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[ 26 ] à la Mexican, some of the fair señoritas who had never given us cause for offence, we moved off in a body as happy as freemen, under such circumstances, can be, and two days afterwards we entered Chihuahua again. The city looked rather differently from what it did formerly, but not for the worse. One half of the Mexican population had left the city, from fear that the Americans would, after their victory, act as meanly and overhearing as they had done themselves before it; but in that they were disappointed–no excesses were committed, and the Mexicans were treated as mercifully as ever a vanquished enemy was by a generous victor.

But, really, what a ragged set of men those brave Missouri boys were! There was not one among them in complete uniform, and not two in the whole regiment dressed alike: each one had consulted either his own fancy or necessity, in arranging the remnants of former comfort, to produce a half decent appearance. Some of the resident Americans in Chihuahua, I understood, when after the battle the first American companies entered the town and halted on the Plaza, were so thunderstruck by the savage exterior of their own countrymen, that they ran back to their houses to ascertain first to what tribe or nation they belonged. But, notwithstanding their raggedness, there was some peculiar expression in their eye, meaning that they had seen Brazito and Sacramento, and that Mexicans could not frighten them even by ten fold numbers. Among the troops I met with some old friends from Missouri, and during our stay in Chihuahua I became acquainted with many officers and men whose knowledge and bravery would do honor to any army, and whose gentlemanly deportment I shall always recollect with pleasure. But, for the present, we will leave Colonel Doniphan with his regiment in their comfortable quarters in Chihuahua, and take a review of the State and city of Chihuahua, before our final return to the United States.

The territory of the State of Chihuahua contains an area of 17,151$1⁄2$ square leagues, or 119,169 English square miles, and reaches from 26° 53′ 36″ to 32° 57′ 43″ north latitude. Its boundaries are, towards the north, New Mexico; towards the east, Coahuila and Texas; towards the south, Durango; to the southwest, Sinaloa; and to the northwest, Sonora. The great mountain chain of Mexico, the connecting link between the Rocky mountains of the north and the Andes of the south of this continent, is known here as Sierra Madre, and occupies chiefly the western part of the State, where it ascends to a considerable height, and then abruptly descending into deep ravine (barrancas,) is lost in the rich plains of Sonora and Sinaloa. The highest point of the Sierra Madre (at Cumbres de Jesus Maria,) is, according to Mexican observations, elevated above the sea 3,004 varas, or 8,441 English feet. The mountain ranges, running generally from the north to the south, are intersected towards the cast by fine valleys and plains. The eastern portion of the State is less mountainous, containing wide plains, and lying for the greater part on the broad and high plateau, the flattened crest of the Cordilleras that extends from New Mexico as far south as the city of Mexico. The average elevation of this plateau in the State of Chihuahua is between 4,000 and 5,000 feet.

The water-courses of the State are those that run, first, into the Gulf of Mexico; second, into the Pacific; third, into lakes within the State. To the first