t us to Los Dos Palmas, or the "Two
Palms," so called from the fact that two luxuriant palm trees formerly
flourished here, the stumps of which were then to be seen. Thence to
Carizo Creek, nine miles, where the command rested one day. Here
commences the then much-dreaded Colorado Desert. For more than a hundred
miles we were at the mercy of its sands and storms and burning sun. Such
another scene of desolation does not exist on the American continent;
treeless mountains on either side, brown and sombre to their very tops;
no signs of life were to be seen anywhere. Although it was in the first
days of April, still the sun poured down with an intensity that I had
never before experienced, no shade could be found, and the very water in
the creek could not be bathed in--being more fit for cooking than
bathing, it being so hot. Such was the Colorado Desert as we approached
it. What will it be further on? We shall see.

The command left camp at Carizo Creek in the middle of the afternoon,
and continued the march until midnight, when we arrived at Sackett's
Wells. Here it was supposed a ration of water for the men would be
found, but upon examination it was ascertained that somebody had knocked
the bottom out of the well, and no water was to be obtained, except such
as could be caught in cups as it trickled drop by drop from the strata
of clay that had heretofore formed the bottom of the well. No camp could
be made here, and the command moved on, marching until about ten o'clock
in the morning, when we arrived at the Indian Wells, having made
thirty-two miles. A large number of the men were now suffering for the
want of water, and the animals, upon discovering the green bushes in the
distance, near these wells, pricked their ears, and every exertion was
required by riders and drivers to prevent a stampede, so much were they
in want of water. Upon our arrival it was found that but a few buckets
of water was in the well, as a detachment of cavalry had made camp there
the day before, and had only left upon seeing our command approach,
using all the water in the well for their animals before leaving.
However, guards were placed over the well, men sent down to pass the
water up as it collected, and in the course of a few hours the men had
each received his pint of water; then the animals were furnished.

Before the water had all been distributed, one of those terrible sand
storms for which this desert is renowned began, and as the