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Show ( 23] 48 This lace exhibts signs of wealth; t~c houses we~e larger than n !e had yet seen; along the road side were beautiful vmeyards, a Y ded by high walls of abohes; we rode up to one of them, asunrdr oluono king over, saw some pretty ' ' d once 11 as " p 1u c.k 'm g th e f nu.t . The had round flat looking baskets, placed on theu heads; these _Y ·led with thick-clustered bunches of the purple grape, from wbeenree aptht which the bright black eyes o f t h e . '' d o~ce 11 as " were kl. g We could not pass by such a beautiful vmeyard, so we spar m . . . d . h stopeJ and asked for some frmt; some of the mat ens, Wit merry c s carne towards us, when they were suddenly stopped by the ~arcuef f ' voice of a man crying out, that h~ wo': ld ht· mse lt· b_ n· ng the g 8 We now rode round to the otner stele of the vmeyard; ~:~~:,~ saw long rows of v~ts of ?X hides; they looked bloated,, if puffed out with good hquor; m them the grapes are thrown, ~s order to ferment, after which they are distilled to make the ~andy of New Mexico. \V e bou&"bt as many grapes as we wishe<l and then continued our march, until we reached some salt ponds, not far from the town, where we encamped; and here .were some large flocks of blue cranes;_ they kept .up a gre~t whoopmg. I .()btained to· day a spec1men of a smgular hzard; we saw several large tarantula, and many meadow-larks, flying about amongst. the stalks of corn; most of the corn is now being gathered. October 14.-This morning we took the road lying close to the b\uff and we passed " Sandia," a pueblo, the houses of which are only' one story high, but ha_ve no ~ntrance except _on the roof, where it is sheltered by a cunous comcal structure, bmlt of adobes. These have an openmg on the south side, and one ascends to the azoteas, or roof, by means of ladders. Here we saw some people driving herds of cattle; tl1ey were armed with slings, and used them most unmercifully. As the pebbles whizzed through the air~ the poor beasts tos£ed their heads as if in great dread. The sli~g is mentione~ by De Solis, as used by the Aztecs and Tezcucans, m battle. Our course now led us by the side of a large acequia; this forced us to go some .distance from Alemada; at last, we found a place where we could cross, and went directly to that town. At length we reached a fine vineyard, within three miles of AI· buqu! rque, where we :purchased some onions. These vegetabl~s grow to a remarkable stze, and form one of the indispensable art!· cles to a Mexican dinner. The adobe walls in the vicinity have the tops covered with cacti, to prevent persons from ·plundering the vines. We ,noticed, to-Jay, great quantities of the " myrtina," covered with large pods, now fully ripe. · The P?nds by t~e road side were filled with ducks, geese~ ~nd cranes; It was cunous to see the last mentioned birds stndtng along, with ... out-str_etched n.ecks, as t~ey prepared to take flig~t.. October lo.-Thts mornmg I sallted forth intent upon ktlhng some of the cranes that were gathering togeth~r in the corn-fields ~ear o_ur cam~. ~ soon procured a .fine large bird, about five. feet In he1gbt, of wh1ch I made a Jra wmg and took the diroenstons . ..Brant (anser bernicla) are very plenty; we got some of the!Il also. 49 r [ 23] It is difficult, .however, to approach within shooting distance, although tht>y wdl generally allow one to approach quite close without a gun . . We pu_rchas~d two shePp from the priest of Albuquerque; he inVlte_ d us Into lus hou . e,_ and gave us some delightful grape urandy. Wlnle .there, ar~ old St-nor from" Padillas" entered the room., with a Spantsh vers10.n of General Ke~rny's order for an expedition agatnst the Navajoes. He had wnh him a long list including th the naO? .es of all t?e. prir.cipal people in N ew Mexi~o who agree~ , to furr~Ish, n:en to JOin Colontd Doniphan's command. Whde Lieutenant Peck and I were conversing with the priest he askehd us .?ur na~ehs and professions. We told him; and,, a~ ~oon as. e unuersto~c1 \at WE' belonged to the corps of topograph Ical engineers, hP saul: 'A h.! I l'upposr,·then, you know sornt>thin of astronomy an.d mathematiCs?" We replied," A little;" whe,re~ upo.n he got a ptece of paper and pencil, and drew s~veral figunf's· -sapng. , ''" este et s el cuadro• ?" ye1s , that is a square·, "este' un cerr.o llJ l o yes, s~r; y es e es u_n tnangu o?'' yes, that is a triangle. Then throw1ng n~ the pencil, and rubbing his hands in great glee, "Ah! -voy que v1nd son astronomos y mathematicos." Thus, we were· pronounc~rl. by the padre of Albuquerque to be astronomers and mathematicians. Soon afL~r this diseu sion of the exact sciences · a nry handsome lady, who graced the establishment, entered· tb~ room, and he prest·ntec! us to her; saying: "Estos caballeros son astronomos y mathematicos." . V'! e were well pleased with ou~ visit, anu did not Jeav~ our friend u~ttl late; and h_e endeavored to make our time as agreeable as kmdntos.s and. pohte~ s_s were capable_'of making it. . Beggtng h1~ permission, we bade h1m adieu and. started down the river. We soon reached the ford, where we crossed the Rio del Norte, and entered the town of "Atrisco." Here we got fast in an '' acequia," and· were obliged to•get a spade and dig clown the banks of the canal before we could get the waF.;on out. This cletained us so long that we were forced to encamp, as it was not in our power to reach the Puerco that niaht - · This even_ing we saw a v~ry.large flock of sheep and goats. The .pastores sa1? that there were 4,0?0. in , the flock. . At night·, the herdsman butlt a large fire, and, se1zmg some of the ·l1ghted brands· ~an around the flock; the sheep frightened, aJl turned their ht>ad~ o~ard$ the ce~tre, in the direction of the fire-, and are not, after such a scare, hkely to stray away during the night. th October ~6.-'Y e left "Atrisco," and !'truck boldly tf towards. dae west, mtendmg to reach the "Rio Puerco," hoping the nex~ , J Y to reach " Cibolletta/' where I e-xpected to meet Colonel th ackRs?n, and obtain an escort to protect us in the survey west of e Io del Norte. · d At Alberquerque we were cautioned by the people against the 0;~Ters we ~ould run before reaching Cibolletta, as the war trail Me ~e Nava.J?es runs through t~e valley of the Puerco; and the t Xtckans advtsed us to traYel w.1th great circumsp•ection and r.ot 0 ma e any fires at night. · ' 4 ... |
