THE COPPER MINES. 
295 
tation and picturesque beauty. But what a change 
had taken place ! A fire had passed over it, destroy- 
ing all the grass and shrubbery, and turning the green 
leaves of the sycamores into brown and yellow. The 
surface of the earth was covered with black ashes, and 
we scarcely recognized it as the enchanting place of 
our former visit. At first we feared that this devasta- 
tion had been caused by our own neglect ; but on 
reaching the spot where we had encamped, which was 
separated from the surrounding hills by the rocky bed 
of the stream, we found the dry grass still around the 
place, which alone had escaped the fire. A little 
further on we came to a camp of two hundred Mexi- 
can soldiers, a portion of the brigade of General Car- 
rasco. They told me that General Carrasco had been 
to Janos; and hearing that a party of Americans 
bound for California had been attacked on the road 
leading from Janos to Guadalupe Pass, he divided his 
force with the view of intercepting the marauders. 
He himself had taken the Babispe route, to the south 
of us. The party we met had with them a large num- 
ber of pack mules, transporting arms and ammunition 
from Janos to Fronteras and Arispe, having been 
sent to the former place by wagons from the city of 
Mexico. 
The particulars of the attack, as related to me by 
these men, were, that a party of ten Americans, with 
two wagons, was fired upon by a band of Apaches 
lying in ambush; that one was killed and three 
wounded, when the remainder cut loose the mules 
(each mounting one), abandoned their wagons, and 
escaped to Janos. They said the wagons were still 
