to follow our former tracks. Having no trail to
follow we passed on as best we could and came to a wide piece of land on
which were growing a great many cabbage trees. The soil was of the
finest dust with no grit in it, and not long before a light shower had
fallen, making it very soft and hard to get along in with the moccasins.
The women had to stop to rest frequently, so our progress was very slow.
Rogers and I had feet about as hard as those of the oxen, so we removed
our moccasins and went barefoot, finding we could get along much easier
in that way, but the others had such tender feet they could not endure
the rough contact with the brush and mud. Only a few miles had been made
before the women were so completely tired out that we had to stop and
eat our little bit of dried meat and wait till morning. The little mule
now carried all our stock of food, and the precious burden lightened
every day. This delay was not expected, but we had to endure it and bear
it patiently, for there was a limit to strength of the feeble ones of
our party. We had therefore to make another barren camp. Relief seemed
so near at hand we kept good courage and talked freely of the happy
ending which would soon come. If we had any way to set a good table we
would feast and be merry like the prodigal son, but at any rate we shall
be safe if we can reach the fertile shore.

When the sun went down we tied the mule and oxen to cabbage trees, and
shortly after dusk lay down ourselves, for we had enjoyed a good fire
made of the trunks of cabbage trees, the first really comfortable one in
a long time. The air was cooler here, for we were on higher ground, and
there was some snow on the range of mountains before us, which sent
these cool breezes down to us, a change of climate quite pleasing.

For breakfast in the morning we had only dried meat roasted before the
fire, without water, and when we started each one put a piece in his or
her pocket to chew on during the day as we walked along. As we went
ahead the ground grew dryer and the walking much improved. The morning
overhead was perfectly lovely, as away east, across the desert the sun
early showed his face to us. Not a cloud anywhere, not even over the
tops of the high peaks where great white masses sometimes cluster but
dissolve as soon as they float away, and there was not wind enough to be
perceptible. We remarked the same lack of animal life which we had
noticed on our first passage over