BARTLETT'S TRATELS IN TEXAS, MEXICO, AND

CALIFORNIA.* THESE volumes contain a narrative of Mr. Bartlett's personal tra- vels, as Commissioner or Superintendent of the surveying-party deputed by the Government of Washington to settle the boundary between Mexico and the United States in conjunction with a simi- lar body from the Mexican authorities. The author's division of his travels is sixfold, according to the particular section of the ground and the order of time. The truer division is less in num- ber; embracing travels along the course of the Rio Grande both on the Texan and Mexican banks. 2. From San Diego on the Pacific, along the course of the Gila, and thence across the barren table-land which divides the two just-named rivers. 3. A journey

through Sonora, a province of Mexico lying along the Gulf of Cali- fornia ; a sea voyage to San Francisco, and a brief sojourn there. The nature of Mr. Bartlett's duty carried him occasionally over ground that has only been trodden by the native or the bewildered emigrant to California. A very large part is practically new, and the Commissioner occasionally encountered difficulties of a trying and incidents of a remarkable kind. The general character of his adventures and experience, however, does not essentially differ from that of other travellers across the central wastes of North America which divide the settled regions on the Atlantic from the Pacific seaboard. In fact, though Mr. Bartlett's party underwent hunger and thirst, were beset by marauding Indians who carried off their animals, and encountered the obstacles to locomotion which must be expected in unexplored and mountainous districts, yet they were too strong and well-provided a body to be exposed to the dangers and privations which individual adventurers have undergone in the waste table-lands of North America. The con- sequence is, that matter more essentially interesting than Mr. Bartlett's has already appeared in similar books of travels.

There is, however, quite enough of novelty and interest in the incidents of his journey, the persons be fell in with, and the man- ners he has to paint, to have formed a very good book, if he had not overdone it. In a country totally new, or in a case where the incidents are ever extraordinary, or in the still rarer case of very great literary ability, with sketches which are valued for the artist rather than the subject, the journal-like form is proper. In ge- neral, its minute details induce weariness, from their resemblance to each other, especially if unaccompanied by stirring occurrences, and if the work be, like the volumes before us, very long.

Nevertheless, a good deal of information may be found in the Personal Narrative of Mr. Bartlett, and some striking pictures of new countries and their states of society. After the reader has toiled through the daily details of the first journey, he will have a broad impression of the rich undulating prairie lands of Texas,

• Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, Cali- fornia, Sonora, and Chihuahua, connected with the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission during the years 1850, '51, '52, and '53. By John Russell Bartlett, United States Commissioner during that period. In two volumes, with Maps and Illustrations. Published by Routledge and co. and the steep difficult passes of the mountain table-lands, with their intervening deserts, where water is rarely met with, and abandoned waggons and the skeletons of animals mark the way more distinctly than in the deserts of Africa. After the " back. bone " of America is crossed, he finds wastes relieved in many places by smiling vallies ; from which, however, little is gained, the cowardly Mexicans being unable to resist or punish the bands of Indians who destroy their cattle, carry off their crops, and even their women and children, after murdering the men. Native• military tyranny, the licence of war, and the number of reeklese emigrants from America, superaddei to Spanish colonial morals,. induce a lax state of society ; though Mr. Bartlett thinks that in remote places the native Mexicans have a mild simplicity, ill-exchanged for the sort of civilization they pick up from American settlers and emigrants. The incursions of the Indians, and the loose principles of many of the Whites, continually oc- casion adventures which recall the novels and wild dramas of two or three centuries ago, carrying the reader back to the middle ages. The most striking feature of the whole book is the lawlessness of the country ; crimes of violence reaching to life itself seem a normal state of things. The cold-blooded assassination of Colonel Craig, commander of the escort, by a couple of deserters, when the Colonel was disarmed and advancing to reason with them, was a murder arising from passion and a determination to resist capture, that might have occurred anywhere : but a word and a shot, or a stab, seems the custom of the country from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of California. An educated man, and coming from a State of law and order, the Commissioner was startled and shocked by this violence ; but he was as helpless to punish as to prevent.

The Mexicans do not appear to be so bloody as the frontier Americans, their timidity probably restraining them ; but they are artists in another way.

"Knowing the thievish propensities of the lower class of Mexican; I directed my servant to keep a sharp look-out for my_baggage' while I stepped to the cabin to secure a berth. Soon after he was ordered to bring me my

desk ; and though absent less than a minute, he found on his return that the boat which had brought us had pushed off, and a portion of my baggage was gone. The moment my servant had left them, they took what they could lay their hands on, jumped into their boat, and disappeared in the dark. Pursuit was useless. The articles lost were not of much value ; but it was provoking, notwithstanding all my care, to be robbed by this rascally people wherever I went. While speaking of my misfortune, one of the passengers said his silk handkerchief had been taken from his coat-pocket by the man who brought him in his arms to the boat. Two other passengers, on

examining their pockets, found that they had sustained a similar loss. I could not help laughing ; informing them that I had taken the precaution to secure a fine silk handkerchief I had just bought, by putting a couple of oranges in my pocket above it.' You had better look, said my friends, 'and see what your precautions amount to.' I did so, and found I had been operated upon as effectually as the rest."

The Commissioner did not overlook the arts in the course of his journey ; but they are all in a primitive state. Even that of dis- tillation is coarse in its process, however satisfactory in its result.

