

470 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



■ 



l)oreas;") large flocks of them are found feeding on the bed of the 

 *^Rio St. Juan," which river runs close by ''Lnguna.". 



The Indians here have numbers of turkeys and chickens. I also 

 saw some lame macaws, that must have come far from the south. 

 Tfce^ '' Pueblos'' haVe a great fancy for •taming birds, and in this 

 respect resemble the ancient Aztecas. But they have lost the art 

 of making' the beautiful .feather embroidery, spoken of by Cla- 

 vigero, De Solis, and others, 



October 21. — Having risen early, and bade adieu to our friends*^ 

 we set out in a southwestern direction for the town of ''^Acoma." 

 AYe were very glad to get away from Laguna, for being encamped 

 near the town, we were surrounded by crowds of children, who, 

 impelled by curiosity, flooded the camp. They did not attempt 

 to steal anything, but they impeded the men in the performance of 

 their duties. 



* # 



For the first six or seven miles, until we reached some corn- 

 fields, we had a broad road before us- The rest of the route was 

 marked by sheep paths- When near '' Acoma,'' we met some 

 Mexicans, with several "burros,'' laden with peaches, water mel- 

 lons, and dried fruit, which they were conveying to Colonel Jack- 

 son's command at '^Covero.^' They had purchased the fruit of the 



^ Pueblos of Acoma, for a mere trifle, and sold the peaches to us 

 for a real the dozen- 



We noticed to-day a variety of a yucca, whose leaves are convex 

 on the under side, and concave on the upper, and much broader 

 than the leaves of the Y. angustifolia. On the cedar trees we 

 found a species oli mistletoe; it was leafless, and had pink berries 



■ that tasted like cedar berries. 



We travelled through a level valley, in which w.e saw many 



i-r^.- 



flocks of sheep grazing:, attended by Indian pastores and their 



*€ver watchful degs. I tried to purchase some sheep from the 



people, who were guarding; them, but I could n( t induce them to 



e any bargain until a chief, attended by some eight or tent 

 Tu.aans, rode up. He appeared to be a wealthy man, and we soon 

 agreed about the purcha^.e. He said that his parly were going to 

 ^iit.:i- Fc; t)>py V. ere armed with bows and arrows, and guns. 



^r-% r 



^ } r: t-_._i me very much of the Comanchees, except that these 

 Inttians vrea^' long woollen stockings, of their own manufacture 





re new quite close to bur goal, the ultima thult* of our 

 .' "Vance towards '^el sol poniento." On our right hand, stretching 

 5V" :y to ihe^south, is a magnificient "sierra," that raises its sum- 

 ;nits several thousand feetj where they mingle with the clouds. 

 Frcm the valley in which we journey huge blocks of sandstone 

 rise, the tops of w^hich are horizontal, and the sides of which reach 

 p^^^pendir-'arly to the height of 3i)0 or 400 feet above the plain. 

 Thl^ sandstone is very hard, it breaks in long prisms, whose angles 

 seemed to resist the rounding influence of the weather. This rock 

 exhibits tints of yellow and of light red. 



After a journey of 15 miles we arrived at *' AcomaJ' High on 

 a lofty rock of sandstone, such as I have described, sits the city «f 

 *^ Acoma, '^ On the northern side of the rock, the rude boreal 



^ 



