133 GEOGRAPHICAL RELATIONS. 



The whole nominal territory, inchiding' 

 those bleak and uninhabitable regions with 

 which it is intersected, comprises about 200- 

 000 square miles — considered, of course, ac- 

 cording to its original boundaries, and there- 

 fore independently of the claims of Texas to 

 the Rio del Norte. To whichsoever sove- 

 reignty that section of land may eventually 

 belong, that portion of it, at least, which is 

 mhabited, should remain, united. Any attempt 

 on the part of Texas to make the Rio del 

 Norte the hne of demarkation would greatly 

 retard her ultimate acquisition of the territory, 

 as it would leave at least one tlihd of the 

 population accustomed to tlie same rule, and 

 bound by ties of consanguinity and affinity of 

 customs wholly at the mercy of the conti ^ 

 ous hordes of savages, that inhabit the Cordil- 

 leras on the west of them. This gi-eat chain 

 of mountains which reaches the borders of 

 the Rio del Norte, not far above El Paso, would, 

 in. my opinion, form the most natural bound- 

 ary between the two countries, from thence 

 northward. 



There is not a single navigable stream to 

 be found in New Mexico. The famous Rio 

 del Norte is so shallow, for the most part of 

 the year, that Indian canoes can scarcely float 

 in it Its navigation is also obstructed by fre- 

 quent shoals and ripphng sections for a dis- 

 tance of more than a thousand miles below 

 Santa Fe. Opposite Taos, especially, for an 

 iininterrupted distance of nearly fifteen miles, 

 it runs pent up in a deep canon, through which 



