Ex. Doc- No. 41. 



483 



* 



are situated and the valley of the Rio Pecos. Two miles furthe> 

 hrought us to the deserted village of '^Chililij" from this place * 

 the road continues on in the course to the salt lakes, which are 15 

 miles distant. The town of Chilili is one of modern construclion; 

 the" walls of the houses are formed by placing logs upright in 

 the groundj and plastering thenr>. over with mud. The roofs of the 

 houses are fiat, .and composed of the same materials. The town 

 "was deserted some years ago, otv account of the disappearance of 

 the stream of water that suppliea the place. Part of the inhabi- 

 tants have formed a new town higher up on. the course of this 

 fickle stream. We therefore started for this second town. Having 

 gone a CQuple of miles we found the village, which is one of the 



n 



Ch 



h 



the two places being about 16 miUs distant from each other. W« 

 soon encountered flocks of sheep containing several thousand; wf 

 stopped to purchase som^e, and found them to be remarkably fat. 

 The grazing grounds to the east of the rrountains afford excellent 



a^tiiragej and this basin, around the salt lakes as well as the val- 



ey of ihe Pecos, are deservedly celebrated. 

 While making my selections from the flock of sheep, Lieutenant 

 Pe^ck, who had ridden on a short distance, encountered two Mexi- 

 cans;. no sooner did they see him, than they dismounted, and com- 

 menced examining the loading of their carbines. Lieutenant Peck 

 immediately drew forth the pistols from his holsters, whereupon the 

 men held a council of w^ar, and concluded to cry out "Amigos!'' 

 and then advanced, saying that they had mistaken him for a Na- 



Tajoe. 



At last we reached "Tagiqne," and hunting below the town with- 

 out findinjj any water, we w^ere forced to encamp higher uy on the 

 stream, where we found an abundant supply. Our march, since 



starting, was 22 miles. 



M 



He had, 



lie said, been extremely anxious as to bis safety in rema.ining here, 

 for an insurrectiorary feeling was rife through the w^hole country, 

 and particularly at this out-of-the-way place; and this feeling was 

 Hot a little excited by messages from persons in Chihuahua, stating 

 that they were about to come up by this road, with 11,000 men, 

 and with the assistance of the New Mexicans would destroy all the 

 detestable heretics. And he accidentally heard some of the inha- 

 bitants of this town arranging the partition they would make of his 

 goods; for he was here trading vatH the people for corn, and the 

 'Wagons w^e saw yesterday w^ere some that he had sent on to Santa 

 Fe. Mr. Vaughan said that he had spent thirteen years in this 

 country. He gave me some interesting accounts of the c^storas of 

 the Puebloes, and tells me that they Lave a dance, called Mon- 

 tezuma's dance, which is danced around a pole. 

 that when he first came to this country that the rums of Pecos were 

 inhabited, and that he had been there and seen the sacred fire 



• ^r,,,Jber 2,-As we learned- that the next /^-^^ -^f.^^^^^^^^^^ 



until quite late, ana lo 



* 7 , 



He also stated 



I ' 



miles distant, we did not le^re this place 



- pi 

 I 



