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Show 444 Ex. Doc. No. 41. ]~Toro is 15 feet wicie, nnll avcr<1grs one foot ~n depth at the for,l. TlH' It1o "St>ptlllo" is :-mallcr,_ but worthy o{ the great1·st share of nolll'P, a~ 1t lS the point <It wl11ch we a~:un ml'ct the road th,tt ~vc ldt at 11H: erossing of the Arki\nsas. Althou~l~ tht~t road avc)lcls the tcrnulc caiinn o[ the Raton, yet the :-~c:arclty of watn Is so great tbat, in d1y Sl'i'lso ns, t_hP.tt·:Jr~s gd htok_c down, and one is obliged to send ltlto Nt>w Mt•xJc·o for fr_rsh an1mals. During tbc march, we saw st·vc·~· al Jtnr~ensc rattlcRnakrs; o~e happenc'd to be crossing the ~oad dtrcctly tn my path. I l~l'ard 1t rattl<', nnd my mule springing ba('lc scvt•ral yards nnd gdt1~g <'ntangl ed with the leacltnCY mulc•s in the wagon, the traer challls became unhooked, and for 0 a little time threw the whol<' team in to con fusion. Towards the latter part of our rout e, the road was strewccl with fragm<· nt~ of haiCI blue limestone, .that made the ~ag;on rattle away at a g r <'at rat c. A ( t e r a m a 1 e h 1 n all of 27 m d e ~, w <' n· a~" he ,J "Las V<'ga~." As 1l was nt·ar sundown, we deferred visiting the village until the next mornin~. We soon ::;at down 1o a ~upper of dueks, (fuliea Amerieana;) they were very fal: and although a s;pccic~ of dude not very highly appreciated in the United Stc\t<·!', still I think it must be merely owing to prc.·judicc. They arc generally known as the common coot September 24.-As soon as we arose a Mexican came OV( r to pay us a vtsit; he w.1s mount eel on a firw horse, and appeared to be on c.luty, guarding the <'Orn fields that lay around the town, for thry have no fl'rH'<'S to protect them against devastation from the eattle that are gr;~zing nl'ar them. Our "awtgo" n·nclcred us great assi~tancc in harn<'ssing a wiltl mul<·, for we were obliged to tic the fore f<•ct, ancl blindfold it, before the harnc!'~ <:ould be arranged. We now entered the town of "Las V q~ a~. '' T h c r c was a I a r g c o JH' n ~pace in t h c m i d d I c o f t h c town; the strc.•cts run north and south, cast and west· the houses ~re ~>uil_t of "adobr~." ~,he "a.zotcas," or roofs, hav~ just cno1~~h tncltnat10n to turn the ratn, and the walls of the bou. c~, wh1ch arc <.:ontinued up one foot above the roof, are pierced for this pur· pose. Through the midst of the town there was a large "acc•qu1a," ?r _can~l, for the purpose of supplying the town with water, and of ungatmg the fic.,lds. As we passed through, I askccl one of the inhabitants if he had any corn to sell, " "_i,. Sciior_ Caballero; tcngo maize, clote calaba. zas, melones, y Chtl1 tamba·r~," and he soon brought me some corn on the <·ar, some pumpklll~, melons, an1l red p('pper; an<~, after I h,tcl conel11ded my purehasc~, he pull<'d a bottle out of l11s p ode e t, say i n g, " No q u i 'r e v m tl . w h is k <' ~" This was t h c a I c a I d c. Two mi~ts . outh of" Las V<•ga~,'' we rc.•,H:hecl a curious ga.tc between l11gh <•scarpm('nts of rugg1•d grauite rock~ that looked as if l I. '- ' t lt! ~ u r. a res h a d be 1 • n f? r m e d. by b I a s t in g w it h g; u n p ow d c r; h c r l', too, a lrttlt• stn·am finds Its ex1l tro1n tht• mountains. At JO o'clock we• r<·ach<>d tltP villagp of "Taca1ote" aftrr n mareh of 12 miles. I was obliged to camp here or else ~o to the |