58 QUIET DEMEANOUR OF THE NATIVES. 
and asked us to point out where they might sleep, before 
they ventured to kindle their fires. One old man, we re- 
marked, had a club foot, and another was blind, but, as 
far as we could judge from the glare of the fires, the gene- 
rality of them were fine young men, and supported them- 
selves in a very erect posture when standing or walking. 
There were many children with the women, among whom 
colds seemed to prevail. It blew heavily from the N. W. 
during the night, and a little rain fell in the early part of 
the morning. Our route during the day, was over as me- 
lancholy a tract as ever was travelled. The plains to the 
N. and N. W. bounded the horizon ; not a tree of any 
kind was visible upon them. It was equally open to the 
S., and it appeared as if the river was decoying us into a 
desert, there to leave us in difficulty and in distress. The 
very mirage had the effect of boundlessness in it, by blend- 
ing objects in one general hue ; or, playing on the ground, 
it cheated us with an appearance of water, and on arriving 
at the spot, we found a continuation of the same scorching 
plain, over which we were moving, instead of the stream 
we had hoped for. 
The cattle about this time began to suffer, and, anxious 
as I was to push on, I was obliged to shorten my journeys, 
according to circumstances. Amidst the desolation around 
us, the river kept alive our hopes. If it traversed deserts, it 
might reach fertile lands, and it was to the issue of the journey 
that we had to look for success. It here, however, evidently 
overflowed its banks more extensively than heretofore, and 
