, 
23 roe [7] 
At this moment we discovered coming. towards us, at full speed, 
Bent’s spy-guard. All thought they ‘had met the ene my; lwa 
ordered to ride forward wa sa them, followed by-Mr. Pitapatfiak 
and two dragoons. It to be a false alarm; they had missed 
their road, and were gat aes back to regain it. 
The hills are composed principally of basalt and a porous vol- 
canic stone, very hard, with metallic fracture and lustre, traversed 
by dykes of trap. The lava is underlayed by sand stone. From 
the uniform height of these hills, one would think they originally 
formed the table land, and that the valleys had been formed by 
some denuding process, and their limits determined by the alternate 
existence or non-existence of the hard crust of volcanic rocks. | 
Matters are now becoming very interesting. Six or eight Mexi- 
cans were captured last night, and on their persons was found the 
proclamation df the?Prefect: of Toas, based upon that of Armijo, 
calling the citizens to arms, to repel the ‘“ Americans, who were 
coming to invade their soil and destroy their properly and liberties ;” 
It is 
* . ordering an enrolment of all citizens over 15 and under 50. Iti 
SI ee a pe ae 
ae 
are . 
_borhood. That they had heard of our advance some ps * 
but believed uae be at the Rayada, 22 miles back; but seeing our 
decidedly less bombastic than any Mexican paper I have yet seen. 
Colonel Kearny assembled these prisoners, altogether some ten or 
twelve, made a speech to them, and ordered that, when the rear 
guard of the army should: have passed, they should be released. 
The&Se men were not deficient in form or stature; their faces ex- 
pressed good nature; bordering on idiocy ; they were mounted on 
little donkies and jennies, guided by clubs instead of bridles... 
Two more Mexicans, of a better class, were captured to- -night, 
or rather they came into camp. Their story was, that they had 
come out by order of the alcalde of the Moro town to look oi for 
their standing enemies, the Eutaws, who were reported n th é a: 
me since, 
wagons, and having faith in the Americanos, they rode without “hesi- 
tation-into our camp“ When they said they had faith in us, the 
‘colonel ordered them to shake hands with him. They were ordered 
‘to be detained for a day or two, for it was quite evident to all they 
were spies, who had come too. suddenly into the little ravine in 
which we were encampe see 
They appeared well pleased, and one of them, after proceeding 
a few steps with the guard, turned back and presented the colon 
' with a fresh cream cheese | 
' {e:'The grass was interspersed with a great variety of new and beau- =, 
ti ul flowers—the cenothera; Stanley pinnatifida; anemone Penn- — 
_ sylvania; eriogogum tomentosum; erysinum, Arkansanum, Rei: Ge ee 
The hills were sparsely covered with cedar and pifion. Antelopes — 
and horned frogs in abundance, ~ no other animals were seen. 
Height of this camp 6,946 feet. - os 
August 12.—The elder: enix was accitendicd, giving him two 
ise Hi oy ioewe one for the alcalde, another for the people: of his 
town. A message was sent to the alealde to meet us at the cross> ~ é 
= ae of the Moro, with several of his chief men. The other Mexie — 
can was retained as a guide: About 12 o’clock the advance > 
* 
