inclosure of Chapultepec just in time to join in the final assault from the west. Captain Barnard, of the voltgeur regiment, was the first to plant a regimental color.

During the period covered by these exciting scenes, the firing in and about the castle had three times apparently reached its crisis or climax, and then suddenly slackened, inducing the belief in some quarters that the assault had been beaten off; but, at about half-past nine o'clock the Mexican flag suddenly disappeared, a blue flag was shown, and directly after the stars and stripes arose and waved over the conquered fortress. Immediately after having taken the place, the Americans hauled down the light field-pieces from the castle, and fired them upon the retreating enemy, upon whose heels they closely followed. The firing came nearer, and at about two o'clock in the afternoon, the innermost intrenchments began to open their fire, and balls to whistle in the town.

It was not long before the forces of Worth and Quitman-the former proceeding by the San Cosme aqueduct, and the latter along that of Belen. Scott joined the advance of Worth, within the suburb, and beyond the turn at the junction of the aqueduct with the great highway from the west to the gate of San Cosme. In a short time, the troops were engaged in a street fight against the Mexicans posted in gardens, at windows, and on housetops all flat, with parapets. Worth ordered forward the mountain howitzers of Cadwallader's brigade, preceded by skirmishers and pioneers, with pickaxes and crowbars, to force windows and doors, or to burrow through walls. The assailants were soon in unequality of position fatal to the enemy. By eight o'clock in the evening, Worth had carried two batteries in this suburb. There was but one more obstacle, the San Cosme gate (customhouse), between him and the great square in front of the cathedral and palace-the 23

heart of the city. There was a lull in the firing, and already the inhabitants were hoping to pass a quiet night, when suddenly the dull roar of a heavy mortar resounded close by the town, and shells with fiery tails came with portentous energy. The gallant Quitman pressed on, regardless of gates, batteries, or citadels, and compelled Santa Anna to break up in the middle of the night and retreat with all his force, leaving the city to the mercy of the victors. He turned northward to the villa of Gaudaloupe, and after a short rest retreated on to San Juan de Teotihuacan.

On Tuesday morning, September fourteenth, 1847, the first American column made its appearance in the streets of Mexico, and came on in dense masses through the principal avenues-Calle San Francisco, del Correo, de la Professa, and the two Plateros, in a straight line from the Alameda up to the palace and PlazaMayor. The Mexican colors now disappeared from the palace, a regimental flag took their place, and directly afterwards the stars and stripes were flung out and waved proudly from the Halls of the Montezumas,-the first strange banner that had ever floated from that palace since the conquest of Cortez.

On entering the palace, one of General Scott's first acts was to require from his comrades-in-arms, their thanks and gratitude to God, both in public and private worship, for the signal triumphs which they had achieved for their country; warning them also against disorders, straggling, and drunkenness.

Thus was the prowess of American arms successfully asserted, the conquered nation being also compelled to cede the immensely valuable territory of New Mexico and Upper California to the United States, and accepting the lower Rio Grande, from its mouth to El Paso, as the boundary of Texas.

By direction of the government at Washington, the store-ship Supply was placed at the disposal of Lieutenant Lynch, and, as the vessel would otherwise be in ballast, she was laden with stores for the United States naval squadron, then in the Mediterranean.

The Supply sailed from New York, November twenty-first, and in about three months anchored off Smyrna. From the latter place, the officers of the expedition proceeded to Constantinople in the Austrian steamer, with the view of obtaining from the Sultan, through the American minister, permission to pass through a part of his dominions in Syria, for the purpose of exploring the Dead Sea, and of tracing the Jordan to its source. The reception by the young sultan was in all respects favorable; the authorization was granted, and the sultan expressed much interest in the undertaking, requesting to be informed of the results.

Thus armed with all necessary powers, the officers returned to Smyrna, rejoining the Supply. On the tenth of March, the expedition sailed for the coast of Syria, and, after touching at Beirut and other places, came to anchor in the Bay of Acre, under Mount Carmel, March twentyeighth. The explorers, with their stores, tents, and boats, having landed, an encampment was formed on the beach, and the Supply departed to deliver to the naval squadron the stores with which it was laden, with orders to be back in time for the re-embarkation of the exploring party.

