ARRIVAL AT CHIHUAHUA. 83 
for the United States the spring previous, and 
was daily expected back. The officers of the 
custom-house were already compromised by 
certain cogent arguments to receive the pro- 
prietors of this caravan with striking marks 
of favor, and the Senor ddandipadee de Ren- 
tas, Zuloaga himself, was expecting an ancheta 
of goods. Therefore, had they treated us with 
their wonted severity, the contrast would have 
been altogether too glaring. 
We arrived at Chihuahua on the first of 
October, after a trip of forty days, with wagons 
much more heavily laden than when we start- 
ed from the United States. The whole dis- 
tance from Santa Fé to Chihuahua is about 
550 miles—being reckoned 320 to Paso del 
Norte, and 230 from thence to Chihuahua. 
The road from El Paso south is mostly firm 
and beautiful, with the exception of the sand- 
hills before spoken of; and is only rendered 
disagreeable by the scarcity and occasional ill- 
savor of the water. The route winds over 
an elevated plain among numerous detached 
ridges of low mountains—spurs, as it were, of 
the main Cordilleras, which lie at a considera: 
ble distance to the westward. Most of these 
extensive intermediate plains, though in many 
places of fertile looking soil, must remain 
wholly unavailable for agricultural purposes, 
on account of their natural aridity and a total 
lack of water for irrigation. 
