128 SAN DIEGO TO 
flight within a few miles of camp, while others were not 
overtaken until they had reached the grassy patches 
they were in search of. This is a common habit with 
mules, and often impedes the progress of a train. I 
have known them, where the grass was poor, to retrace 
their steps twenty-five miles for the sake of finding 
better. Experience showed us that in such places as 
this the animals must be closely watched, and at night 
tied up to the wagons. 
We noticed a peculiarity in the water here, which 
was that, although sweet, it did not quench the thirst. 
We all drank incessantly without being satisfied. 
As we entered the great desert here, and expected 
to find no water, except by digging, until we reached 
the Colorado, one hundred miles distant, we filled all 
our kegs, canteens, empty bottles, and every thing else 
that would hold water. I then directed the wagons to 
be loaded, the mules packed, and the train to move at 
sunset. 
I have forgotten to mention that we saw along the 
banks of Carrizo Creek, near our camp, an innumera- 
ble quantity of the bones and dried carcasses of sheep, 
arare occurrence in a region infested by hungry 
wolves; but numerous and hungry as the wolves are, 
there is such a thing as satiating their appetites, and 
of this we had an example before our eyes. Here were 
the bodies of many thousands of sheep lying in piles 
within the space of a hundred yards. This wholesale 
mortality is said to have been caused by their eating of a 
poisonous plant; but as we could find no specimens of 
such a plant, we believed that the poor creatures, after 
traversing the desert and being probably three or four 
