Chap. VI. HICKEY'S HOLLOW. 517 
sible meaning, wished to escort us for a short dis- 
tance with a small body of young men, in order, as he 
frankly said, to have the pleasure of riding in a carriage. 
I placed myself with him in one of our empty baggage- 
waggons, and was greatly amused by observing how his 
Indian Highness enjoyed the shaking and jolting of this 
horrible road. During a portion of it, which was smooth, 
our mules quickened their pace, and the escort of my noble 
companion trotted after us, expressing their satisfaction in 
a sort of chant, in short broken sounds, which I can 
compare to nothing, except perhaps the regular bark of at 
least twenty dogs. 
The journey of this night took us through a gloomy 
granite desert, over the bare rocks of which our waggons 
jolted and tumbled as if the wheels must have gone to 
pieces. At break of day the scene was wild and grand in 
the extreme ; but, wearied and exhausted, we all, men and 
animals, crept down the road towards the river ; the moun- 
tain pass by which we descended, opening into the clayey 
desert below. Masses of granite rose on either hand, 
bare from their base to their summit, with the exception of 
a few Saguarro shafts, cacti covered with long white 
thorns, acacias, and some small Corchi trees. Towards 
noon w T e reached the river, having accomplished forty-five 
miles in seventeen hours without stopping. 
We rested during the day, and journeyed on again 
through the night. In the morning we reached a cam ping- 
place called Hickey's Hollow. This is a narrow strip of 
land about one hundred paces wide and several miles long, 
lving two or three feet lower than the general level of the 
flat region near the river. This hollow remains moist and 
receives a sufficient quantity of alluvial soil, from an exten- 
sive region of basaltic or doleritic lava, to form quite an 
