Across the Mexican Mountains 143' 



September 2d. Two days out from Ures we 

 came to some Pimos Indians washing gold from 

 black ore, which they said produced well; we 

 found some lumps of ore in the dust, all of irreg- 

 ular shapes. The value is only about one real 

 (about ten cents) for each bushel of dirt. Each 

 man made about two dollars a day. 



We had fine grass and pond water here, and 

 are off for Altar. 



September Qth. Altar. We reached this place 

 yesterday after eight days journey over barren, 

 sandy hills exactly like these which surround this 

 town. What an eight days it has been, I hate to 

 recall to my mind even by writing these brief 

 notes. Half of us are on foot, our clothes are 

 ragged and torn, and we have lived on half rations, 

 often less, of beans, and what we call bread. Sev- 

 eral days we were twenty and twenty-four hours 

 without water, no grass for our horses, and inex- 

 pressibly weary always. Yet we are well and not 

 as much depressed as might be supposed, and 

 while we are short of nearly everything, money 

 included, our courage is in no degree lessened. 



Altar is a miserable collection of adobe houses, 

 with perhaps a thousand inhabitants; there are 

 only one or two grandees here, but nearly all are 

 of Indian mixture. At one of the little villages 

 through which we passed, La Nada, we had all the 

 town about us, admiring our white (?) faces, and 



