Chap. III. HUMAN SKELETONS. 455 
and the bark was stript from many of its branches. Since 
we passed this way in the spring, a great number of 
Indians must have resided here. 1 In several places we 
found groups of deserted huts, which had not been there 
on our previous visit. 
We travelled without stopping from hence to Howard 
Springs, a distance of forty-five miles, from eight o'clock 
in the morning till two o'clock the following morning. 
I had been on guard from four to six o'clock in the 
morning before starting, and, on our arrival at the next en- 
campment, my turn to mount guard was from two to four 
o'clock in the morning. I had therefore at that time been 
on active duty quite twenty-four hours. Four hours' sleep 
however sufficed to banish all my fatigue. 
On the Pecos we fell in with an encounter which agree- 
ably broke the monotony of the journey. A caravan came 
up, in which we recognised some friends, who had come 
from the point to which we were travelling, and we had, 
consequently, occasion to interchange much important 
information. 
On the Ojo de Ahuancha (Comanche Spring) we found 
four human skeletons, and at a little distance a fifth. 
We were afterwards informed that, since our journey in 
the spring, several men, on their route from California, 
had been killed by the Comanches. The Indians offered 
for sale, at the Presidio del Norte, some of the articles 
they had stolen from travellers, and boasted of the exploit. 
I must here explain the name of the watering-place 
where the road to the Presidio separates from that to El 
Paso. I have before called this place Agua Delgada, and 
1 In 1857 this valley was again the J in which the troops of the United States 
scene of hloody battles with the Indians, J even suffered considerable loss. 
