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[[left page blank]] [[end page]] [[start page]] [[underlined]] to Gail & beyond 5 miles [[/underlined]] [[underlined]] May 26 [[/underlined]] The Colorado river has fallen 12 feet during the night. We crossed easily with water only to horses bellies. Climbed easily onto higher prairie & kept on open, grassy plain most of the way to Gail. Mesquite becames more abundant in the lower ground & scarce on higher. Opuntia arborescens is abundant & just now in height of flower. It is brilliant. O. Davisii is less common & has inconspicuous yellowish flowers & sheathed spines. O. engelmani is small & not very numerous. O. missouriensis (?) is fairly common - so are Salwacactus & [[?Wannielaria]]. Grass is abundant till 3 miles of Gail - then very short & scant the rest of the way. A heavy rain night before last is the first rain of the spring near Gail so the grass has hardly started. Prairie dogs & rabbits find poor picking & have gnawed the bark from much of the small mesquite & from the Opuntia arborescens. Saw a few dead prairie dogs near Gail drowned by the rains & freighters told us of seeing hundreds dead along the road.