"Mescal, or aguardiente, is a spirituous liquor of great strength, much more so than our strongest whisky. It is obtained from the bulb or root of the maguey or agave mexicana, and is the common alcoholic drink through- out the country. The process of making this liquor is as follows. A hole is first dug some ten or twelve feet in diameter and about three deep, and is lined with stones. Upon this a fire is built and kept up until the stones are thoroughly heated. A layer of moist grass is then thrown upon the stones, and on this are piled the bulbs of the maguay, which vary in size from ones head to a half-bushel measure, resembling huge onions. These are again covered with a thicker layer of grass ; and the whole is allowed to remain until they are thoroughly baked. They are then removed to large leathern bags, and water is poured on them to produce fermentation. At the end of a week the bags are emptied of the maguay and its liquor ; which, after un- dergoing the process of distillation, is ready for use. " But the mescal is the least important of the uses to which the maguey is applied. When its stem is tapped there flows from it a juice which, on being fermented, produces the pulque, a favourite beverage in Central and Lower Mexico, though little known in the Northern States. From the fibres of its massive leaves, which grow to five or six feet in length and two inches in thickness, is spun a stout thread, which is again doubled, and twisted into ropes. Next, a heavy bagging is made of it, similar to that in which our coffee comes to market. Again, the more delicate leaves are rolled uP into balls; and these, on being pounded, form a lather which answers the purpose of soap. It is likewise used to a great extent as a thatch. The younger leaves are eagerly eaten by cattle ; and it is said that the minute particles of silica in its stem render it, when cut longitudinally into strips, en excellent substitute for a razor-strop. But there is yet another use to which it is applied, viz. as an article of food. For this purpose the bulbs or roots are baked in the ashes, or in the same manner as for making aguardicste, and the outer skin stripped off. It is then sweet, and rather pleasant to the taste, and is extensively used by the Indians on the Gila as well as by theMexicans on the Rio Grande, who are too lazy to cultivate the soil and raise

corn. The engineers attached to the Commission told me that the entir! Mexican population at Presidio del Norte, consisting of a thousand souls, had no other food for more than six months."

The nature of his duties brought the Commissioner into fre- quent contact with the Indians; a connexion which he rather en- couraged, as he had a turn for ethnology, and was occupied in col- lecting a vocabulary. His pictures are not generally new; " Pf haps the tribes he fell in with are not the finest samples of Stoio of the woods." They exhibit the Red Indians on the whole. in a favourable light, and Mr. Bartlett is of opinion that many' et their evil deeds are traceable to the bad characters of the Whites they come in contact with. This opinion may not extend to., little " reiving," that being everywhere a gentleman's pruferisn in the early stages of society. The mission lost animals bya_eir, kind of thievery, but only encountered one grand attaok, and.T: of on their return through the Mexican territory to the South u` Rio Grande. "About a mile from camp, we passed a small arroyo, or ravine, tti, well filled with bushes. This arroyo was no sooner passed by the foramf.7,; waggon in the train, than we were startled by the most terrific yew '"'" shouting; and on turning our heads, to our horror we saw a band of Indians • issuing from the arroyo we had passed, and charging upon the train. We immediately turned about, put spurs to our animals, and rode back with all speed towards the train. The savages, who numbered between thirty and forty, (as stated to me by those in the rear,) were rushing at full speed with the lances poised, screaming and yelling, endeavouring to break the line and stampede the mules, as they crossed from one side to the other. Others followed, discharging their arrows at the teamsters as they passed ; but the teamsters remained each by his team, keeping the mules in their places, and closing up the line. At the same time, they kept the enemy at bay by level- ling their pistols at them. These men had the presence of mind to keep their seats in the saddle and to hold their fire, which the savages wanted to draw. Had they fired and missed their mark, (and the chances were ten to one against their hitting,) they would have been pierced by a lance or an arrow the next moment.

"The men who were riding by the side of the waggons sprang to the aid of the teamsters, and held the leading mules, which kept them in their places. "Failing in their attempt to frighten the mules and throw the train into disorder, the Indiana dashed on towards the rear, and made a furious charge on the party there who were driving the spare mules and horses. Two Mexicans, herdsmen, were unhorsed by the charge ; and a third, being wounded, fell from his animal. He, however, held on to his bridle ; when an Indian rushed at him and pierced him to the heart with his lance. The momentary pause of this man made him a good mark for the rifle, and sealed his fate. Several were discharged at once, which brought the fellow to the ground. His companions, seeing him fall, ran to his rescue, raised him up, and threw his bleeding body across a mule ridden by another Indian, when they rode off at full speed.

" The firing now became general ; but the constant motion of the enemy enabled them to escape. The five Mexican soldiers, who were on foot, stood up to the fight manfully, and were in the thickest of it. They did much, too, towards saving the last waggon, which had got separated, and was a hundred and fifty yards in the rear. The driver of this team, when he saw the Indians between him and the rest of the train, jumped from his mule, and, bringing the leaders around, fastened their heads to the waggon. He then took out his rifle and stood on the defensive, levelling it at each Indian as he approached, and thus keeping them at bay.

"The Indians next made for Mr. Thurber, who was still further in the rear, and at the moment engaged in putting some plants into his portfolio. They dashed at him with their lances ; and he had barely time to seize his revolver, with which he kept them off. Our men were now close at the enemy's heels; so that, finding themselves in rather a tight place, they made for the adjoining hills."

The laxity or want of discipline in the official party will pro- bably strike the reader. The chief Surveyor was a long time in joining ; when he did join, he objected to the originating point of the survey, which Mr. Bartlett had fixed with the Mexican Com- missioners, but he was compelled to sign on reference to Washing- ton. Colonel M'Clellan, the chief Astronomer, was longer in coming than Mr. Gray ; when he came, he began to contend with the Surveyor, and at last with the Commissioner, because the lat- ter would not let him be chief over him, and a further reference had to be made to keep him in his place. Various other griev- ances, of a similar kind, read strange for the little respect paid to public authorities, without intention to be really disrespectful.