Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-08-19

he carried only bow and arrows him
self. He adorned his head with a |
wreath of willow, and made quite a
gay figure, dashing about on his Pinto |
pony. His squaw was sick-so he
managed to tell us-and was in need of |
medicine. He was willing to take any,
thing. John gave him twelve Com
pound Cathartic Pills, with the infor-
nation that two were to be taken in |
the evening and two in the morning. |
What to do with the remaining eight |
puzzled him profoundly, and it was at |
him understand that they would be |
good for another time.
In the evening four men came into
camp. | was not particularly struck
with their eomeliness. Their faces were
hard and villainous enough, but their
dress was exceptionally good. That of
one, who claimed to be chief, was
quite gorgeous; many bands and belts
of bead-work, with long fringes OF
buckskin, decorated his person. They
could not talk much Spanish, but jab
bered away among themselves in the
Ute tongue, apparently making sport
of those of cur party present. and en-
joying themselves at our expense.
Dinner was prepared, and they sat
down with US. Knives and forks
were hardly couveniences to them, and
one spoon for all dishes and courses
seemed more to their liking. Civilized
etiquette had, evidently, not been in
their course Of study. | was truly
glad to see these unbidden, ill-favored
guests depart, which they soon did,
however, without even the ceremony
of saying thank YOU or 'ddieu.'
On the Sd OF July we encamped on
the San Juan. The morning of the
4th was as fair as ever daWned; the
sky was tiecked with clouds and the
air as fresh and invigorating as that of
the distant mountains. All that we
could desire to make it. a glorious
fourth were the usual fireworks, and
perhaps procession. The latter we
soon accomplished, however, for
when breakfast was over we saddled
our mules and filed off up the bluff to-
ward a high hill northeast of our
camp. We found it necessary to do
about ten hours good hard work for
Uncle Sam. Had he been present lCe
should donbtless have begged off, con-
sidering also that it was Sunday, but
it was down on the programme-so
much work in so many days-and we
cheerfully submitted. Orders were
left in camp that sumptuous and elab-
crate dinner should be in readiness by
our return Ia the afternoon. 1t was
suggested that since we were out of
meat, and not in game country, a
rabbit stew would be good dish to
add to our list. / at once volunteered
to be the Nimrod of the occasion, and
bantered my companion to carry all the
game | should shoot during the day.
set out. Presently pair of of fine rab-
bits were started, and l was off in
ljiffy, but the game was off also. Many
times this was repeated, and they in
variably succeeded in darting behind
a clump of bushes or hiding in some
deep ravine. After while we came
out upon the terraced country, where
the surface is level asa floor for miles.
Now, thought to myself, shall have
chance-I shall have it all my own
way, and pick up rabbits by the dozen.
In minute great lank fellow, look
ing more like race horse than tim
id hare, sprang up and was off like
shot. / hastily dismounted, needle
gun in hand, determined to bring him
down at the first stop but he didn't
stop-he actually ran on and on, until
out of sight in the far distance. [ gave
up the chase in disgust, and considera-
| bly, to the amusement of my fellows.
| But we Jared sumptuOusly all the same;
our accomplished cook had prepared a
bill of fare and a dinner to match it,
that would shame Delmonicos, and be
more than a seven days wonder to the
hd6itue of the average Eastern board
ing-house. We slept we'll that night
Notwithstanding, but in the morning
were walked to be very forcibly remin-
ded that we were not in what the
mountain Inan calls Gods country, but
that we were really in the land of rat
tle-snakes and tarantulaS. One man
was startled by finding centipede in
! his blankets. Another encountered q
giant spider, third scorpion, and
fourth three or four varieties of bugs
and beetles. Excitement worthy of
the Fourth reigned for awhile, and
did not finally subside until it was sat
isfactorily determined that the dead
lp tarantula was not among our bed
fellows. Finally our foes were captu-
red and safely bottled, and we sat
down to breakfast, feeling thankful for
the sake of our dreams, that the incl
dent occurred in the morning rather
than later in the day.
We are at last thoroughly across the
Rocky Mountains. This is the third
year of the survey in Colorado. Its
belt of 200 miles of mountains have
kept US busy up to this time. Range
after range had been climbed and
studied and passed by, and still 1t
seemed there would always be anOth-
er; but now we are absolutely sure that
to the west are only the broad barren
canoned table lands, through which the
F Rio Colorado of the west cuts its way.
The San Juan already begins to hide
itself between those steep stone cliffs
! that 20 miles below rise to such wOn-
derful heights, forming those grand
gorges, that only the hardy Powell has
,, been bold enough to explore. .,
We shall only go down far enough
to glapce into these wonderful regions
, from above, and then turn back-not
from want of inclination to see farther
for there is fascination about the
, exploration of such region that would
lead one on to fearful risks. But Our
work lies to the east, and we must turn
:, back; for if we should seek the wonder
) full always, science and economy would
90 to the dogs.
i But enough at prescott. Before wri-
ting again, perhaps even before this
} letter can be sent out, we shall have
traversed the canons that contain the
> ancient ruins. shall hope to describe
i these in my next. w. II. H.
A COLORADO.