370 
THE COPPER MINES 
the mountains, when a broad open plain appeared 
before us about twenty-five miles across, bounded by 
a lofty and continuous range known as the Sierra 
GMricaliui. Its course, like that of all the other long 
ranges we had seen, was from the northwest to the 
southeast, with an irregular and jagged summit, often 
exhibiting picturesque and fantastic forms. The plain 
that lay between us and the mountains was unbroken 
by a hill or a tree. At the northwest the view was 
limited by a very high mountain apparently seventy 
or eighty miles distant, which I supposed to be near 
the Gila. Both east and west of this mountain the 
country was open. In a southerly direction mountains 
La Punta de Sauz Cienega. 
were visible at a great distance. We entered the val- 
ley by a gradual descent. About one third the distance 
