76 EL PASO DEL NORTE. 
mires. In some places, if a wagon is permit- 
ted to stop in the river but for a moment, it 
sinks to the very body. Instances have oc- 
curred where it became necessary not only to 
drag out the mules by the ears and to carry 
out the loading package by package, but to 
haul out the wagon piece by piece—wheel 
by wheel. 
On the 14th we made our entrance into 
the town of E/ Paso del Norte,* which is the 
northernmost settlement in the department 
of Chihuahua. Here our cargo had to be ex- 
amined by a stern, surly officer, who, it was 
feared, would lay an embargo on our goods 
upon the slightest appearance of irregularity 
in our papers; but notwithstanding our gloomy 
forebodings, we passed the ordeal without any 
difficulty. 
The valley of El Paso is supposed to con- 
tain a population of about four thousand in- 
habitants, scattered over the western bottom 
of the Rio del Norte to the length of ten ortwelve 
miles. These settlements are so thickly in- 
terspersed with vineyards, orchards, and corn- 
fields, as to present more the appearance of a 
series of plantations than of a town: in fact, 
only a small portion at the head of the valley, 
where the plaza publica and parochial church 
are located, would seem to merit this title. 
yet many persons very rationally derive it from the : 
river (el paso del Rio del Norte) between two points of mountains 
which project against it from each side, just above the town. 
