They were all on foot, each man weak and emaciated, leading a horse or mule as weak and emaciated as themselves.

They had experienced great difficulty in descending the mountains, made slippery by rains and melting snows, and many horses fell over precipices and were killed, and with some were lost the packs they carried.

Among these was a mule with the plants which we had collected since leaving Fort Hall, along a line of 2000 miles of travel.

Out of 67 horses and mules, with which we commenced crossing the Sierra, only 33 reached the valley of the Sacramento, and they only in a condition to be led along.
In concluding this chapter it should not be overlooked that on his maps of the expedition of 1843-44 Fremont called the mountain lake he had discovered "Lake Bonpland." He says in a private letter: "I gave to the basin river its name of Humboldt and to the mountain lake the name of his companion traveler, Bonpland, and so put it in the map of that expedition." [Illustration: A Washoe Indian _Campoodie_, Near Lakeside Park, Lake Tahoe] [Illustration: Washoe indians at Lake Tahoe] [Illustration: The 'Signal Code' Design] Amade Bonpland was born at Rochelle, France, in 1773.

He was educated as a physician but became a noted botanist.