570 



_r 



jEx. Doc. No. 41 



I 



ever went fishing in the Del Norte; he said no; he was afraid the 

 Navajoes would catch him. ' ^ 



October 1.— Marched at 9; the ox teams being near camp, o"n 

 their way when we started; passed a succession of vallejs, and 



- . , . ,, opposite the up- 



per end of an extensive Bosque, on the banks of the Del Norte, 

 which runs one and a half miles to the east of us. The quantity 

 of ground under cultivation was greater, and the quantity of stock, 

 on^he increase; the plain or bottom of the Del Norte gets widerA 



(distance 16 miles,) 



October 2. — M 



M 



uninhabited; in some places the ground was crusted with efflores- 

 cent soda, and in other places it was for hundreds of vkrds des- 

 titute of all vegetation. The heat was excessive; the roads were 

 good, but. dpubtless, from their appearance, very bad after much 

 rain. The American^troops had not yet made their appearance in 

 tills quarter, and the inhabitants looked as if they did not know 



'What to rnaVp n? nnr *l,nc, c;i„„tl,, u:_-. .^i_ i .1 - . 



on our 



distant pilgrimage to California. We have had 



g 



cod 



deal to do with them in the way of trading mules; 'and they show 

 tnat the tricks of horse jockeys are not confined to the Anglo 

 aaxon race: their people have so seldom been dealt with honora- 

 Oly that they cannot Relieve any one is dealing fairly with them. 



The mountains below Socora, through which we are to approach 

 the Gila, appear in front of us; from their appearance, one would 

 naturally look for a pass to the Gila in the gap above, instead of 

 going around the one on the left. The apparent distance of moun- 

 tains IS very deceptive; the guesses vary -to-day from fifteen to 

 sixty males about the same mountains. The knobs do not present 

 themselves in ranges yet, nor do they appear much above the gen- 

 eral level. The river hills passed to-day are composed of coarse 

 conglomerate, running in seam? with sand, all scarcely of the con- ^ 

 sistence of stone: pebbles of all the productive minerals mixed 

 with pebbles of lava. The knobs on the right of the Del' Norte 

 appear to be composed of peaks of granite. The heat to-day ex- 

 cessive. Encamped oonosite La Jozin, in a pleasant grove of cot- 

 ton-woods. * ° ' 



Oct 



alns and some M 



^!f fi'i!'^''^'^ r'^ J^1 ^^^'*'" ^"^ ^^y ^° '^"'- '•e^n caught some fine 

 cat fish and soft-shell turtle in the Del Norte. During the day, an 



express came in from Pulvidera, 12 miles^down the river, inform- 

 ing the general that the Navajoes had attacked the tillage; and he 



stlH fiTr''''^ V ^^t" ^^'"^"'^J" bring the artillery where they were 

 still faghting when he left; for.fo;^ a/t •'.... ■' 



Cnlnn Y^^^!"^^ ''^ t'^« Mexicans, and orders were sent to-day to 

 Co onel Doniphan to make a. campaign in the Navajo country; ex- 

 amined minutely the diluvial deposits which fills the valley of the 





^^ 



f 



