70 ROAD ACCOMMODATIONS. 
the interior of Northern Mexico, yet, on ace 
count of the hostile savages which infest most 
of the country through which we had to pass, 
it was necessary to unite in caravans of re- 
spectable strength, and to spare few of those 
precautions for safety which are required on 
e ries. i 
The road we travelled passes down through 
the settlements of New Mexico for the first 
hundred and thirty miles, on the east side of 
the Rio del Norte. Nevertheless, as there 
was not an inn of any kind to be found upon 
the whole route, we were constrained to put 
up with very primitive accommodations. Be- 
ing furnished from the outset, therefore, with 
blankets and buffalo mgs for bedding, we 
were prepared to bivouac, even in the sub- 
urbs of the villages, in the open air; for in this 
dry and salubrious atmosphere it is seldom 
that travellers go to the trouble of pitching 
tents.* When travelling alone, however, or 
with but a comrade or two, I have always ex- 
perienced a great deal of hospitality from the 
rancheros and villageois of the country. ‘What- 
ever sins these ignorant people may have to 
answer for, we must accord to them at least 
two glowing virtues—gratitude and hospitality. 
Ihave suffered like others, however, from 
one very disagreeable custom which prevails 
* How scant soever our outfit of ‘ camp comforts’ might appear, 
our ed muleteers were much more _sparely ae eo a 
e endured by this ferns race is really 
dest ; rarely 
