing has crossed 
our path, beast, bird, or reptile, except two large 
white swans, which were doubtless winging their way 
to more attractive regions. They lit on a marshy 
place, which I endeavored to approach ; but even 
in this out of the way spot, which the human foot sel- 
dom treads, they flew at my approach. Scattering 
patches of dried grass, with low chapporal, and an 
occasional yucca, constituted the vegetation of the 
twenty-two miles passed over to-day. In order to 
find a good spot for our encampment, two or three of 
the party diverged from the road, and succeeded in 
discovering a little nook on the river’s bank, where 
there was good grass. Several hours before stopping, 
we got a glimpse of the Guadalupe Mountains, and a 
range of hills through which we must pass, although 
more than 100 miles ofl* in a direct line, in a north-west- 
erly direction. Mounts Diavolo and Carrizo, which 
