40 
PRAIRIE DOGS.—HURRAH CREEK.—INDIAN RELICS. 
which mules are fond of. Passing this stream, and crossing a gently ascending ridge, we found 
a spring of good water, and plenty of buffalo-grass. Though the dense growth of cedars 
approaching from the hills conrpleted the requisites for a camp, we proceeded three miles far¬ 
ther to Arroyo Cuerbito, and encamped, on brackish water, two miles from the woodlands. 
A dog town being near, we selected a hole with freshest signs, determined to dig out the 
inmates; but the soil was so hard that we could make but little progress in excavating. We 
attempted, therefore, to explore its depths with long, pliant poles. The hole appeared to be 
about five inches in diameter, raised, moulded, and hardened with lime at the orifice. It was 
sunk spirally, at an angle of forty-five degrees for five feet, and then, with a sharp turn, 
entered a chamber four feet deep, communicating with cells or galleries. Into this hole, which 
which was coated with a white substance like a cement of lime, we poured six buckets of water. 
At first the surface of water was visible, but in about two minutes it disappeared, and our labor 
was vain. Neither the rattle of a snake, the hoot of an owl, nor the chirrup of a dog, gave 
token of life within. Nothing but a swarm of crickets seemed to have been disturbed. 
September 24 —Camp 52.—A great commotion was heard last night among the prairie-dogs. 
They doubtless thought that we had opened a regular siege; for on visiting the trench this 
morning, it was found that they had, during the night, repaired the breach, and stopped up 
the hole so as to cut off all communication by that entrance. 
The morning was cool; the thermometer, at sunrise, standing at 43°. By an unusually 
steep ascent, we climbed a long, low ridge of hills to the crest of the summit dividing the waters 
of the Canadian from those of the Pecos. We were then nearly on a level with the top of the 
Llano, which appeared a mile or two to the left. Our observations showed that we were 
about eleven hundred feet above that part of it which we crossed a hundred miles back, east of 
Bocky Dell creek ; but the rise from that point had been so gradual, that, without such proof, 
we would have seemed to be upon the same level. Over these plains antelope have been nu¬ 
merous, and the hunters fortunate—killing several. The artist took a sketch of a fine large 
male, and the skin was preserved as a specimen. The first herd we saw to-day numbered about 
thirty. Passing a pond of water bordered with green grass, we proceeded to l’Assisteros, thir¬ 
teen miles, and encajnped. This is the first affluent to the Pecos, and is styled by Simpson 
Hurrah creek. It flows through a fine valley of buffalo-grass, that ap>pears to be now in its 
most perfect state. It is quite a rapid stream, eight feet wide, with cool, pure water. We 
camped at one o’clock, though there was no wood in sight, for the mules needed rest. 
Near camp is a hill of sandstone, with masses broken into singular forms strewn upon the 
sides and at the foot. Among them are enclosures, and slight walls have perfected the seem¬ 
ing intention of nature—rendering the place quite a fortress. I believe that the New Mexican 
shepherds secure themselves and their sheep here from Indians and from wolves. The sand¬ 
stone is the same as that at Rocky Dell creek, where were found such numbers of hieroglyphics; 
but we have sought in vain for similar representations. Weeks and months must have been 
idly spent among them by Mexicans and Pueblo Indians, and yet upon the whole field of rocks 
—their shelter from sun by day and from wind at night—there is not even the scratch of a 
knife or the trace of a coal. There were evidently special reasons for their labors at Rocky Dell 
creek. From Rio del Norte westward, between latitudes 32° and 33°, at almost every spring, 
and along the Gfila to its junction with the Salinas, are found painted pieces of ancient pottery, 
metates,* and obsidian arrow-heads. But on the Canadian and its tributaries, on the Washita, 
and over the whole route to this point, such things have been searched for in vain. Not the 
semblance of a stone arrow-head has been seen upon the trip. A rude stone axe found at Co¬ 
manche camp, on Rio Bonito, is the only evidence we have of utensils of that material having 
been used east of the Pecos, and that was too rough to be considered the work of design. Hence 
there seems no reason to believe that this part of the continent has ever been in the possession 
of semi-enliglitened tribes such as existed west of Rio del Norte. 
* A hollow stone, in which corn is ground. 
