The barrels and kegs of water were exhausted.

Holes that had been dug in the dry sand of a dry streambed the night before in the morning yielded a scant supply of muddy alkali water, which went to the horses.
Only twice that day did I rouse to anything resembling enthusiasm.

We came to a stretch of country showing the wonderful diversity of the desert land.

A long range of beautifully rounded clay stones bordered the trail.

So symmetrical were they that I imagined them works of sculptors.