OCR Text |
Show • [ 7 J 24 sound d, an1l the colonel, with Sumner's command, marched 20 mil<'f', a.nd halted. in a uea1.:tiful vallry of fine g ra.. :wcl pools of cool water, where the wild liCluori('C (glycyrrhtza lcpiclota) grew p len t i r u l1 y . T h c s t r r a m , w h r fl o win g, is a t rib uta r y of the Moro. From the drift wood, &r., founcl in its wide, well-grassed hcrl, I infer it is ubje l to great frr , bcts. In crosf:ing from the Orate to the valley of the .1\Ioro, the mountains be ·ome more rolling; anJ as w, approached the Moro, th e va.lley op ·ned out, an<l the whole country be<'ame more tatnc in it s :1ppearance. . Ten miles up the l\'loro is the .Moro town, containing, we were informed, 200 houses. • Il is o{f the lower roacl; but a tol rablc wagon ro:-ulleacls to the vi 11 a g from o u r c a m p of lc1 s t n i g l Jt . Th e plains were strew d with fragments of britk - du ~ t colorell lava, scoria' and slag; the hills, to the Icfl, capp,cl with white granular quartz. The plains arc almo t de titute of vegetation; the h i 11 s b car a stun ted g row t h of p i flO n an d red c e d a r. Rains h a v c fallen h ere recently, and the g rass in the bottoms i · good. The gram a is n o \V f o u n d co n stan tJ y . vV e saw to- 1l ay so m e g r o u n d squin-elf', with stripes on their ides: in their habits, rcscmuling t-he common prairie dog. A flight of birds was seen to the so ut h, but too distant to distin guish. W' were attraetetl to the left by an object w.hi ch was supposed tobe an Indian, but, on coming up to it, it was dis covered to be a sand-. tone block standing on end ancl toppr<l by another . horter ulock. A mountain man, Vt~rsed in these io·n.::, ~aid it was in commemoration of a talk and friendly smoke bet\\~ccn :!lome two or three tribe of Indians. The latitude of the place, from 7 oh ~rvations on polaris, is 35° 54' 21!',, and the longitude, clcrlucrd from the lo ca l time by 7 altitudes of alpha lyril.! 1n the we t, an1l ] 1 of 0 in the cast, was 6/t. 59m. 49s. Tbe hei ght above the sea G,G70 fe et. .II Lt!fUSt 13.-At 12 o' cl o<·k, as th rear <'Ol umn came in sight, the call ·of' "boot and sacldlcs" was· sounded, ancl in 20 minutes we were off. Wc• hacl not aclvnnccd more than one mile wh n Bent of the spy-guard, came up with four pri. o~crs. They repr<•sentccl them. elves to be an en. 1gn and three pnvates of the JvJexican ar~y, sent forwanl to reconnoitre and .r.scertain our force. They sa1d 60~. men wer~ at the V ·gas to gL vc u battl c. They told many dlfi erent ~ ton.es; and finally delivered up a paper, being an order from a Captam Gonzales to the cnl'ign to cro forwarcl on the Bent's Fort roa~l 1o ascertain our position 'andb numbers. Th y were corss-exammcrl by the colonel, and detained. A: soon as we commenced the descent into th valley of the Moro. creek, some one reported a company of M cxicans at the c.rossLng~ Colonel Kearny orderecl me to go forward wilh l\ve1Ye of the Laclede ranger , and reconnoitre the party, and if they attempteli to run, . to pursue and ca pturc as m a11 y as we cou 1 d. As Lieutenant El~10t and myself approached this company, they appcaretl to be tnollonless, and on coming up, we found them to cousist of 25 [ 7 J not ~ti n <Y but the pinr stnkcs of a corr{tl . The clrt~g;oon were sadly dis a pp ~in1rd; they evidently cxpectell e: ith cr a fi ght or a chase . S i x m i 1 e s b r o u cr h t u s t o t he Ji r