OCR Text |
Show ·168 Ex. Doc. No. 41. dicular an(l about thirty feet above the stream; the men sprang in and hu;1ted some di tance up and down the bed of the "arroyo," but there was no water; we could go no further'· and were forced to camp here. As the valley around seemed destitute of grass, we Jet our mul , run free, and tried to make our supper, but you may be sure it was a very dry one. At last we hea:d the gr~teful sound of dogs barking, and some of the men came m and saul that they had seen lights not far off, so we sent for some water; but the men were absent so long that we could not wait for their return. It waR now 10 o'clock; we had been travelling since five this morning without food, without one clrop of water, and had tn,arclted about twenty-five miles, so that we did not Jack appetit As thrrc was no wood, we gathered some of the clry bran ·bes of the art misia · and, 1Javing made a fire, roasted a fore quarter of mutton, whi ch t w~ of u d <:spate hc.cl w 1thou t much dilJicu] ty, and th n an k down to 'st, with the intention or drinking deep draughts in the mormng. ' 0 c to b cT 19.- o soon c r cl i t1 the first rays of 1 i g h t claw n than we ,cstarted off for the village; all the watt>r the men had brought, they La(l clrunk lbrough the night; as our mules were still loose we coulli n o t wait for t h (' m t o be c a ugh t an d sad d 1 e d , b u t s l a r ted o if on foot ; anil after a walk of a milt', we cnteretl the village of Moquinp. Here we were Yrry well rec<!ived by one of the inhabitants who gave ~s some delicious milk, and his wife sat down and made cigarri'tos for us. 'fh1s town is situated on a rocky hill that on one siJe is perpendicular, anti about twenty feet high; the place contains near three hundred and fifty inhabitants. I had given orders for the wagons to start early, but they did not r ach the town until near noon. The mules had run off some tl i s t a n c e in scar c h of w at c r an fl g r a~ s ; an d , in a d d i t i on , so m e rascal 1 y Mt'xi ·ans hutl stolen the rope from their n cks. As our animals were much jaded by the toilsome marches we ha(i ma(le in tbe last lhr e (lay , through the deep ands of the valley., we concluded it would be best to rem::.in here all tlay and let them re-st. We had encamped by the sicle of the Rio Pojual e, close to the town of Moquino, and four miles ~outh of the village of Cibollcta, which is also upon the same river. The country around consists of high mas ·es of sandstone, overspread by a bell of volcanic ro<'k. Ncar Moqnino s vera! huge masses of this rock jut into the sky, and from the valley narrowing up to the foot of these peaks there is a bla('kish mass of detritus of dark purple rock. The people of the town prc .. sed around our camp, bringing eggs, milk, and cheese made of goats mille 'I'hcy seemeJ scarcely to belicTe. us? when we told .them .of the road by whi<:h we had come; anu sal.d ll was "un ca.mlnO cltabolo." They asked us if we had nol noticed a f1esh tratl that cro sed our route. This rc ·ailed to our minds that we hac! seen uch a trail, and our having stopped to examine it. When we told them of it, they said that it was the truce ()[ a war party of fifty Navajoe Indians, who could not, Ex. Doc. No. 41. ncC'orcling to their account$, hctve prccc~lc<l us more th~1n a fpw hours. W(• cong-ratulatc(l Olll'~Plves that we h(ld not encountcrecl tho:p fnclians. I asked tht·m wl1y the avajocs did not trouble them. Th<·y replied, that they were good f ri .rl to the avajocs. OctolH'r 20.-Arrain we staru·d, 1 •avin 0rr our kind friends at Mo- o . quino, intending to camp at Laguna. Aft •r a short mar('h of three milc·s, we haJt('d at the town of Pojuat ; het·e we saw RC!\cral larrrc flo cks of sheep and goat . Continuing down th' Rio Pojuat(', ;c ])ass ·d through fie Ids of corn and pumpkins, over which large flocks of cranes were whooping, so that hill and valley rang with the c ·hof's or th ir cries . Aft 'l' proc:crding nine miles, We got upon a fin c road that 1 <' d o if in a out h west c1 i 1 e c t ion, an cl six m i 1 <' s farther brought us to th Pueblo of J .. (lguna. We had heard the most romantic accounts of the villag' of Laguna and the lal c in its vi cinity; we had heard that this lake was full of water, clear as clny tal, that it was surrounded by Rmall vil1agcs, ancl that the neighboring country smiled in the profu ion of the luxuriant proc) u c t ion · of this r c giG> n ; that the hi 11 s i cl e s w (' r c cover c d with fruitful vine ·, and the plains loadctl with delicious melons: and we were most sadly disappointed. The lake consisted of a little pool, scarce worthy of notice, and the highest cultivated rrrounds wns at the d isla n c e o f six m i 1 e s . T h l' h n u e s of this " I> u e b I o," o r In < 1 i an villiage, are built of stone and arc plastered over with mud, (the nufD:b r. of in.habitants i seven hundred,) ~hey are generally two stonrs In he1ght, and have ladd rs by wlnch one asc nds to the se ·ond floor in order to gain admittance. There is a ch(lpcl here wh.ich has the interior painted with curious Indian ornaments, i~ ~luch they hav? used the pure red, blue, and yellow. 'fhe town is Situated on a limestone bluff, that is about thirty fec•t in height; the country around consists of high masses; a vali<'Y runs oil' towards the north to a di lance of thirty miles in this valley the town of Covero is situated; pretty goo<l place f~r grass and water; Co!onel Jackson's. command is at this moment encamped there, but as 1t would requrre two days to go there and to return again we concluded to proceed without any escort, as we had already p~ssed <'vc·r the mo t dangerous country that we would have to ex tmine . . On the. r.oad we saw many wooden crosses, held firmly in an upright pos1t10n by heaps of stones piled around their bases. These sacred symbols were not erected by the road ide to mark the pla~e ;o!1f graves or bloody deeds, but to remind the traveller to pray for e soul of.thc person by whose friends these symbols were erected. he road sales., thro~ghout the province of New Mexico arc, in many .Places, . hn cd w1 th these crosses. Near St. Phi llipe, we saw Jn11 Wi.th a. ptE ~c ?f board nailed near the' top, on which was the Mo an~ wat."n g tnscnptiOn: "Pas er-by, pray for the soul of Dona . In the evening we were gratified with a visit from some Ame~:~ ns, among t whom were several oltl friends. They came from overo," an.cl were on their way to Santa Fe. To- day I kllled a beautiful snow-white goose, (" nnscr l1yper- |