Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/430

358 The climate of New Mexico differs of course in the higher mountainous parts from the lower valley of the Rio Grande; but, generally, it is temperate, constant and healthy. The summer heat in the valley of the river sometimes rises to near 100° Farenheit; yet the nights are always cool, pleasant, and refreshing. The winters are longer and severer than in Chihuahua, for the higher mountains are always covered with snow, while ice and snow are common in Santa Fé, though the Rio Grande is never sufficiently frozen to admit the passage of horses and vehicles. The sky is generally clear and the atmosphere dry. Between July and October rain falls; but the wet season is not so constant or regular as in the Southern States of the Mexican Republic. Disease seems to be very little known except in the form of inflammations and typhoidal fevers during the winter.

Between the Indians and the whites,—except perhaps on the haciendas—there still continues the same old rancorous feeling which generated the general insurrection narrated in the historic part of this work. The Indians live always isolated in their villages, cultivate the soil, raise some stock, and are generally poor, frugal, and sober. These various tribes, of which a large number still exist, are reduced to probably about seven thousand souls.