218 
EL PASO 
changing its bed, where great bends occur. The 
laguna is now supplied by overflows from the river. 
There were many wild fowl in it ; but its banks were 
so open, that we could not approach the game. 
Aioril 29. Hearing that there were traces of an 
ancient Indian settlement about half a mile distant. 
Dr. Webb went over to examine it, while we were 
getting ready to move. He found a good deal of 
broken pottery, all of a flue texture. Some of it bore 
traces of red, black, and brown colors. He also found 
a stone mortar about eight inches in diameter. I have 
since understood that this was the seat of one of the 
earliest Spanish missions ; but it was abandoned more 
than a century ago, and no traces remain but a few 
heaps of crumbling adobes, which mark the site of its 
dwellings. 
Our course on leaving camp, was south of west. 
After following the valley a couple of miles, we began 
to ascend a range of high hills, over and through which, 
the road wound for about twelve miles, before we 
reached the highest level. In descending, the road 
was hard and smooth as a turnpike, and so continued 
until we reached our camping ground, at the foot of 
the hills. To the south, at some fifty or sixty miles 
distant, rose a high mountain, the intervening plain 
presenting the most beautiful mirage I ever witnessed. 
It seemed like the surface of a broad lake, the mountain 
peaks standing detached, like so many islands rising 
from the bed of its placid waters. If I had not known 
that the region before me was a barren desert, I would 
certainly have been deceived. 
Reached Mule Spring at one o’clock. Estimated 
