On their march they encountered a tribe of Indians in all their native wildness.  They were very friendly though they had apparently never seen a white man before.  Perhaps their friendliness was because they had never yet met any of the pale faces, from whom they subsequently suffered such great wrongs.  These Indians presented remarkably fine specimens of the physical man.  They were tall, erect and admirably proportioned.  Their features were European, their eyes very full and expressive, and the dress of men and women simple in the extreme.  They were all splendid horsemen, and often as they entered the camp at full speed on their spirited chargers, it seemed as though the steed and its rider, like the fabled centaur, were but one animal.  Their bodies were painted and oiled so as to resemble highly polished mahogany.

The travellers found the information communicated to them by the friendly Indians to be true.  For four days they travelled over a dreary, sandy waste, where there were neither streams nor springs.  At the camping place each night there was given from the tanks, a small amount of water to each animal and man, but only enough to sustain life.  A guard was set over the rest, for should any accident befall it the destruction of the whole party would be the probable consequence.

As they were toiling along the fifth day, painfully through the sand, the mules began to manifest a strange excitement.  They pricked up their ears, snuffed the air, then began to rush forward with all the speed their exhausted strength would allow.  The sagacious animals had scented water at the distance of nearly a mile.  It was a clear running stream, fringed with grass and shrubs.  When the first mule reached the water, the remainder were scattered for a great distance along the trail.  Here the party encamped and remained for two days to recruit.

The bags of deerskin were again filled with water and the journey was resumed.  The route still led over a similar barren region, where both man and beast suffered great privations from the want of water.  On the fourth day they came in sight of the splendid valley of the great Colorado.  It was with a thrill of delight that they gazed upon its verdure and its luxuriance, which were an hundredfold enhanced from the contrast with the dreary region which they had just traversed.

In their march of eight days through this barren and gameless region, their provisions had become quite exhausted.  They chanced to come across some Indians from whom they purchased an old mare.  The animal was promptly cut up, cooked and eaten with great gusto.  They also obtained, from the same Indians, a small quantity of corn and beans.  In the rich meadows of the Colorado our adventurers again found abundance.  They spent a few delightful days here, feasting, trapping and hunting.  The animals found, for them, a paradise in the luxuriant pastures of wild oats.