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Show 464 Ex. Doc. No. 41. Tb is place exh ibts signs of wealth; the houses were larger than any we had yet seen; <~long the ro,.d side were beautiful vinryarcls surrounded by l1igh walls of abola•s; we rode up to one of th(•m' <1 n d ] o o k i n g o v c r, saw some p r l: tt y " don c c II as" p lu t 1c in g t h r f r u j t: They had round flat looking basket8, placed on thrir heads; th<'se wtre piled w1th thtl'k -clustercd bun<.:hes of the purple grap<', from lH·nrath whi C'h the bnght blade ry(•s of the '' donccllas" WL·re sp<uklin g . We coulcl not pass by ~uch a beautiful vineyard, so we stop cd and asked for some fruit; some of the maidl•ns, with mc•rry fac(·s, came toward s us, when they were f;Udden ly stoppl•cl by the g r u fi' v o in' of a m n n c.: r y in g out, that h ~ w o t~ I d hi •.n e I J' b.r in g the gr<lJH•s. \V e now rode round to the otncr s1de of tbe Vlnc·yarcl· hl·rc Wl' S ciW 1ong rows of vats of ox hides; they looked bloated: as if pulfl·cl out with good liquor; in thrm the grapc•s arc thrown, in orde r to ferment, after which they are distilled to make the brandy of New Ml'xico. vYc bou~ht liS many grapes as Wt> wi:-;hecl and tbl'n r ont111ued our march, UJ1til we fl'ach ·d some 8alt po11ds, not fa r from thr town, where we (·nCHIDJH'd; an<l here w<'rc some large flod. :-; of blue cranes;. tht•y ~cpt .up a g1 c~t whooping. l obt<uned to-day a f-pcrJmen of a s~ng,Jlar l1zard; we saw scvcrallnrgc tarantula, and many mcaclow-Jadc!'i, flying about awongsl the stalks of co~?;. most o.f the corn is JIOW LH:ing .gatlH·red. Octob(•r 14.- l h1s morn1ng we took the ro:HI ly1ng clo. (' to the bluff, aud W(' pas.'ed" Sand1a," a pueulo, the l10uscs of whic-h nre only or.le .story high, but ha.ve no ~ntranc.:c (·x ,_.pt on tb<' roof, w b u c 1 t 1 s s lud t e r e d b y a c u r1 o u s c.: o n 1 c a I . t r u c I u r e , b u i I t o f a d o b t' s. 'I'hl'se have an opentn~ on the south side, and one asc~nds to the ClZ?l. as, or roof, .by means of ladders. IJ. re we saw . ome people dt1v1ng herds of ~<:ttlc• ; tht·y were armed with sling:?, and. used them wo:,t. uumercdully .. As the pebblt•s whizzed through the air, ~he poo.r beasts lOS$Ccl t.hcu heads as if in gfl•at dread. The sling 1s Inl' nlionect by De Solts, as used by the Aztecs and Tezcucans, in 'battl e. Our cour~c no~ led us by the side of a large accquia; this forced us to go some dtstance from Ale~ ada; at last, we fount! a place whert• we could nos., and went dn<•elly to that town. At length we reached a fine Yineyard, within three milrs of Al bu(} Ut'r<pte, whnc 'we rurcha!-t>d I-IOU!\ onions. Thrse vegc·tables grow to a rcm.arkanle Size, a~d form one of the indispen able artie le s t o a M t• x 1 can '·'lll n (' r. . 1 h c adobe w a II s in l }J e vic in i t y have tl.' j tops (·overed . w1th cadt, to prcveut persons from plundering the v1ne~. We not1ced, to day, great quantities of the" myrtwa," co;~rcd w1th ];ug pod$, n~w tully ripe. .. lh,cy~)lld~ ,by. t~l.(' road sule were filled wi.th ducks, geese~ ~ncl Crclll Cl", 1.t w alo) cu 1 1ous to sec the I ast men t10n eel birds s tru.l wg along, wtth r,out-.s,tr·e.tdH·tl n.ecks, as t~cy prepared to take flight. O~t o~cr ~a:-. l.l~ IS :uorntng 1 sal~ 1cu forth, intent upon killing some of tin crctncs th.tt were gathcnng together in the corn -fields ~H· ar o.ur camp. ~ soon procun.