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46 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



tte topograpliy of the country, and also the ignorance of foreign- 

 ers who have lived fifteen or twenty years in Santa Fe, no one could 

 tell me where the Rio Santa Fe debouched into the Ria Grande. 



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I may here remark, that every night I furnished the distances 

 travelled over to General Kearny at headquarters, and very often 



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In many cases these 



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and the distances have been published^ I shall, therefore, not repeat 

 them. The latitudes in some cases have been incorrectly reported, 

 and in others recomputed, and ar6 therefore now given as final 



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suits. 



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September 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30.— We marched over the same 

 ground already travelled over and described, between the 2d and 



7th of September. 



Below Zandia we were attracted by a great noise. It proceeded 

 .from a neighboring rancheria, where we saw eight or ten naked fel- 

 lows hammering away in a trough full of cornstalks, as I had never 

 seen Mexicans exert themselves before.. The perspiration from 

 their bodies was rolling off into the trough in profusion, and ming- 

 ling with the crushed cane. This was then taken out, boiled, and 

 transferred to a press, as primitive in construction as any thing 

 from the hands of Father Abraham.' 



The hopper was the trunk of a scooped cotton wood tree, into 

 this was inserted a billet of wood, upon which the lev^r rested 

 about midway. Men, women, and children were mounted on each 

 end; all see-sawing in the highest glee. I suggested, as an im- 

 provement, that one end of the lever be confined, and the whole of 

 the living weight be transferred to the other end. ^^No! No!" said 

 the head man, '^if I do that, the fun of see-sawing will be over, 

 and I can't get any bftdy to work.'' The man was a disciple of 

 Charles Fourier, and desired 'Ho make labor attractive.'' 



The morning of the 29th opened with a grand trade in mules and 

 horses. A few days' experience was quite enough to warn us that 

 our outfit would not answer, and the general directed that all the 

 poor mules and horses should be exchanged for fat ones. The 

 scene reminded one more of a horse market than a regular camp- 

 The more liberal were our offers for the animals, the more exorbi- 

 tant became the demands of the Mexicans. 



At Albuquerque I was directed to call and see Madame Ar. 

 miio, and ask her for the map of New Mexico, belonging to her 

 husband, which she had in her possession. I found her ladyship 

 sitting on an ottoman smoking, after the fashion of her country- 

 women, within reach of a small silver vase filled uith coal. She 

 said she had searched for the map without success; if not in Santa 

 Fe, her husband must have taken it with him to Chihuahua. 



We crossed the Rio Grande del Norte at Albuquerque, its width 

 was about twenty-five yards, and its deepest part just up to the hubs 

 of the wheels. It is low at present, but at no time, we learned, is 

 its rise excessive — scarcely exceeding one or two feet. 



We encamped a little more than half way between Albuqu'erque 

 and Pardillas, on a sandy plain, destitute of wood, and with little 

 grass. ^ - - 





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