378 CORRELITOS 
gullies, when it strikes the bottom-land of the Rio 
Grande. The sight of the rich valley of this river, 
with its groves and forests of cotton-wood, filled my 
mind with the most pleasing emotions. I was again 
approaching civilization, at a place too where I had 
passed an agreeable winter, and where I had many 
kind friends. This long journey from the Pacific, 
which had occupied us for eighty-one days, was now 
at an end, and we should have a little rest. Soon the 
cultivated fields and the vineyards opened before us, 
and at 6 o'clock we again entered the town of El Paso 
del Norte. The first familiar faces we met were those 
of Captain Jimenes and some of the other officers of the 
Mexican Commission. From them we learned that 
Lieutenant Wilkins, the commanding officer of the U.S. 
troops at Hl Paso, and Mr. Henry Jacobs, the disburs- 
ing officer of the U. 8. Commission, with a small file of 
troops, had been out several miles to meet us, and had 
just returned. They had heard of our approach by a 
messenger whom I despatched two days before. After 
some delays in fording the Rio Grande, I reached my 
old quarters at Magoffinsville, opposite the town, at 10 
o'clock, P. M. 
August 18th. The remainder of the party were 
unable to get through last night, and came in this 
morning. 
Of this journey, now concluded, which embraced 
about eleven hundred miles, about one half was per- 
formed while the thermometer ranged above 100° 
during the day, and the other half when there was 
scarcely a day without a heavy rain. To Lieutenant 
Whipple, the chief engineer and astronomer in charge 
