98 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



We traveled over a sandy plain a few miles, and descended into 

 the wide bed of the Colorado, overgrown thickly with mezquite, 

 willow, and cotton wood; after making about ten miles, we en- 

 camped abreast of the ford on a plateau covered with young wil- 

 lows, of which our horses were to lay in a sufficient supply to last 

 them over the desert. Since writing the above, we have fountl a 

 good patch of grass, and our people have been ordered to cut a ra- 

 tion for each mule to carry along. 



The night was excessively cold and damp, and in the morning 

 our blankets were covered with a little dew. For the first time, 

 the bugle calls were distinctly reverberattd, showiiig the atmos- \ 

 heric change as we approach the coast, and descend into theneigh- 

 orhood of the sea level. In New Mexico, even when surrounded 

 "by hills and perpendicular walls, the report of fire arms, and the 

 sound of the bugle, were unattended by any distinct echo. The 

 reports were sharp and unpleasant, not rounded, as here, by the 

 reverberation. ^ 



The country, from the Arkansas to this point, more than 1,200 

 miles, in its adaptation to agriculture, has peculiarities which must 

 forever stamp itself upon the population which inhabits it. All of 

 iHorth Mexico, embracing New Mexico, Chihuahua, Sonora, and 

 the Californiasj as far north as the Sacramento, are, as far as the 

 best information goes, the same in the physical character of its sur 

 face, and differ but little in climate or products. 



In no part of this vast tract can the rains from Heaven be relied 

 upon, to 8.ny extent, for the cultivation of the soil. The earth is 

 destitute of trees, and in great part also of any vegetation whatever. 



A few feeble streams flow in different directions from the great 

 mountains, which in many places traverse this region. These 

 streams are separated, sometimes by plains, and sometimes by 

 mountains, without water and without vegetation, and may ^^ 

 called deserts, so far as they perform any useful part in the suste- 

 nance of animal life. 



The cultivation of the earth is therefore confined to those nar- 

 row strips of land which are within the level of the waters of the 

 streams, and wherever practised in a community with any success, 

 or to any extent, involves a degree of subordination, and absolute 

 obedience to a chief, repugnant to the habits of our people- 



The^ chief who directs the time and the quantity of the precious 

 irrigating water must be implicitly obeyed by the whole commu- 

 nity. A departure from his orders, by the waste of water, or un- 

 just distribution of it, or neglect to make the proper embankmentSy^. 

 may endanger the means of subsistence of many people. He must 

 therefore be armed with power to punish promptly and immediately- 



The profits of labor are too inadequate for the existence of negro 

 slavery. Slavery, as practised by the Mexicans, under the form oi 



peonage, which enables their master to get the services of the adult 

 while m the prime of life, without the obligation of rearing hid i^ 

 infancy, supporting him in old age, or maintaining his family, af- 

 fords no data for estimating the profits of slave labor, as it exists 

 in the United States. 



#» 



