420 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



kads alongside of a torrent shut in closely by rugged rocks that 

 beetle overhead; such a pass that a fewbold men could there hold 



an army at defiance, 



Armijo, knowing the advantages of this place^ threw up breast- 

 works on the crest of cliffs on both sides of the canony filled them 

 with armed men, who also collected piles of huge fragments of rock 

 to hurl down upon the heads of us heretics. He also stationed some 

 pieces of artillery^ so as to have a sweeping fire along the road, en- . 

 closing them by an ^^ abattis '' constructed of the trunks of the cedar., 

 and often whole trees, with the ends of the limbs sharpened and 

 pointed outward, offering an impenetrable barrier to a cavalry charge- 

 As our army approached Armijo retreated, ^^huyeron cobardmente 

 los que juraron morir 6 veneer," and General Kearny entered 

 Santa Fe on the 18th day of August. 



This joyful news made me the more anxious to hurry on to Santa 

 Fe; but ray recovery was extremely slow, as my sickness had been 

 so prolonged* Seeing that I took an interest in the natural his- 

 tory of the country, the gentlemen of the fort would daily visit 

 my room, bringing rare plants and minerals; and I also succeeded 

 in enlisting the services of several Cheyenne Indians, who were 

 lounging about the trading post- On the 26th August, a commis- 

 sary train of 42 wagons arrived. The teamsters refused to go be- 

 yond this place, as their articles of agreement did not require 

 them to go further. During the day, Mr. Nourse, of Washington, 

 who had remained with me ever since I had been sick, kindly pro- 

 cured me some ornithological specimens; among these were the 

 killdeer plover, charadrius vociferous, the dove, ectopistes caro- 

 linensis. The men in their leisure moments amused themselves 

 with fishing. Cat fish and hickory shad are the only kinds I have 

 ever seen in these w^aters; and we found them very palatable, al- 

 though they may not be compared with the white fish of Lake 

 Superior or the rock fish of the Potomac. To-day, Captain Walker, 

 so famous for his adventures in California, paid us a visit. He 

 has a party encamped on the banks of the river about 8 miles 

 north of the fort, and is there awaiting the arrival of Colonels- 

 Price's regiment, for which he has a supply of mules. As the 

 antelope and deer were quite abundant in the vicinity of his camp, 

 Mr. Marcellus St. Vrain went off with him, intending to spend a 

 week in hunting, and obtain relief from the close confinement of 

 the fort. 



Thursday^ August 27. — Anxious to arrange all my preparations 

 in good time, I set about purchasing mules, and bought some very 

 good looking ones, but they were not yet broken to the draught. I 

 had them harnessed, and got Pilka, an old voyageur, to drive them- 

 He was one of those hardy men who had become inured to all 

 kinds of^ difficulty in the service of the American Fur Company, 

 and, having often been placed by necessity in emergencies which 

 called forth all the resources of his ingenuity, had acquired a fa- 

 cility of doing well everything that he undertook. Such men 

 know the necessity of discipline; are ever ready in time of danger. 



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