FOR A RAILWAY. 567 
the mezquit and live-oak attain a considerable size. Grass 
appears only at intervals. The high table-land of Chihuahua 
exhibits it in the greatest quantity ; but even there it is not 
continuous. Sometimes it is found spreading over districts 
fifty or more miles in extent, when a barren interval of thorny 
chapporal appears, and for miles a blade of grass is not to be 
-seen. Upon the whole I feel safe in saying that of the ele- 
vated plateau not more than two thirds can be called a graz- 
ing country. But even this presents a vast surface, extending 
from about the parallel of 32° 40’, where the Rocky Moun- 
tains suddenly drop off near the Copper Mines of New Mexico 
(now Fort Webster), to the twenty-sixth parallel. The water- 
courses here run towards the north, and discharge themselves 
into lakes which have no outlets. The Conchos alone, a 
stream which is as large as the Rio Grande, and has many 
tributaries, discharges itself into that river. It is in that por- 
tion of Chihuahua which forms the eastern slope of the Sierra 
Madre, as I have before said, that the best arable and tim- 
bered land is to be found. This, for a mountainous district, is 
well watered. 
The district south of the river Gila, between the Rio 
Grande and the Pacific, for about one hundred and fifty miles 
in width, is of the most barren character. The summit of the 
great ridge or plateau is covered with a short grass. On 
leaving this and proceeding westward come broad plains, 
with but little vegetation, save the stunted mezquit and other 
plants common to these arid regions. This broad belt extends 
to the Pacific, and is crossed at intervals of from fifteen to 
thirty miles with short and isolated ridges of mountains from 
one thousand to two thousand feet above the plain, running 
from north-west to south-east. These at a distance appear 
like a continuous chain; but on approaching them, they are 
found to be in short ridges from five to ten miles in length, over- 
lapping each other and affording easy passages across. In this | 
respect these chains differ from the mountain ranges both at 
