SANTA CRUZ. 307 
behaved very well. The valley continued about half 
a mile wide, thickly covered with mezquit trees of 
a large size. The bottom-lands resembled meadows, 
being covered with luxuriant grass, and but few trees. 
The immediate banks of the river, which is here as 
diminutive as near Tucson, are lined with cotton- 
wood trees of a gigantic size, resembling our largest 
elms. In some places there are large groves of these 
trees, rendering this part of the valley the most pic- 
turesque and beautiful we had seen. At four o'clock, 
we reached one of these groves on the river’s bank, 
where we encamped. , 
A mile before reaching camp, we passed the 
ruins of a large rancho known as Calabasa ;. for every 
large rancho or hacienda has its name and place on the 
map. ven after the establishment has. been aban- 
doned, and its walls have crumbled to the ground, the 
name remains. ‘This custom is prevalent throughout 
northern Mexico. Along the valley of the Rio Grande 
and in New Mexico are a host of names on the map 
applied to ranchos, and sometimes to places where 
neither villages nor ranchos now exist. The same 
may be said of Sonora and: Chihuahua, and where 
there were no settlements locations were given. A 
stranger on looking at one of these maps would ima- 
gine the country thickly settled, whereas there might 
not be a village, rancho, or even a single inhabitant, 
where he is treated to a long list of names, including 
half the saints in the calendar, all the apostles, and the 
Holy Lady of Guadalupe into the bargain. 
This Calabasa, I was told by Leroux, was a thriv- 
ing establishment when he visited. it twenty years ago. 
