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Show 236 WESTERN WILDS. Occasionally one loaded thus with wood loses his balance or trips and goes over; then he can not rise till unloaded. One morning I noticed a miserable little burro, no bigger than a good- sized ram, staggering under an entire bedstead, piled up and strapped together on his back ; and another with an immense trunk strapped " cut- angular" from his left hip to his right shoulder. They are the wealth of the poorer class, and when the household donkey dies a Mexican family goes into bankruptcy. With these notes, set down in a month's travel, and from observa-tion and conversation with all classes, I resume my personal experi-ences : On the 26th, we left Albuquerque, just as the Sunday amusements began. They usually have splendid religious services in the morning, a dog- tussle about noon, and a cock- fight later in the day. Tn the evening, if reflective, the " Greaser " smokes cigarettes and meditates ; if senti-mental, he goes courting. My soldier was sober again, by chance, and eager to start, while I felt refreshed and ready for the desert. The " June rise" of the Rio Grande ( El Rio they call it there " The River") had come on a week or two earlier than common, and a vast bayou covered two- thirds of the " bottom " between the city and the main channel. In this we encountered dangerous whirls and " chuck- holes," the wagon often plunging in up to the bed, and two or three times the little lead mules were obliged to swim a rod or so. When we reached the narrow strip of high ground near the river, the whole population of the string- town opposite were collected on the bank, on their way to the cathedral and other Sabbath amusements. Half a dozen families were laboring across in their own skiffs, while the main ferry flat was loaded to the guards. The women, in gay robes and black rebosas, were laughing and singing, while the men screamed, swore and shouted directions all at once to the four boat-men, and the flat drifted in circles down the swift current. Fortu-nately, the actual channel is not more than four hundred yards wide, and the flat only descended half a mile in making the passage. A boat load of Mexicans on the way to church can make more noise than two circus shows. Having passed the main current, the ferry-men jumped overboard, and, wading up to their armpits, with tow ropes, hauled the flat to shore. This trifling incident is a beautiful illustration of the Mexican style of doing every thing. Once landed, the male passengers took to the bayou without a thought for their summer pantaloons; but the women, being gayly dressed for church, dropped upon the grass, snatched off their under |