INDIAN ALTARS.—BUFFALO RANGE. 
35 
indicating a party of six hundred warriors. A thousand horses must have grazed the valley ; 
and our mules would have but a scanty pittance, unless driven a mile or two down the stream. 
The lodges are temporary bowers, made of branches planted in the ground. The form is that 
of a horse-shoe, and the twigs are twined at top, affording a space inside to stand or lie screened 
from the sun. They appear scattered at random; hut, without exception, face the north. 
Beside each wigwam are the remains of a small fire. This camp ground covers several acres 
ujion either side of the stream. 
In one place has been noticed a circular trench carefully dug with some sharp instrument; 
and, in the centre, ashes covering a space eighteen inches in diameter. The fire had been in 
the centre of the circular trench, which communicated with two arms, forming, with an embank¬ 
ment for the third side, nearly a triangle. Four sticks, about three feet high, were driven ver¬ 
tically into the ground; and a deep hole, perfectly cylindrical, was made by the side, six inches 
in diameter, and of the same depth. Upon the opposite bank of the stream, in a shady spot 
by itself, is a structure formed of saplings, oval arched, like an oven, three feet high, six feet 
long, east and west, and five feet broad. It had been covered with twigs and weeds. In the 
centre is a neatly made cylindrical hole, about eight inches in diameter, and six or eight inches 
deep. This appears carefully covered with a flat stone—showing evidence of having been 
heated—and surrounded by a circular trench. Near the western end stands a conical mound of 
earth, two feet in circumference, and a foot and a half high. Towards the east is another mound, 
symmetrical with the first, on which we found an Indian offering: a brass bracelet, strings of 
beads, and a piece of tobacco. A few feet farther east are the remains of a fire, where stones 
appear to have been heated. At a short distance a deer had been killed, and blood, by accident 
or design, sprinkled upon the nearest huts. Upon a different part of the grounds, probably a 
quarter of a mile distant, stands another structure, almost a fac simile of the one described. 
September 15 —Camp 44.—Leaving Shady creek and its pleasant valley, we traversed a rolling 
prairie eight miles to a small stream, where the mules were allowed to drink from large pools 
of good water. We then proceeded over a similar country to Bed Bank creek, where we again 
watered and moved on; there being no wood upon the stream. Having travelled twenty miles, 
we encamped at Beautiful View creek. Water is plenty in pools, but wood scarce. The grass, 
though dry, is abundant. We have again met buffalo signs. On inquiring how far west they 
have been seen, a Tegua Indian stated that many years ago his father killed two at Santo 
Domingo. A Mexican from San Juan de Caballeros added, that in 1835 he saw buffalo on 
the Rio del Norte. Father Escalante, in a manuscript journal of a trip from New Mexico to 
the Great Salt lake, in 1716, mentioned having seen signs of their existence on his route; still, 
notwithstanding the location of the famed kingdom of Cibola by the early explorers, there do 
not seem to be any well authenticated accounts of the existence of those animals west of Bio 
Grande. Their range has been from the Alleghanies on the east to the Rocky mountains on the 
Avest; and now, driven from the haunts of white men, they are pent up upon the prairies 
between. 
September 16 —Camp 45.—While the sun was still twenty minutes below the horizon, an 
extraordinary refraction placed a croAvn of light in the east, of sufficient brightness to cast a 
shadow. Soon alter a violent wind sprang up, and continued all day from the southwest. Our 
route passed two large pools ol Avater before arriving at Rincon de la Crux, a caiion of the 
Llano Estacado. Here Ave encamped beside a spring and a natural vineyard of wild grapes. 
The fruit is as large as a hazel-nut, Avitli thin skin and deep purple juice. It could be greatly 
improved by cultivation. Mr. Marcou thinks it would make an excellent wine similar to Port. 
The wind went down Avith the sun; but rose again, somewhat to the disturbance of our 
astronomical observations. We have risen to-day, in tAventy miles, about 400 feet; but the 
ascent has been quite uniform. 
September 17 —Camp 46.—All Avere roused this morning for an early start to cross the Llano 
Estacado. Not a cloud was visible; and the moon being full, created a pretty effect of light 
