86 



devil's RITER to el PASO DEL NORTE 



These customs, however, are a source of comfort and happiness in prosperity and in adversity,' 

 in youth and in old age. They fill the imagination and give occupation to the idle, as the 

 lio-lit literature of the day serves the more cultivated races. The padre who presides over the 

 church in this district was hy nature intended for the military profession. Brave, frank, 

 handsome, and energetic, he is the leading spirit in every foray against the Indians, and is 

 by no means an insignificant person in the trade of the place. He bears on his person more 

 than one wound received in hattle. In the present isolated and defenceless state of the Presidio^ 



temporal 



The relations between the Indians of this region and several of the Mexican towns, particu- 

 larly San Carlos, a small town twenty miles below, are peculiar, and well worth the attention 

 of both the United States and Mexican governments. The Apaches are usually at war with the 

 people of both countries, but have friendly leagues with certain towns, where they trade and 

 receive supplies of arms, ammunition, &c., for stolen mules. This is undoubtedly the case 

 with the neonle of San Carlos, who also have amicable relations with the Comanches, who 



Comanches 



* arms in their annual excursions into Mexico. While at the Presidio 

 of the unmolested march through Chihuahua, towards Durango, of 



under Bajo Sol. It seems that Chihuahua, not receiving the pro- 

 tection it was entitled to from the central government of Mexico, made an independent treaty 

 with the Comanches, the practical effect of which was to aid and abet the Indians in their war 



upon Durango. 



In the fall of 1851 I had the honor of entertaining at my camp the excellent and reverend 



Bishop Leamy, who was then on his return from a visit to the Bishop of Durango, to adjust the 

 territorial limits of their respective dioceses to make them conform to the altered boundaries of 

 Kew Mexico and Texas. He stated as his opinion, that the wealthy State of Durango must 

 soon be depopulated by the Indians. Haciendas within a few leagues of the city, that once 

 numbered one hundred thousand animals, are now abandoned. 



This condition of things, together with the three years' drought, had overwhelmed the 

 inhabitants of that State, and had driven them to unmanly despair. On the occasion of a great 

 fiesta in the city of Durango, where no less than ten thousand people were assembled in and 

 around the plaza^ the cry was heard of Los Indies ! Bajo Sol I and in a very short time every 

 one had retreated to his house, leaving no one to face the enemy. The enemy, however, did 

 not appear on the occasion, for it turned out to be a false alarm. 



*'Bajo SoP' is the title assumed by a bold Comanche, who, as his name signifies, claims to be 

 master of everything under the sun. His name, which strikes dismay into every heart through- 

 out Durango, is mentioned only in a whisper. I have never seen the villain or heard his name 

 on the American side, where he probably takes another soubriquet ; but I did meet one of his 

 lieutenants, who, I have no doubt, was in all respects a worthy disciple, I give here a sketch 

 of this rascal, by IMr. Schott : He called himself ^^ Mucho Toro," and represented himself as a 

 Comanche, but he was evidently an escaped Mexican peon. It was in the fall of 1851, in 

 making a rapid march across the continent, escorted by only fifteen soldiers under Lieut. Wash- 

 ington, as we approached the Comanche springs after a long journey without water, that we 

 discovered grazing near the spring quite one thousand animals, divided into three different squads. 

 As we approached we could see with the naked eye a party of thirty or forty warriors drawn 

 op on the hill overlooking the spring. I considered it inevitable to fight, or die with thirst ; so, 

 without making a halt, the men were deployed to the right and left of the wagons as light 