·d a fine large bird, about five feet 111 hl'lght, oi wh1tb I made a tlrawing and took the dimensions. 13rant (an:5er berntcla) arc very plenty; we got some of the!Il also . I Ex. Doc\ No. 41. 465 It is difficult, however, to approach within shootin~ distance, although they will genernJJy allow one to approach qutte close without a gun . . We pu.rchas~d two sbe<>p from the priest of Albuquerque; he inVll<•. d u. wto lus house,_ anti gave us s?mc delightful grape brandy. Whde there, an oltl enor from" l)adtllas" entered the room with a Srallislt versio.n of General Ke~rny'.s order fo.r :111 cxpe:lition agamst the ~aV<lJOCS .. Il.e hacl With h~m a long lJst, including the the nam <'S of all tbe p rtr.t..:q>al p •o pIc 1n New Mexico who agreed to furnish rnen to join Colonel Doniphan's command. While Licutenar1t Peck and f wer' conven~ing with the priest he a:ked us our nam ·sand profcs.ions. We told him; ancl, a~ ~oon as ?c unclcrsto~d that we belonged to the corps of topographIcal <•ngtncers, IH• sa1d: "Ah! I ~upposc, th<•n, you know somt'lhing of astro11omy and mathematics?" We replied," A little;" whereupon be got a piece of paper and pencil, and drrw everal figures sayi.ng, "<•ste es t>l cuadro '?" yes, that is a square;" estc un ceteo?'~ yes, sir; "y cstc es un triangulo?" yes, that i' a triangle. Then throwin~ up the p nr.il, and rubbing his hands in gr<•at glee, "Ah~ voy que vind son aslronomos y malh maticos." Thus, we were pronounced by the padre of Albuqu •rque to be astronomers and ma.thematiciau~. Soon nfter this discussion of the exact sciences a very handsome lacl y, who gracecl the estab I ish men t, entered th~ room, and he prc<;t•nted us to her; saying: "]~stos caballeros son afitronomos y mathcmalicos." Yve were-well pleas ·•d with ou;- vi it, and did not leave our friend u n t i I 1 ate; a ru l h e en d e :l v or c cl t o m a k c our tim c as a g r c e a b I e as kindnrss and politt:ncss were apah1r of making it. B e g ~in ~ h is p e nn i s i o n , we b a d e b i m a cl i e u an d start e tl down the river. We soon reach<'d the ford, where we erossccl the Hio del Norte, and ntcrcd the town of "Atriseo." Jlerc we got fast in nn "accquia," and were obliged tog ·l a spade and dig down the banks of th' canal before we could get the wabon out. 'l'his detained us so long that we were forced to cncawp, as it was not in our power to reach lhl· Puerco that night. 'l'his evening we saw a Ycry large flo ·k of sheep and goats. The pastorcs sai.t that there were 4,000 in the flock. At night, the h c r u. man b u i It a Jar g c fir c, an tl , s e ·zing some of t h c lighted brands, ran aroun1l the flock; the she p fright 'ned, all turned their heads towards tho ccntrr, in the direetion of the fire, and arc not, after such a scare, likely to stray away during the night. Octobe·r 16.-We left "Alrisco," and Rlruck boldly off towards the west, intending to r ach the "Rio Puerco," hoping the next day to reach "Cibolletta," where I expected to meet Colonel Jackson, and obt<tin an escort to protect us in the survey west of the Rio del Nortr. · At Alberqul'rque we were cautionrd by the people ngainst the dangers we would run before reaching Cibolletta, as the war trail of tbe Navajocs runs through the Yalley of the Puerco; and the Mexicans advised us to travel with g-reat circumspection, and z.ot.. to make any fires at night. 30 |
