Chap. fl. SPURS OF THE EATON MOUNTAINS. 287 
flat but regular cone of Fisher's Peak — an old volcano, with 
small truncated cones in the plain at its foot, whilst behind 
them the snow-capped summits of the Rocky Mountains 
appeared. The eastern chain of this great range of moun- 
tains reaches its southern extremity in these parts, and the 
road to Santa Fe runs around it. A line of black stripes 
extended parallel to the horizon, • through the plain at the 
foot of the small hills. I suspected these stripes to be the 
brows of the abrupt edges of flat masses of lava, which lie 
at a small elevation above the level of the plain. 
The continuation of the road, after crossing several small 
valleys, leads round the rocky extremities of the Raton 
Mountains and its spurs — rows of naked cones on the plateau, 
with rampart-like contreforts. These spurs radiate from 
a centre, and in the space between these radii the prairie 
rises in angular sections. Fragments of sandstone and 
trap, the former often with marks of the influence of heat, 
lay strewn on the road. We passed in the dark the 
"Point of Rocks," the extreme spur of this mountain- 
group. The specimens which I picked up on the road in 
the dark proved the next morning to be a dioritic trap. 
At this place the road passes over a flat elevation 
of the plateau, not less than 6500 feet above the level of 
the sea. Thence, as far as the Canadian or False Red 
River, it again sinks for about 900 feet. On the summit 
we found small shallow lakes — cienagas — surrounded by a 
green border of reeds: they were covered with flocks of 
geese, ducks, and water-hens. 
On the 30th we passed the Canadian River, which 
flows rapidly over a bed of sandstone. It issues from the 
high mountains, the valleys of which were opening 
towards us. Some Anglo-Americans are said to have 
settled there, attracted by the advantageous nature of the 
