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Show 25~ JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE lltb May, Monday.-Marchetl and arrived at Mau. pemie at eight o'clock, a village situated at. the foot. of mountains of tninerals, where they worked e1ght or nmc mmes. The mass of the people were naked and starved wretches. The proprietor of the mines gave us an elegant repast. I-Iere the orders of Salcedo were explained to me by the captain. I replif'd, that they ex:it.ed my ]aught . r as there were disaffected persons suffiCient to serve a: guides should an army ever come into the country. Came on three n1iles further, where were fig-trees and a fruit called by the French La Grain, situated on a little streatn which flowed through the gardens, and form. ed a terrestrial' paradise. II ere we remained all day sleeping in the shade of the fig-trees, and .at night. cont~nued our residence in the garden. W e obliged the mhab1tants with a ball, who expressed great anxiety for a relief from their present distressed state and a change of gover~mcnt. 12th May, Tucsday.-Was awoke in the mornmgby the singing of the bjrds and the perfumes of the trees around. I attempted to send two of my soldiers to town, when they were overtaken by a dragoon and ordered bac~they returned, when I again ordered them to go, and If a soldier attemped to stop then1 to take him off his horse and flog hin1. Tllis I did, as I conceived it was the d~ty of the captain to explain his orders relative to me, whJch he had not done, and I conceived that this would bring on an explanation. They were pursued by a drago~;~ through the town, who rode after them making use of 1 language. They attempted to catch him but could not. As I had mentioned n1 y intentions of sending my men to town after some stores to captain Barclo, and he had not made any objections, I conceived it was acting with du· plicity to send men to watch the movements of my messcn· THROUGH TilE INTEHIOR PROVINCES, &c 253 gers; I therefore determined they should punish the dra4 goons unless their captain had candor sufficient to explain the reasons for his not wishing the men to go to the town, in which wish I should undoubtedly have acquiesced; but as he never mentioned the circum~tance, I wa guardedly silent, and the affair never interrupted our harmony. We marched at five o'clock and came on IS milcf-l and encamped without water. One mile on this side of the little village the road branches out into three, the right hand one by Pattos, Paras, Sa1tclo, &c. being the main road to Mexico and St. Antonio. The road wl1ich we took, leaves all the villag~..;s a little to the right, passing . only some plantations ; the left hand one goes immedi .. atcly through the mount•1ins to Montclovez, but is dangerous ~or small parties on account of the savages. Thi road 1s called the r oute by the Bolson of Maupen1e, and ~as first travelled by Monsieur De Croix, (afterwards VIceroy of Peru.) In passing from Chihuahua to Texas by this route, you n1ake in seven days what it takes yo~ 15 or 20 by the ordinary one, but it is very scarce of wa-ter, and your guards n1ust either be so strong as to defy the Appaches, or ca1culate to escape them by swiftness, for they fill those mountains, whence they continually carry on a predatory war against the Spanish settlen1euts and caravans. . "\V e this clay passed on to the territories of the marqms De San Miquel, who owns from the 111ountains of the Rio ~el Norte to some distance into the kingdom of Old Mexico. 13t/; May, fVcdncsday.-Came on to the river Brasses Ranchc de St. Antonio, part of the marquis' estate. My boy and elf halted at the river Brasses to \\'ater our horses, having rode on ahead, and took the bridles |