340 GKBAT CATTLE HACIENDA. Book II. 
journey. We travelled nevertheless from morning till 
evening, between bare mountains, over rocky, treeless, 
but grass-covered hills, and passed a portion of the night 
on the broad level pass of Chihuate, a notorious place, 
where numerous bones of men and animals warned us not 
to leave hold of our arms. Many parties of travellers 
have been attacked here by the Indians with much loss of 
life. The rocks consist of a grey and very hard phonolitic 
porphyry. 
We started at two in the morning, in order to reach the 
Laguna de Encinillas without a halt. Towards eight 
o'clock we came to a descent in the road, which, from the 
name of a hacienda situated on the other side of the moun- 
tain, is called the descent of Agua Nueva, and leads to 
the lower level of the lake. The hacienda of Agua Nueva 
is one of the few large grazing estates in North Mexico 
where the herds still exist on the old Mexican scale of 
cattle keeping 5 and its owner, Don Estanislao Porras, in 
Chihuahua, is one of the rare instances in this country of a 
man possessing wealth acquired by his own exertions. He 
protects his cattle from the Indians by means of numerous 
and well armed shepherds, although two of his sons and 
several of his servants have lost their lives by their attacks. 
As we descended the hill, the largest herd of antelopes 
passed that I had ever seen. It must have numbered 
more than 1000, and extended from one mountain to 
another, straight across the valley, vanishing as quick 
almost as thought from our sight. 
The plain in which the Lake of Encinillas lies, is sur- 
rounded by steep mountains, and is one of the richest 
and most valuable localities in the world for cattle-grazing, 
in times past supporting innumerable herds. Now it 
is almost a desert. I shall have to speak again of this 
