8 7 NEW TRACKS IN NORTH AMERICA. © | 
But, usually, there is a large tract of irrigable land on eac L 
side, capable of sustaining a very considerable population. 
On ascending the bluffs on either side, you come ‘upon A 
level grass-covered plain, which slopes up gradually towards 
the mountains beyond, and usually contains no water what- 
ever. On the eastern side the mountains consist of detached 
ranges—the Zandia, Manzana, Sierra de Coboleta, and Sierra 
del Oso. One of these ranges is always within view from 
the river, but none approach very close to the lower valley. 
Below Fort Craig, however, the eastern ranges encroach so 
much on the river as to obliterate the grass-covered plateau, 
and reduce the bottom-land in many places to an insignificant 
strip. 
side of the valley. These are the Zuni Mountains, which 
traverse obliquely 2° of longitude, from Campbell’s Pass to 
the Rio Grande, near Fort Craig, where they seem to be 
continued on the other side by a range of mountains—the 
Sierra del Caballo—which hugs the eastern bank. It was 
thought very naturally by General Wright, that having 
turned the lower end of this range in the neighbourhood of 
Fort Craig, we might be able to pass westward, and strik 
the Rio Gila without going further south ; but behind thi 
Zuili range rises another quite as formidable. Nor was ther 
'» As these formidable barriers form the divid 
between the waters of the Colorado Chiquito and the Gil 
on one side (emptying into the Pacific), and those of the Rio 
