Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1874-07-02

of immense size ran swiftly o.
yer the burning sand, and the
much dreaded tarantula showed
its numerous legs, the hideous
cactus made its appearance, and
we were in a new world. Hot,
hotter, hottest: our team drag
ged along slowly through the
parched sand and we pitied the
poor beasts; but America will
travel anyhow or anyway, and
we were no exception to the
rule. Thirteen miles over the
crusted road and we drove up
to the station, a low, dingy,
'dobie house in the sand; an old
man came out and soon made
his history known by announc-
ing himself as DR.. Smith, the
proprietor, a regular graduate of
some unheard of place in the
States. Not obtaining much
medical knowledge from Smith,
NJ. D., we bade the regular
graduate" adieu and logged
along until we arrived at Aqua
Caliente, the hot springs. This
place is noted for its monthly
earthquake, it's great heat, and
its high sand mountain. We
soon entered Death Valley,th
hundred feet below the level Of
the sea, and never shall | forget
the dreary thirty miles jour
'ney acrossits baked earth, which
lis white as chalk and covered
with sea-shells in good state
iof preservation. The air smells
loudly of the Internal regions,
the passengers began to throw
off coats, vests, hats, we'll, >
never mind the rest. We gave
a sigh of relief when we left the
God-for saken place, and in a
few days more of toilsome trav-
el pulled up at La Paz, an old
placcr-mining town in Arizona,
distant from Los Angeles, 250
miles.
LIFE AT LA PAZ.
After our arrival at La Paz
we went to the only hotel in the
place and endeavored to make
ourselves comfortable, but the
heat was next to intolerable;
We drank copious draughts of
water to cool the inner man and
fought the myriads Of blue
tailed flies just to be in the pre-
vailing fashion. Three-fourths
of the inhabitants of La Paz
are Mexican, the remainder are
American. The mesa around
La Paz is semi-desert. The
land upon the Colorado here is
heavily timbered with cotton
wood and mesquite, and the soil
near the river is rich, but as
nothing can be raised without
irrigation, it is not cultivated to
any extent. 1t will probably
never be reclaimed, as it is next
to impossible to raise any
thing without water.
The mesquite tree deserves
more than g passing notice.
The wood is very hard and close
grained and is much used here
in making wagon hubs. The
greatest peculiarity about the
tree is the numerous beans
which grow upon it. These re-
sembfe the ordinary corn-field
bean and the taste is similar,
but both the bean and the hull
are larger. They are very nu-
tritious las both the Indians and
their ponies get sleek and fat
when they ripen.
Upon entering my room at
night for the purpose of retir-
ing, l locked my door against
all intruders and was soon in
bed, but the air was like a fur
mace and l could not remain in
the room. / arose, dressed my
self, and stepped out into the
back yard. Imagine my sur
prise when l saw my fellow
boarders making their beds up
on the roof.
"What are you doing up there,
Bill?'' / inquired of a long,
lank Kentuckian, who had been
my companion all the way from
Los Angeles.
Bring your blankets up here
and sleep upon the roof-it is
the fashion in Arizona; and a
man might as well be blowed
out of a bIundcrbuss as to be
out of the fashion," he answered.
/ returned to my room, Sc
cured my bedding and, after
clambering up the ladder, pro-
ceeded to follow the "fashion"
by making my bunk alongside
Of nv companion. The heat