airies), I might have
been delayed by snow drifts, but by this, the Southern route, there was
no snow, but a continuous, cheerful, delightful sunshine, not too hot
anywhere, but simply delightful. I should certainly recommend anyone
going from England to California in the winter season, to go by the
Southern route. Amongst the objects of interest, we notice in the
distance a small herd of 14 wild antelope trotting along; cattle, coyote
wolves, and, at many places, the well-picked bones of animals which had
dropped dead, or, when weak, had been killed or eaten by carnivora or
reptiles. We saw large numbers of prairie dogs; they sit outside their
holes like a squirrel, on their haunches, with their fore paws up; they
are very quick, and most difficult even to shoot. More antelopes and
coyotes. At a station called Alpine were several cowboys, all armed with
revolvers and cartridge belts, and some with dagger knives too; their
mustangs were hitched up close by. These cowboys are some old and some
young men, some wild and some cultivated, some never educated, some have
gone through Harvard, or Oxford, or Cambridge, some the sons of English
county gentlemen and noblemen--but all cowboys, _i.e.,_ men who live on
ranches where large herds of cattle or horses are bred, and whose duty
it is to ride over the wild rough country to know where the herds of
cattle and horses are feeding, so that if they need to be ridden up for
cutting or branding, or selling, they may be found. I was told that this
was one of the "hardest" places for a cowboy, _i.e.,_ one of the
wickedest, meaning that when they visit it, it is for a "spree," and
they get drunk, and fights and murders follow. I was pointed to a little
cemetery on a hill, enclosed by a white fence, and was told that it
contained 150 bodies, and that only 50 had died a natural death; the
others had been shot or otherwise murdered in drunken frays and other
ways. Many strange little histories were told me about these men, but
which I have no time to record here. In some parts of the country where
water was very scarce, there seemed to be no vegetation, and the cattle
seemed to wander solitarily along, a mere heap of hide and bone. At
many stations I had quite a considerable interval for running about,
such as when a wheel caught fire, which happened two or three times, or
some freight had to be taken in, or taken out, etc. When the train again
starts, the conductors shout "All aboard," an