430 : SANTA CRUZ 
October 3d. Accompanied Mr. Pratt to the hills 
opposite our camp, to take some sketches. The hills 
were separated from the camp by the river, on the 
banks of which were some hundreds of men and 
women bathing or washing. A few cotton-wood 
trees grew along the valley; and the margin of the 
stream was lined with willow-bushes. The hills here 
are about five hundred feet high; and from them we 
had a fine view of the town and adjacent plain, which 
was inclosed towards the south by a high range of 
mountains. The hill where we stood was literally 
covered with cacti of every variety that we had seen, 
from tiny plants not longer than one’s thumb, just 
projecting from some crevice, to the giant cereus, that 
shot up to the height of fifty feet. The agave, yucca, 
fouquiera, Spanish bayonet, mezquit, and other plants, 
alike grew in profusion around us. 
In the evening we again visited the church, where 
the same scenes were going on as before described. It 
was now brilliantly illuminated, and a procession was 
marching through the crowd, each individual in it 
holding a lighted candle in his hand. The music was 
performed by a circus band, from Hermosillo, which 
played the same pieces for the interludes of the service 
as it did for the performances of evening. Some 
of our popular Ethiopian melodies occasionally greeted 
the ear. ; 
October 4th. Finding it impossible to obtain pro- 
visions here, I determined to go to Ures, the Capital 
of the State of Sonora, about ninety miles distant, for 
the purpose of procuring what we needed, and of nego- 
tiating my drafts on the government, which I could 
