AP Success - AP US History: Spanish Southwest Exploration & Hardship

"We advanced, and for fifty days we marched, enduring hardships patiently, trusting in God to bring us with safety to the river’s shore. At one time it rained unceasingly for seven days. We journeyed on and on until it seemed that we would never find our way out of these unpeopled regions, travers- ing vast and solitary plains where the foot of Christian had never trod before. Our provisions gave out, and we were obliged to subsist on such edible weeds and roots as we found. But we went forward, sometimes through dense thickets which tore our clothes and left us ragged; at other times over rough stony passes where it was almost necessary to drag our tired mounts. Our shoes were worn out, and we suffered terribly from the burning sands, for our horses were scarcely able to drag their tried bodies along and pack our baggage, let alone carry us. The horses suffered most, poor dumb brutes; they were almost frantic with thirst, and their eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. "