ow, to bring it from the
neighboring streams. As time rolled on, and danger was lessened,
these wells were almost forgotten, until the timber which covered them
rotted and allowed their fragments and the earth to cave in, when
the object of the digging these reservoirs became apparent. It is an
established fact in history, that the town of Taos once withstood
a long and fearful siege, but finally escaped, as did its people,
uninjured. The besieging party, in this instance, was composed of
the Indians of the plains; they were present to the number of many
thousand, and were at last compelled to depart, as is supposed, in
consequence of their provisions giving out. Reasoning from analogy,
it is no more than proper to suppose, that if the early settlements of
the Mexicans were thus annoyed, the case of the Aztecs must have
been still harder, and that being overcome by numbers, they were
necessitated to succumb; and hence, were swept, by the Indians of the
plains, from the face of the earth, leaving but a dim outline of their
ancient grandeur.

The party found the stream very much swollen by the melting of the
snows in the mountains. When they arrived at its fording-place,
notwithstanding a torrent rolled before them, the command was, of a
necessity, given to cross. There was no shrinking. Without a single
murmur, the entire command set themselves about the perilous task. The
bed of the river at this place is rocky and shelving. At low water,
these facts offer no great obstacles in crossing. The case is very
different when the torrent has reached high-water mark--then, a single
step will often plunge horse and rider into the angry waters beyond
their depth. Kit Carson boldly took the lead, and before the infantry
had all passed, the horses of the dragoons had to be sent back to
assist them. To facilitate this fording, Kit Carson crossed and
recrossed the stream at least twenty times. No serious accident
occurred, although three of the dragoons came near being swept down
the current, which, at the time, was very swift and strong. Had they
gone below the fording-place, they would most assuredly have been
drowned, as the river there takes a fearful leap through a cut in the
rocks. Having safely gained the opposite shore, the men found
that their labors had but just commenced. In front of them stood a
precipice that was, at the least calculation, six hundred feet in
height, of solid rock, and almost perpendicular. Up this asce