308 CASAS GRANDES TO 
A large tract of land was then under cultivation, and 
herds of cattle were reared on the adjacent hills. But 
the stream did not furnish a sufficient quantity of water 
to irrigate it, without cutting off entirely the towns of 
Tubac and Tucson; and consequently 1t was aban- 
doned. This is the difficulty with these small water- 
courses; for having few or no tributaries to keep up 
the supply, as our northern streams have, and fre- 
quently running a course of several hundred miles 
before they terminate, their water cannot be drawn 
off without destroying the crops below them, and even 
depriving the people and animals of water to drink. 
I ascended one of the low hills here, about two 
hundred feet in height, which approached within one 
hundred and fifty yards of the river. This range 
crosses the stream, and runs far to the south on the 
western side. From these hills the plateau extends 
some ten or fiften miles on both sides, when it strikes 
the mountain ranges. On the east is the mountain 
called Santa Rita, the highest within a hundred miles: 
in fact it 1s higher than any we had passed since leay- 
ing the Gila; and on its opposite side, where I was in 
September last, there is none of so great an altitude 
for one hundred and fifty miles. From the point 
where I stood, I could see the mountain at the base 
of which my party was lost last year in trying to reach 
Santa Cruz. This place was directly east of us, about 
twelve or fifteen miles distant. 
During our journey to-day, some five or six miles 
back, I noticed the ruins of Zumacacort. Its beauti- 
ful and picturesque church showed finely among the 
thick grove of trees by which it is inclosed. The 
