DESCRIPTION OF THE DE LAS ANIMAS. 305 



After riding a few miles we struck the Timpa, a small affluent of che 

 Arkansas, up which we travelled till the next day about noon, when, coming 

 to an Indian trail leading south-southwest to the de las Animas, we follow- 

 ed it and reached the lat(er stream on the 27th of March ; continuing up 

 the de las Animas, three days subsequently we arrived at our destination. 



The country passed over at the commencement of our journey, for fifteen 

 or twenry miles, was a slightly undulating prairie, of a sandy soil, with 

 few indications of productiveness. 



The Timpa is entirely destitute of timber, and its valley, though plen- 

 tiful in absinlhe, is scarcely superior to the surrounding prairie. Sev- 

 eral miles previous to leaving it, our course lay between two ridges of 

 forbidding and sterile hills, nearly destitute of vegetation, and affording 

 only now and then a few scraggy cedars and shrubs. Indeed, but very lit- 

 tle good land is found in this vicinity. 



On diverging from the Timpa the trail crossed a high, arid prairie, 

 which was furrowed by deep ravines, and ridged by long rolling hills, 

 that were oocasionally surmounted by cedars and pinions, until it struck 

 the de las Animas. 



The watercourses through this section are rare, and sparsely timber- 

 ed, being for the most part shut in by high banks of earth or lofty 

 walls of precipitous rock, varying in altitude, and presenting vast chasms, 

 passable only at certain points. Their valleys are narrow, but possess 

 a fertile soil which is to some extent susceptible of cultivation, while 

 many parts of the adjacent prairies might answer for grazing purposes. 



The prevailing rock, so far as my observation extended, was coarse- 

 grained granite and limestone. I noticed at places along the creek val- 

 leys occasional spots of calcareous earth ; and, in fact, their soils general- 

 ly indicated the presence of calcium in their compound, to no incon- 

 siderable extent. 



The valley of the Rio de las Animas was by far the most interesting 

 and romantic section of country we had as yet entered upon in the Mexi- 

 can, or, as it is now claimed, Texan territory. This stream, in English, 

 bears the name of Purgatory creek; in French, it is known as the Piquet 

 Veau, or Water of Suffering; in Indian, it is called the Wild River, and in 

 Spanish, it is christened by the term above used, which means the River 

 of Souls. 



It rises in the Taos Mountains by two separate heads, a little south 

 of the Spanish Peaks, and emerges from its rugged birth-place into the 

 plains, where the two branches trace their way for some fifty miles and 

 then unite to torm one stream. These forks are passably well timbered, and 

 are skirted at intervals with rich bottoms ; but tlie circumjacent country is 

 dfj ^o-iUng, and generally barren. 



A fehort distance below their confluence the river cuts its way through 

 an expanse of high, barren table lands, for sixty or sixty-five miles, leaving 

 abrupt walls of rock and earth on both sides, piled to a varied height of 

 from fifty to three or four hundred feet, surmounted by groves of cedar and 

 pinion, interspersed with broad pavements of naked rock, nude wastcb of 

 Btifi" sun-baked clay, and occasional clusters of coarse grass. 



26* 



