uld have gold
teeth. In order to amuse them, Sexton took the teeth out of his mouth,
whereupon the whole group of redskins retreated from him in terror; nor
could they be induced to approach again, deeming him too familiar with
black art to feel safe in his company.

One of the non-commissioned officers, Sergeant Gerber, wished to
purchase a beautiful white pony that an Indian was riding. He offered
him a handful of silver half dollars (the Indians are very eager to get
hold of silver coins, out of which they make ornaments), but the Indian
shook his head in the negative. Some biscuits and red chalk were added
to the tempting pile of silver, but, after some hesitation, the Indian
still declined the "swap." A new uniform coat was then offered also.
This pleased the Indian wonderfully; turning it over and over, he
surveyed it in every light, admired the yellow chevrons, laughed and
betrayed great eagerness to get possession of the gaudy garment. But
looking once more at his faithful pony, he declined the bargain.
Suddenly, a bright idea seemed to strike him--he wanted the coat, and
proposed to give the owner a squaw for it, which generous offer was of
course declined, amid loud peals of laughter from the bystanders.

A group of Indians had gathered about the forge, gazing at it with
reverential awe. One of them, making a quick motion of his hands, out
from his body, and making an explosive sound with his breath, to
represent the report of a gun, exclaimed, "Smoke wagon," meaning a
cannon. At this moment, Bourcey, the blacksmith, who was fitting on a
mule's shoe, returned with the shoe at the end of the tongs, and,
thrusting it into the fire, began blowing the bellows. It was laughable
to see the stampede among the redskins when they saw this ominous
maneuver--they thought he was going to fire the "smoke wagon."

_June 28_ (Monday). We encamped on Coopers Creek, having marched
fourteen miles. Our road to-day extended along the chain of mountains,
and lay over a hard, gravelly surface, thickly covered with small,
argillaceous stones. We passed a pond this morning, the shores of which
were encrusted with a white, crystallized substance, which, upon
inspection, proved to be magnesia and nitrate of soda. Antelopes were
seen in great number during the march, and two were shot.

At the conclusion of our march we suddenly found ourselves upon the
brow of a high hill, overlooking a magnificent valley about two miles
in length