Ex. Doc. No. 41. ' 37 



teo. cre^kj but after leaving Santa* Fe some miles, a few sprigs of 

 grama tempted us to bait and bait our nags; but the principal' 

 growth on the plains was ephedra, Fremontia vermicularis, diotis 

 lanata, (Romeria of the Spaniards,) hendecandia Texana. There 

 was also picked up in to-day's journey a verbena pinnatifida, spha- 

 eraJcea stellata, a cleome integrilolia, (a handsome purple flowered 

 herli,) several aster and a species of dicteria, which Dr. Torrey thinks 



new. 



S^pfemher 3. — This has been a great day. An invitation was re- 

 ceived, some days since, from the Pueblo Indians to visit their town 

 of Santo Domingo. From height to height, as we advanced, we 

 saw horsemen disappearing at full speed. As we arrived abreast 

 of the town we were shown by a guide, posted there for the pur- 

 pose, the road to Santo Domingo. The. chief part of the command 

 and the wagon train were sent along the highway; the general with 

 his staff and Captain Burgwyn's squadron of dragoons, wended his 

 way along the bridle path nearly due west to the town. We had 

 not proceeded far, before we 'met ten or fifteen sachemic looking 

 old Indians, well mounted, and two of them carrying gold-headed 

 canes with tassels, the emblems of office in New Mexico. 



Salutations over, we jogged along, and, in the course of conver- 

 sation, the alcalde, a grave and majestic old Indian, said, as if 

 casually, ^' We shall meet some Indians presently, mounted and 

 dressed for war, but they are the young men of my town, friends 

 come to receive you, and I wish you to caution your men not to 

 fire upon them when they ride towards them.'' 



When within a few miles of the town, we saw a cloud of dust 

 rapidly advaftcing, and soon the air was rent with a terrible yell, 

 resembling the Florida war-whoop. The first object 'that caught my 

 eye through the column of dust, was a fierce pair of buffalo horns, 

 overlapped with long shaggy hair. As they approached, the sturdy 

 form of a naked Indian revealed itself beneath the horns, with 

 shield and lance, dashing at full speed, on a white horse, which, 

 like his own body, was painted all the colors of the rainbow; and 

 then, one by one, his followers came on, painted to the eyes, their 

 own' heads and their horses covered with all the strange equipments 

 that the brute creation could afford in the way of horns, skulls, 

 tails, feathers, and claws, 



As'they passed us, one rank on each side, they fired a volley 

 under our horses' bellies from the right and from the left. Our 

 Well-trained dragoons sat motionless on their horses, which went 

 along without pricking an ear or showing any sign of excitement. 

 * Arrived in the rear, the Indians circled round, dropped into a 

 walk on our flanks until their horses recovered breath, when off 

 they went at full speed, passing to our front, and when there, the 

 opposite files met, and each man selected his adversary and kept up 

 a running fight, with muskets, lances, and bows and arrows^ 

 Sometimes a fellow would stoop almost to the earth to shoot under 

 his horses' belly, at full speed, or to shield himself from an impend- 

 ing blow. So they contirued to pass and repass us all the way to 

 the steep cliff which overhangs the town. There they filed on each 



