TO EL PASO. 
129 
morning ; and being unable at this late hour, it being 
now dark, to find the wells in the clefts of the rocks, 
we encamped without water. This wonderful moun- 
tain, of which it is impossible to convey any adequate 
idea by description, is a pile of red granite boulders 
of gigantic size, thrown up abruptly into the plain. 
The boulders are mostly of an oblong shape, with their 
largest diameter vertical ; they are rounded and often 
highly polished. The interstices between the rocks form 
in many places extensive caverns. On the summit I 
noticed two projecting piles, or masses, which rose 
many feet above the level of the other portions in a 
conical form, resembling horns, whence I suppose 
originated the name “ Horns of the Alamo” — the moun- 
tain itself being known as the Alamo. After building 
a fire near a rock (for wood was abundant around us), 
four of the party took a lantern and scrambled about 
among the rocks in search of water. It seemed a bold 
and hopeless undertaking for tiny man, guided by the 
dim light of a candle, to be probing the deep recesses 
of the mountain, and clambering over these gigantic 
boulders, which were piled up to the height of four or 
five hundred feet. But, when urged by his necessities, 
it is hard to say what he cannot accomplish. Within an 
hour, one of the party was so fortunate as to find in a 
cavity of a rock water enough to fill our tea-kettle, 
which had collected from the melting of the snow a 
few days before. After a cup of warm tea and a hearty 
supper, the carriage was drawn near the fire, when all 
bivouacked around it, and were soon lost in sleep. 
November Vltli. Being spared the trouble of boiling 
colFee, for want of water to make it withal, we did not 
VOL. I. 9 
