148 ALAMO MUCHO TO 
of us; and some of the party were so much overcome 
with drowsiness, that fastening their mules to bushes, 
or to their legs, they lay down on the desert, and stole 
afew minutes’ sleep. The road continued very sandy, 
and consequently very fatiguing to our jaded animals, 
which had had but little food for the last four days. As 
there was no-necessity for keeping with the wagons, I 
hastened on with the pack-mules and several men who 
were mounted, and reached the next watering place, 
known as Cooke’s Well, at six o’clock in the morning, 
having been ten hours in the saddle. The distance from 
our last camp, was twenty-eight miles. After some time, 
finding that neither the wagons nor my carretella (small 
wagon) came in, I sent back some of the pack-mules 
to their aid. But even with this assistance, they did 
not come up until three or four hours after my arri- 
val. 
June 8th. AtCooke’s Well. On reaching here this 
morning, we were so much fatigued that we did not 
pitch our tents, but threw ourselves down on the bare 
sand beneath some mezquit trees, and were soon lost in 
sleep. The water obtained here was from a hole dug in 
the earth some ten or twelve feet deep, in a place about 
twenty feet lower than the general level. of the desert. 
It had to be dipped up in a bucket, and passed to a 
second person midway towards the top, who emptied it 
into a basin on the surface, from which the animals 
drank. There was no grass here, but a thick growth of 
mezquit trees about twelve feet high, with very wide 
spreading branches. These were loaded with beans, 
on which our half-famished mules fed freely, for it was 
all we could give them. As these trees afforded a 
