Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

THE SCENERY ALONG THE RIVER. 51
from a distance. The broad and verdant lawns skirting the
river, afford good pasture throughout the year to the large
herds of cattle roaming over them. The cattle far exceed in
size any of the common herds of the United States; owing,
perhaps, to the fact that they never experience any cold or
starving winters, but grow and fatten from their calfhood.
The quality of their flesh, however, is much inferior to that
of our norlthern stock. This wild beef, together with salt
pork, beans, and hard biscuit, constituted our rations. But
they were dainties to a campaign appetite,-hunger furnishing a better sauce than epicure ever invented. At some spots
along the river, we noticed a few beautiful flowers and luxuriant plants, whose broad and glossy leaves told of an exuberant soil, stimulated by the great heat and moisture of the
season. Mlexico, from its remarkable terraced formation, enjoying every variety of climate, is said to possess the richest
and most diversified Flora to be found in any country on the
globe. The soil is not generally poor,-the nakedness of the
interior plains being caused by the scorching sun and absence
of water, rather than by any natural barrenness. The banks
of the Rio Grande are in places cheqcuered with patches of
maize, sugar-cane, and cotton, whose large stalks attest the
fertility of the soil; and of these products, two crops may be
raised annually in all situations where irrigation can be effected. An industrious, well-governed people could make the
valley "stand so thick with corn that it would laugh and
sing."9 But the Mexicans, naturally indolent, are oppressed
by a government that fosters neither agriculture nor any of
the productive arts which are the surest source of public and