“LOS ALAMOS GRANDES. 61 
_ Eureka Spring)-we encountered a large spring, which bubbled 
_up from the ground in the centre of the cafiada; from it 
_ flowed a perennial stream of ¢onsiderable volume, whose life- 
giving waters filled the valley below this point with thick 
_ luxuriant vegetation. 
At last, when camp was reached, after a continuous ride of 
‘sixty miles from nine o’clock one morning until eleven 
o’clock the next day, and we dashed through the rivulet into 
the thick grove of cotton-woods which hid the tents from 
view, no small amount of anxiety was lifted from our minds. 
| My readers can hardly appreciate what pleasure it was to see 
, Once more around me trees and flowers, to listen to the song 
, of birds, the rippling of waters, and the subdued rustling of 
j the leaves overhead; it seemed that the deserts had all been 
, crossed, and that danger was but a dream. 
_ A slightly elevated piece of ground at the back of our camp 
was covered with the stone foundations of many buildings, 
g-arge and small. The divisions of the rooms and entrances 
, could plainly be made out. Much broken pottery, such as the 
Pueblo Indians make, was picked up amongst the ruins ; but 
no trace of recent occupation could be discovered. ‘“ Los 
Alamos Grandes” is the name we gave to this spot. It is 
nly six miles and a half from the entrance of the cafion, which 
distance we travelled on the day following my arrival at camp. 
With the help of the results attained by our surveyors, I 
n give a tolerably accurate account of the physical features 
of the trough between the mountains in which we have been 
avelling. I retain the word trough, in preference to valley, 
or reasons to be soon explained. After descending from Rail- 
oad Pass to the centre of the trough (six and S half miles), 
nd on changing our course towards the north-west, we do 
continue to descend ; but, on the contrary, in the first 
