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Show • [ 23] 58 .. Wf're not in use; they were very long, ancl by theii: means we succeeded in erecting a second sheltt'r; but ~verytrung was covered with sand, and we felt far from eomfortable. · • In a short time, the man we bad sent out returned Ull!"UCCf.l!lt>ful; so we fiui shed our suppers without coffee, without evt>n a cup of water. The poor mul es, thHt hHI work~d so ha:d all ·dity, ~e were obli~etl to fasten to the wHgon; here thry rema11ned all ntght, on the barren sand, where not one blade of grass was to be set"n. We dared not let our mules loose, knowing tnat when urged by thirst, they will wander off until they find water. October 23 -vVe arose when the first streak of grey light ap· pearl'cl in the east, and, without stopping to prepare QUI' breakfast, we resurn ecf our toil.ome mar'eh. The poor s tHrved and thirsty' mul~:s plodded pokingly along, in rather a doleful plight. Before proc e edi~tg far, I caught sight of the peaks of volranic rock that to wer above the town of '' Moquino." Immediattly after, we got a glimpc;;e of a di stant pool of water glimmering in the sunlight. I directly ordert>d the command to proce~d to the pool and to ·encamp, while I rode over to spt-ak to some pastores who were watching their flocks clo&e by. From them I lt-ar'ned that the ruitJS we saw nt• ar the water were all that no·w rrmained of the town of" Rito," which town they said had been clest'rted ' hr its inhabitants some years since, because those people who lived hrghcr .. up on the" arroyo de Rito" cut off all the water of the cr~e~ In seasons when th~y wanted to irrigate their lands, thus depnvmg the people of Rito of it. who needed it most at the same season, f or tqe same purposes. ' I We encamped cl~>se by th e town; the largP. pine rafters of 1he deserted hous~-'s furnrshed us with fu eL In the afternoon we visitt'd thE> town. The houses were all o. thfm built of stone covered with mud, and neatly whitewasbe,rl. Here we found a n~at little chap~!·' and the house of the priest still remr1ine1l in p~etty good condttron. One feels sorrowful to see so much labor thrown a wily~ so mueh useful material left to the ravages of rlestructive time; ·~ut our.fit•es rned so eheerfully, that all regrets we-re consumed In the lrvely flames. We concluded that it would be a fortunate oc.:cutren<'e to daily encounter old ruins. We remained here all clay. We h'ad plenty ~f wood and of water· the ,,asturage was good, ancl our mules needed time to rest and r:cruit their strength. In the afteruoon, we saw SOAle commis--ary Wtlgons returuing from C?v~ro to Albuquerque. We sent over to tht'm, in order t() artertatn rf they had any letters for u~; for we had desired to have a , our letters forwarcfed Lorn Santa F'e as soon as they arrived there, as those travelling through the country could easily fiud •our ' whereabouts on enquiry. Towards dark a party of five or six Mexicans halted near u~, and ~oon more of the rafters from the old ruins were crackling in the anam( i ~18h• at Tmhaensye men saifd th· at· tht"> y were goinD."., to fight the NavaJ·oes, way. . , more o thetr compadres" were already on the October 24.--;At eight,o'clock, we left the ruins of Rtto, and I 59 [ 231 c~ossed · the "Arroyo de Rito," it is from four to five feet wi1le, _and three inches riHp; it has a Sitncly bed, nearly ,twenty yards wtde, t h a t i s e v i d e n 1 I y co v e r e d w i t h w a t e r a t c P r t a i n s e a so r·r s o f t h e y e a r, The valley along whieh our road runs is seven 'mdes wide, and is covered with good grass. . As we coutiuu erl our journPy, we had on our left a rage-efl toothed 'sierra which the distance mellowed to the·same tint with the sky. Close' to us rose a high mesa of dark red sand st-one, th at was ba~ted on tt.e compact whiti~h clay; and wherever we could rat ch a glimpse of the strata above, we found it to present a grt>)i~h white hue; and when we reached it, that it was composed of cl(ly and sand. The first eight miles of thP roacl was c ~ rnpact and firm; at its t<>rmination a wild looking canon extended into the mountain. Here wat\ r can be got, but the path is so strewed with huge f ragments .of ro ~ k, tbat constiintly block the way, as to prt'vent the watering .animals there. The first portion of our road was strewed with pteces of pet.r1fied woud, fufl of silicious particles, wh1ch glistened in the suulight. On one side of the roacl, we found s.ome wagon-wheel spokes, we collected them with great care, intending to manufacture them into pihs for our tents, and pickets for the mules. Hard wood cannot be ootaintd iri the whole of New Mexico. The country around us seerus to produce no woo(f except the cedar. Among the plants we noticed the yucca an gust i fo l a, au rl several \·ari eties of the artemis itt. After a journey of tt wenty mrles, we encamped on the ''Rio Puerco," about nine miles above the point at which it rect>ives the waters of the "Arroya de Rito," or as it often called "El Rio de So.n Jose." . The .provision wagons had arrived h)ere only a little time before; one of the teamsters had gone down the river in search of water, so. some of us went up the river, and at a distance of two or three m1les found ~orne water, that was quite thick with mnd. This we collected nnd put by, to al~ o · the mud time to precipitate. We had br~ught with us enough water for our immediate .. ,·ants, so we deternllne<~ to let the muddy water rest until the ne moruing. _On lookwg at the map, the Rio Puerco appears to be qurte a for~ 1 d a b l ~ s t r t' a m • A r i v t' r 1 4 0 ril i I e s I o n g, w i t h a v a II t' y o t' s t:' v en o r eight mrles wide, through which it flows, would lead one to tbink that here was a fine country for pasturage, and a plenty of water. Not ~o, for we are now but forty-eight miles above its mouth, <lnd there Is_n_o water; and the valley, cleep wjth sand, on,Jy nourishes artemtsra_ s, yucca) ancl cacti. The banks of the Rio Puerco are per- . pendtcular, and often twenty to thirty feet high; showing that, at some St•asons, great bodies of water mu!'t rush along its bed. The men wiLh the ox-team said that their oxen would not be able ~0 1get OYt-r the top of the dividing ridge between us and the Rio <I e Norte, unless tht>y t-ra~elled on no\v, for want of water so soon estroys the strength of oxen. They therefore bade us adieu. October 25.-When we arose this morning, we found the ground covered with a heavy frost, and there was a skim of ice on the water we had put aside to settle. Indeed we ftlt quite· • / |