To save them as much as possible, we loaded only half the regular weight on the mules and donkeys, and sent them back the next day to fetch the balance of the baggage.

In this way, and by strengthening the poor beasts with a judicious use of corn, I managed to pull through and overcome this most serious of all difficulties, which, at one time, threatened to paralyse the entire expedition.
On December 31st we moved up a steep zigzag trail cut out by us, and then went north and east through broken foot-hills.

We got into a series of cordon mesas, but the breaks between them were not at all difficult to pass.

On the mountain sides grew oaks and, higher up, pines.
The country was wild and rugged.

Everywhere we encountered fallen rocks, and there was a scarcity of water.