276 
A.GUA PRIETA TO 
few years only of peace and safety would be required 
to make these beautiful valleys the most charming 
abodes imaginable. 
We did not stop in the village, but drove on to the 
banks of the stream which ran at the foot of the hill 
beyond, and there encamped. The inhabitants, who 
had been in great consternation, came rushing down 
the hill towards our camp, greatly relieved at ascer- 
taining our peaceable character. 
After arranging the camp we strolled up to the 
village, which turned out to be a truly miserable place. 
Though once prosperous, it is now nearly depopulated. 
It is surrounded by an adobe wall about five feet in 
height, intended doubtless as an inclosure for cattle, 
rather than as a work of defence. The houses were 
mostly in a dilapidated state, and the church itself was 
roofless, though a few branches of trees had been laid 
from wall to wall to keep the sun from the heads of the 
devout. But if the church was suffered to become a 
ruin, the good people had taken care of certain noisy 
appendages, without which they could not realize that 
they worshipped their Creator. Near their church they 
had suspended from .a beam by thongs of raw hide, 
resting on two forked sticks, three fine old Spanish 
bells, one of them bearing the date of 1695, the other 
of 1721. 
Our visit attracted much attention, and we were 
soon surrounded by groups of the inhabitants, eager to 
know who we were and what had brought us to this 
secluded spot. , I inquired for the alcalde, and on 
being conducted to him, exhibited my letters from 
Generals Conde and Carrasco, which quieted all fears. 
