334 SANTA CRUZ TO 
tant. This great plain is lost in the horizon at the 
north-east, there being no mountains in sight; in a 
south-westerly direction, the Guadalupe range is seen 
some fifty miles distant, verging eastward, until it 
unites with the great chain of the Cordilleras. 
Our course lay towards a portion of the mountains 
where I presumed the pass to be. The plain was per- 
fectly level and the road excellent, without a stone, a 
tree, or a bush. When we had reached its centre, 
where there was a slight depression, we found that the 
drainage of the adjacent slopes had made it so miry as 
to be impassable by the direct road. We therefore 
diverged to the right, keeping on higher ground, and 
got safely across. At 3 o'clock it commenced raining, 
with the wind from the south-west, when we would 
gladly have stopped; but there was neither wood nor 
water at hand. We were, therefore, obliged to keep 
on another hour, when a spring with a small pool of 
water was discovered at the base of a plateau or terrace 
which extended about three miles from the mountains. 
Here we encamped. Estimated distance travelled, 
eighteen miles, including the Guadalupe Pass. Grass 
was abundant around us, and some oaks half a mile dis- 
tant furnished us with fuel. 
August 5th. We kept along the terrace for three 
miles, and then entered a defile which led directly 
across the lower portion of the mountains. This defile 
was at first of easy ascent, through groves of small oaks 
and cedars, and over a carpet of rich verdure. From 
this the road led directly up a hill, which, though not 
steep, was a very hard one for the animals, being 
wholly composed of loose and rolling stones. The poor 
