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Show 456 Ex. Doc. No. 41. men. The person with whom I was C'Onv(·rsing, assurcfl me that, so m c ten or four t e t' n y c tH s a go , a we a I t h y i n d i v i d u a I o f S H n t a }i' c, who had been admittt>d to the to tufas, or vaults at Pecos, and who bad profaned the "(!ternal fire," had b<•en ever since perfectly O(•ranged. October 7.-Again I visited the ruins of the military chapel, in the pl~za, in order to mrdce a sketeh of a large tablet that ~tand~ back of the altar. This is a beautiful piece of art, and reprc~ents tho principal M ·xican saints. Above all i anta Maria, then 't. Jago, riding ov<•r the turbaned heads of his en ~ mies; on the rig-ht i t. Juan de Pomasan, the back ground ornamented with a representation of an aqu.eductj under him is t. Francis Xavier, baptizing the lndtatH; and in the ba('k ground coni<'al huts, sueh as arc built by the rudrst trib s. On the lt>ft is t. Jose, and below him St. Francisco de Santa Fe, standing on two globes. At the bottom of the tablet are two elliptical spaces, containing the following inscri1>tions: + A DEVOCIONDE SENOR DN . . FRANCO . .ANT. .JriARlN DLVALLEC:OYE NADORI CAPIN GENDES TE REINO. IDES VF.SPOSA J.'.A. MARIA lGNACJA MARTINEZ Dl!: VG.ARTE ANO E 1761. Which we deciph rcrl as follows: A devocion de S<'i1or Dn. F~o . .Ant. Maria del Valle, governador Y capetan general deste retno. Y de 'u. esposa Da. Maria Ignacio de Ugarte Afio Chri - tiano 1761. The church was doubtless erected many :years preVIous. Scatte~cd about through. New Mexico, one frequently meets with .fine spectmen of art, parttcularly oil paintings. Tb f'se were sent over from old Spain; and,_ at one time, the pani•1.nls used to send over fine .workm<'n and arttsts to construct and adorn the churches. My Span1. h landlady has a fine picture of a female saint, that have endeavorc<~ to. purchase from her; but she conceive~ that it represents .the "vtrgm ~antis i':"a·" It has a dagg r sticking in the heart; tln_s I .called her attent1on to, but she could not be induced to part w1th It. Defore proceeding ~urther, I deem it proper to introduce at this place, th~ notes furnlsht·d by Lieutenant Peck with refe:t~ncc to 1ha.t portion of New M~xico situated to the nort'h of Santa l'c, and whtch had been . exam1ned by Lieutenant Warner and Lieutenant Peck before I arnved. These ~oles form ~n important portinn of this report, which would be Incomplete Without them. They properly belong to the body.of the work? and should, therefore, be placed in it rather than 1n an append tX. ' . "The name Tao , ori&inal_Jy given to the region of country embra-cmg the head waters of a nver of the same nam h J · b · 1 t t. 1• e, as ong stncr, Y untversa cus om, uecn app ted to the particular settlement of San Fernandez. This town is situated at the junction of the two I Ex. Doc. No. 4l. 457 principal forks of the "Rio de Tao~," and 4 or 5 mil<'s from the west ., r n b a s c of t h c H. o c k y n. o u n t a i n r a n gr. L 1 k c m o ~ t o f t h c N t I w ~1t>xt ·an towns it <'onsists of a <'ollection of mud hoiiSt'f', built around R m is e n1 b I c s q u a r c o r p I <t z :1 • It c on t a i n s a m i x t' d p o p u I a t i o n of 700 or 800 souls, and, l>t•sid<'S being the <'<~pi tal of the northeastern depart rn c n t, p o s ::H' sse s I it tl c to i nt <I r t· s t t b c t r a v c II<' r. Three miles to th<' southca.-t i~ another town, of abollt rqnal pretensions, callt•d the "ltan('ho de Tao~;" whilst at about the ~(;ltnC d i · t a n c e to the n o r t IH' as t i s t h I c <' I <: b r:1 t f' d " P u ~ b I o d l' Taos . " T h is village, inter<:sling in itself as a curious r~·lic of th(' Aztt>ean agr, is rendered still more so by the recent tragtc scenrs that havP been enacted within its walls. One of the northern forks of the Taos river, on issuing from the mountain~, forms a cl('lightful uook, whieh the Indians early s ·lccted as a pc>rtnancnt residen ·e. By gradual i m pro v em <' n t, fro m y c a r to y f' a r, i t h a~ fi n a II y b ·com r on e o f t h c most formidable of the artifi,·ial strongholds of New M<·x ico. On each ide of the little mounta1n stream is one of those imrn nse "adobe" structuns, which rises by suc('ef-sive steps until nn irr gular ,.yramidal buiLiing, sevtn storie high, pre ·cnts an almost impregnable tower. Thesr, with the chur~.;h and some few scatt ring houses, make up the vill(lge. The whole is surrounded by an cadob • wall, strengthened in some plac<'S by rough pali ·a de: ,_the different parts so arranged, for mutual dt·fcnce, as to have eltctted much Hdmiration for the skill of the untaught engineers. It was to thi hitherto impregnable position that the insurgent of Jan u a r y 7, 1 84 7, r e t rea ted a f l 'r t h e s k i r m i s h s of Crt fi a d a an d Embuda; and here made a final stand again t the Ameri can fore s. The history of the bloody sieg(', lenglhcnecl resistance, and final capture of the place, furnishes sufficit'nt evidtnce of its str ·ngth. For weeks in succession they had, in form r days, r<'sistecl the attack of overwhelming numbers of their wild prairte en<·mit•s, and never had the place bt·cn reduced hy their panish conqucr~rs. Duill of ''adobes," a material almost impenetrable by shot, havtng no external entrance t•xcept throttgh the roof, wl11eh must be reaehed by movt,ablc ladders, each story smaller than the one below, irregular in its plan, and the whole judiciously pierced with loop-holes for defence, the combin<ttion pre ents a systeiP of fortifieation peculiarly "sui gen<>ris." ' These three towns constitute the principal settlements in the 'Valley, though there are some scattcrwg house_s al?ng the water courses. The valley 1nay be eight or 11inc mtlcs tn length from east to wcsl ' and some seven or ('ight miles in width from north to south, embra ·ing about sixty square mil<'s. Only a ~mall porti.O n of this i under cultivation or indeed ever an be, as no ra1n falls here t>Xcept during th<' wet' season. It is nc essary to irr.ig~te aJl the cultivated land, and the small supply of water f1xes a ltmtt, a?<l that a very narrow one to all the tillable land. In point of sod, the ~i\lJey of Taos com;lares favorably with other portions of New Mcx1co; and though snow is to be seen in every J?Onth of the year, on the neighboring mountains, wheat and corn np n very w 'II on the plains. These last are the staple productions of the country. |