Chap. I. TRADE WITH CHIHUAHUA. 203 
CHAPTEK I. 
Objects of the Journey — Trade with Chihuahua — From New York to the 
Frontier of Missouri — Railway Journey and Scenery between New York 
and Lake Erie — Cincinnati — On the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri 
— Western Philosophers — Dangers by Steamers — Weyne City — Inde- 
pendence. 
In the spring of 1852 I made the acquaintance of Mr. 
Samuel Kaufniann, of the firm of Messrs. Mayer and Co., 
trading with Chihuahua, who invited me to accompany 
one of the transports of the Firm from Missouri to Chi- 
huahua. The back wilds of the North American Continent, 
still traversed by Indians, are even at the present day so 
unsafe and inhospitable for travelling that it is impossible 
to cross them except in parties ; and a person who has 
not the means to equip an expedition himself is obliged 
to join some other caravan. I here met with an oppor- 
tunity of this kind, with pleasant companions, and readily 
joined the party. Our caravan, which was to start from 
Independence, on the Missouri, consisted of eighteen or 
twenty waggons, each drawn by ten mules, with the 
requisite number for relays, and the complement of drivers, 
muleteers, &c. The whole party was under the conduct of 
a second partner of the Firm, Mr. H. Mayer. 
The State of Chihuahua, which is the farthest one in 
Mexico from any sea-port, has for a long time received the 
chief part of the merchandize connected with its trade by 
route through the interior of the United States — the so-called 
Santa-Fe road. On a first glance at the distances upon the 
map, this appears scarcely conceivable ; but the fact is ex- 
plained when the attending circumstances are known. The 
