idly reduced the little strength that remained to him. No one came to see what had become of poor Samuel, though for a week he had not appeared at the studio. No one had the humanity to supply his wants, though he had not in many days tasted food, merely moistening his lips with water that stood in a stone pitcher by his bedside. As the fever abated, the wild dreams of delirium vanished, and Samuel thought himself near to death. For the first time, a bitterness entered his soul. He felt a desire to preserve the life which seemed so worthless to all the world. He must procure food, and adopted a desperate resolution.

wind is really stirring the foliage of those trees, and that the leaves bend as they glitter in the sun! How pure and crystalline is the water; what life breathes in the animals come to drink at that stream; and the Abbey of Newbourg, with its fine buildings, and the village in the distance, etc."

"Twenty-five thalers," said a dry, weak voice, and the sound startled Duhobret from the stupor of despair. He raised himself on his feet to see whose lips had uttered the blessed words. It was the picture-vender to whom he had first thought of offering his work.

66

Fifty thalers!" cried another sonorous voice. The speaker was a large man dressed in black.

"A hundred!" responded the picture

As he dragged himself with difficulty along the street, he passed a house in front of which a crowd was assembled. On inquiring the cause, Duhobret learned that a great sale was to take place. Various works of art, collected during thirty years, by an amateur, whose gallery was the admiration of all Nuremberg, were to be sold at public auction, the death of the owner having occurred.

Struck with the hope of finding here a market for his painting, Samuel pressed through the crowd to the salesman, and by dint of entreaties, and the feelings of compassion awakened by his wretched aspect, prevailed on him to allow the piece to be offered at auction. The price at which he estimated its worth was three thalers. "Let it go," said the artist to himself; "the money will procure me bread for a weekif a purchaser can be found."

The picture was examined and criticised by many persons. The exhausted and anxious artist stood apart. At last it was set up for sale. The monotonous voice of the auctioneer repeated, "At three thalers -who will buy? At three thalers!"

There was no response.

The stricken Samuel groaned, and buried his face in his hands. It was his best work! The salesman called attention to its beauties. "Does it not seem," he said, "that the VOL. II. NO. V. NEW SERIES.

There was silence among the spectators, and the crowd pressed eagerly around the opposing bidders, who, like two combatants, stood in the centre.

The countenance of the picture-dealer showed his agitation, in spite of his forced calmness. After a moment's hesitation he cried, "Two thousand thalers!"

"Ten thousand!" responded the tall man quickly, while his face glowed with anger.

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Twenty thousand!" The picture-dealer grew pale as death, and clenched his hands violently. The tall man, in increased excitement, bid forty thousand. The look of triumph he cast upon his adversary was too much for the picture-dealer; and his eyes flashing with rage, he bid fifty thousand.

How was it, meanwhile, with poor Samuel! He thought all that passed a dream, and strove to awaken himself, rubbing his eyes and pressing his hand to his forehead, while the contest for his picture went on.

"One hundred thousand!" sounded a voice in accents of desperation.

"One hundred and twenty thousand! and the devil take thee, dog of a picturedealer!"

The discomfited bidder disappeared in

33

THE

By the recently concluded treaty with Mexico, we have had brought within the jurisdiction of the United States a vast extent of territory, comprising nearly the whole of New Mexico, and by far the larger portion of Upper California. The greater part of this vast accession is an arid, uninhabitable desert, sparsely peopled by a few squalid Indians, who find a scanty subsistence in grasshoppers, the larvæ of the ants, and in the withered roots of their desolate abodes. The only habitable portions of the territory are the valley of the Sacramento, on the Pacific, which has

a mild climate and fertile soil; a part of the narrow valley of the Colorado of California; and the valley of the Gila. The latter is in many places quite broad and very fertile, but requires irrigation to be in any degree productive. A portion of the valley of the Rio Grande del Norte, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, and, at present, constituting the south-western boundary of the United States, is also capable of supporting a considerable population; but is not comparable, in any respect, to the valleys of the various tributaries of the Mississippi, and will hardly be regarded of

much importance except as constituting a half-way station on the lower route to California.

