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Show 47 rrhr who thr<'l' mu whirh a1 this dt•pr A )lT. ~ shall be The capi ART. Santa lit Rio Tc2 del Oro. ofinhab ART. Rayaua, Fclippe nurobt!r dones. AnT. Pcc.os, :Migurl Chico, \, 480 Ex. Doc. No. 41. skirt of a large round gro,·e of cotton-wood trees. ~here were seve.ral flour-Inills ncar, and the houses are well budt; that of Sefior Otero i~ as fine as any in the department of New M cxi co. At Peralta we met with two very polite and communicative gentlemen; they frc ly answered our interrogator~cs, and kindly furnished us with some pamphlets an<l several copies of the "Republica no" a paper publish ·din tbc city of Mexico. Three miles to the . o~1th, is the village of "Valencia," the capital of the county of the sam name. Directly oppo. itc to use, on the west ide of the riv<•r js the town of" Lcntcs," and one ~md a half miles ~oulh of it, thd town of" Luncs." We now r turned to" I>adillas," and on our wa) stopped at c' Jslctta;" we enter<·d some of the houses o f the In d i all s, w h o h a d n u m be r s o f b u fT'a I o robes, w hi l' h t b e y offcn·d to 1 r~de. They had also ~pple: and bunchc ·of grape -the latter fruit they hang up on the ralt •n;, wher) it do •s not decay as it would do in the Umtcd States. ln fact so pure is the air, and so free from all tainting influ<'nc·c:, tlJat meat may be I ung up in the ~amc w;1y, at any season, without fear of being spoiled. One of the favorite clishes of the Mexican~ consi ts of mrat that has bHn dried by simply hanging it over cords that arc strct ·hcd beneath the" portales" of the hou~e for this purpose. Th · Jndians a} ·o preserve their melons for some tirnr, plu ·king them bcfor ·they arc entirely ripe, and susp ndingthem by twine manufactured from fibr<'s of the yut:ca or palmillo. In goo<l season we rrachcd ·' Padi11as," when I at one called to sec ~t>fior Don Jose Chav<·z, to inquire of him when coulcl procure a guide, when he kindly promised to send me .one of his }H' ones on the eo 10 in g morn mg. Octobc1· 30.-We again crosse(l the rivrr, aud then <'Ontinurd onward~, in a course almost due east, for the mighty range of the S i <' r r a 111 an ·a. The ftr s t t h r c e m i1 e s was up a san d y a <.: c I i vi t y, which gave our wagon mules some severe Jabor; but, having at last r<•a.chcd the top of the ascent, we found a fine <'ompnct road, over a pI a in compos c d o f cIa y and gray e I. Ji' or t h c firs t we l v c miles tltt! road continu d it3 direct course· at length we began to approach "el Ctliion infierno," when our ;oad lt:ads us over hcds <>f limest?ne . . This was full of little patches of hornstonc, whieh were vaned with cracks that were• now filled with calcareous ma.ttcr, so that the patch •s resPmbled ludus helmontii, or septana. The road, on both sides, was thi ·kly studcl<•d with several species of yucca and cacti. The mount<tins were covered with ~now, and ~e soon began to feel a great difference in the temperature of the all' as we proceeded. Having marched sixtren miles, we entere!l the "caiion infierno;" thc.rc was a clear stream of cold water, which, as we follow d up to 1t. source, we f?und to he, in many places, entirely ab orbed by t~c sand. Along 1ts b d grew many cottonwood trees and grapeVInes; they both show the cfl'ects of the late frost· the brilliant yellow of their leaves forms~strong contrast with the' sombre green I I· I. l ' \ \ () \ I \ I•': I· I: I) |