the animals to recuperate, and to get them, as far as possible,
in condition for the hard work still ahead. I also had to send back
to Nacori for fresh provisions. Of course, not much was to be gotten
there, but we got what there was in the line of food stuffs, panoche
(brown sugar) and corn. My messengers had orders to bring the latter
in the form of pinole, that is, toasted corn ground by hand into a
fine meal. This is the most common, as well as the most handy, ration
throughout Mexico. A little bag of it is all the provisions a Mexican
or Indian takes with him on a journey of days or weeks. It is simply
mixed with water and forms a tasty gruel, rather indigestible for
persons not accustomed to it. When boiled into a porridge, however,
pinole is very nourishing, and forms a convenient diet for persons
camping out. Aside from this we still had a supply of wheat flour
sufficient to allow the party fifteen pounds a day, and our stock
of canned peas and preserved fruit, though reduced, was not yet
exhausted. The jerked beef had given out even before we reached the
main sierra, and we had to depend on our guns for meat. Luckily, the
forest was alive with deer, and there were also wild turkeys. Thus
there was no difficulty about provisions, although the Americans
sighed for their beloved bacon and hot biscuits.

Fish seemed scarce in this part of the Bavispe River; at least we
did not succeed in bringing out any by the use of dynamite. We got
only five little fish--one catfish, and four suckers, the largest
six inches long.

On Christmas Day the black bulb thermometer rose in the sun to 150°
F., although that very night the temperature fell to 22.9° F., a
difference of nearly 130°. The warmth was such that even a rattlesnake
was deceived and coaxed out by it.