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.A stream of pure water gushes out from underthis dyke and trickles down to join the Rio Puerco of the East; thisstream, I am told, is full of speckled trout.(The Rio Puerco of theEast joins the Rio Grande: near to its head waters, are those of theRio Puerco of the West, an effluent of the Colorado.)A great deal of alkali is visible in the low flat places near the RailRoad; the heat of the sun draws it as a saline efflorescence to thesurface.The last I saw of the country, was a flow of lava, a petrified black sea,such as the Ancient Mariner might have come across in his wanders,the iron horse ploughs his path through it for 5 miles.As lava is nota very compact rock, the engineers experienced some trouble inblasting, but the fragments make excellent track ballast.*Before retiring, I had a long conversation with General Hatch whogave me not only an interesting recital of his services during thewar, but of those since performed against Indians in Texas, Indn.Territory, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Chihuahua (Mexico).Then of his early career at sea, and voyaging up the Amazon, andfinally in the lumber regions of Minnesota.General Hatch is an unusually handsome man, tall, finely propor-tioned and powerful, head finely shaped, hair white, eyes keen andpenetrating, expression of countenance firm, intelligent and goodnatured.The conductor of the freight train (to which we had changed atCrane s,) kindly made down berths for us and, wrapped in GeneralHatch s Navajo blankets, our sleep was sound, until we were awakedat Albuquerque, N.M., at 2 a.m., on the morning ofApril 27th 1881.At the moment of stepping upon the platform, twohigh gentlemen of the town were blazing away with pistols at eachother a little farther up the street.Unfortunately, neither was killed.General Hatch and I then entered what was said to be the toniest rum-mill in the town, and took a glass of whiskey, which with a cupof good coffee and a sandwich made a middling good breakfast.Theestablishment, the barkeeper politely informed us, was kept open*Bourke s note: A little north of the R.R.is Mt.Taylor (13.500 ), a bold peak of the JemezMountains. NAVAJO COUNTRY 391day and night, Sunday, and Monday and was doing a rushing busi-ness.Albuquerque, a very old town of the Mexicans, is now notedfor being the centre of a growing R.R.system of considerable conse-quence and the place of resort of swarms of the hardest charactersof the East and West.Loaded down with all kinds of plunder Indian pottery, NavajoBlankets, baskets, bows and arrows, and our personal baggage, wepatiently awaited the approach of the train from the South.In thegray of the dawn, it appeared and without a moment s delay, startedfor Lamy.On the way up to that point, I saw much to admire in theScenery of the Rio Grande Valley, so tame and uninterestingfarther to the North.Here, it is laid out in broad fields, irrigatedand ready for the coming crop.Dozens of villages, of Mexicansand Indians, dot the thread of the stream, each embowered in agrove of fruit trees, in full blossom.Across the valley, scores ofacequias, large and small, wound between rows of fresh youngsentinel cottonwoods which completely concealed the precioustreasure of limpid water they were carrying to the parched fields,excepting where here and there it sparkled like jewels of pricethrough rifts in the foliage.The morning was far enough advanced to throw a roseate flush overthe dome of the sky and enable us to distinguish clearly, every vil-lage, house, barn and orchard in the landscape: and in one word, Imay say the effect was enchanting.At Lamy, General Hatch and Itook breakfast and then separated, he to return to Santa Fé, and Ito continue on to Atchison, Kansas.During our brief tarry at Fort Wingate, I had the great pleasure ofmaking the acquaintance of Mr.[Frank Hamilton] Cushing, of theSmithsonian Institute, who has been living among the Zuni Indianssince last summer.They have regularly adopted him into the tribe,made him a chief and invested him with their costume.Noticing astring of sea-shells around his neck, I inquired whence they came. From the Pacific Ocean; the Zunis make pilgrimages there everyfour years .Cushing is a man of intelligence, persistency and en-thusiasm, just the character to carry to a successful conclusion themission he has undertaken. 392 THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGYLeaving Lamy, our train soon entered Glorieta Cañon, the site of anengagement between U.S.Vols.and Texan rebels in 1861.9 There ismuch pine timber of small size and the scenery is picturesque.Onthe East side of the cañon, we came in full view of the ruins of the Pecos church, built by the missionaries years ago for the benefitof a pueblo, which becoming decimated by disease, finally mergedin with the people of Jemez.Dined at Las Vegas (The Meadows.) a bustling, growing town, situatedin the centre of broad, fertile farm lines.Supped at Raton (Mouse.)at the foot of the Rocky Mtns: here we took on two powerful enginesand began to climb over the Continental Divide.In the pass, thereappears to be a good deal of coal, indications and outcroppingsbeing abundant.At the summit, we entered a long tunnel, havingpassed which, we had easy work to get down a long, steep descentto Trinidad.This is another Mexican town which like its neighbors,Pueblo, Santa Fé, Albuquerque, and El Paso, has awakened to newlife under the influence of the pushing, busy Yankee.When I waslast here in 1869. it was as a worn-out, sleepy passenger on theoverland stage running from the terminus of the R.R., in Kansas toSanta Fé.No one was then sanguine enough to dream of a Rail Roadto Santa Fé, and every important point in New Mexico and Arizona;certainly not in our generation.April 28th 1881.A disagreeable, cold Kansas blizzard tormented usall day.We were bowling over the interminable plains of Kansas,stretching on all sides to the clouds, without any more undulationof surface than a wind-rippled sea, the total absence of timberconfirmed the resemblance to ocean travel.For a number of hourswe kept down the valley of the placid Arkansas, but at noon thisdiverged to the South and left us to continue our journey in a beltof land unrelieved by any attraction.The land seemed well adaptedfor farming and the careful fencing, the comfortable dwellings andthe great flocks of sheep gave the idea that farming had not beenwithout profit.This former home of the Buffalo has not now a singleone of those noble creatures within her borders.9.Actually, the battle of Glorieta was March 26 28, 1862.After defeating Union forcesat Valverde on February 16, the Confederates were moving against Fort Union, N.M., whenthey unexpectedly encountered a Union force in the pass.Hastily dispatched Union rein-forcements from Colorado turned the battle, resulting in the loss of the Confederate supplytrain and the disorganization of the Southern force.Lamar, New Encyclopedia, 216. NAVAJO COUNTRY 393April 29th 1881.(Friday.) Reached Topeka, Kansas, at 2 a.m.Tookthe chair car on the branch line to Atchison (60 m.), which wereached at 5 a.m.Put up at the Union Dépôt Hotel, had a nice nap, good breakfastand refreshing shave.Telegraphed my whereabouts to General Wil-liams
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