AGUA PRIETA TO ARISPE. 
261 
CHAPTER XL 
AGUA PRIETA TO ARISPE. 
Leave the California road — Agna Prieta — Send party to look for Fronteras 
— Mexican soldiers sent to guide us in — Journey resumed — Strike 
a rich valley — Break a wagon — Reach Fronteras — Description of the 
place — Abandoned by its people and recolonized — General Carrasco — 
Couriers between the frontier posts — Attack by General Carrasco on 
Apaches at Janos — Campaign against the Apaches — General Carrasco’s 
opinion of American officers — The Doctor beset by the sick — Leave 
Fronteras — Coquiarachi — Valley of Barbari — Wild turkeys — ^Moun- 
tain Pass — Gold Mine — Bacuachi — Sonora River — Magnificent canon 
— Chinapi — Curious sandstone formation — Arrival at Arispe. 
We had now reached the farthest point to which we 
could follow the California road ; our destination being 
Fronteras, the nearest town in Sonora, which is laid 
down on Cooke’s map as about fourteen miles to the 
south, we must leave it here. But as no wagon road 
or trail could be discovered in that direction, I did 
not think it prudent to set off with our wagons with- 
out knowing more about the country. Colonel Cooke 
does not speak positively as to the distance of this 
place, having obtained his information from an Indian. 
I therefore despatched Messrs. Thurber, Cremony, and 
Stewart to find the place, and ascertain if the country 
between it and our camp was practicable for wagons. 
They took with them as guide a Mexican, named 
