84 NEW TEACKS IN NOETH AMEEICA. 



or tliree otliers, of small size, but beyond these the whole 

 Yalley (or rather succession of valleys), from the mouth of the 

 Purgatoire to tlic Great Canoii; a distance of nearly sixty 

 miles^ is qnite uninliabited. If it were generally known wliat 



■ 



a beautiful countiy this is it would not long remain tlius 

 unoccupied. The riyer is deep, I bathed in it frequently 

 and always found it out of my depth, and when we 

 recrossed it, on the thii'd day after our departure, we had 

 great difficulty in finding a ford. The cuiTont is very rapid, 

 and a large body of water is always to be found in the 

 channel; even during the driest season. The banks are usually 

 from three to five feet above the stream, and are formed of 

 dark, rich loam. The average fall is fuom eight to nine feet 

 per mile. To farm successfully irrigation is necessary, and 

 for this purpose no country can be better adapted. The bluffs 

 on either side of the river enclose between them large areas 

 of the richest ground, which might be called bottom-lands, 

 only they are not subject to inundation. 



■ 



Eiding through a succession of these valleys, we were 

 charmed with the graceful trees, the long wavy grass, the 

 groves and vistas which everywhere abound, and produce an 

 effect which strongly recalls the lovely parks of the south of 

 England. A plant (Sokmiim eleagnifolkmi) resembling the 

 potato, and bearing intensely blue flowers, grows luxuriantly 

 here, and encourages the belief that the soil, unlike that 

 of the greater part of New Mexico, is well adapted to potato 

 cultiu'c.* The box-elder was in bloom, as well as many other 



Amongst other plants of the same order {SoUnacef^) I recognised two 

 familiar species in the Solanum niyrum and the Dakamdra; and three other 

 very beautiful specimens peculiar to the Far West— ^. nostratum, Pursh., a 

 BmaU plant covered all over with long sharp thorns, and bearing a beautiful 

 yeUow flower, PhtjsaUs lohafa, Torr., and P. longifolia, Nutt., both very 

 singular varieties of the ground cherry. Two more plants I must mention as 

 peculiarlv beautiful nroductions of the Pui'sratoire valley; the fcst is an 



i 





