LOWER RIO BRAVO. 



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earth. There are distinct races among the Indians as among the white men, and before the 

 advent of Christianity they were divided into semi-civilized and wild races. The semi-civilized 

 then, as now, cultivated the soil, lived in houses, some three stories high, and kept faith with 

 each other, and it is among these that Christianity has made any permanent impression. The 

 wild Indians were then, as they are now, at perpetual war with them, leading a nomadic life, 



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defying all restraint, and faithless in the performance of their promises. They have but two 

 settled principles of action — to kill the defenceless and avoid collision with a superior or equal 

 force. In the early stages of my experience with these Indians, 1 was inclined to believe them 

 maltreated, and to consider their present reckless condition the result of the encroachments of 

 the white people upon their rights ; but such is not the case — experience proved to me that no 

 amount of forbearance or kindness could eradicate or essentially modify the predominant savage 

 element of character. The semi-civilized Indians form, however, much the larger class of 

 Indians on the Mexican frontier. Indeed, nine-tenths of the population of all Mexico are 

 Indians, or have the blood of Indians coursing in their veins. Apure white, of unadulterated 

 Spanish blood, is rather the exception than the rule. I do not know how far the effects of the 

 sun can be considered to have bronzed the complexion, but it seemed to me the proportion of pure 

 white in the northern States of Mexico bordering on the boundary, was greater than in southern 

 Mexico, always excepting the cities of Jalapa, Puebla, and Mexico. 



One of the most important duties of our survey was to determine to which side the islands in 

 the Rio Bravo belonged. For this purpose it was agreed between the Mexican commissioner 

 and myself to sound the river on each side of every island, and the centre of the deepest channel 

 should be the boundary line. From the mouth of the river to Einggold Barracks there are eleven 

 islands, marked on the map from 1 to 11, commencing at the mouth, and this order of 

 numbering the Islands is observed until we reach the parallel of 31° 41', where^the boundary 

 leaves the river. The sheets of the boundary, on a scale of -g-o^ 



Ko. 1 beins the mouth of the Rio Grande, and the numbers progressing regularly from the 



CO to the Pacific. The islands are numbered on these sheets to indicate their 

 geographical position, but they are represented also on separate sheets on a scale of ^ o'o o; 

 show their topographical and hydrographic details, and to exhibit upon what data they have 



been allotted to the United States or to Mexico. 



Up to Ringgold Barracks these islands are of little value, hut above that they are of more 

 importance. "" Islands Nos. 12 and 13, between Ringgold Barracks and Roma, both fall to the 

 United States. No. IS, called on the maps Beaver island, divides the waters of the river into 

 three parts, and the channel which lies nearest to the Mexican shore is so narrow that steamers can 

 with difficulty pass through it, yet the branches are, hy reason of their shallowness, wholly impas- 

 sable for them. An attempt was made by the Mexican local authorities to arrest the steamboat in 

 its passage through this channel, but not only the survey, but the actual experience of the navi- 

 gator, proved the narrow one to be the true channel, and consecLuently the boundary between 

 ^he two countries. The allotment of all the islands was made upon the condition of things as 

 they existed when the boundary was agreed upon. The channel of the river may change and 

 throw an island once on the Mexican side to the American, and vice versa, but neither the 

 Mexican commissioner nor myself could provide against such a contingency, none having been 

 anticipated in the treaty. ... 



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