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Show ( 66 l~] ' . • . 1 to meet us we found ourselves ex-c'hill winds came rushmg a ondg we experie~ced the c d of a mid:. pose d to their full sweep, an .... . -.,inter day· f 1 out· camp in the densest grove of h 'clock we ormel h · ] · . Near t ree o lrl find Having turned our ungry an~ma s pine trees that we cou h · fire of pitch ·pipe, and the rez1nous loose to groze, we made arceug;ames and genial warmth. We ~ad' wood soon ga~e fo~t~l~:nd fatigue had well prepared ~s to enJ_oy .marehed 15 mtles-. B f. long a number of lVIexlcans, With ,;uch a fi re as we bmlt. e ore ' .1 d t 1 d . th corn stopped an u en cam pe , no . eleve-n " carretas" loac e Wl' throw' We went to see. if they had further from us than rl sto;de fearned. that they were from '' Tagiany v·egetables to ~e ' a "Albu ue'rque." They offered us some que," and w.ere g'_Oing th~ h ·they\skei a most extravagant price. d . d mpkiDs tor w lC 1 t ) d t ne pu . ' k r• three reals a day, (37'!1 cen s, an ye The.s e M, ex.i ca.n s worh .u r · 1 · k f fi d I that price for a Sing e sue o re-woo ' will often mslst ?n f avtlhr g ttl'n!Y and which can be cut in a few b' h they obtain or e f.tU ,., • f b .. :w. tc : ~ l hou h the l\1exicans seem to be. so desno.us G o tammg mmutes. A ~ ~ t k ow its true value or use. We oft~ heard oney yet tuey uo no n d . d t be to m ' f h h · O"hest class whose single esue se~e o. of men o t e dlo '1 d 'stow it away The maJOr portion of collect goldran stl ver ~?t better than th~ flegroes on a plantation ~he ·peopleth tve Sntoat~~-e anld the rico of the village, like the planter, tn our sou ern ' . I h po~s~sses ;;ee~y~:i~; ~:r~rfsne~ e~;e t~::a~'/:~~n e a~rl e~hi ~d re~ of the , 1 avle t.hat I have met with who both read and wnte; m fact, ower c ass 1 1 f but they 11 that we questioned seemed to be educatec' t lUS ar, C h J' .a ave no books.; I only recollect to have seen a Roi?an at 0 IC h h' t Pad.11Jas Many of the sons of the ncos are well "tatec 1sm a · U · c 11 e St educated. we saw several who had been at n ton o e~ ' · 'Louis. Tlrey speak French and English, and understand thetr own language grammatically. 1 the November 1.-We found ,this day cmuch more pleasant. t 1a~ ect · receding one, and soon resumed our march, our cou.rse still d1r bt ;.ben at once before we had !!One more than fo~r miles, we ~au: sight of the ~xtenued plain, which may be .consu..lered as un r~o~~ from this place on to the land where the timber grow~. . To not upon this boundless extent of prairie, fills _the mind ":'1th, 1dea:, we ·of beauty but of grandeur; and wl,en, w1th the mmd s ~y ' travel still further over successions of these b~undless plaws, on~ is seized with a feeling allied to pain, as the mtnd expands to com ·prebend such vastness. Such were the 1· mpress1· 0ns o f the sdce nef before us· and when we looked back, we saw the hoary ~ea s 0_ the lofty 'and snow-capped mountains, to min-height clad w1th somd bre cedars, while round tb~ir b~se, and. near. to us, the :~gN;st rocks were piled, as if the wild rhsorder m whtch nature h 1 , thrown them had been anew con f usee l b y su b terranean co nvu bS' IObD S·s· The bearing of the "Lagunas · Salad as," is S. 62° E., w tc. :e the same with the general bearing of the Albuquerque road t~es we first struc·k it. A slight ridge that rises bey?n~ thes.e :bey forms the dividing ridge between the interior basm lD wh1ch , • 67 [ 23] 'tuated and the va11ey of the Rio Pecos. Two miles further abrreo uSgl ht us to the deserted V.I llage of ' 'Ch'1J 1'l 't ; " f rom .t h1' s p 1a ce th road continues on in the courf':e to the salt lakes, wh1eh are 15 mi~es distant. The ·tow!} of Chilili is one of ~odern constr~ctio~; the walls of the houses are formed by placmg logs upr!ght 1n the ground, and plastering them over. with muJ. · . The roofs of the houses are flat, and composed of the sam(' maten~Js. The town was deserted some years ago, on account of the disappearance of the stream of -.vater that supplied the place. Part of the inhabitants have formea a new town higher up on the course of this nckl~ stream. We therefore started for this second town. Having gone a couple of miles we found the village, which is one of the poorest we have seen. Crossing the stream, which is here full of water we reached the road that runs from Old Chilili to Tagique; the t~o placrs being about 16 miles distant from each other. We soon encountered flocks of sheep containing several thousand; we stopped to purchas·e some, and found thein to .be remarkably fat. 'The gra.zing grounds to the east of the IT'ountams afford excell ent pasturage; and this basin, around the salt lakes as well as t~e val-ley of the Pecos, are deservedly celebrated. . . While making my selections from the flock of sheep, Lieutenant Peck, who had ridden on a short distance, encounter~d two Mexicans; no sooner did they see him, than they dismounted, and commenced examining the loading of their carbines. Lieutenant Peck immediately drew forth the pistols from his holsters, whereupon the men held a council of war, and concluded to cry out "Amigos!" an? then advanced, saying that they had mistaken him for a N aVaJoe . At last we reached "Tagique," and hunting below the town without finding- any water, we were forced to encamp higher up on the stream, where we found an abundant supply. Our march, since starting, was 22 miles. At this town we met Mr. E. J. Vaughan, a Missourian. He had, he saiu, been extremely anxious as to his safety in remaining here, for an insurrectioiJary feeling was rife through the .whole country, and particularly at this out-of-the-way place; and this feeling was not a little excited by messages from persons in Chihuahun, stating that they were about to come up by this road, with 11,000 men, and with the assistance of the New Mexicans would destroy all the d~testable heretics. And he accidentally heard some of the inhabitants of this town arranging the partition they would make of his goods; for he was here trading with the people for corn, and the w~gons we saw yt•sterclay were some that he had sent on to Santa Fe. Mr. Vaughan said that he had spent thirteen years in this country. He gave me some interesting accounts of the customs of the Puebloes, and tells me that they l.aYe a dance, called Montezuma's <lancE', which is danced around a pole. He also stated !hat when he first came to this country that the rums of Pecos were Inhabited, and that he had been there and seen the sacred fire. _November 2.-As we learned that the next town was but three m1les distant, we did not leave this place until quite late, and in • |