valley is about fifty miles east from Taos; and, for its scenery, cannot be surpassed by anything of the kind in America.  Standing at the head of it on a blunt bluff, you look down and out on the prairies, and nothing can be more enchanting than the view that is thus presented.  On each side there are lofty hills, which, when green with grass and foliage, add a magic beauty to the scene.  Through the valley, as if it had been intended for its dividing line, runs a broad mountain stream, the banks of which are now metamorphosed into beautiful fields.

We stop here to undeceive the reading public concerning an idea which has gained currency by the extraordinary imaginative writings of novelists.  These trashy fictions represent the western plains, or prairies, as flower-beds.  In this a great mistake has become prevalent.  A traveler often pursues his way over them for many days without seeing anything to interrupt the continuity of green grass except it be the beautiful road over which he is journeying.  Near the slopes of the mountains and on the river banks the remark will apply.  There, fields of wild flowers are often found growing in great luxuriance.

The settlement was soon after commenced by Kit Carson and Maxwell, and, as now completed, is really a beautiful spot.  It is located about midway down the valley.  Among its several houses, there are two which are more conspicuous than the rest.  In the finest of these two, the owner of which has taken great pains and spent much valuable time with its construction, lives Maxwell, whose honest pride is the being master of a model farm.  In the residence next most to be admired in Rayado, Kit Carson sometimes sojourns.

The mansion which belongs to Maxwell would be an ornament to any country.  At one time, it was used as a garrison for American troops, and on it, the soldiers made many improvements.  It is built one story high, in the shape of a hollow square, and has the size of an ordinary block in a city.  Around the whole runs a fine veranda.  With its lofty ceilings, large and airy rooms, and its fine yard in the centre of the square, which is well stored with its fowls, pigeons, and other pet animals, with appropriate kennels; with antlers of noble buck and elk; hams of venison, buffalo meat, wild turkeys, etc., and near by a fine vegetable garden; altogether, it presents a picture of sumptuous living rarely seen within the pale of civilization.  Maxwell counts his steeds and cattle by hundreds, while his flocks of sheep are enumerated by thousands.  Near by stands Kit Carson’s ranche, which, though more modest, yet, when the hunter occupies it, in dead game and comfort, it fully rivals its compeer.  Around these two hunters live a handful of Mexican friends, who are either engaged in agricultural pursuits for themselves, or else in the employ of the “lords of the manor,” Carson and Maxwell.