TO THE RIO FLORIDO. 443 
warfare, we considered him an accession to our strength. 
A large train of wagons was to leave ina couple of 
days; but as the number of men with it was small in 
proportion, it would be of no advantage to us, while 
it might cause delays. So I preferred starting by our- 
selves. 
All accounts received from the south brought the 
unpleasant news, that for six hundred miles the road 
was infested by the Comanches in large bodies, and 
well armed, and that they had committed greater 
depredations than ever, attacking not only travellers 
but villages in open day. 
We did not get off until one o’clock, so that our day’s 
journey was necessarily short. We made, however, 
twelve miles over a good road. On leaving the city, 
we passed the base of a mountain four miles distant, 
“when we again emerged into an open plain. It was 
nearly dark when we reached a pond, about half a 
mile from the road on our right, where we encamp- 
ed. Around this pond the earth had been banked up 
to the height of five or six feet, in order that a larger 
quantity of water might be retained. The grass was 
good. Ina valley a mile distant on our right, was a 
large hacienda. ; 
November 2d. About six miles after leaving, we 
entered a cafion, through which we continued for four 
or five miles: the road quite stony andrough. In this 
is the dry bed of a stream, which, during the rainy 
season, is filled with water; and, judging from the 
appearance of the bushes and drift wood, must quite 
recently have been much swollen. Hast of this defile, the 
mountains which here cross the valley rise abruptly, and 
