Page:Rocky Mountain life.djvu/213

 or four miles, retaining for a considerable distance the distinguishing traits before described.

The vicinity affords an abundance of game, among which are deer, sheep, bear, antelope, elk, and buffalo, together with turkeys, geese, ducks, grouse, mountain-fowls, and rabbits.

Affording, as it does, such magnificent and delightful scenery; such rich stores for the supply of human wants, both to please the taste and enrapture the heart; so heaven-like in its appearance and character, it is no wonder the untaught savage reveres it as the place wherein the Good Spirit delights to dwell, and hastens with his free-will offerings to the strange fountain, in the full belief that its bubbling waters are the more immediate impersonation of Him whom he adores.

But, there are other scenes adjoining this, that demand a passing notice. A few miles above Fontaine qui Bouit, and running parallel with the eastern base of the mountain range, several hundred yards removed from it, a wall of coarse, red granite (quite friable and constantly abrading) towers to a varied height of from fifty to three hundred feet.

This wall is formed of immense strata, planted vertically and not exceeding eight feet in thickness, with frequent openings — so arranged as to describe a complete line.

The soil in which they appear is of a reddish loam, almost entirely destitute of other rock, even to their very base.

This mural tier is isolated, and occupies its prairie site in silent majesty, as if to guard the approaches to the stupendous monuments of nature's handiwork that

form the back-ground, disclosing itself to the beholder for a distance of more than thirty miles.

CHAPTER XXI.
Vicinity of the Arkansas. Settlement. The Pueblo. Rio San Carlos, its valleys and scenery. Shooting by moonlight. Taos. Review of the country travelled over. Taos; its vicinity, scenery, and mines. Ranchos and Rancheros. Mexican houses; their domestic economy, and filth. Abject poverty and deplorable condition of the lower classes of Mexicans, with a general review of their character, and some of the causes contributing to their present degradation. The Pueblo Indians and their strange notions. Ancient temple. Character of the Pueblos. Journey to the Uintah river, and observations by the way. Taos Utahs, Pa-utahs, Uintah and Lake Utahs. The Diggers; misery of their situation, strange mode of lying, with a sketch of their character. The Navijos; their civilization, hostility to Spaniards, ludicrous barbarity, bravery, &c., with a sketch of their country, and why they are less favorable to the whites than formerly.

THE Arkansas at this point is a clear and beautiful stream, about one hundred and fifty yards wide. It flows over a bed of rock and pebbles, with a rapid current, averaging two feet in depth. Its southern bank is steep and inducts to a high sandy prairie, which present a somewhat sterile