452 CHIHUAHUA 
the plateau, struck across it in a direction east south- 
east over a desert plain, with an excellent road. About 
five miles off on our left, we-saw the course of the Rio 
Florido. It was an hour after dark before we reached 
the village of Ramada, twenty-three miles distant, on 
that stream. This is a place of four hundred inhabi- 
tants, and contains, along with its tumble-down tene- 
ments, a crumbling church. In this last, are some 
pretty good paintings, but they are suffering much from 
neglect; for the people are so indolent, that they will 
not lift a hand, even for a few hours, to fill up the cre- 
vices in the decaying walls, to save these once valu- 
able pictures from destruction. 
November 7th. Leaving the valley of the Rio Flo- 
rido, our course lay south across the plateau, here 
elevated not more than ten or fifteen feet above the 
bottom land, which we followed for several hours. 
Saw several large haciendas along the river with cat- 
tle grazing near. We had hoped to reach Guajuquilla 
to-day; but found it best to encamp at a well about 
twenty milesfrom Ramada, as we could not reach that 
place till after dark. Experience had taught us not to 
travel after nightfall when we could avoid it. On reach- 
ing these towns or haciendas, we required feed for our 
animals, which was generally corn-stalks; and unless 
we made arrangements an hour or two before dark, it 
could not be obtained. There are other difficulties in 
approaching these towns after dark, such as the ace- 
quias and broken bridges, the difficulty of selecting 
proper places to encamp in, etc. Where we had to 
depend on ourselves alone, and were in an unsettled 
country, it made no difference. 
