THE GALISTEO COTJNTIIY. 



133 



ast \^'atcrmg-place, should tlicy be imsuccessM in tlicir 

 earcli. 



Next morninc: wc advanced due west, not towards 



Santa 



Mountains, a district of 



Sept. 8- 



tlie 



it contained. As 



tlie table -land. 



chain of mountains on the north came into vie\y; these 

 ^re the southern extremities of the Santa Fe Mountains, which 



of that to^Ti, and are continuous 



.-^4. 



in to the north of them. 



] 



the 



o 



betwe 



m one oi tnose nuge ''laults/' or depressions already men- 

 nedj over which our eyes wandered with awe, if not with 



I^othing could surpass the disordered grandeur 



dmii-ation. I^othing 



f that barren region. It looked perfectly 

 [^'aste of crags and canons, deep-red cliffs, and 'precipices 



unear 



a 



hose sides were 



with 



same appearance 



m 



rocks of every hue, yet all 

 3f having been burned up in 

 seemed as if, having left purgatory 

 hind, we had at last come to the gate of hell. The wag 



earing the 

 ome fierce fui" 



must 



Christians in 







Idom came 



untry is drained by the Galistco, and most 



i;ild arid confusion is due to erosion. Str 

 e travelled to the west, rose the three 



^ills of the Placer Moimtains 



n 



; behind, stretched out the 



rger melon-shaped mass, the Zandia ; and, far to the south- 



vv^ard, the detached range of the Manzana (oak) Mountain 



erminated our field of vision. Kow these detached moun- 



ains, and others south of them, wliich separate the valley of 



the Eio Grande from the barren table-lands at thek back, are 



