Page:Memoir of a tour to northern Mexico.djvu/35

Rh July 19.–Following the usual road along the river, we travelled about three miles in the forenoon, and but two in the afternoon. The caravan of Mr. Speyer had increased to about 40 Wagons; and the larger the caravans, the more delay is commonly produced. The country on the left side looked very barren and sandy, while opposite, on the right bank of the river, we saw several line ranchos and haciendas–Padillas amongst them. Our night camp was at the foot of some sand hills, nearly opposite to a pueblo on the other side, called Isleta. The small village, with its church, green fields, and cluster of cotton and orchard trees, looks quite picturesque in the desert around us. The Indians from the pueblo brought some apples to our camp, small and sour, but having tasted none for a long time, we relished them.

July 20.–After having crossed with some difficulty a chain of sand hills, we reached a fine grove of cotton trees, called bosque, or alamos de Pinos, and halted there, (five miles.) It is about one mile from the river, and quite a fine camp. The shade of the trees was the more welcome as the thermometer in the few last days stood very high, generally about 95° Fah., in the afternoon. In the evening we went but two miles, to the hacienda of Mariano Chavez's widow. This hacienda is the largest we have yet seen. It embraces a large tract of land, with cornfields and and extensive pasture, shaded by cotton trees, and fenced in by a wall made from adobes, and by a ditch with running water. The comfortable dwelling-house of the owner, with the opposite huts of the Indian serfs, bore a striking resemblance to a southern plantation in the United States. The late Mariano Chavez was (to mention it by the way) the brother of the ill-fated Antonio José Chavez, murdered in the prairie on the Santa Fe road.

July 21.–About one mile from Chavez, on the road, lies Ontero's hacienda, or Peralta. He is another of the rich nobility of New Mexico. His land is also very extensive, well cultivated and fenced in with adobes. He raises a great deal of maize and wheat, and owns a large stock. We passed in the morning through Valencia, and having travelled about six miles, soil and road getting better, we halted at noon about one mile from the river, near a pond. In the afternoon we passed a long-stretched town, Tomé, with extensive and remarkably fine maize and wheat fields, well irrigated, but not fenced in except by a ditch. Camped at the southern end of the town, about three miles from our noon camp.

July 22.–Made five miles in the morning, and halted at noon on a sandy hill, with 95° Fah. in the shade. Our night camp was in Casas Coloradas, (six miles,) a town near the river, and with high sand hills.

July 23.–Travelled about four miles, and halted half a mile from the river, with tolerable grass. West of us, on the right bank of the river, rises a chain of high mountains, while in the east the same steep chain that we never lost sight of continues parallel with the river in a southern direction. The mountains on both sides are too far for me to examine them; but to judge from their form, they are granitic and basaltic. On the river bank no rock is to be seen. Made in the afternoon about three miles, and camped on a hill near the river.

July 24.–Noon camp (three miles,) with good grass, about one mile from the river. We met here with a party of Americans from Pitic, in Sonora, where they had been engaged in mining; they were returning at present to the States, and reported that everything was quiet when they left. We passed in the afternoon Joyita, a small town, and camped two miles beyond (four miles,) on the river. Near Joyita, mountainous bluffs reached