Within the habitable regions here indicated, and which have hitherto been very imperfectly known, are a number of Indian tribes, in many respects as remarkable as any on the continent. Two of these, the Comanches or Cumanches, and the Apaches, are wild and predatory, and having now the use of horses, may be regarded as the Arabs of the elevated deserts of the New World. They resemble the Arapahoes and roving Pawnees, who principally occupy the plains to the north-eastward of them, in habits; are exceedingly warlike, and constitute the chief and most dangerous obstacle to the passage southward of the traders and settlers, whom the novelty of first occupying the new territory may seduce from the comforts and delights of that garden of the world, the great Mississippi Basin.* Besides these, and occupying the country between the upper waters of the Del Norte and the Sierra Anahuac, and perhaps extending towards the Colorado, are the Navajos, (pronounced Navahoes,) who are half-agricultural, and not less martial than the Apaches, who speak the same language with them, and clearly belong to the same family. Little is known concerning them, and, until recently, still less was known of the semi-civilized tribes to the southward, on the Gila, and between that river and the Colorado of California, except what was derived from the early Spanish explorers. During the past fifty years vague and uncertain accounts have occasionally reached us of stationary nations, living in well-organized communities, peaceful in their habits, with a simple religion, culti

*These Indians, to the west of the Rio Grande, are animated by the most intense hatred of the Mexicans. They have completely depopulated some portions of the frontiers of the Mexican States. The upper half of the valley of the Rio Grande is constantly subject to their incursions. One of the chiefs of a party of these Indians met, by appointment, by General Kearney, exclaimed, as the latter was about proceeding from the rendezvous, "You have taken New Mexico, and will soon take California; go then and take Chihuahua, Durango and Sonora; we will help you. You fight for land; we care nothing for land; we fight for the laws of Montezuma and for food. The Mexicans are rascals; we hate them all."Emory's Rep., p. 60.

vating the soil, constructing canals for irrigation,-in short, approximating to the condition of the tribes of Anahuac, at the period of the invasion of Cortez, in the first half of the sixteenth century. The recent war against Mexico, however unsatisfactory its results in other respects, has indirectly contributed in enlightening us very materially in regard to some of these singular aboriginal families. In prosecuting its military designs against the upper provinces of Mexico, various expeditions were sent out by the American government, and amongst them, one under General Kearney, designed to operate in Upper California. This expedition started from Fort Leavenworth in July, 1846; followed the usual trail to Santa Fé; thence crossed the Sierra Mimbres in a south-western direction, striking the river Gila in lat. 33° N., long. 109° W., following generally the course of that river until near its mouth, thence crossing the intervening territory in a northwesterly direction to the valley of the Colorado, and the settlements on the Pacific. Accompanying the advance guard of this expedition, was a small party of field and topographical engineers, under Lieut. Col. W. H. Emory. The Report of this gentleman, presented to Congress early during the late session, has just made its appearance,* badly printed on poor paper, and affording, in its mechanical execution, a fit commentary on the false economy of Congress.

This Report, although necessarily brief and hurried, nevertheless possesses high interest, inasmuch as it relates to a region hitherto almost unknown, and now, by a singular turn of events, a part of the territory of this confederacy. It gives a succinct view of the geography, topography, productions, capabilities, and inhabitants of the country through which the expedition passed, and may, in all these respects, be regarded as a valuable addition to our stock of knowledge.

Lieut. J. W. Abert was a member of Lieut. Emory's corps; but, in consequence of ill health, was left with Lieut W. G.

"Notes of a Military Reconnoissance, from Fort Leavenworth in Missouri, to San Diego in California, including part of the Arkansas, Del Norte, and Gila rivers. By Lieut. Col. W. H. Erory. Made in 1846-7, with the Advance Guard of the Army of the West."