288 A CAMPAIGN OF VOLQNTEEKS, 



some time ; but since that officer's departure 

 from New Mexico, no man has been found of 

 sufficient capacity to inspire this daring- tribe 

 either with respect or fear ; so that for the last 

 ten years they have ravaged the country witli 

 impunity, murdering and destroying just as 

 the humor happened to prompt them. When 

 the spring of tlie year api^roaches, terms of 

 peace are generally proposed to the govern- 

 ment at Santa Fe, which the latter never fails 

 to accept. This amicable anangement ena- 



bles the wily Indians to sow their crops at 

 leisure, and to dispose of the property stolen 

 from the Mexicans during their marauding 

 incursions, to advantage ; but the close of 

 their agricultural labors is generally followed 

 by a renewal of hostilities, and the game of 

 rapine and destruction is played over again. 



Towards the close of 1835, a volunteer corps, 

 which most of the leading men in New Mexi- 

 co joined, was raised for the purpose of car 

 ry'mg war into the territory of the Navajoes. 

 The latter hearing of their approach, and 

 anxious no doubt to save them the h'ouble of 

 so long a journey, mustered a select band of 

 their warriors, who went forth to intercept the 

 invaders in a mountain pass, where they lay 

 concealed in an ambuscade. The valiant 

 corps, utterly unconscious of the reception 

 that awaited them, soon came jogging along 



scattered groups, indulging in every kind 



of boisterous mirth; when the war-whoop, 

 loud and shrill, followed by several shots, 

 threw them all into a state of speechless con- 



