Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/570

550 thirty or thirty-five leagues; and this was a sacrifice of time which, as there were no French or English establishments to visit, we did not conceive ourselves justified in making. It was therefore determined that the party should take at once the road to the South, by Zacatecas, from whence we were to branch off, through Aguas Calientes, to the Western States.

My anxiety to visit Durango was, however, too great to allow me to be satisfied with this arrangement. My curiosity had been much excited with regard to the Northern Provinces, by the praises lavished upon them by General Victoria, who is a native of Tămăsulă, (called, in commemoration of his birth. Villa Feliz de Tămăsulă,) upon the frontiers of the two States of Dŭrāngŏ and Sŏnōră; and I was determined to reach at least the threshhold of this forbidden ground, into which so few foreigners have hitherto penetrated, and from which all who have done so have brought back such favourable reports. I therefore consulted Mr. Anitua upon the subject, and, finding that I might ride post to Durango in one day, and after passing eight-and-forty hours there, by returning in the same manner, still reach Zacatecas as soon as the rest of my party, I resolved to undertake the journey. Mr. Anitua provided me with horses, relays of which he stationed at the different Haciendas upon the way, and gave me a guide well acquainted with the bridle-roads, by whom alone I was accompanied.

I left Sombrerete a little before seven, on the