Chap. III. RIO FRIO. 451 
CHAPTER III. 
Journey from San Antonio to El Paso — Appearance of Trap in the Limestone — 
A suspicious-looking Hermit — A Tanko Indian — A warm ' Xorther ' — 
Fossil Fish — Geese and Pelicans — Turkeys, Eagles, and Beavers — Meet- 
ing with Friends on the Pecos — Human Skeletons — Road to El Paso — 
Fire in the Prairie — Warm AVind, Dust, and Electric Sparks — Electrical 
Phenomena — Snow Storm — Valleys and Defiles of the Limpias — Limpia 
Porphyry — Harmony in the Physiognomy of Nature — Meeting with 
Apaches — Alamos de San Juan — A Human Corpse — Scenery on the 
Summit of the Plateau — Hardships of travelling — The Dead Man's Hole 
■ — Metalliferous Veins — Eagle Mountains and Eagle Spring — Yucca- wood 
— The Rio Grande — A rocky Defile — Gypsum Formation in the Alluvial 
Masses — Arrival at the Settlements — San Eleazario — Socorro, Ysleta, 
and El Paso. 
We were detained at San Antonio by various affairs until 
the 19th of January, when the camp at the Alazan broke 
up, and the caravan proceeded on their journey. 
As far as the watering-place Agua Delgada, mentioned 
in a former chapter, we followed the road by which I had 
travelled in the spring from Chihuahua. I will make only 
a few remarks on this portion of the journey. 
We travelled the distance to that place in thirty-five 
days. As far as the Bio Frio, the most considerable tri- 
butary of the Nueces, nothing of importance occurred. 
But the spot where the road crosses this river deserves 
mention. Like most of the streams in this part of the 
country, the Rio Frio is successively deep and shallow, in 
one part appearing a considerable stream, in another a 
small brook. At the point where the road crosses it, a 
plain stretches out at the foot of a perpendicular hill. On 
the opposite flat shore grew oaks and nut-trees, and the 
whole spot presents a very interesting landscape, especially 
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