Spanish America, Vol. 1 (of 2)

by Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle

On the summits of some of these mountains snow eternally lodges, and the cold, in consequence, is intense. Many rivers take their rise in the sides and near the tops of this Cordillera, and rush with impetuous force into the valleys below, whence they take their courses to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. During the rainy season, (from June to September,) and when the upper snows lose their solidity and become fluid, these rivers, and the smaller streams, are turned into torrents, inundating the lowlands; and their devastations, to the distance of 10 or 12 miles, are inconceivable. During this period, when the natives are forced to much manual labour and bodily exertion in the open air, to repress the ravages of the waters, these pests of warm climates, the musquitoes, become intolerable.

Bears, tigers, &c. with various beautiful species of squirrels, inhabit the thick forests on the sides of the Sierra Madre. This ridge is most prolific in silver, each quintal of earth in the mines yielding a mark (two thirds of a pound); but these mines, on account of their distance from Mexico, have many of them been forsaken.

This ridge received its other name of Topia, from the appellation of a tribe of savages who inhabited it, and who were converted to the Catholic faith by the exertions of the Jesuit missionaries in 1590. So little was known of the existence of the Indians in some of the middle parts of this chain, that the inhabitants were not converted till the year 1718.

As before observed, nothing can be accurately advanced with respect to the termination of the continuation of the Topia, or Sierra Madre Cordillera on the north; but it seems, without much doubt, to be continued to an amazing distance towards the north pole, and that the Stony Mountains are certainly a part of it. In the immediate vicinity of the northern boundary of the Spanish territories, the tribe of Indians called the Moquis, are reckoned amongst the inhabitants of its regions; they live under the same parallel as Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, and some distance to the westward of that place; their houses have already been mentioned.

The Sierra Madre sends off a branch in the west part of the province of New Mexico; this ramification, the summits of which are very lofty, is called Gemes, and bears a south-easterly direction; whilst on the eastern side, it throws off another arm, called the ridge of Nahmi; which is, however, of inferior height, and of shorter duration, than that of Gemes.

From the shore of the Pacific to the great Topian ridge, the general distance may be computed at 140 miles; in many places, however, it is greater, and in some, where the continent begins to straighten its bounds, not one half that distance.

The Topian chain takes the name of Sierra de las Grullas, from 38° to 40° north latitude; beyond that to 42° north latitude, it receives the name of Sierra Verde; during its southern course, it bears several distinct names, besides the general one of Sierra Madre.

It is in the Sierra Verde, that the great rivers, Colorado and Del Norte take their rise, and their sources are only separated from each other by the ridge of the mountain.

The great tract of uncultivated country between the Colorado and Gila, is inhabited by tribes of wandering Indians whose names appear on the map. To the south of the Gila is a tract of uncultivated country, inhabited by the Apaches Tontos, and other tribes: it was in this country that two missionaries in 1773, at the distance of three miles from the Gila, discovered the ruins of a Mexican or Aztec city, the houses of which were similar to those that are mentioned in the account of Mexico. These houses were large, and the one most entire, consisted of five rooms three stories high, and in length, was 445 feet by 276 broad, the walls being 3 feet 11 inches in thickness. A wall and towers surrounded the mansion; and the ruins of the city occupied more than a square league; fragments of pottery and domestic utensils were found in all directions; and a canal had conducted the waters of the Gila to the city. This was supposed to be the second station of the Mexicans in their migration from the north; the third is in New Biscay, near Fort Yanos.