whitish, slightly alcoholic beverage, which I had already tasted in Saltillo and found it quite palatable. Some of the plants were just in the state of production. The white liquid was collected in the heart of the plant, where, by cutting the stem out in the right season, a cavity is formed, into which every day about one gallon of a sweet, saccharine juice exsudates, from which, by short fermentation, the pulque is prepared. By a more protracted process they obtain from it also a spirituous liquor, that is very freely used in Mexico, and called Mezcal, (Mexical.) From the fibres of the thick blades of the agave americana the old Mexicans prepared a very fine paper, on which they printed their hieroglyphic figures. At present they work these fibres into ropes, bags, and thread, though for the latter purpose a smaller and related species of agave (lechuguilla?) is more used, whose finer and stronger fibres are called pita. The juice of the agave contains before the season of flowering an acrid principle, which is applied to wounds for cauterization. As the maguey is a perennial plant, and useful in a variety of ways, a plantation of it in the southern part of Mexico is generally considered a good investment.
May 24.–We left our camp this morning for Rinconada, (25 miles.) Having marched about 18 miles through a wide plain, we reached some deserted ranches which had been destroyed by a part of the American troops. From here the road winds itself through a mountain pass, with precipitous mountains of limestone on both sides; the pass is, on an average, two miles wide, and a creek with clear water runs through it. The way leads mostly over a very hilly and broken country, and the scenery is wild and romantic. About three miles from Rinconada there is a place in the pass where it is scarcely more than 500 yards wide. General Ampudia had commenced here some fortifications by throwing up redoubts and other works; and from the narrowness of the pass, and the steepness of the road ahead of it, the position is undoubtedly most formidable; but, after the battle of Monterey, the place was abandoned by the Mexicans.
Rinconada belongs to the State of Nuevo Leon, which we have entered now, and is a deserted rancho, in a corner of the mountain pass, on the same creek. Although every thing there is at present in a state of desolation, it seems to have been a well cultivated place, judging from the long line of cotton trees along the water, and the many pomegranates and fig trees in the garden. Rinconada is 3,381 feet above the sea; we have therefore descended from Encantada, within 48 miles, 2,723 feet.
May 25.–Always descending, we still marched for some time through the pass, which widened successively into a large valley, surrounded towards the north and south by high barriers of mountains. Passing by Santa Catarina, a village to the right of our road, and by a large mill, Moleno de Jesus Maria, we encamped within about four miles of Monterey, (24 from Rinconada,) with the bishop's palace in sight. In the afternoon, a thunder storm, with rain, the first good shower since we left Chihuahua.
May 26.–Started this morning for Monterey, the celebrated capital of Nuevo Leon. The road passes at the foot of the bishop's palace. This building of stone looks more like a chapel than a palace; around it some walls and retrenchments were erected. The hill which it occupies is a projecting spur of the nearest mountains, about 100 feet higher than the road, but very steep and rocky. General Worth's charge upon this fort does not stand the lowest among the many gallant deeds which this Murat
