who had witnessed his performances.  However, the intercourse between the two countries was very limited among the Mexicans, and it was difficult to find a New Mexican who had seen the Pacific.  Their dialects were also slightly different, as much so as happens in the dependencies of any other country.  It was fear of the Indians that put a damper on the travel between these adjoining districts.  The society of the man who had had the boldness to make a journey to California from New Mexico was courted, he being considered a renowned traveler.  His amusing stories of large ships and the men who managed them, and also, of the great expanse of the ocean, amazed his auditors and made them deeply interested in his conversation and information.  It has become a strange sight to look upon whole communities of men, who have only heard of steamboats, telegraphs, railroads and other great improvements and inventions of the age, yet there are thousands of men living in the great interior of the North American continent who have only vague ideas of these things; and many there are, who cannot realize them, but believe that they are fabulous stories, and will meet the narrator of them with equal wonders, which they manufacture to suit the occasion.  To give a specimen:  we remember one night to have tried to explain these advancements to an old Mexican of some eighty winters, while we were the guest of his house.  He listened attentively, but evidently could comprehend but little that we said.  We changed the subject, and began to describe to him the great beasts of the forest, such as the lion, the tiger, and the elephant, and soon found that we had struck the theme which pleased him.  In reply, he told us that in his younger days he himself was a famous hunter; and that, on one occasion, while on the chase, he met Adam, who, he informed us, was the greatest hunter of his age.  We were somewhat surprised to hear this old man thus annihilate time and space, but not more so than when we heard him relate the conversation that passed between himself and Adam.  It was both short and sweet.  The Mexican demanded of Adam what was the particular game he was seeking in these parts, and the reply was deer.  He said that he wished to kill a few choice bucks, in order to get their skins to clothe Eve with, and hence he had come to the Rocky Mountains.  The flavor of this yarn was so good, I attempted to try the old man on another adventure, by asking him if he ever, by chance, in his travels, met the Evil One.  Immediately, he informed me that at one time, that gentleman lived in a salt marsh, which is to be found in the valley of San Louis.  The object of his staying there was to watch a very fine band of horses which he was raising near by.  The Indians and Mexicans one day determined to deprive Satan of his stock, and arranged things accordingly; but, on coming upon the horses, they were surprised to find that they could not overtake them, and that the horses