Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-03

teen, with three Mexicans, began digging
sand and first got plenty of water-with my
help in 'cribbing' out the sand with empty
boxes.
Sunday morning he abandoned his plan
to fill barrels and go on, instead Of which
he arranged to send two Mexicans forward
on foot. the third Mexican accompanying
them fifteen miles horseback to carry can
teens: and Sunday afternoon they set out.
He prepared to start on the return to
Yuma Monday evening Gravel being prac-
tically impossible except at night. Sunday
midnight, the Mexican horseman returned,
and Monday morning he and Tucker re-
sumed digging in the sand of the lowest
tinajas. only to find the water failing. so,
at my suggestion, they watered the horses.
filed canteens and half filed barrel GUST
enough to get them comfortably to For
tuna, halfway to Yuma, and got under
way back. l count on the return of the
Mexicans sometime tonight (they talked
about tomorrow. Wednesday, night and
that they will carry this and other letters
out. They left the horseman Sunday even
ing fifteen miles from here with four one
gallon canteens and much boasting of abil-
ity to withstand heat and thirst, though at
my instance one of the full canteens was
left at the ifteen-mile point. On their re-
turn here they will drink. eat and sleep,
and will then walk to Fortuna, Tucker
coming out 10 meet them Thursday evening
If they are not in sooner.
Came in Half Delirious.
July 20. '05.
yesterday. little after noon. the two
Mexicans struggled in semi-delirious.
neither knowing the fate of the other, hav
ing thrown away serapes, empty canteens,
the samples they went to get. everything
not attached to them; neither able to artic-
uate, the weaker having babbled his death
messages, Mexican fashion, hours before,
and remembered nothing since. | was APP
prehensive when they set out, and at the
last moment made them take my large
canteen against their judgmenD and leave
1t fifteen miles away, to be picked up on
their return, in case they had exhausted
their store. Without this. or even If the
weather had not been unexpectedly cool
for some days (ahout 100 to 10. degrees) the
buZzards would now be eating them. They
dropped fifty yards apart, and Jose attend
ed one while l looked after the weaker, adj
ministering water and a little whisky, and,
to mine. heart stimulant (dgitais, nitro
glycerine. etcD to keep the thickened hood
moving until the reaction was over. This
is a beautiful country, but It has an awful
side.
II got up early this morning, went out
and shot another big horn, female,
rather young and fat, though not SO tender
as the last. but the air is dry again, with
hardly promise of rain, and the water
still lower. and this is the rainy season.
Prof. MCGEE himself has experienced the
thirst of the desert He writes with amaZ-
ing reality of the five stages of thirst, from
four of which men have recovered In an
article published in the Atlantic Monthly of
'9S, he gave graphic pictures of the extreme
subjects men. The first stage, he says, Is
petulent, clamorous stage, when the
mouth feels dry and hot and the sensat ons
and outward symptoms suggest silght
fever. In the second condition the saliva
and mucus spume on the lips and tongue, a
lump is felt in the throat. utterance IS
clogged and cords seem to tie the ADAM
apple to the ears. The hand instinctively
thnon
succeeds only in opening the collar and ex-
posing more skin to evaporation. In TINS
stage the face is pinched and care marked,
the eyes bloodshot and may be fearful; the
movements are hasty, the utterance capri
cious the sufferer is a walking fever pa
tient without ward or nurse This Is gen
orally called the cotton-mouth stage.
Sensations Described.
An intensifcation of the second brings
about the third when the mouth spume
changes to a tough collodion-lke coating,
which congresses and retracts the lips in
sardonic SMILE changing to a canine grin;
the tongue stiffens and clicks foreigny
against the teeth with the movement of rid
ing or walking There are other pains, in
Vulnerable, excruciating. The head is as if
hoped with iron, the nape and half the
spine are like a swollen tumor when pressed
hard with the surgeons lancet pushing
through 1t; with each heartbeat throb of
torment darts from the head to the ex-
tremitieS with q sudden thunder and black
ness. The eyelids stiffen as the snarled lips
have done, and the eyeballs gradually set
themselves in winkless stare. Then it be-
comes hard 10 keep the mind on the trail.
The condition is seldom alleviated save by
through delirium. rarely relieved save by
Whitewater in gallonS-apped inside and
cut This is the stage of the shriveled
tongue coming within the experience of
many pioneer and within the memory of
though only the vigorous in hodV and
well balanced in mind are sane enough to
remember the details of his experience.
The dilatory process changes to a more
rapid action with the fourth stage of the
drying up of the tissues. The collodon-like
coating of the lips cracks open and curls
up, freshet-laid mud curls when the sun
shines after storm, and the clefts push
into the membrane and flesh beneath, so
that thickened blood and serum exude. The
ooZe evaporates soon as 1t Is formed.
Each cleft is a wound which eXcites in
fammation, and the assuring and fevering
proceed cumulatvely, till the lips re-
verted. swollen, shapeless masses of raw
and fostering flesh. The shrunken tongue
swels quickly, pressing against the teeth,
then forcing the jaws asunder and squeeZ-
ing out beyond them, a reeking fungus on
which fiies-coming unexpectedly-love to
gather and dig, while stray drops of blood
dribble down the chin and neck with scar
ing sensation punctuating the numbness.
The eyeids crack and the eyebalIs weep
tears of blood
The throat is as If plugged with hot
and heavy mass causing a drowning sensa-
ton. Wherever the touches there 10
a remote, unusual prickng and the skin ID
chapped and dark beard dapp,ed with
serum wells slowly forth. Only as the
skin opens does the pain pass away. There
is no alienation save by the mercy Of
madness, no relief except by judiciously
administered water A poor devil of the
Mojave desert reached a neglected water
hole early in this stage Creeping over
debris in the twilight he paid no attention
to turgd toads, sodden snakes and the
seething scum of drowned insects, until
soggy, noisome mass turned under his
weight and a half-heshed skele on, still
clad in flannel shirt and chaparejos, leered
In his face with vacant sockets and fallen
jaw. He fled only to turn back seeking
the same water hole. as his tracks showed
and raved unremittingy In the hands of
rescuers of his folly in passing by the last
water
This is the stage Of the blood sweat
No Relief at This Stage.
From the fifth stage there is no relief I'M
til the too persistent heart. or lungs show
mercy or kindly coyotes close in for the
final feast In 1t men die from without in