140 RIO DEL NORTE. 



auctors had fiUed up." This, I must confess, 

 savors considerably of the marvellous, as not 

 the least knowledge of these facts appears to 

 have been handed down to the present gene- 

 ration. During very great droughts, how- 

 ever, this river is said to have entirely disap- 

 peared ni the sand, in some places, between 

 San Ekeario and the Presidio del Norte. 



Notwithstanding the numerous tributary 

 streams wliich would be supposed io pour 

 their contents uito the Rio del Norte, yqtj few 

 reach their destination before they are com- 

 pletely exhausted. Rio Puerco, so caUed 

 from tlie extreme muddiness of its waters, 

 would seem to form an exception to this rule. 

 Yet this also, although at least a hundred 

 miles ui length, is dr>' at the mouth for a por- 

 tion of the year. The creek of Santa Fe itself 

 though a bold and dashing ri\ailet in the 

 immediate vicinity of the momitains, sinks 

 into insignificance, and is frequently lost al- 

 together before it reaches the main river. Pe- 

 cos and Conchos, its most important inlets, 

 would scarcely be entitled to a passing re- 

 mark, but for the geograpliical error of Baron 

 Humboldt, who set doivn the former as the 

 head branch of ' Red River of Natchitoches.' 

 These streams may be considered the first 

 constant-flowing inlets which the Rio del 

 Norte receives from Santa Fe south— say for 

 the distance of five hundred miles ! It is then 

 no wonder that this ♦ Great River of the North' 

 decreases m volume of water as it descends. 

 In fact, above the region of tide- water, itis al- 



