TO EL PASO. 141 
town, that water could be found in the mountains that 
separate El Paso from the Pecos, between the routes 
now taken. Should such be the case, and no impedi- 
ment exist, at least fifty miles of travel might be 
saved; and if water is not now found, it may as 
‘ easily be obtained, by sinking wells, as on the northern 
route. The whole country, after the table-land north 
of San Antonio is reached, is well adapted to a wagon 
road or a railway; and I doubt whether any district 
of the same extent east of the Mississippi would require 
fewer embankments and excavations than across the 
table-land of Texas. 
