-t 



V 



480 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



sVui of a large round grove of cotton-wood trees. There were 

 several flour-mills near, and the houses are well built; that of 

 Senor Otero is as fine as any in the department of New Mexico. 



At Peralta we met with two very polite and communicative gen- 

 tlemen; they freely answered our interrogatories, and kindly fur- 

 nished us with some pamphlets and several copies of the " Repub- 

 licano,'' a paper published in the city of Mexico. Three miles to 

 the southj is the village of '^Valencia/' the capital of the county^ 

 of the same name. Directly opposite to use, on the west side of 

 the river, is the town of '^ Lentes," and one and a half miles south 

 of it, the town of '^ Lunes." We now returned to ^' Padillas,'' and 

 on our way stopped at " Isletta;'' we entered some of the houses 

 ' of the Indians, who had numbers of buffalo robes, which they 

 ofi^ered to trade. They had also apples and bunches of grapes — the 

 latter fruit they liang up on the rafters^ where it does not decay as 

 it would do in the United States. In fact so pure is the air, and^ 

 so frte from all tainting influences, that meat may be i ung up in 

 the same way, at any season, without fear of being spoiled. One 

 of the favorite dishes of the Mexicans consists of meat that has 

 been dried by simply hanging it over cords that are stretched be- 

 neath the ^' portales'' of the house for this purpose. The Indian* 

 also preserve their melons for some time, plucking them before they* 

 . are entirely ripe, and suspending them by twine manufactured from 

 ^ fibres of the yucca or palmillo. 



In good season we reached ^^ Padillas,'' when I at once called 

 to see Stnor Don Jose Chavez, to inquire of him when I could pro- 

 cure a guide, when, he kindly promised to send me one of his 

 peones on the coming morning. 



October 30. — We again crossed tbe river, and then continued 

 onwards, in a course almost due east, for the mighty range of the 

 Sierra Blanca. The first three miles was up a sandy acclivity^ 

 which gave our wagon mules some severe labor; but, having at 

 last reached the top of the ascent, we found a fine compact road, 

 over a plain composed cf clay and gravel. For the first twelve 

 miles the road continued its direct course; at length we began to 

 approach '^ el canon infierno," when our road leads us over beds 

 - of limestone. This was full of little patches of hornstone, which 

 v;ere varied with cracks that were now filled with calcareous 

 matter, so that the patches resembled ludus helmontii, or sep- 

 taria. 



The road, on botb sides, was thickly studded with several specieS 

 of yucca and cacti. The mountains were covered with snow, and 

 soon began to feel a great difference in the temperature of the* 

 air as we proceeded. 



Having marched sixteen miles, we entered the ^^. canon infierno;'' 

 there w»is a clear stream of cold water, which, as we followed up 

 to its source, we found to be, in many places, entirely absorbed by 

 the sand. Along its bed grew many cottonwood trees and grape- 

 vines; they both show^ the effects of the late frosts; the brilliant 

 yellow of their leaves forms^strong contrast with the sombre green 



we 



