328 
EL PASO. 
Book II. 
CHAPTEE IX. 
El Paso and its Environs — Character of Landscape — Productions — Trees 
and Silver Ore in the Mountains — Strata of Hills near Franklin — Inse- 
curity of the Country — Pueblo Indians — Col. Langberg's Survey of the 
Mexican Eastern Frontier — Negotiation with the Custom-House Autho- 
rities, and their Treachery — Continuation of Journey — Two Koads — 
Armed Travellers and Mexican Cavalry — Unsuccessful Military Colonies 
— Guadalupe — Expedition of the Inhabitants — Topography of the Eoad : 
El Cantarecio — Pass over the Sierra de la Ventana — Charcos del Grado 
— Whirlwind and Pillars of Dust — Cerro de Lucero and Ojo de Lucero — 
Spring at the top of a Sand Hillock — Efflorescences of Soda — Laguna 
de Los Patos, and Character of the Plain — Ojo de la Laguna — Carrizal — 
Former Wealth of the Locality — Ojo Caliente — Fish in Hot Water — 
Chihuate — Bones of Men and Animals — Great Cattle Hacienda — Herd 
of Antelopes — Laguna de Encinillas — Arrival at Chihuahua. 
El Paso is a small deserted looking town, the population 
of which, — as is often the case in Spanish America, — first 
neglected, then retrograding, has ultimately been de- 
moralised by foreign elements. The inhabitants calculate 
the population at 5000 ; but the place spreads itself in 
scattered dwellings among fields and meadows, vineyards 
and orchards, along the poplar bordered banks of the river, 
eight or ten miles down its course, and contains an entire 
population of 14 or 15,000. The name, in its full Spanish 
form, is El Paso del Norte, i.e. the passage over the North 
river. 1 The market presents a very striking scene to the 
stranger. On the one side stands the church, a square 
block with a flat-roofed nave, devoid of all architectural 
beauty. The tower is built separate. On the other side 
1 The river is called Eio Grande del 
Norte, orKio Bravo del Norte, of which 
three abbreviations arc used, namely, — 
Rio Grande, Eio Bravo, and Rio del 
Norte. 
