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Show [ 23 ] ' 64 • 1 und roYe of cotton-wood trees. There were skirt o1f fla a~g~lrso nt-a~ and the houst's are well built; that of ~evera our mi ' t f N M "S ~ r Otero I·S as fi ne as any in the rlepartmen o ew · ~·X t<:o. eAnot P er~ 1t a we m...... t wt' th two very · polite and c· ommund1 kca' ttvIIe g·e n-tJemen. t h t>y f ree ly answered our mterrogI atones, afn h 11"11R y lubr- · bed 'us with some pamphlets and severa co.pu~ s o t e . t>pu. n:s , a a er ublished in the city of MexH:o. Three miles to hcano, h P pth ~illag·e· of" Valencta," the capital of the county the sout ' I e . h t . I f o f t h e same n arne · Directly opposite to use, odn t 1 e 1f w es·1 Slc ,e oh the n·v er, t· s th e town of '' Lentes' " and one and a "1ap mI"J1 ] .es ,so,u t d 0 f it the town of'' Lunes." . We now r turne to ac 1 as, f..n onou' rwa). stoppecl at" Isletta'· " we entered someb of thLe' hh ouses of the Indians, who had numbers of buffalo ro es, Wille thu offHed to tr~de. They had , also flP_Ples aurl bu~ches of grapes~the· latter fruit they hnng up on the rafters, where It do~s not d~cay as 1· t· wou 1l1 do1' n the U.m ted States . In fact ·so pure bts the an, an.d 80 free from all tainting influences, that meat n!ay e 1 _ung up m the same way, at any st!~son, with?ut fear of .bemg spoiled. One of the favorite dishes of t.he ~~x1caus con!'Ists of me'at that has been dried by simply bangwg It over co~ds that are strttched_be-ath the" portales" of the house for this purpose. The Jnrl1ans :fso preserve their melons for _some timt-, plu~king them before they are entirely ripe, and suspendiDg them by twllle manufactured from fibres of the yucca or palmillo. . In goorl season w.e reaehed "'~adil_las," ~hen I at once c~!Jed to see St'iior Don Jose Chavez, to mqu1re of h1m when I could,pr~cure a guide, whrn he kindly promistd lo send me one 1 0f h1s peones on the· coming morrllng. . . October 30.-We again crosf:ed the river, an.d .then, couhnu~d onwards, in a course almost due east, for the m1ghty range o.f .the Sierra Blanca. The first three miles was up a sandy acclmty, which gave our wagon mules· some severe labor; but, having at last reached the 4f'p of the asc nt, we found a fine compact road, over a plain composed of clay and gravel. . For the first twelve miles th~ road continued it3 direct course; at length we began to approach "el cc:~iion infierno," when our road leads us over b~ds. 'of limestone. This was full of little patches of hornston~,.· whtch were varied with cracks that were now filled with ca!careous m~tter, so that the patches resembled ludus helmontii, or sep· taria. . The road, on both sides, was thickly studded with seyeral spec1eJ of yucca and cacti. The mountains were covered with snow, an we soon began to feel a great diffe~ce in the temperatare of tbe air as we proceeded. , ,, Having marched sixteen miles, we entered the "canon infiernoJ there was a clear stream of cold water, which, as we followed up to its source, we found to be, in many places, entirely absorbed by th.e sand. Along its bed grew many cottonwood trees and ~r~p~· vines; they both show tbe efftcts of the late frosts; the bnlhant )'ellow of their leaves forms strong contrast with the sombre g.reen - \ [23] of the cedar and pifion, with which the banks of the st,ream ar~ embroidered. Stupendous masses of green stone that were once seethi.n~ in th,e bowels of the earth are piled up, rock upon rock, un tll but a. narrow strip of sky can be seen over head. These roc~~s are traversed, in all directions, by narrow seams of milky q uarti. Various species of cacti and yucca spring forth from ev~ry creY:ice where enough earth has collected to afford them nounshmen~, and the cedar and pinon stretch out their boughs above these pT.ants, as if to pr_event the sun from evaporating the little moisture they con tam. We 'encamped, after having proceeded five ~piles int9 the very heart of the canon; here the rocks were so steep that not one spot could be found whe·re we might pasture our mules; w,e, therefore cut down boughs of cedar, but the animals only nibbe~ them : little, and we were forced to tie them fast to the wagop.s ~o prevent th eir going off in search of pasturage. . October 31.-Last night we had a terrible storm; it consisted of a succession of great gusts of wind, accompanied by ra,in, hail and snow; the wind 'oared through the cedars on the mountai~ 'side' with the sound of a grand water fall. Our tent trembled beneath the terrific for~e of the blast that swept backwarrls and . forwards through_ the canon, and the deep gorge sent forth fier ·e ho\f,lings . Mornmg at leugth dawned, and we arose shivering with cold and_ gathered around the fire. Our Mexican guide had bee~ obhged to Wlllk _about all night, in orrler to keep warm, for the iire went. out dunng the early part of the night. Our m~les had had nothtng to eat, we, therefore, hurried off quickly, hoping before long to reach a patch of g-rass, where we could halt. \Ye soon met with some of Senor Chavez's wagons, which ~ad bee1,1 se~t ~ut to .procure pine logs fit · to make rafters for s'ome new buddmgs. , Mixed with the cedar and the fir tree, we saw some stunted oaks "Q. olivre form is;" also some fine specimens of the phc~·pine: Am~ngst the ~hrubs, there. is a . species of ho11y; it b.el}rS sca;let bernes, ~n wh1ch the r~bbms, flickers, ~nd stella,r jays ft;~d with gr~at deJ•ght. We noticed numerous , stgns of the bear, and our guide satd that they were of the black bear. As the road was rough, we had to be careful lest the 'V1J.gon s~ould upset. Before we had gone ten miles we re~che~ a level P1 e.ce of ground; here we halted and built a large ~re, around Whi~h we g.athered, while the mules were 9usily engaged in · appeasmg theu hunger. After halting an hour we resumed our mar.ch, and fo,und the country more gentle in its aspect, and much easier to travel. We n_oiw commenced descendi.ng slowly, for we had cross~d the' dividi~g n~ ge; ~he grou,nd was in many places cov~red with sno\V, except ' w lere It wa.s exposed to the rays of the sun. The air w.as bitin cold. At le9gth we entered the ·road that runs fro•ll Alltuquerqu~ t~ the famecl '' ~alina.~," or sa~t lak.~s. These la~es a{:ford salt for t e wh?le ~f !hts reg:10n. Qur c.9U~&e, w~~ very direqt, qq1l a~ the. f |