RUINS OF VALVERDE. 71 
among them. Instead of fixing a price for 
the services they bestow upon travellers, they 
are apt to answer, “Lo que guste,” or “ Lo que 
le dé la gana” (whatever yo you please, or have a 
mind to give), expecting, of course, that the 
liberal foreigner will give more than their 
consciences “would permit them to exact. 
In about ten days’ drive we passed the 
southernmost settlements of New Mexico, and 
twenty or thirty miles further down the river 
we came to the ruins of Valverde. This vil- 
lage was founded about twenty years ago, in 
one of the most fertile valleys of the Rio del 
Norte. It increased rapidly in population, un- 
til it was invaded by the Navajoes, when the 
inhabitants were obliged to abandon the place — 
after considerable loss, and it has never since 
been repeopled. The bottoms of the valley, 
many of which are of rich alluvial loam, have 
lain fallow ever since, and will perhaps con- 
tinue to be neglected until the genius of civi- 
lization shall have spread its beneficent influ- 
ences over the land. This soil is the more 
valuable for cultivation on account of the fa- 
cilities for irrigation which the river affords; 
as it too frequently happens that the best lands 
of the settlements remain unfruitful for want 
of water. 
Our next camping place deserving of men- 
tion was Fray Cristobal, which, like many 
others on the route, is neither town nor vil- 
lage, but a simple isolated point on the river- 
bank—a mere parage, or camping-ground. 
We had already passed San Pascual, El Con- 
