2310 COMMERCE OF THE PRAIRIES OR THE Journal of a Santa Fé Trader, DURING EIGHT EXPEDITIONS ACROSS THE GREAT WESTERN PRAIRIES, AND A RESIDENCE OF NEARLY NINE YEARS IN NORTHERN MEXICO. Illustrated with Maps and Engravings. BY JOSIAH GREGG. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. SECOND EDITION. NEW YORK: J. & H. G. LANGLEY, 8 ASTOR HOUSE. 1845. BUHR GRAD F 786 •G&2 1845 Vil Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by HENRY G. LANGLEY. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. S. W. BENEDICT & CO., Stereotypers and Printers, 16 Spruce Street, N. Y. Buhr/Grad 42081531 spaul, 08/18/05 AD THRILLING INCIDENT. 23 The forlorn band were at last reduced to the cruel necessity of killing their dogs, and cutting off the ears of their mules, in the vain hope of assuaging their burning thirst with the hot blood. This only served to irritate the parched palates, and madden the senses of the sufferers. Frantic with despair, in prospect of the horrible death which now stared them in the face, they scattered in every direction in search of that element which they had left behind them in such abundance, but without success. Frequently led astray by the deceptive glimmer of the mirage, or false ponds, as those treacherous oases of the desert are called, and not suspecting (as was really the case). that they had already arrived near the banks of the Cimarron, they resolved to retrace their steps to the Arkansas. But they now were no longer equal to the task, and would undoubtedly have perished in those arid regions, had not a buffalo, fresh from the river's side, and with a stomach distended with water, been discovered by some of the party, just as the last rays of hope were receding from their vision. The hapless intruder was immediately dispatched, and an invigorating draught procured from its stomach. I have since heard one of the parties to that expedition declare, that nothing ever passed his lips which gave him such exquisite delight as his first draught of that filthy beverage. This providential relief enabled some of the strongest men of the party to reach the |