216 
EL PASO. 
even a rancho here, although marked on the map as a 
town. A great reddish bluff, composed of a conglo- 
merate of jasper, quite detached from the adjacent 
hills, lay on our left. As we descended into the val- 
ley our eyes were gratified with the sight of trees and 
shrubbery, and more grass than we had seen since 
leaving El Paso. In fording the river, one of the 
wagons, in consequence of diverging a little from the 
proper course, got into a quicksand, and was near 
being lost. Continued our course eight miles up the 
stream, and encamped at half-past 5 p. m., in a beauti- 
ful grove of cotton-woods, having made twenty-six 
miles. There was excellent grass here, and in great 
abundance. The wagons did not all get up until an 
hour after, in consequence of the delay at the ford. A 
train of wagons belonging to the Commission, in at- 
tempting to cross a few weeks after, when the water 
was somewhat higher, got into the quicksand. The 
mules in struggling to free themselves, sank deeper; 
and before they could be extricated, all six were 
drowned. 
April 28. Moved from camp at 7 a. m., the road 
continuing along the river bottom, close to a low range 
of gravel hills, when we diverged to the north-west. 
Thick groves of cotton-woods occurred at intervals, 
and the whole valley was more or less wooded. The 
young grass, and the deep foliage of the trees, were 
refreshing to our eyes, which for five months had 
gazed on little more than stunted mezquit bushes, and 
the thorny cactus. From the water marks on the 
trees, the river rises about four feet above its banks, 
inundating the bottom lands to the base of the hills 
