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FROM ARISPE BACK TO 
CHAPTER XIL 
FROM ARISPE BACK TO THE COPPER MINES. 
Description of Arispe — ^Primitive church service — Scarcity of grain and 
fruit and abundance of vegetables — Set out on our return — ^Broken down 
wagon abandoned — ^Reach Fronteras — A blacksmith’s independence — 
Celebration of a Saint’s day — Manufacture of aguardiente — ^Various 
uses of the Maguay — ^Doctor’s fees — Broken wagon metamorphosed into 
a cart — Sorry plight of a wild bull — Strike Cooke’s road — Traces of fire 
in the Guadalupe Pass — Me:Jiican encampment — Story of Americans 
attacked by Apaches — ^Reach the Copper Mines — Colonel Graham not 
arrived — ^Visit General Conde’s camp and consult with Lieutenant 
Whipple—Return to the Copper Mines. 
Arispe was formerly the capital of the State of Sonora; 
but becoming involved in the civil wars which distracted 
that State in 1828, the seat of government was in 1832 
removed to Ures, where it now remains. In the time 
of its prosperity, it is said to have contained a popula- 
tion of five thousand inhabitants ; but the civil discords 
and the encroachments of the Indians have reduced it 
to less than fifteen hundred. The buildings are far 
superior to any we have seen among the Mexicans, 
and particularly to those of El Paso. The majority 
are built of adobe, though there are many of stone. 
They are all higher than any we have observed else- 
where, and are capped with a projection of brick, 
