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Ex. Doc. No. 41. 509 



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through the towns of Corales, Belen, Saucillo, Galvadones, and 

 Lunes. At Belen I obtained some beautiful specimens of selenite, 

 such as the people of this region use to glaze their windows. They 

 also calcine it and mix it with water, and with this mixture white- 

 wash the facades of their dwellings and churches, 



December 19. — Starting at daylight, we reached Isletta at noon. 

 Here we saw a beautiful antelope, ^^ dicranoceros furcifer.'' It had 

 been wounded so that the pueblos had captured it, and it had now 

 become perfectly domesticated. At Padillas we tried to purchase 

 corn, but the people wished to receive $4 the cestal, (a bag | vera 

 wide by 1| veras long.) We passed through ^^ Pajarito,'' and in 

 the evening crossed the Rio de Norte and encamped at Albuquer- 

 que. We found the west side of the river to be much the best for 

 loaded w-agons; one thus avoids those terrible sand hills at Joyeta 

 at Socorro, and at Bosequecito; however, one must be cautious in 

 crossing the Rio del Norte wuth wagons containing such immense 

 loads as the trader's wagons, for some of the traders told me that 

 the bottom of the river is not sufficiently firm to bear great 

 weights- . ■ 



At Albuquerque we found Captain Burgwin and Captain Grier, 

 with their troops quartered in the adobe houses. They find the 

 place very healthy, and the surgeon, Doctor Simpson, tells me that 

 there is no sickness except amongst the Mexicans, who have lost 

 many of their children by the measles and the whooping couo-h. 



Around the soldiers' quarters the sentinels were stationed in\ll 

 directions, even on the tops of the houses, and the strictest vigil- 

 ance was observed, no one being allow^ed to pass with the counter- 

 sign unless recognized by the men on post, 



-. December 20. — We now bade adieu to our brother soldiers, who 

 seemed only tp regret that they were not also going back to the 

 United States. On our road we found much snow, which had ap- 

 parently been on the ground several days; it was thawing fast, and 

 the air was extreiiffely chill. At Alemeda we stopped to purchase 

 corn. One of my men came and told me that he had just been bit- 

 ten by a dog. ' I told him to shoot it, w^hich he did. When the 

 poor woman heard the report of the pistol, she came immediately, 

 crying out, ^^ morteron mj perro, morteron mi perro^" and looked 

 dolefully. Indeed, I heartily pitied her, but she certainly ought 

 to have kept such a dog tied, and it would not have been killed. 

 Some Mexicans afterwards looked at the man^s leg, but they seemed 

 to think it was a mere trifle. We now pass through the nueblo 



J5>andia." On our march we saw a great many flocks of shore- 

 larks, and many ravens, while the blackbirds, in immense flocks, 

 "Were hopping about the fodder-stacks and sheds of the corrales. 

 In the evening we reached the pretty little town of Bernalillo, and 

 "^e encam.ped close by the neat haciendas at the northern ex- 

 treme of the town. Here are tjje handsomest ar^d best arranged 

 "vineyards in the whole department, and the houses show a greater 

 appearance of wealth and comfort. 



December 21. — In the morning, when I called to pay the charges 

 of our landlord for the use of his corral, and for the bundles of 



