bitter weather, and they
endured frightful hardships while endeavoring to thread the tangle of
high cliffs and sheer canyons. Moreover, as winter set in, the blacktail
deer, upon which the party had begun to rely for meat, migrated to the
wintering grounds, and the explorers suffered even more from hunger than
from cold. They had nothing to eat but the game, not even salt.

Sufferings from Cold and Hunger.

The travelling through the deep snow, whether exploring or hunting, was
heart-breaking work. The horses suffered most; the extreme toil, and
scant pasturage weakened them so that some died from exhaustion; others
fell over precipices and the magpies proved evil foes, picking the sore
backs of the wincing, saddle-galled beasts. In striving to find some
pass for the horses the whole party was more than once strung out in
detachments miles apart, through the mountains. Early in January, near
the site of the present Canyon City, Pike found a valley where deer were
plentiful. Here he built a fort of logs, and left the saddle-band and
pack-animals in charge of two of the members of the expedition;
intending to send back for them when he had discovered some practicable
route.

He Strikes Across the Mountains on Foot.

He himself, with a dozen of the hardiest soldiers, struck through the
mountains towards the Rio Grande. Their sufferings were terrible. They
were almost starved, and so cold was the weather that at one time no
less than nine of the men froze their feet. Pike and Robinson proved on
the whole the hardiest, being kept up by their indomitable will, though
Pike mentions with gratification that but once, in all their trials, did
a single member of the party so much as grumble.

The Party almost Perishes from Starvation.

Pike and Robinson were also the best hunters; and it was their skill and
stout-heartedness, shown in the time of direst need, that saved the
whole party from death. In the Wet Mountain valley, which they reached
mid-January, 1807, at the time that nine of the men froze their feet,
starvation stared them in the face. There had been a heavy snowstorm; no
game was to be seen; and they had been two days without food. The men
with frozen feet, exhausted by hunger, could no longer travel. Two of
the soldiers went out to hunt, but got nothing. At the same time, Pike
and Robinson started, determined not to return at all unless they could
bring back meat. Pike wrote that they had resolved t