Mexico to the Mountains loi 



we hear of continually but never see, their loss 

 would be a very serious one to them. 



June 14th. We left Cerro Gordo at eight a. m. 

 and ascended steadily up hill for about two miles, 

 the country poor and uninteresting, and the miles 

 seem to stretch out interminably. We are now 

 camped at El Noria. 



June I ^th. Rio Florida. We are repaid for 

 our tiresome journey by the shade and refreshment 

 we find here; the old mission is the most commo- 

 dious we have seen, built of nearly white marble, 

 the four pillars next the church richly carved and 

 almost perfect. When the old priests had this 

 broad valley tilled and irrigated by the convert 

 Indians it must indeed have been a scene of luxu- 

 rious growth, and they, no doubt, lived in great 

 comfort, if isolation. Still the place is inland, and 

 indolence there as everywhere in Mexico reigns 

 supreme. So fell Rio Florida. 



June Ijth. From Rio Florida to El Valle, ten 

 leagues, our road in places has been most beautiful ; 

 undulating plains like those of Texas, and we saw 

 the first streaks of iron mixed with the limestone 

 which for weeks we have been traveling through. 

 We shall be glad of any change, for our lips are 

 cracked, and so sore as to give pain and discomfort 

 all the time, while our hands are cracked and split 

 as in mid-winter. 



Here at El Valle, sometimes called Bia Valle, 



