Chap. VI. CURIOSITY OF THE ANTELOPES. 285 
stretched to the opposite plateau, the declivities of which 
were everywhere overbrowed by rocks. In the north- 
west it is divided into several distinct plateaus, tables, 
square chests, and blocks, the surfaces of which form one 
horizontal line. Above these rise, at a greater distance, 
single domes, — evidently volcanic cones, similar to those 
which, a few days' journey further south-west, we passed 
on our road. The whole scene, with its red-brown, black- 
brown, yellow-brown, violet and blue tints, produced the 
most peculiar impression. 
At the Cedar Spring, where the first bushes of the 
juniper-cedar, with scented wood, begin, appeared in the 
distance west-north-west the tops of the Raton mountains ; 
and in the direction of west-south-west the domes of Rabbit's 
Ears and Round Mound. We came to a small hollow, 
where, on the dry bed of a brook, a few scantily-growing 
vines intertwined between young willows and poplars. 
I had gone in advance of the caravan, and was examining 
some small plants on the ground on the other side of the 
height, when I heard a noise behind me, and looking round 
I saw — at a distance of five or six paces — two antelopes, 
which eyed me attentively ; but before I could snatch up 
my gun which lay by my side, and prepare for a shot, 
these nimble creatures were off, flying over the ground like 
a shadow. It is well known that the antelope is equally 
curious and timid : the first of these qualities is taken 
advantage of by sportsmen ; they wave a red cloth tied to 
the end of the barrel, and frequently succeed thus in 
enticing one of these animals within shot-range. 
The Rabbit's Ears, two trap domes, rising from the same 
basis, we left lying beyond a deep fissure, which, for many 
miles, passes through the entire thickness of the trap lava 
down to the underlying sandstone. Without perceiving this 
