130 SAN DIEGO TO 
sink some holes, and have a small supply of water for 
us on our arrival; but as they were ignorant of the 
place and were unfamiliar with the best indications of 
water, they had accomplished little. Some more expe- 
rienced hands now set themselves busily at work in an 
arroyo, or place where there was a slight depression in 
the desert, marked by some mezquit bushes, whose 
freshness showed that water sometimes reached their 
roots. After digging about six feet, the water began 
slowly to enter; and by dipping it up with a basin, we 
managed to supply our animals. 
The desert where we were now encamped, is an 
open and remarkably level plain, with scarcely an 
undulation. On the south-west, twenty miles distant, 
is a range of lofty mountains, which forms its limit in 
that direction. On the north and east, it 1s bounded 
by the horizon, no mountains or hills being visible. 
The soil is either a fine gravel, or loose sand. The 
vegetation is exceedingly sparse, consisting chiefly of 
stunted mezquit and the larrea Mexicana. Near the 
arroyo, where water sometimes finds its way, a few 
mezquit bushes have attained the height of ten feet, 
whose brilliant hue is most agreeable to the eye, amid 
so much barrenness. A little grass was found in clumps 
about a mile from our camp in an arroyo, whither our 
animals were sent. This, with the young shoots of 
the mezquit, was all they had. At sunrise this morn- 
ing, the mercury stood at 92°, and at noon 108° in 
the shade. Distance from Carrizo Greek, twenty-five 
miles. 7 
Lieutenant Sweeny arrived this morning from Fort 
Yuma in pursuit of two deserters from that post, and 
