ever seen it in Indians. The dead bodies were lying there all day; neither Americans nor Mexicans seemed to care about them, and their burial was no doubt left to the wolves. I saw, therefore, no impropriety in taking another curiosity along for scientific purposes–to wit, the skull of the medicine man, which I have, since my return, presented to that distinguished craniologist, Professor Samuel G. Morton, of Philadelphia. In relation to the tribe of Lipans, I could only ascertain from the Mexicans that they live in the mountains of the Bolson, extend their stealing and robbing excursions very far south, and have the reputation of being a most brutal and cruel set of Indians, though brave in battle.
El Pozo (the well) is a hacienda, belonging to Don Manuel de Ibarra, and consists of but one large building, in which many families live. The place is distinguished for its ingenious water-works. It consists of a deep and very spacious well, from which the water is drawn by mule power in the following way. Over a large wheel in the upper part of the well a strong and broad band of leather is stretched, moving around with the wheel; to the band, in regular distances, many buckets of leather are attached, which, by the equal circular motion of the wheel and the band, are descending on one side to the well, and fill themselves with water, while they are drawn up on the other side, and, emptying their water into a basin, return again to the well. To receive the drawn water, two large basins of stone, about 40 feet wide and 100 feet long, have been made, and on the outside of the basins runs a long line of troughs, all of stone, for the watering of the animals. Part of our vanguard have been ordered ahead this morning to see the basins filled; and when the regiment arrived, all our animals were watered in less than an hour. The same Indians which our men fought here, the Lipans, used to frequent this well very freely, and carried their impudence even so far that they notified the Mexicans at what time they wanted to have the basins full, and the Mexicans did not dare to disobey. Although the idea of this water-wheel is by no means a new one, it is certainly very simply and well executed, and the more gratifying to the traveller, as this is the only watering place between San Juan and Parras, a distance of about 50 miles. On the threatened invasion of General Wool, the Mexicans, amongst other preparations of defence, had proposed to fill up this well on the approach of the American army, to expose them to starvation for want of water. This would certainly have proved a most wanton destruction, as the Mexicans must have found out by this time that a Jornada of 50 miles is not capable of stopping an American army.
May 14.–We left this morning for Parras, in the State of Coahuila. On most maps the Laguna de Parras is laid down as the western boundary between Durango and Coahuila; some Mexicans told me that in the Bolson de Mapimi the Rio Nasas is considered as the boundary line. Our road run parallel with a near mountain chain to the right, and was mostly ascending. In the latter part of our march we saw from a hill Parras, at the foot of the same chain, which makes here a bend towards southeast. The first sight of the town reminded me of el Paso, on account of the great many gardens and vineyards that surround it. Entering the town, I was struck with the luxuriant growth of pomegranates, figs, and fruits of all sorts, and with the enormous height and circumference of the common opuntias and agaves, which I had seen already in the State of Chihuahua, but much smaller. The opuntias had trunks of one foot diameter, and the
