164 FORT LANCASTER, ETC. 



" Carraho, Americana !" said the Mexican, levelling his gun at the speaker. 

 In an instant a pistol-shot from the latter laid him prostrate, — the ball en- 

 tering his chest near the heart. No further resistance was offered, and the 

 assailants retired with their booty. 



The next morning, however, they returned, and the two parties com- 

 promised the matter by certain conciliatory arrangements, which resulted in 

 the Americans giving up the captured animals, on condition that the Mexi- 

 cans should in future be less insolent and conduct their trade on more 

 reasonable terms. 



The wounded man recovered in three or four weeks, and was now ready 

 to accompany his party on their homeward-bound journey. 



A large number of Mexicans are employed at the different trading posts 

 in this vicinity. They prove quite useful as horse-guards, and also in 

 taking care of cattle and doing the drudgery connected with these estab- 

 lishments. 



Their wages vary from four to ten dollars per month, which they receive 

 in articles of traffic at an exhorbitant price ; — viz : calicoes, (indifferent 

 quality,) from fifty cents to one dollar per yard ; blue cloth, from five to ten 

 dollars per do. ; powder, two dollars per lb. ; lead, one do. do. ; coffee, one 

 do. do. ; tobacco, from two to three do. do. ; second hand robes, two dollars 

 apiece, — and everything else in proportion. 



Their wages for a whole year, in actual value, bring them but a trifling 

 and almost nameless consideration. Notwithstanding, these miserable 

 creatures prefer travelling four hundred miles to hire for such diminutive 

 wages, rather than to remain in their own country and work for less. 

 They know of no better way to get a living, and are, therefore, happy in 

 their ignorance, and contentedly drag out a wretched existence as best they 

 may. 



After a period of service they generally return home laden with the pal- 

 try proceeds of their toil, and, yielding to the impulses of custom, a single 

 fandango is sufficient to leave them penniless like the squalid crowd with 

 whom they mingle. 



A week's stay at the Fort restored me to health and soundness from the 

 debilitating effects of the fever and ague, without a resort to medicine. 

 This disease (the first and only attack of which I ever experienced) had 

 made fearful inroads upon my strength during the short interval of its con- 

 tinuance, and rendered me unfit for travelling ; — but, a change of climate 

 and the inhalation of the pure mountain air effected a permanent and speedy 

 cure, in a much less time than I had reason to expect. 



Fort Lancaster occupies a pleasant site upon the south bank of the Platte 

 river, about nine hundred miles from its mouth, and seven hundred and 

 twenty from Independence, in lat. 40'^ 12' 25" north, long. 105° 53' 11" 

 west from Greenwich. The distance from this point to the dividing ridge 

 of the Rocky Mountains is about thirty-five miles, and from Taos, in New 

 Mexico, between three and four hundred miles. 



Long's Peak with its eternal snow appears in distinct view to the west- 

 ward, and imparts to the sunset scenery a beauty and grandeur rarely wit- 

 nessed in any country. This peak is one of the highest of the mountain 

 range, being upwards of 13,500 feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico, 



