Chap. IX. CUSTOM-HOUSE AUTHORITIES. 333 
the custom-house authorities formed the greater part, and 
I had to translate the detailed invoice of our large mer- 
cantile stores into Spanish. This gave me an insight into 
the manoeuvres carried on by each party upon the occasion 
of any large importation of goods. The custom-house 
officers take advantage of a very complicated and involved 
mode of calculation in settling the amount of duty, while 
the merchant equally profits by their ignorance of the real 
value of his goods and their taste for bribes. Thus for 
several days a kind of sham fight is carried on, till at last 
a sum is agreed upon in the lump, which seldom exceeds a 
half or a third of the fixed dues. Even thus, we had to pay 
duty to the amount of 10,000 dollars. 
On the 7th and 8th our caravan crossed the river. The 
water being high, we had to use the ferry. By low water 
the waggons could have been driven through the stream 
without difficulty, speed only being necessary on account 
of the quicksands. On the 9th the goods were examined 
at the custom-house, which was little more than a form, as 
the amount of duty had been previously settled. Some 
goods are entirely prohibited, and made-clothing comes 
under this category. We had several chests of such things, 
and Mr. M. having openly declared them, they had been 
included in the same arrangement as the other goods ; but 
when we arrived at Chihuahua we discovered that they had 
been denounced as contraband — an act of perfidy which 
furnished all the custom-house authorities at Chihuahua 
with a rich and elegant wardrobe, free of cost. 
We encamped the night of the 9th- 10th three miles 
beyond the town, at the limit of the valley. On my watch 
I heard a dull growling, and one of our Mexican drivers 
said it was a bear. 
For the first five or six days' journey from El Paso to 
