Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-07-29

An expedition sent out by the United
leadership of Robert 7. Hill, is about to
undertake an exploration of the least
known portion of the United States
namely, the Great Bend region of south
the great bend of the Rio Grande. 1t is
a land of weirdly horrible desert ba-
sins, sandwiched between ranges of gil
gantic mountains, which are carved into
all sorts of astonishing shapes, but the
strangest feature Of it's formation is a
series of mighty canons, almost equal
ing in grandeur the famous canon of the
Colorado.
1t is a country in which, as the phrase
goes, the traveller must "climb for wa
ter and dig for WOOD and this express
sion is correctly descriptive, inasmuch
as water can only be obtained by as
while the only available fuel, in the alb
solute absence Of trees, is furnished by
he huge roots of the mesquite, which
are dug out of the ground. For a dis
through this remarkable region, pierre
ing range after range of mountains,
through which it has cut the canons
described. Nobody has ever ventured to
attempt a passage through these can
ons by the river, which is obstructed
by frightful cataracts and rapids, but
Mr.. Hill is going to try it.
Interest in the region has been
aroused recently by the discovery of
rich deposits Of quicksilver in the
Chisos mountains-one of the greater
ranges through which the Rio Grande
has cut it's rock-walled tunnel. And, by
the way, it is the same country where
the celebrated Shafter mine, the only
profitable silver mine in Texas, is locat-
ed. This mine was discovered by Gen.
eral Shafter, of Santiago fame, who
made one of the earliest journeys
through the Great Bend territory, and
since then it has yielded him a good
sized fortune. 1t was there, to the west
OF the Pecos river, that he sought the
Apaches and Comanches, and cleaned
them out-whence the sobriquet of Pc
cos Bill. Across the great bend Of the
river is Comanche pass, through which
the Comanche Indians used to make
their raids into northern Mexico.
The canons Of the Rio Grande are a
series of gigantic roof1ess tunnels
carved by the river through range after
range of mountains. Between the
ranges are dry plains called "bolsons"-
a Spanish word signifying purses or in
closed basins-and these are the most
dismal and horrible deserts Imaginable.
such vegetation as they have being of
a weird and abnormal description. On
the mountains, likewise, nothing grows
except cacti of a thousand different va
rleties n stray shrubs of a f%orbidding
appearance, and the streams that flow
down their sides are lost in the burning
sands below.
Nevertheless, the country is a hun
ters' paradise. There are plenty of deer
and turkeys, as We'll as the "yowyow"
n many other kinds of cats. The
''yowyow," so pronounced, is spelled
Jaguar in Spanish, but few Americans
Know how to call properly it's name,
which is a phonetic rendition of the an
imals cry. Included in the minor fauna
OF the Great Bend region are myriads
OF pouched gophers, kangaroo rats and
pocket mice; also a great variety of
queer reptiles, such as horned toads.
horned r~attlesnakes and desert lizards.
Some of the lizards are good to eat,
while others can run faster than a
horse, and others yet live on flowers. 50
that one a get a big bouquet by cut
ting one of them oman