s t s tt 1 c m en t we h ad y el s r c n i n 7 7 5 m i 1 c . T h c ft ~ t 0 h j e (' t J . (I w w a s a r r e lt y M l' X i t' all w 0 tn a n ) w i t h c lean wl1ite slockingf-:, who very cordially. hook hands with us and asked for t obacco. Jn the nrxt house livccl lVTr. Bon<·y, an Am ri< ·an, who h:'ls been some time in this ('Ottntry, (lnd i. the owner of a ]a. r cr e n 11 m b e r o [ h o r s r s a n < l c a tt ] c , w h i <' h h <' m a n <1 g; c s t o k e c p i n llefi~n ce of wolves, Indians, and Mexicans. JJ e is a perf' ·t sper im (' n of a g ·nero us open- lH' :n ted ad v c n t u r c r , and i n f1 p p car an c: e what, I have pictured to myself, Daniel ]~o o nc, of Kcn1ucky, must have b 'c n i n his d n y .. 1T c d r o v c his h <' r d of ·a lt 1 e into cam p a tH t piC'lc<>d out the larg stand fatt<·st,.wh ich he pres ·nted to the. a rm ~. Two mile below, at the junctiOn of·thc 1\'loro C!n<l nptllo, 1 an o t h e r Am eric an , M r . We] I s, o f Nor 1 h 1 a r o I in C1 ; he h a · been ~~ c r c but six months, ancl barring his broad-brimmed sombrero, mtght have uccn taken for a sergeant of dragoons, with hi' blue pantaloons with broad gold· colored str ipes on t!t('. ide!', a~1<l his jacket trimmed witlJ lace. I bought butter from lt1m at four bLts the poun(l. W c h a lt e cl at the a pill o, d is t a n c e n in e a 11 cl a 1t a lf mil c s fro m o u I' last 11i ght's cncan1pment, in a tremend ous shower of rain; th e gra s was indiff·pent, b ing elipp e(l short by the cattle fr~m the ranch</ ri<L Wood and water plenty. . A t t h is p 1 ace a M r. "' p r y cam c in to cam p , on f o o t , an d '~ 1 t h scarcely any elothing. I1 ·had cscnpct~ from ~·an ta Fe· on th e n1ght previous, at Mr. Il--'s rcquc t, lo mform .Colon el K an~y that Armijo's force w rc assembling; that lH:_ mtgl:t c.~rect vigorous resi tance <~n(l that a place call ed the CaJton, 1::> mtlcs from Santa Fe, was b~incr fortifi cl; an<l to advise the Colonel to go round it. The c(liion fs a narrow defi le, easily dcfrn<lc.d, :m1l of which we haYc heard a great d al. War 110w s.ccm · "inrvitable;' and thr a(~Yantag(' s of gronnd ~nd JHII:'b rs ,~tll, no doubt,. enable the Mextcans to rnCJke the ficrht tntcrest1n<r. '] h<' grass was m1serablc, anclthc camp ground inunLbi ated by the b showe r of to-day,-wln. c l ' t 1 was qu1 e a rarity. naromelri c he:ght G,395 fret. • .llugust ] t!.-'The order of rntlrch to-day was that whi ·h ~ould ~as i] y b e con v e r t !' 1 l i n to t h r o r d e r o f b <~ U l ' . A fl 'r pro c e e d ll1 g a few m i 1 s w c m c t n queer caY a 1 r tl de, w lu e h we s n p pose 1 l at fi r. t to be the looked for a1('aldc from J\lforo town, but it JHOYed to be a messenge r from Armijo; a lieutenant, ac ·ompanied by a . sergc~nt and two privates, of Mcxi an la~ccrs .. The me.n were good lo olo,ng cnoucrh and evidently dressed 111 thcll' b st btb and tucker. 'lhe creas~s' in their pan ta loons were qui tc cl islin c~, bu l t.h eir horses were mean in the cxtremr, and the contempt with winch our dragoons w rc fille1l was 11uite apparent. ']'he. mcsseng.er was• the bearer of a letter from Armijo. It wa: a srn. 1blr, str<Hghtforwarcl missive, antl if written by an American or Englishman, ·would have meant this: "You have notified me that you intentJ to take possession of the country I gove rn. The people of the co untr~ ha~e risen, en masse, in my defcn ce. If you take the country, 1t wdl |