420 INDIAN BEUTALLTY. Book IL 
road having taken us for some hours away from the bed of 
the river, we found it filled with a crystal, clear, powerful 
stream. It is said to rise at some distance in the moun- 
tains from a single spring. I did not see the spot, which 
is considered very beautiful ; but as such springs are well 
known in Texas, I have no doubt as to the correctness of 
the statement. 
Lower down, the course of the stream varies, between 
broad stagnant extensions, and contractions with a rapid 
current. Shrubs and tall trees line the banks. We passed 
an old camping place of the Indians, with the remains of 
their huts, and piles of stones in many places, indicating 
where murdered travellers had been buried. In one place, 
where the river falls through a narrow contraction of the 
valley, the road ascends on its west side to the plateau, 
which here has a considerable declivity southwards to the 
Rio Grande. High mountains are seen in the distance to 
the south-west, probably in the State of Cohahuila. 
When we reached a well-known place on the plateau 
called Palo Blanco, we found an Indian camp, from which 
they had but just moved. Don Guillermo, who had fol- 
lowed a stag some little distance from the camp, came 
upon the fresh track of a band of Indians, who must have 
crossed the road scarcely an hour before us. A most 
repulsive object met our view upon the very spot where 
we had intended to encamp. The grave of some traveller 
had been opened near the road, the half decomposed body 
thrown out, the head set upon a pole, and some waggon 
boards which had served for a coffin were placed on the 
road in a certain form as if indicating something. Whether 
anything besides insult was meant by this, it is impossible 
to say ; but the night passed undisturbed. We continued 
our journey in the morning, and reached a depression of 
