Pursley and his companions then returned to where they had buried their peltry, and determined to pursue the route by land to St. Louis; but some persons stole their horses a second time, when they were at no great distance from the Osage river, on which they formed a rough canoe and descended that stream. Near the entrance of the Missouri they overset their canoe and lost their whole year's hunt, but saved their arms and ammunition, which is always the primary object in a desert. On the Missouri they met Monsieur [Blank] in his barge, bound to the Mandanes. Pursley embarked with him for the voyage; his two companions preferred returning to their homes. On their arrival at the point of destination, his employer dispatched Pursley on a hunting and trading tour with some bands of the Paducahs and Kyaways, with a small quantity of merchandise. In the ensuing spring they were driven from the plains by the Sioux into the mountains which give birth to La Platte, the Arkansaw, etc., and it was their sign which we saw in such amazing abundance on the headwaters of La Platte [in South Park, Col., Dec. 16, 1806]. Their party consisted of near 2,000 souls, with 10,000 beasts. The Indians, knowing they were approximating to New Mexico, determined to send Pursley, with his companions and two of their body, into Santa Fe, to know of the Spaniards if they would receive them friendly and enter into a trade with them. This being acceded to by Governor Allencaster, the Indian deputies returned for their bands; but Pursley thought proper to remain with a civilized people, among whom a fortuitous event had thrown him—a circumstance of which, he assured me, he had at one time entirely despaired.
He arrived at Santa Fe in June, 1805, and has been following his trade as a carpenter ever since; at this he made a great deal of money, except when working for the officers, who paid him little or nothing. He was a man of strong natural sense and dauntless intrepidity. He entertained me with numerous interesting anecdotes of his adventures with the Indians, and of the jealousy of the Spanish government. He was once near being hanged for making a few pounds of gunpowder, which he innocently did as he had been accustomed to do in Kentucky, but which is a capital crime in these provinces. He still retained the gun which he had with him his whole tour, and said confidently that if he had two hours' start not all the province could take him. He was forbidden to write, but was assured he should have a passport whenever he demanded it, and was obliged to give security that he would not leave the country without permission of the government. He assured me that he had found gold on the head of La Platte, and had carried some of the virgin mineral in his shot-pouch for months; but that, being in doubt whether he should ever again behold the civilized world, and losing in his mind all the ideal value which mankind have stamped on that metal, he threw the sample away. He had imprudently mentioned it to the Spaniards, who had frequently solicited him to go and show a detachment of cavalry the place; but, conceiving it to be in our territory, he had refused, and was fearful that the circumstance might create a great obstacle to his leaving the country.
2. Biscay. Geography. [The province of Nueva Vizcaya[IV'-31]] lies between lat. 33° and 24° N., and long. 105° and 111° W. It is bounded on the north by New Mexico, on the west by Senora and Sinaloa, and on the east by New Leon and Cogquilla. It is 600 miles in length from northwest to southeast, and 400 miles in width from east to west, taking it at its greatest extent.
Air and Climate. The air is dry and the heat very great at that season of the year which precedes the rainy season, which latter commences in June and continues until September by light showers. During the other part of the year there is not the least rain or snow to moisten the earth. The atmosphere had therefore become so electrified that when we halted at night, in taking off our blankets the electric fluid would almost cover them with sparks, and in Chihuahua we prepared a bottle with gold-leaf as a receiver, and collected sufficient electric fluid from a bear-skin to give a considerable shock to a number of persons. This phenomenon was more conspicuous in the vicinity of Chihuahua than in any other part that we passed over.[IV'-32]
Mines and Minerals. This province abounds in silver and gold mines, which yield an immense quantity of those metals, but not so great a revenue to the king as those which are nearer the mint, and consequently present a greater facility to coinage. I am not acquainted with the proportion of the metals which the mineral yields in any instance, except in one of the silver mines at Chihuahua, which belonged to a friend of mine, who informed me that his mine yielded him $13.50 per cwt. I one day, with Robinson, went through many of these furnaces and noticed the manner which they pursued in analyzing the mineral and extracting the metals; but, as I had previously asked several Spanish officers to accompany me, who had always declined or deferred it to a future period, I conceived it probable it was too delicate a subject to make a minute inquiry into. I, however, so far observed the process as to learn that the mineral was brought from the mines in bags, on mules, to the furnace; it was then ground or pounded into small lumps, not more than the size of a nut, and precipitated into water, in a sieve which permitted the smaller particles to escape into a tub, through several progressive operations. From the small particles which remained at the bottom of the tubs, after it had been purified of the earthy qualities, there was a proportion of metal extracted by a nicer process; but the larger parts were put into a furnace similar to our iron furnaces, and when the mass was in a state of fusion, it was let out into a bed of sand prepared for it, which formed it into bars about the size of our common pig iron, averaged in value at about $2,500. The gold was cast into a mold similar to a bowl and stamped with its value, as was each bar of silver, by the king's assayer of metals. They were worth from $8,000 to $10,000. These masses of silver and gold are received into the king's treasury in payment, and in fact have a currency through the kingdom; but there are vast speculations made on the coinage, as people who have not large capital prefer selling their bullion in the internal provinces, at a considerable discount, to being obliged to transport it to Mexico, in order to have it converted into specie. The present C[ommandant?], I was informed, was engaged in this traffic, on which, from the province of Senora, he sometimes made 25 per cent. Numbers of the proprietors who have no immediate use for their bullion put it into their cellars, where it remains piled up for their posterity, of no service to themselves or the community.
There are at Chihuahua and in its vicinity 15 mines, 13 silver, one gold, and one copper, the furnaces of all of which are situated round the town and suburbs, and present, except on Sundays, volumes of smoke arising to the eye in every direction, which can be seen from a distance long before the spires of the city strike the view. It is incredible the quantity of cinders which surround the city in piles 10 or 15 feet high; next the creek they have formed a bank of it to check the encroachments of the stream, and it presents an effectual barrier. I am told that an European employed some hands and wrought at the cinders, which yielded $1.25 for each per day; but that this not answering his expectations, he ceased his proceedings.
At Mausseme [Mapimi] there are one gold and seven silver mines. At Durango there are many rich mines, but the number to me is unknown. There are also gold mines in the Sierra Madre, near Alomas [Alamos], and many others of which I have no knowledge. There is in the province, about 100 miles south of Chihuahua, a mountain or hill of loadstone. Walker, who had been on the ground and surveyed it, informed me it appeared to be in solid strata, as regular as those of limestone, or any other of the species. He had brought home a square piece of near a foot and a half, was preparing some to be sent to Spain, and likewise forming magnets to accompany it, in order that their comparative strength might be ascertained with magnets formed in Europe.
Rivers.[IV'-33] Rio Conchos is the largest in the province. It takes its source in the Sierra Madre, near Batopilis, in lat. 28° N., and discharges itself into the Rio del Norte [at the Presidio del Norte] in lat. 31°, after a course of about 300 miles. It is the largest western branch of the Rio del Norte, and receives in its course the Rio Florido from the east and San Paubla [now San Pedro] from the west. Where we struck the Conchos, it appeared to be nearly as large as the Rio del Norte at the Passo.
The Rio San Paubla is the largest western branch of the Conchos; it heads in lat. 28° 50´ N., and empties into the latter at Bakinoa[?]. Its whole course is about 150 miles; in summer it is nearly dry, and in the rainy seasons impassable.
The Rio Florido takes its rise in lat. 26° 30´ N., and after a course of about 150 miles discharges into the Conchos. Guaxequillo is situated on its east bank, about its center.