But the heat of those places can be much alleviated by the surroundings.

There were shower baths, and latticed piazzas, and large ollas hanging in the shade of them, containing cool water.

Yuma was only twenty days from San Francisco, and they were able to get many things direct by steamer.

Of course there was no ice, and butter was kept only by ingenious devices of the Chinese servants; there were but few vegetables, but what was to be had at all in that country, was to be had at Fort Yuma.
We staid one more day, and left two companies of the regiment there.
When we departed, I felt, somehow, as though we were saying good-bye to the world and civilization, and as our boat clattered and tugged away up river with its great wheel astern, I could not help looking back longingly to old Fort Yuma..