320 
TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 
plains of sand, interspersed with tracts of dark-colored hard- 
pan. About the middle of the seventh day, he came to the 
sands in which the river was swallowed up, and hauling his 
shattered boat on shore, explored the country northwest, for 
the reappearance of the stream. But to no purpose. A leaf* 
less dry desert spread away in all directions, destitute of every 
indication of animal life, breathless and noiseless, a great 
Edom, in which every vital function was suspended, and 
where the drifting sands and the hot howling winds warned 
him that he must perish if he persisted. He therefore left his 
faithful old boat and made his way back to the mountains, 
where he lost his traps, and thence travelled to iRobidoux 5 fort, 
on the upper waters of the San Juan. He subsisted on snails 
and lizards during his journey ; and when he arrived, was 
reduced to a skeleton, with barely strength enough to creep 
into that solitary fortress. It is needless to add that he was 
most kindly received by the hospitable owner, for who does 
not know that from the Arctic seas to the southernmost limit 
of the fur-traders’ habitations, the wayworn stranger finds a 
home and a brother at any, of their posts ? These iron men 
of the wilderness, like those who combat the waves and the 
winds of the seas, never fail to feel a bond of holy brother¬ 
hood for those who have met and overcome the same difficul¬ 
ties. The old trapper is forgotten ; but his exploration of 
Rio Severe with all its attendant dangers, undertaken and 
accomplished alone, far in the deserts, hundreds of miles from 
the voice of civilized man, in a frail canoe, liable to be swal¬ 
lowed up by the torrent, yet daring to float onward down a 
stream of cataracts, whose existence became known to him 
only as he approached their brink and heard their roar, was 
a noble deed of perseverance and courage, which will ever be 
remembered by those who shall be interested in the history of 
that wild part of our continent. 
The Rio San Juan is a fine stream of mountain waters, 
which rises in the Anahuac ridge, and, running in a west- 
wardly direction, empties itself into the Colorado about three 
