The marvellous country, or, Three years in Arizona and New Mexico.: Containing an authentic history of this wonderful country and its ancient civilization ... together with a full and complete history of the Apache tribe of Indians .../ By Samuel Woodworth Cozzens. Illustrated by more than one hundred engravings.

230 THE BACKBONE OF THE CONTINENT.
Station, scarcely distinguishable from the gray rocks which
overhang it. This welcome sight brings a feeling of relief
to our anxious hearts, and we once more breathe freely,
for we feel well assured that our principal danger is
past.
Standing upon the dividing ridge, the backbone of the
Continent, or what is now known as the Peloncillo Mountains, a portion of the Sierra Madre range, we turn our eyes
to the west, and look at the wonderful country over which
we have been travelling since we left Tucson. The magnificent panorama here spread out before us almost compensated for the trials and perils which we had encountered
on our journey; even practical, matter-of-fact Jimmy seeemd
lost in wonder and admiration, and enthusiastically exclaimed, "Bedad, but it's a foine sight!"
And so it was, in very truth. Stretching for sixty miles
beneath us lay what seemed to be a vast plain, bounded in
the far distance by a faint line of blue, and half shrouded
by the rich purple haze, so peculiar to an Arizonia landscape, softening its hard features, toning down its angularities, and lending an indescribable charm to the patches of
forest, the gray alkali plains, and the white wavy sandfields which lay stretched out like a gorgeous carpet at our
veinr feet.
We had made the "Doubtful Pass" in safety. The only
living thing that we had seen was an occasional mountain