292 NEW MEXICAN FRONTIER TOWN. Book II. 
single room, and furnished with a small hole for a window. 
Upon the mud walls unhewn rafters are laid, which are 
covered with clay, forming a flat-roof. If the little 
window-aperture is closed with a plate of gypsum, this is a 
domestic luxury of very rare occurrence. It is difficult to 
picture to oneself the wretched appearance of such a New 
Mexican frontier town. When, in addition to all this, an 
isolation from the world greater than that upon any of 
the larger islands in the Pacific, and the constant insecurity 
of life and property from wild Indians is considered, the 
reader may imagine the life of a man who has been 
accustomed to civilization. Nevertheless, its position on 
the Santa Fe road offers great advantages, which some 
foreigners settled here have turned to advantage. A Ger- 
man resident has grown rich here, leaving at his death a 
considerable fortune, which gave rise to a lawsuit respecting 
the inheritance. 
After travelling about fifteen miles further, passing 
through the above-mentioned rocky pass of the sandstone 
range, we arrived at its western side, and there encamped 
for the night in a valley, without water, between sandstone 
mountains, and overgrown with pines and juniper trees. 
