Page:Memoir of a tour to northern Mexico.djvu/70

[ 26 ] which from time immemorial has roved and is yet roving over the Bolson de Mapimi. I had already heard in Chihuahua of this discovery, and was fortunate enough there to secure a skull that a gentleman had taken from the cave. At present, I was told, the place is pilfered of everything; nevertheless, had I been at leisure, I would have made an excursion to it.

San Lorenzo is a town of about 1,000 population, and lies on the right bank of the Nasas; but the waters of the river had here so far disappeared that only some pools were left, and in the dry sandy bed of the river some wells had been dug. In these wells, from 10 to 20 feet deep, I saw below the sand a layer of clay; Artesian wells might therefore succeed here. Such disappearance and reappearance of a river in the sand is a very common occurrence in Mexico, and seems to depend mostly upon the greater or less absorption by the soil. The course of the river is not interrupted thereby; it runs but deeper through the sand–perhaps, too, through crevices, instead of on the surface; and with the rising of the river the water returns as gradually as it has receded. Most of the property in San Lorenzo belongs to a Señor Sanchez, a rich Mexican, who received us well and seemed to be favorable to the Americans. While we were encamped at San Lorenzo, a rumor reached us that the Mexicans at San Sebastian had cut off some of the American traders in the rear of the army. A party at once started back; the more willingly, as an interesting and respectable American lady, sharing all the hardships and dangers of such an expedition, with her husband, were concerned in it; but fortunately, all proved to be a false alarm. Some other rumors were spread, about a Mexican army marching against us from Durango. We gave, then, very little credit to the last rumor, but ascertained afterwards from the public papers that they really had sent a force against us; but being informed that we turned, instead, to Durango, in the direction of Saltillo, they presumed, of course, that their unknown and distant presence had frightened us out of the State of Durango, and published a gasconading report about their bloodless victory. Some suspicious Mexicans, prowling about our camp to-day, were made prisoners.

May 12.–Starting this morning for San Juan, our vanguard discovered three armed Mexicans running from us. After a short steeple-chase through the chapparál, the Mexicans were made prisoners, and, as no plausible account could be elicited from them, taken along to our night camp in San Juan Bautista, a rancho on the Nasas, 15 miles from San Lorenzo. The road to-day was sandy, and mountain chains towards west, south, and east. The Nasas contained here plenty of running water again.

As we shall leave the river at this place, I will communicate what I could ascertain from Mexicans in relation to its course further down. The river takes from here a generally southernnorthern [sic] direction. About five or six leagues below San Juan there is another and the last settlement on its bank, called San Nicolas; from there it runs yet about eight or ten leagues, till it spreads out at last into the Laguna de Tlagualila, a lake of fresh water, but without outlet. In the dry season, this lake often contains no water, while in others it forms a sheet of water of thirty and more leagues in its greatest dimensions, from south to north. Some branches of the lake bear particular names, as Laguna de San Nicolas, de las Aguas, de los Muertos, etc., but the general name is lake Tlagualila. The denomination lake Cayman is quite unknown to Mexicans. From San Lorenzo the lake is about 15 leagues distant; and starting from there, the