Chap. VIII. THE DESERT OF THE DEAD. 317 
quite impassable for waggons, and scarcely capable of culti- 
vation. The road, therefore, ascends, in a southerly direction, 
over the basaltic terrace, and continues along a plateau co- 
vered with prairie, between distant mountain-chains, east and 
west, for about ninety miles. This eastern lateral terrace of 
the Rio Grande, which on a mean average is about seven or 
eight hundred feet higher than the bed of the river (which 
falls in this part of its course nearly four hundred feet), is 
known by the name of " The Dead Mans Journey " (Jor- 
nada del Muerto). It has, however, a worse reputation 
than it deserves, for these ninety miles are seldom entirely 
wanting in water ; and even were this the case, there is 
nothing very formidable in it for a traveller journeying with 
baggage-waggons from Texas to California. With mules, 
the entire distance may be travelled without water ; there 
is excellent grass the whole way, and the road for the most 
part very good. 
This certainly was not the case at the outset. The 
ascent was covered with deep sand, from which rose basaltic 
cliffs, and in parts the road passed over a rough ground of 
rocks. We at length reached the plain on the terrace : 
about half our waggons had arrived on the summit, when a 
storm came on, and we were drenched to the skin. In this 
plight we had to work until late at night, doubling our 
teams, to bring up the remainder of our waggons. There 
was no fodder for the mules above, and we were obliged 
to drive them down again into the valley, where they were 
placed under guard for the night. The next day our 
journey was neither arduous nor disagreeable. The grass 
on the plain was already somewhat withered, from the 
advanced season ; but by the roadside were many beautiful 
autumnal flowers ; and we saw here, for the first time, a 
tree-like species of Yucca, which, together with the grey 
