At the left is Audubon's picture of what he called "the extraordinary little town of Jesus Maria."
It was a tiny village where gold and silver were mined; the ore was crushed in an arrastre powered
by two mountain torrents which joined together just beyond the place.
Audubon found the Mexican miners "half-civilized"; a thing not too
remarkable in view of the ten days' travel over rocky roads which
intervened between Jesus Maria and the nearest town.
The
rest of the adventure is easily told. The town of Altar was reached on
September 9. Audubon's party then crossed a "desert-like plain or
prairie for many miles." After four days of the desert, they came to a
tumble-down rancho where a cow was purchased and her flesh distributed
among the men. Thereafter, for the twenty leagues which lay between
that place and the Pima villages, there was only bread—and water when
they could find it. Lizards, rattlesnakes and toads were the sum of
animal life encountered. The pack animals suffered for want of grass.
It was only after two weeks of wandering that "we came unexpectedly
upon the wagon trail of the Gila route and an exclamation of joy came
from almost every one." On page 93 we have already seen the condition
in which Audubon's men reached the Gila.
From
the Pima villages to San Diego, Audubon and his men shared in the
misfortunes that were common to all emigrants by the Gila route.
