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Show 124 being now 5,000 to G, 000 feet above sea- level,) is involved, in a slow, gradual sinking. Comparing tbe altitudes of good pastures and prospective forests with the barreu lands full of ruins, and taking into consideration the fact that many of the ruins were left at least two hundred and others three hundred years ago, and, further, assuming that the air had the same degree of dryness then as now, ( the contrary not being capable of proof from cosmical phenomena,) the sinking of the level is estimated at 50 feet in a century at the least. If this hypothesis is correct, in ten thonsand years the ocean- waves will wash over the level of the plains of New Mexico. The atmosphere of New Mexico holding but little moisture, the absolute humidity going down at times as low as 1.3 grams per cubic meter, ( a fifth to a sixth of the usual humidity in such latitudes,) less and less of it will be precipitated upon the mountains with the sinking of the level; therefore, the bulk of the springs and streams will be gradually diminished, and the latter run dry before they reach the plains or the base of the mountains. Unfortunately we have no barometric data from the early Spanish visitors, who regarded rather the religious subjugation of the Indian than scientific observation. Along the northern rim of the Nacimiento desert, near the Mesa del Raton, I often observed, " between the patches of cedar- bushes, considerable tracts of soil perfectly smooth, shining like polished tables, and without the slightest trace of vegetation. On examination the soil was found to be dry clay, which on mixing with water becomes very plastic and at once fit for the manufacture of pottery. * As interesting, it may be mentioned that amid the desert in question are valleys where farm- produce can be raised without irrigation, notwithstauding the absence of rain. This fact was demonstrated by Navajo Indiaus, who recently settled near the head of Canon de Chaco, a little above the ruins of the ancient Aztec town, Pueblo Bonito, ( named by Mexicans.) I saw, myself, tbe corn- fields and water- melon patches in splendid condition. A similar case is mentioned in Vol. I l l , Survey Reports, in connection with the Moqnis farming in Eastern Arizona. I observed like cases at Agna Fria, five miles south of Santa Fe, and at Las Vegas, on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountain chain. The assertion of a writer iu the Agricultural Report for 1868, t h at crops cannot be raised in New Mexico without irrigation, is, therefore, not altogether correct. Another writer, in speaking of the farmnfg of the Zunis in Western New- Mexico, supposes the section of country they occupy is favored with more rain than other portions. He writes: " Even around Zuni, where an ample supply of water can be obtained from the Zuni River, there are noacequias, the inhabitants relying on the rains to supply the necessary moisture. There is probably some peculiarity connected with the local atmospheric currents here, which collects the moisture or causes its separation and fall." To the author of this statement it appears a mystery how corn can be raised in a sandy barren valley like the Zuni, the explanation of which is that the Indians plant their corn about a foot deep, where the roots find a stratum of ascending humidity, which, however, on nearing the surface, rapidly is carried away by the dry air, making the development of seed near the surface impossible, and hence the limited growth of grass in juxtaposition to the splendid corn- fields. This practice of planting the seed so deep could not, of course, be carried out in other countries where moisture is plenty, as the seed or germ would rot before it succeeded in breaking through a stratum of soil a foot thick. The cause of the existence of the ascending humidity in the subsoil must doubtless bo traced to the numerous mountain- chains everywhere traversing the country. Gonerally in the regions of New Mexico where farming succeeds without irrigation, water is reached at a moderate depth, which water is called agua exca-vada, a name given also to the head of Canon Chaco. The southern boundary of the Nacimiento desert is formed by Mount Taylor, 11,200 feet high, and, next to Peak Baldy, 12,000 feet, the highest mountain in New Mexico. This mountain and its foot- hills are well timbered aud the occasional valleys well grassed. Several Mexican settlements are scattered through this section, the largest San Mateo. The southern slopes of Mount Taylor border another sandy plain having but little water- a plain extending about sixty miles to the southward of the slopes of the Madalena, Luera, and San Mateo Mountains. Not far from the southern base of Mount Taylor are several Iudian pueblos, the largest of which are Acoma aud Laguna, with 800 and 1,200 inhabitants. The Gallo Creek and Rito San Jose* furnish the water for irrigating their fields and gardens. The route from Laguna led northwesterly across the country to the Rio Puerco, and thence in a nearly straight line to Santa Ami on the Rio Jemez, on which are two other pueblos, Silla and Jemez. On crossing the Rio Puerco, about thirty- seven miles northeast of Laguna, are two Mexicau settlements, San Ignacio and Sau Francisco. Some miles above these towns the river emerges from a cation in which it is shut up for a considerable distance to the north; this river is frequently dry in summer. The irrigating- ditches are, of necessity, of considerable length, as the river is imbedded in a sort of gorge 14 to 16 feet deep. Its waters are very muddy, hence its name Pork River. This mud, however, consists principally of a plastic clay, and is unlike that of the Rio Grande, which is a fine silt with fertilizing properties. This latter river receives its muddy sediment partly from the Rio Chama and Jemez, and |