He, poor fellow, arrived at our camp in a starving condition and died before our departure.

The other two unfortunates ones died on the desert, and the colored man reported that he simply covered their remains with their blankets.
I well remember that last night in camp before we started with our knapsacks and left the families, for it was plain the women and children must go very slow, and we felt we could go over rougher and shorter roads on foot and get through sooner by going straight across the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Our condition was certainly appalling.

We were without water, all on the verge of starvation, and the three poor cattle which yet remained alive were objects of pity.

It seemed almost a crime to kill the poor beasts, so little real food was there left on their skeleton frames.