Ex. Doc. No. 41. 581 



Lt., Davidson being in charge of tliemj lay out at the base of the 

 mountains; after dark, one of his howitzers and a mule rolled 

 down a steep declivity and disappeared in the dark in a ravine,"' 

 where he had some difficulty in finding them; it was'j'howeverj un- 

 , injured. Camp on plenty of grama grass; distance 18 miles. 

 '/ October 22. — The howitzer arrived, and we marched at 10, cross- 

 ing the Gila several times, as we ^ raove down it for four miles; we 

 then crossed it, and made a circuit of 14 miles to. the south side, to 

 get aroun,d a canon through which the river flows; our road was 

 bad, from the number of gutters cut deep through the diluvion, of 

 which the whole country, except the mountain peaks, is composed; 

 it forms the substance of the plains of the Del Norte and the Gilaj 

 and, from its general Uv^I, no doubt, was Teposited in the bed of 

 an ocean. We passed a numbef'of smaller mountains or hills, ap- 

 parently composed of black basalt; and the canon of the Gila here 

 is caused by a seam of it crossing the course of the river, through 

 which the water has cut, a way; under this seam of basalt,, there lies 

 a succession of white sandstone rocks, with a dip to the north, and 

 incurved east and west. The character of these rocks is the same 

 as that which occurs on the Del Norte at our camp on the llth^ 

 October; and in general the formation of the country, so far, on 

 this river, is similar to that on the Del Norte. The vegetation, to- 

 day, is more of a tropical character; the large prickly pear, with 

 a tree-trunk six or seven feet high, made its appearance; a new 

 shrub made its appearance; it appeared to be without leaves, an<i 

 looked like large bunches of the green thorn which defend the 

 trunks of the young honey-locusts in Ohio; it bore a smell likm 

 blackberry; there were two new varieties of cactus on the road, and 

 the Spanish bayonets grew in great abundance; encamped on the 

 bluffs, 180 feet above the water, the grass being scarce in the bot^ 

 tom. Distance, 18 miles. 



October 23. — I went back after my mule, which old Rob had let 

 get away from him; found it by travelling where we left the Gila 

 esterday; discovered that the diluvion is formed into stone on the 

 anks of the Gila above the caiion, forming perpendicular walls, 

 upon which, for 30 feet above the level of the stream, the action of 

 water was plainly visible; returned to the old camp, and slept; the 

 troops moved at 9, and continued down the river, on a good roa^^ 

 coming into a plain with the salt grass upon it; the road side was 

 -strewed with pieces of broken pottery, which led to examination, 

 and the evidence of a large village was plain; one foundation was 

 found, 80 feet by 40; 2ij!eur de terre; and there were piles of round 

 stones, which had been used in former buildings; the place must 

 have been occupied for a long time, as the quantity of broken pot- 

 tery was very great; the fragment? were apparently just like those 

 in the daily use of the present New Mexicans; I followed here tO 

 overtake the troops, and did not have time to make any searches 

 who it was that occupied these places. J^as it Spanish or the Az- 

 tecs ^quien sab e'i The buildings of adobe do not remain long as ruias; 

 perhaps they were Sp?iniards, who worked m?ne5 in the neighbor- 

 hood, and were subsequently driven out by the Indians, as they 



