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Show :[ 23] 80 hei bt, an if still farther west, S<?me 20 or 25 miles di.stant, rise stUI 1 fg . ks to the heiaht of 3 or 4,000 feet, theu tops covered 0 uer pea , n . . h · h I' · h The michlay sun IS qu1te ot, notwit stant mg our w1t snow. · h d' h · · 't to snow-cappecl mountains, anci nOtWit stan IUg t e Severe fVrloCslDtsI wy hich nightly cover the groun d , ma k'm g t h e mornm' gs b'1 tter cold. 1 · · 1 The rocks that strew our roall are vo came, a vesicu ar stone of dark purple color and hard as adamant. . . . . We had a very long, steep, and sanely hill to chmb. this mornmg ·ust as we left "Joyita," and we we.re st~pped by another. It ~ouhl be advisable for any one travelhng w1th wa&ons to .cross a~ Albuquerque, and keep down the ri~er on the west side ':lnhl. reaching V a.lverde, where, I have been In. formed, the crossmg IS very goo\Yde. noticed to-day numbers of t h e re d -w.n tge d fl'1 c k ers, " p·1 cus Mexican~s," and the meadow lark,." ~turnella ?eglecta;" the latter bird was whistling as cheerfully as lf 1t had no Idea of the approach -of cold" winter. November 10.-The severe frost of last night maife a good fire very desirable, and the abundanc~ of ~otton w~od all around our camp made the attainment of this destrable object very easy; the s-ound of our axes resounded through the groves, the m~n gaining, by their labor, warmth and wood, and so.on a mountam heap of dry logs was crackling in the flames. W ~ now clespatch our break· fa~t strike tents, anrl clam.ber over the hdl that oyerJooks Socorro; des~ending this hill, we encamped on the west side of a little " bayou," having gone only lj mile. On the road we flushed -several large flocks of quails. 'fhey happened to be at the foot of a high, perpendicuh.r bank, when they rose up on wing until they reachecl th~ top, and then, alighting, scampered. off with great ra· .pidity. 'rhey had crests on their head~, and differed in color from the quail of the United States. We encamped within sight of the train belonging t.o Mr. Me· •Goffin; there were forty large Conestoga wagons in this train and a ·due proportion of men. To-day we saw some Mexicans hoeing in wheat. It required )5 m'en a whole day to accomplish what could haye been done b3 a '"'' bu~ro" attacht!d to a harrow, in a few hours. In the afternoon I went out to procure some of the quails we ·noticed this morning, but could not find any of them. I, ho\~·ever, got some of the spiral pericarps of the " prosopis odorata," or, as it is named by the Mexicans, the " tornilla ·" also the m·istletoe that grows so abundantly upon the cotton ·'wooif, and is called, ·" bayote del alamo." The cockle burr and sand burr are very ~bundant, so much so, as to annoy us by sticking fast to our ,cloth· 1ng and blankets; and our ruu1 1 got their manes and tc1ils so clogged as to be but masses of cockle burrs. November ~I.-This morning we started off in hopes of being able to cross the river and go down on the opposite side. At tw.o o.f \he fords we could not have crossed withou~ getting our prov;· · ~10n~ and bedd_\1\g wet. At last we found a · good cros$ing a sho~t , 81 [ 23] d . t above the town, but as the prospect of obtaining wood and IS ance the other side was no t very favorable, we concluded to grass odni rectly in front of Socorro. I p a1· d the a 1( ; a 1d e a V·I S·l t. H e champ d me his vineyard· each vine was h eaped around with a pile os f oewaer th between two an' d three feet hi· ~h, an d t h e vm· es tn·m me d nearly off even with the top o~ the hdls.f hThe .alcaldfe hgatve. me some specimens of the lead and ~dv~r ores? t e mmes ~ .t .a sierra which is nearest to Socorro, and said that 1n the same VIClmty there are found gold, silver, copper, and lead. He also. told me that Don Pedro Baca, of Manzano, once worked these ,mmes, but that the quicksilver ne cessary fo.r t.he amalgam .costs. $3 by the ounce; while at Manzano they ohtam 1~ fro~ the mme :VIth other metals. Socorro contains about 2,000 mhabttants, and IS one of the largest towns we have yet seen, except Santa Fe: Whil~ walking. throu.gh the streets I saw a party of Apache Indians qmet,ly tra~mg with the people, and was told that since General Kear-?Y s commg here, and making a treaty with the Apaches, these Indians had behaved very well. . . . In the evening I got a fine specimen o~ the red-wmg~d fh.cke~, "Ficus Mexican us " also a creeper, " Picus querulus, which IS called by the Mexi~ans the carpentero, from its habit of chipping away at old trees. November 12.-W e are still without any information from below, but determined to move on slowly. We therefore packed up all our property and were very early on the road. After passi~g through the little town of" Las Canas," we encountered another hill of sand, ·very difficult of ascent, and after we reached the top we commenced the descent through a crooked ravine that was strewed with fragments of rock. On the way we saw sev~ral flocks of crested quails· they were running along with great rapidity among the clumps or' the" kreosote plant." We procured one of them; at the report of the gun only three or four rose u?; they see~ to depend more on their fleetness of foot than swiftness of wmg. This bird proved to be the " Ortix squamosa," and has been ngured and described in" Gould's Monograph of the partridges of America." The plumage is of a soft silvery grey, the iris hazle, and the crest fringed with white. The size, contour, and general character ~reatly resemble the common quail, "0. Virginianus." On op~nmg the stomach, I found it filled with grass seeds and green m-sects of the genus "hemiptera." ·. We encamped about half a mile south of "Bosquecito," close by som~ l~rge cotton-wood trees, overgrown with b~nches of misletoe, s~Ill looking green and fresh, while the fohage of the tree was Withered with the winters' frost. In th~ even\ng we saw, on the opposite side of the river, the compames of Captains Burgwin and Grier, on their return to Alb~ querque. Lieutenant Mcll vane came over the river, and from hnn I learned that Captain Grier, with Lieutenant Wilson and two u • None of the o~es that I obtained at Manzano contained quicksilver ; still the people o .w.anzano agree wtth this alcalde in their statements. 6 / |
