an old mare. She was killed and eaten by the party with great gusto.
The party remained three days on the banks of the Colorado recruiting
their strength. While remaining here, another party of Mohave Indians
visited them, from whom they procured a small quantity of corn
and beans. Leaving the Colorado they recommenced their journey and
travelled southwest. In three days they arrived at a stream which
rises in the coast range, runs northeast and is lost in the sands of
the Great Basin. About two years previous to their arrival here, three
trappers by the names of Smith, Sublett, and Jackson, with a large
party of men, had a desperate fight in this neighborhood with hostile
Indians. They, also, had learned from friendly Indians of the wonders
of the Sacramento Valley, and were _en route_ to explore it when
attacked. Four only out of their entire company escaped with their
lives. These succeeded in making their way to the nearest Mexican
settlements, which they reached in a state of complete destitution,
after many hardships. Young and his party followed the dry bed of this
river for several days before they came to any visible water. It may
be interesting to some of our readers to know that there are many of
these curious rivers in western America, which, for miles disappear
from the surface of the earth, and, probably, run through the
quicksand beneath, as they reappear again. The outline of the river
usually exists between the place of its disappearance and the place
where the water again comes to the surface of the earth. By digging
a few feet into the sand within the outline, the water is generally
obtained. It takes but a short time, however, for the hole thus made
to fill up again. On quitting this river, the party journeyed to the
westward, and, in four days, came to the Mission of San Gabriel. Here
they found one Roman Catholic priest, fifteen Mexican soldiers, and
about one thousand Indians. Belonging to this little colony were
eighty thousand head of cattle, fine fields and vineyards. Literally