410 EL PASO 
whether it be corn, a fat mule, or an ox. The people 
are too few to make any defence, and quietly submit 
to be plundered. At .the last visit of the marauders, 
they entered every house, and each provided himself . 
with a blanket, from the shoulders or beds of the 
inmates. | 
October 16th. Our route continued over the same 
broad and boundless plain we had been traversing 
since we first ascended the plateau from the Rio 
Grande. Mountains were seen only ata great dis- 
tance, while nearer at hand a few low hills rose up 
here and there. Twelve miles brought us to Ojo Caliente 
(Warm Spring). Although we had made but a short 
day’s march, it was thought best to stop here; as there 
lay before us a jornada of fifty miles without water, 
which it would require two full days to accomplish. 
Ojo Caliente is a spring which rises from the plain 
about one hundred and fifty yards from the base of a 
rocky hill. Its temperature is nearly the same as that 
of the atmosphere. A small pool about one hundred 
and twenty feet in circuit, and from three to four deep, 
is here formed, with asandy bottom, from which warm 
water bubbles up in many places; this water has an 
outlet through a small creek into the river Carmen, 
in which creek some fish were taken and preserved for 
specimens. This basin afforded an excellent opportunity 
for a bath, and the whole party took advantage of it. 
A well built stone wall, about a yard in thickness, and 
Yaid in cement, is built across the basin, apparently 
for the purpose of raising the water. A portion of this 
wall is now broken away. I imagine it to be the work 
of the Spaniards, who, at some former period, have 
