Chap. III. THE DEAD MAN'S HOLE. 465 
forms. Masses of white quartz-rock, bordering on the 
brown porphyry, produced a strange effect in the land- 
scape. Unfortunately we travelled over this part in the 
night, and I regretted missing the view of the grand 
scenery of which the moonlight gave me a faint idea. 
Some of the views which we saw by day were of a truly 
classical beauty in outlines and grouping, notwithstanding 
the absence of trees and shrubs. The same monotonous 
grass steppe extended over hill and valley, over plain and 
mountain, day after day, as far as the eye could reach. 
A difficult route led us uphill and downhill over the 
rocky spurs of a mountain range, until we at length came 
to a lower terrace of the plateau. In a state of exhaustion 
we reached a dried-up brook at midnight, where we had 
fully reckoned upon finding water. There we spent the 
following day, in digging wells and watering our animals. 
It is impossible to give an idea of the difficulty of this 
task : each single animal had to be caught with the lazo, 
led down to the deep and rocky bed of the brook, and 
there to drink out of the bucket ; and we had about three 
hundred and twenty animals ! Before the turn of the last 
one came, the first were thirsty again. The two divisions 
of the droves, — those which had already drunken, and those 
which were still to be watered, — had to be kept separate, 
— an almost impossible task ! whilst all the while a strong 
armed guard had to be placed over them. No man could 
give a moment for repose ; and even the hands needed to 
prepare the food could hardly be spared. 
We had confounded this spot with the next watering- 
place, which bears the ominous name of " The Dead-Man's 
Hole,"— in Spanish, " El Muerto." The water at this last 
place seemed not to be much more abundant or accessible. 
A small valley extended for some miles between the ter- 
2 H 
