JOUKNEYIXGS OF FATHER ESOALANTE IN 177G. 493 



we crossed it, it is thirty. In this range, and in the westerly portion of it. and in lat. 

 40° 49' (a), in a direction northwest quarter north (north h^ west) from the town 

 of Santa Fe, is the valley of our Lady of Mercy of Timponocnitzis, surrounded by the 

 crests of mountains, whence issue four middle-sized rivers, which water it until* they 

 enter the lake, which lies in the middle thereof. 



"The area of the valley is in extent from southeast to northwest (b) 16 Spanish 

 leagues, which are what we speak of in this journal, and from north to southwest, 10 

 or 12. It is level, and, with the exception of the marshes, which are found on the 

 margin of the lake, is of a very good quality of soil for every kind of -rain. ( )f the 

 four rivers that irrigate it, the first or most southerly is that of Hot Springs (/tin ,{<■ 

 Aquas Calientes), and, in its wide-spreading meadows, there is sufficient irrigable land 

 for two good settlements (pobfuciours); the second, at three leagues north of the first 



sized ones, with an abundance of land, all open to irrigation. This river, before it 

 enters the lake, divides into two branches: on its banks, besides cottonwood trees, there 

 are large alders. We called it the Rio de San Nicolas. Three leagues and a half to 

 the northwest of this comes the third, and the intervening space is composed of flat 

 meadow-land, the soil of which is good for grain-crops. It is more copious than the 

 two preceding streams, has larger groves of cottonwood, and meadows of good soil, 

 with enough of it irrigable to support two, or even three, good 'poblaciones; We 

 were in its neighborhood on the 24th and 25th of September, and we named it * Rio 

 de San Antonio de Padua.' We did not visit the fourth river, though we saw its cot- 

 tonwood groves. It is to the northwest of the San Antonio, and there is in this direc- 

 tion much level land, and, so far as we saw, good: and, therefore, several 'poblaciones' 

 might be established there. They told us that this stream had as much water in it as 

 the others. We called it the Rio de Santa Ana (c). Besides these rivers, there are in 

 the valley many good springs of water, and numerous streamlets that come down from 

 the mountains. What we have just said about the settlements (poblaciones) is to be 

 understood as allowing to each one more land than would be absolutely necessary for 

 it, for if merely one square league of arable land were assigned to each ' pueblo,' 

 there might be established in the valley as many 'pueblos' of Indians as there are in 

 New Mexico; for although in the forementioned directions we gave it a certain 

 extent, it is larger ; for to the south, and in other directions, it has very extensive 

 bays (angulos), and all of them containing good soil. Throughout the whole, there is 

 good and abundant pasturage, and in parts there grow flax and hemp in such abun- 

 dance that it appears as if it had been sown artificially; and the temperature here is 



San Buenaventura, we felt warm everywhere in the valley, both by night and by day. 

 Besides these inau-niticent capabilities, there are found, in the mountains that surround 

 it, plenty of wood for fuel and timber, and many sheltered spots, water, and pasturage 



reaches the lake, and next to the latter there is a large piece of the valley strongly 



