TO LA MAGDALENA. 
413 
a ruin. The stream here takes a short turn towards 
the north, passing through Tubac and Tucson ; soon 
after which it loses itself iii the desert, without reach- 
ing the Gila. Since leaving Santa Cruz, our course had 
been along the banks of this stream, in many places 
thickly overgrown with willows and cotton-woods, and 
hemmed in on both sides with mountains. Many de- 
serted and ruined ranchos were seen in the valley, for 
it had not a single inhabitant beyond the walls of Santa 
Cruz. Rode about six miles further south and encamped. 
September Eight miles from camp, brought 
us to Gocospera^^ an old mission at the head of the San 
Miguel River, which was abandoned about six years 
before in consequence of the inroads of the Apaches. 
Here, rising from a spur of the plateau, and overlook- 
ing the valley, stands a church, a building which pre- 
sents quite an imposing appearance, with its towers 
and dome still in a good state of preservation. It is 
surrounded by houses or stalls with fronts open towards 
the church, which were probably occupied by those 
who came from a distance to worship ; or they may 
have been intended for the Indians, many of whom 
were formerly connected with all these frontier mis- 
sions, and employed as laborers upon the lands belong- 
ing to them. The interior of this church must have 
been very beautiful in its time, when its numerous 
niches were filled with statues, and its walls covered 
with paintings. The gilded and painted ornaments 
^ This place has since become somewhat notorious from its hav- 
ing been colonized anew by the party of Frenchmen from California, 
who subsequently attempted to set up a government of their own, 
and for a while gave the authorities much trouble. 
