The herald., 1897-06-27

customed to drinking water freely Is
quite astounding. An ordinary beer or
soda water fiend from the city getting
two miles away from the wagon in the
terrific dry heat of the Colorado desert,
would probably never return on foot.
Surveying parties have had great trou-
BILE with the front flagman, who would
persist in guzzling water by the quart,
when there was plenty, and go out ahead
for long first sight, such as those who
surveyed by the mile used to take Col.
Denton, who has surveyed large areas of
both the deserts, as well as in Lower
California, has lashed many one to the
wagon wheel and fed him water with a
teaspoon until he came to his senses.
1 have found the proof quite positive
in my hunting that if one is sure Of
getting plenty Of good water one will be
stronger and fresher at night when 1t
is very hot if he drinks freely all day.
But it is quite as certain that if the
water is very bad or there is any doubt
about getting it about the time you want
it, then you will suffer far less by going
without it. And if it is a matter of life
or death there is no question about the
proper course. The small quantity of
water on which a man can endure the
most intense heat is as surprising as the
large quantity he will drink If he can get
it. With the thermometer at 125 in the
shade and about per cent of the mois-
ture in the air, one can drink about
quart of water at time about every
fifteen minutes during the day. 1t is
evaporated from the skin at an aston
ishing rate, fact which has given rise
to many of the absurd statements about
the desert.
On the other hand, it is quite as cer-
tain that a man can stand that same
heat on very little more water than an
ordinary business man in town would
require in ordinary weather. 1t is
doubtful il any more is really needed,
but it is impossible to get at the exact
amount used by the Indians and those
white men who initiate their prudence,
but it is very little. They drink mod
erately morning and evening and per-
haps at noon, little more than one cup
Of tea or coffee or it's equivalent in
water, rinsing the mouth perhaps few
times during the day. but generally
chewing a pebble in case thirst becomes
great and reserving all use of water uE-
| til it can no longer be dispensed with.
| One loses flesh rapidly down to a cer-
tain point; then one becomes tough
ened to it and feels about as well as
ever with not as much suffering as a
city guzzler of water feels, on hot day
| if out of reach of water for half an
hour. In this way one may go two full
| days without any water before there
| is any real danger. Had the Breedlove
party from the moment they decided in
| San Diego to start on this trip, let alone
| all water, except very little in tea Or
| coffee, they would have made the trip
! from the wagon to the mountain with
out a particle of trouble and would
probably have saved enough Of the
water to have got the mules to the
mountain AS it was, two of the mules,
tough bronco mules, too. died without
finding the water, while the third was
found dead at the water with the strong
hair einch of the saddle burst. ii
seems incredible that all animal could
drink enough to break such girth, but
| the fact that 1t was dead at the water
| shows that 1t drank so much that i.
could not get away from there, and the
bursting probably came from swelling
after death. A week or ten days of self
denial before starting on this trip and
then using water only when it became
indispensable would have saved all this.
The worst of all errors for one NOT
| trained in this way is to begin drinking
early in the day. When the sun swings
like ball Of fire over the eastern hills