Chap. XIII. THE OJO DEL BERENDO. 413 
were in abundance, was El Saucillo — the Willow Bush. 
The plain is bounded on the one side by steep tabular hills 
of sedimentary rocks ; while on the other the long perpen- 
dicular wall of a terrace of porphyry extends. I climbed 
one of the hills close to our camp. The lower stratum 
was a soft green sandstone ; then came one of a sandy 
marl, then a third of hard sandstone, covered by one of a 
coarse conglomerate formed of pebbles and boulders of 
porphyry, green vitrified lava, and other plutonic and 
volcanic masses. We drove through the night over hard 
smooth ground, and arrived in the early morning at the 
foot of the porphyry terrace. The place where the road 
ascends it is called Cuesta de San Estevan. This por- 
phyry is of a light yellow and greenish colour, full of 
caves and arched vaults. A rising plain lies eastwards 
on the summit, upon which, at the edge of the precipice, 
Tascate bushes grow, a species of juniper, bearing red 
berries. 
The Ojo del Berendo, or Antelope Spring, rises in this 
terrace ; a very suitable name, for we saw numerous herds 
of antelopes all around. In hunting these animals, both 
Mexicans and Indians disguise themselves with an ante- 
lope's head. A Virginian, who had joined our caravan at the 
Presidio, carried one with him for this purpose, and made 
the first trial of it here. Although he did not succeed in 
his attempt, he amused us excessively by his pantomime. 
While, with the horned head above his own, he endea- 
voured to act his part correctly, by making the most extra- 
ordinary jumps, which he evidently thought were inimitably 
true to nature, hundreds of antelopes stood, in a large 
semicircle, watching the actions of this strange mongrel 
figure, but never lessening a wide distance between them- 
selves and him ; so that, in spite of his dramatic talent, our 
