102 Audubon's Western Journal 



we are encamped in a grove of cotton-wood, which, 

 I should say, had been planted forty or fifty years 

 ago, and the gardens when irrigated must have 

 been most luxuriant. We are now in an iron 

 district, and the walls of the Jacals have changed 

 from white to red. The hillsides, too, have 

 changed in color; some are reddish and bare, 

 others grey, from dead grass and lime underneath. 



Bia or El Valle is situated on another of those 

 beautiful creeks that from time to time occur in this 

 part of Mexico; it contains a motley crowd, doubt- 

 ful of face and of character; largely half-breeds, 

 and speaking Spanish, so murdered into patois, 

 that Lieut. Browning, a fluent Spanish scholar, 

 was some time learning to understand their 

 language. Our circus party left us here; the 

 woman who was really the queen of the show came 

 to thank us for our protection, which she did most 

 gracefully, and gave us a courteous invitation to 

 her show and fandango, the termination to every 

 Mexican entertainment, wedding, christening, and 

 even battle. I could not go, but several of the 

 party did, and pronounced the senoritas quite good 

 looking. 



June 1 8th, Parral} Half way between El Valle 

 and Parral, at a rancho on one of the bends of the. 

 Rio Florida, is a most splendid specimen of 



^ Hidalgo del Parral, marked upon the maps both as Hidalgo 

 and as Parral, but more commonly the latter. 



