402 EL PASO 
October Tth. The broken tongues being replaced, 
the train moved off in the afternoon, in charge of Mr. 
George Thurber, intending to go as far as Isleta, 12 
miles distant. 2 
October 8th. The day had now arrived when I 
was to take leave of my friends at Hl Paso. Friends 
at home, where we have numbers, are not always 
valued as they should be; but in a country like this, 
on the borders of civilization, one knows how to appre- 
ciate them. I had now been here seven weeks, and 
during the winter of 1850-51, five months, while wait- 
ing the arrival of the chief astronomer. With many 
gentlemen here, particularly J. W. Magottin, Hsq., I 
had transacted business to a large extent, and in a 
manner which to me, as an agent of the government, 
was highly satisfactory. To them I take this occasion 
to express my sincere thanks for the promptness with 
which they fulfilled my orders, often to their own 
inconvenience, and for their uniform readiness in accept- 
ing my drafts upon the government, when a contrary 
course would have been detrimental to the public ser- 
vice, and would have subjected me personally to 
serious embarrassments. 
On the occasion of our departure, Mr. Magoffin 
invited a number of gentlemen to partake of a cold 
collation, which proved to be one that would have 
done credit to the caterer of a metropolitan hotel. 
Although it is difficult at times to procure a piece of 
fresh meat at EH] Paso, the delicacies prepared in New 
York and Paris for foreign markets can always be found 
here in abundance, though at a high cost. 
I left at one o'clock, and in the evening joined the 
