good patch of grass, and our people have been ordered to cut a ra- 
tion for each mule to carry along. 
‘The night was excessively cold and damp, and in the morning 
‘our blankets were covered witha little dew. For the first time, 
“the bugle calls were distinctly reyerberated, showing the atmos- 
* pheric change as weapproach the coast, and descend into the neigh- 
torhood of the sea level. In New Mexico, even when surrounded 
by hills and perpendicular walls, the report of fire arms, and the 
sound of the bugle, were unattended by any distinct echo. The 
reports were sharp and unpleasant, not rounded, as here, by the 
y : * 
ea] 98 
ae We travéled over a sandy plain a few miles, and descended into 
reverberation. 
The country, from the Arkansas to this point, more than 1,200 
+ miles, in its adaptation to agriculture, has peculiarities which must A 
“forever stamp itself upon the population which inhabits it. All of 
- North Mexico, embracing New Mexico, Chihuahua, Sonora, and 
‘the Californias, as far north as the Sacramento, are, as far as the 
best information goes, the same in the physical character of its sur- 
. face, and differ but little in climate or products. ; 
In no part of this vast tract ean the rains from Heaven be relied 
upon, to any extent, for the cultivation of the soil. The earth is 
destitute of trees, and in great partalso of any vegetation whatever. 
A few feeble streams flow in different directions from the great 
_ ° mountains, which in many places traverse this region. These 
streams are separated, sometimes by plains, and. sometimes by 
“mountains, without water and without vegetation, and ma be 
called deserts, So far as they perform any useful part in the suste- 
nance of animal life. ai 
The cultivation of the earth is therefore confined to those nar- 
row strips of land which are within the level of the waters of the 
bp streams, and wherever practised in a epee with any success, 
a or to any extent, involyes a degree of subordination, and absolute 
net 
oe 
to a chief, repugnant to the habits of our peopl 
te) nC ple. . 
The chief who directs the time and the quantity of the precious 
. 
