TO SALTILLO. A495 
this bottom runs a small rivulet, which takes its rise 
at Encantada; but at times, after heavy rains, it is so 
much swollen that it has cut for itself a deep bed, with 
perpendicular banks, from twenty to thirty feet deep. 
This bed is quite inaccessible from above, except in a 
few places. These deep gullies or ravines are called 
barrancas, and are peculiar to the country. The tena- 
city of the soil prevents it from crumbling, except at 
the base, where the water washes it away. The upper 
portion then projects, until it has become so much 
undermined that it cannot sustain itself, when it breaks 
off, leaving perpendicular walls. These barrancas ex- 
tend for more than a mile above and below the nar- 
row pass. . They also intersect various parts of the 
bottom, rendering it impossible for a body of troops 
to traverse it. Hence all the operations were confined 
to the plateau above, which extends to the eastern 
range of mountains.’. The battery of Colonel Washing- 
ton was stationed between the barrancas and a spur of 
the plateau, a narrow pass some sixty or eighty re 
in width, 22-<< : 
The road leads rectly through this pass ; anil on 
reaching it, we stopped within the redoubt thrown up 
by Colonel W. I told the men to fasten their teams, 
and all that felt disposed to visit the battle field 
to do so. We walked up one of the steep hills or 
spurs, and reached the plateau, where the party 
strolled about in all directions as far as the mountains. 
[ had a plan of the battle with me, which enabled us 
to find the positions occupied by our several bodies 
of troops. Many relics were found, such as grape shot, 
bullets of lead and copper, gun-flints, fragments of 
