American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-08-08

For the American Telegraph.
NOTES ON NEW MEXICO-No. II.
BY HENRY HARDY

t BY HENRY HARDY.
Though the immediate vicinity Of the high
way out of Santa Fe, save the few farms of
which have spoken, is sterile and wretched to
a proyerb, yet the scenery in the distance,
nearly oil round the compass, partakes of the
picturesque in a high degree. Look which way
you will, you are hemmed in by misty noun
tains, each having its own distinct and impress
sive individuality, So large is the scale Of the
panorama of which you are the centre, that
you travel for hours without seeming to affect
your distance from those great masses that
frown down upontthe subjacent plains Nay,
for many miles after leaving these mighty walls
of Nature, you really appear rather to aPproxi-
mate than to retreat from them-the illusion
arising, as suppose, from the greater breadth
of view consequent upon beholding not SO much
the little details Of the country about the noun
tain-foot, as great region in which the noun
tain assumes truer proportion. And then
again, there may be something in the exceeding
pureness Of the air, which would seem to act
upon the apparent distance, like the water of a
pool in q crystal stream, suggesting propin-
guilty of bottom to top much beyond what is
really the case. l,..s t8s.at .aaf
! The Sandia mountain is not less than sey-
'enty miles from Santa Fe, and yet at ten miles
from the. town it would not be set down by an
inexperienced traveller at farther off than four
or FIVE, to such degree does space in that
country seem to be annihilated, Below this
mighty and frowning mass Of eternal adamant
runs parallel range of low, that is to say, Of
loacer mountains, looking very much like rank
of small boys standing in front Of q body of
brawny and stalwart men. This lower range,
running off in detached masses, each partaking
considerably of the conical form, is called the
Gold Mountains, being the locale of the placers,
which some years ago engaged the busy atten-
ton Of the New Mexicans, The gold found in
these mountains is very pure, though not yet
discovered in sutiicientplenty to make the steady
search for it an object with Americans. Al
though we hear the mineral wealth of New
Mexico much talked about, and even the sands
of Santa Fe streets credited with an admixture
of gold dust, yet no mining investments on a
large scale have hitherto proved profitable An
enterprising American the year before last
opened o mine at very considerable cost, and
attended well to its necessary operations, but
he closed it after some months, not being able
to do more than just clear expenses .i sf
think it quite likely that in a region 80
obviously volcanic, discoveries will from time
to time be made, but at present no inducement
is held out to mining enterprise. Not only gold
but silver, and others Of the baser metals, have
nothing in the mining way is now going on. 1t
is evident that iron must exist in inexhaustible
quantities throughout the country traversed by
the Ration mountains and the detached eleva-
tions scattered over the region east of New
Mexico for two or three hundred miles from its
inhabited border. | have been told that the
mountain noticed before, under the name of
the Buffalo Mound, consists almost wholly of
iron stone; | know that the ribbed heights of
the plains all around it do. Much Of this stone
has the appearance of exceedingly pure iron
ore, though from the utter absence Of wood or
coal flor any thing yet known of the latter in
the Reighborhood, there would seem to be no
means for working it.
After travelling number of miles, which
should calculate by the elements of time and
rate of going to be about seventeen, we ar
rived at o fork in the road, and, as it was
after nightfall, determined to put up at rancho
hard by on the left, which is often used by ira
'vellers as a stopping place. Its proprietor is a
Mexican Of the better class, named Delgado, and
hence the place goes by the name Of Delgddo's
rancho. The uncle of this man lives at a rancho
on, the brow of an opposite hill, q mile and q
half off, separated by narrow valley, threaded
by meandering rill, which glories in the
title of Ell Rio Ghetto. Our hosts establish
ment was quite extensive, and being a fair
specimen of the better sort of babitations / win
somewhat minutely describe IL. His residence
consisted Of large adobe square structure,
with suite of large and, internally, really fine
rooms, quite comfortable at all seasons, being
cool in warm weather and warm in cold. The
house is entered through spacious portal
facing southeast, and its first room is a large
saia or lobby, perhaps fifty feet long by twenty
wide, which is used for various farm and family
purposes. In it you will see chests, trunks,
scythes, troughs, with sundry other farm and
household utensils, slowed away in the corners
or set along the walls, with here and there
heap of ear or shelled corn untidily strewed
about. Overhead you will ordinarily see, and
sometimes encounter with your hat, festoons
of sausages, chitterlings or mu ggets, hanging
from the rafters in various stages of desiccation.
Pieces Of mutton, beef, or goats flesh also adorn
the overhead region, interspersed with punches
Of garlic, onions and the pods of the perpetual
chiHcolorado, or red pepper. The lobby is some
times used, amongst other things, as the dairy
room; and then, what with the smell of sour
goafs-milk, mingled with the aroma of garlic,
and the sundry odorifcs have limited at above
none of them looking bit too clean--the reader
may be sure that one must have q stomach al
most as strong as a Mexican's to keep the gorge
in tolerable submission. For months after
made acquaintance with the peculiar odor thus
compounded, held q recollection of it so dis
tinct that when brought-hv W any circumstance to
my memory, my stomach would undergo a
spasm of nausea. ..l,...usa III. ... .I.4.
Leaving the sala, you enter on the one hand
the family sitting and dining room--on the
other, the cocina, or kitchen. On the other side
Of the main building is room opening out
ward into a second portal, and running the
whole breadth of the house. On the walls Of
this room are hung many pictures, engravings,
and samples Of needle-work, having for their
subject the figures Of the Saviour, the Sdntisind
Viryep, the Apostles, and other venerated per-
sonages. This is the room in which mass is
performed at the occasional visits of the Padre
The walls are whitened with wash Of yeso, or
selenite, which becomes calcined by slight
baking. As this easily rubs of, the walls in
the better rooms are generally covered to the