The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1842-08-13

The last number of Kcndalls interest
ing sketches Of ndid3nts connected with
his Santa Fe Expedition is as follows.
The morning ofthc Sd September broke
bright and coudless, the sun rising from
out the prairie in all his majesty. Singu-
lar as it may appear nearly every shower
we had, came in the night, from the time
we left Austin until we reached the Mex
lean settlements. Again we spent cou-
pie of hours drying our blankets, ,hcn
saddled up and pursued our journey, and
still in northwest direction.
We had scarcely gone six miles before
we suddenly came upon an immense rent
or Chasm in the earth, far exceeding in
depth the one we had SO much difficulty
in crossing the day before. No one was
aware Of its existence until we were i'm
media ely upon its brink, when a spoc'a-
Gle. exceeding in grandeur any thing we
had previously witnessed, came suddenly
III view. Nota tree or bush, no outline
whatever marked its position Or course.
and we were all lost in amaZcment and
wonder as one by one we left the double
file ranks and rode up to the verge Of tie
yawnlng abyss.
In depth it could not have been less
than eight hundred or thousand feet
from three to five hundred yards in width,
and at tie point where we first struck it
the sides were nearly perpendicular. A
sickly scnsanori-a IF dizziness was felt by
all as we looked down, as It 'wSre, into
the very depths Of the earth. Below al
occasional spot of green relieved the eye,
and small stream Of water, now rising
to the view then sinking beneath some
huge rock, was bubbImg and loaming a.
long. Immense walls, columns, in some
places what appeared to be arches were
seen standing, worn by the water undoubt-
cdly, and SO perfect in form that we could
with difficulty be brought to believe that
the hand Of man was not upon them. The
rains OF centuries, falling upon an i'm
mense prairie, had here found reservoir,
and their workings upon the different veins
Of earth and stone had formed these
strange and iancilul shapes.
Before reaching the chasm, we had eros
scd numerous large trails leading a little
more to the west than We were travelling.
and We were at once convinced that they
all centred at a common crossing close
by, In this conjecture we were not dis
appointed, for trot of half an hour
brought us into a large road, the thor
onghare along which millions of Indians,
buffalo, and mustangs had travelled for
years. Perllous as the decent looked, we
well knew there was no other near The
lead mule was again started ahead, the
steadier and older horses were next driven
over the sides, while the mere skittish
and mtractable brought up the rear
Ouce IN the narrow path which led Cir
cautiously down the deep descent there
was no turning back, and our maddened |
animals finally reached the bottom in safe
ty. Several large stones were loosened
from their fastenings by our men during
the frightful descent They would leap,
dash and thunder down the PERCEPTIONS
sides, and strike against the bottom far be-
low us with a terrific crash.
We found a running stream at the bot
tom, and on the opposite side romantic
dell covered with short grass and few
scattering cotton woods. A large body t