464 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



This place exhibts signs of wealth; the houses %v'ere larger than 

 any we had yet seenj along the road side were hea^tiful vineyards, 

 surrounded by high walls of abohes; we rode up to one of thftn, 

 and looking over, saw some pretty ^' doncellas" pi ucking the fruit. 

 They had rounil flat looking baskets, placed on tSieir heads; thfse 

 were piled with thick-clustered bunches of the purple grape, from 

 beneath w^hich the bright black eyes of the ** doncellas" were 

 sparkling. We could not pass by such a beautiful vineyard, so we 

 stoped and asked for some fruit; some of the maidens, with merry 

 faces, came towards us, when they w^ere suddenly stopped by the 

 gruff voice of a man crying out, that he would himself bring the 

 grapes. We now rode round to the other side of the vineyard; 

 here vve saw long rows of vats of ox hides; they looked bloated, 

 as if puffed out with good liquor; in them the fjrapes are thrown, 

 in order to ferment, after which they are distilled to make the 

 brandy of New Mexico. We bought as many grapes as w^e wished 

 and then continued our march, uotil we reached some salt ponds, 

 not far from 4he town, where we encamped; and here were some 

 large flocks of blue cranes; they kept up a gfeat w^hooping. 

 * I obtained today a specimen of a singular lizardj we saw seve- 

 ral large tarantula, and many meadow-lark:?, flying about amongst 

 the stalks of corn; most of the corn is now being gathered, 



October 14. — This morning we took the road iying close tothc 

 b^uff, and we passed " Sandia,'' a pueblo, the houses of which are 

 only one story high, but have no entrance ex^pt on the roof, ' 

 where it is sheltered by a curious conical structure, built of adobes. 

 These have an opening on the south side, and one ascends to the 

 azoteas, or roof, by means of ladders. Hrre we sa^ some people 

 driving herds of cattle; they were arrned with slings, and used 

 them most unmercifully. As the pebbles whizzed through the air, 

 the poor beasts tossed their heads as if in great dread. The sling 

 is mentioned by De Solis, as used by the Aztecs and Tezcucans, in 

 battle. 



Our course now led us by the side of a large acequia; this forced 

 us to go some distance from Alemada; at last, we found a place 

 where we could cross, and went directly to that town. 



At length we reached a fine vineyard, within three miles of Al- 

 buquerque, where ^ we purchased some onions. These vegetables 

 gtow to a remarkable size, and form one of the indispensable arti- 

 cles to a Mexican dinner. The adobe walls in tlie vicinity have 

 the tops covered with cacti, to prevent persons from plundering the 

 Tines. We noticed, to-day, great quantities of the " myrtina,'* 

 covered with large pods, now lully ripe. 



The ponds bj the road side were filled with ducks, geese, and 

 crane?; it was curious to seethe last mentioned birds striding 

 along, with out-stretched necks, as they prepared t« take flight. 



Oclcber 15.— This morning T sallied forth, intent upon killing 

 some of the cranes that were gathering together ia the corn-fields 

 near our camp. 1 soon procured a fine large bird^ about five feet 

 in height, of which I made a drawing and took the dimensions. 

 JBrant (anser bernicla) are very plenty: we eot somp of thpm also. 



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