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[[underlined]] Painted Caves [[/underlined]]

Says this is also the opinion of his last trapping companion who is a more experienced beaver trapper than he. [[strikethrough]] & [[/strikethrough]] Says they will always kill one in a trap or a sick or crippled one, just as I know the muskrats do.  

[[underlined]] Aug. 1 [[/underlined]] - Went down to the Painted Caves, or to the biggest cave of the many painted caves along The Rio Grande. It is half a mile below the mouth of the Pecos & we reached it by a hard 7 mile tramp from the High bridge. Found it an interesting place full of indian signs & tracks of coon, civet, cat & fox. It is in a cliff zone 300 feet high overlooking the Rio Grande. Is about 100 feet wide & deep & half as high. After our hard tramp in the scorching heat its coolness was grateful as well as the little spring of good water in its back corner.  Its floor is covered 10 or so feet deep with old [[soto?]] scales & the walls are blacked