The first difficulty of a practical nature was how to get the boats across to the Sea of Tiberias. The boats, mounted on trucks, were laden with the stores and baggage of the party, and all was arranged most conveniently-only the horses could not be persuaded to draw. The harness was also found to be much too large for the small Syrian horses; and although they manifestly gloried in the strange

sundry gay and fantastic movements, the operation of pulling was altogether averse to their habits and inclinations. At last, the plan suggested itself of trying camels. On being harnessed, three of the huge animals to each truck, they marched off with the trucks, the boats upon them, with perfect ease, to the great delight of the sojourners, and equal astonishment to the natives.

All the arrangements being now perfected, the travelers took their departure from the coast, on the fourth of April. They were accompanied by a fine old man, an Arab nobleman, called Sherif Hazza, of Mecca, the thirty-third lineal descendant of the prophet. As he appeared to be highly venerated by the Arabs, Lieutenant Lynch thought it would be a good measure to induce him to join the party, and he was prevailed upon to do so. Another addition to the party was made next day in the person of a Bedouin sheikh of the name of Akil, with ten wellarmed Arabs, or fifteen Arabs in all, including servants.

But little information concerning the Jordan could be obtained at Tiberias, and it was therefore with considerable consternation that the course of that river was soon found to be interrupted by frequent and most fearful rapids. Thus, to proceed at all, it often became necessary to plunge with headlong velocity down the most appalling descents. So great were the difficulties, that, on the second evening, the boats were not more than twelve miles in direct distance from Tiberias.

The banks of the Jordan were found beautifully studded with vegetation; the cultivation of the ground, however, not so extensive as it might be, and as it would be, if the crops were secured to the cultivator from the desperadoes who scour the region. The waters of the Jordan, clear and transparent except in the immediate vicinity of the rapids and falls, are well calculated for fertilizing the valleys of its course. There are often plenty of fish seen in its deep and shady

course. The wide and deeply-depressed plain through which the river flows, is generally barren, treeless, and without verdure; and the mountains, or rather, the cliffs and slopes of the risen uplands, present, for the most part, a wild and cheerless aspect. The verdure, such as it is, may only be sought on and near the lower valley or immediate channel of the Jordan. No one statement can apply to the scenery of its entire course; but this description given of the central part of the river's course, is a fair specimen of the kind of scenery which the passage of the river offers.

Lieutenant Lynch describes the character of the whole scene of this dreary waste as singularly wild and impressive.

MLynch.

Looking out upon the desert, bright with reverberated light and heat, was, he says, like beholding a conflagration from a window at twilight. Each detail of the strange and solemn scene could be examined as through a lens. The mountains towards the west rose up like islands from the sea, with the billows heaving at their bases. The rough peaks caught the slanting sunlight, while sharp black shadows marked the sides turned from the rays. Deep rooted in the plain, the bases of the mountains heaved the garment of the earth away, and rose abruptly in naked pyramidal crags, each scar and fissure as palpably distinct as though within reach, and yet were far distant. Toward the south, the ridges and higher masses of the range, as they

swept away in the distance, were aerial and faint, and softened into dimness by a pale transparent mist. The plain that sloped away from the bases of the hills was broken into ridges and multitudinous conelike mounds, resembling tumultuous water at the meeting of two adverse tides, and presented a wild and checkered tract of land, with spots of vegetation flourishing upon the frontiers of irreclaimable sterility. A low, pale, and yellow ridge of conical hills marks the termination of the higher terrace, beneath which sweeps gently this lower plain with a similar undulating surface, half redeemed from barrenness by sparse verdure and thistle-covered hillocks. Still lower was the valley of the Jordanthe sacred river!-its banks fringed with perpetual verdure; winding in a thousand graceful mazes; the pathway cheered with songs of birds, and its own clear voice of gushing minstrelsy; its course a bright line in this cheerless waste.

Concerning an earlier portion of the river's course, about one-third from the lake of Tiberias, Lieutenant Lynch says, that, for hours in their swift descent the boats floated down in silence-the silence of the wilderness. Here and there were spots of solemn beauty. The numerous birds sang with a music strange and manifold; the willow branches were spread upon the stream like tresses, and creeping mosses and clambering weeds, with a multitude of white and silvery little flowers, looked out from among them; and the cliff swallow wheeled over the falls, or went at his own will, darting through the arched vistas, and shadowed and shaped by the meeting foliage on the banks. There was but little variety in the scenery of the river; the streams sometimes washed the bases of the sandy hills, at other times meandered between low banks, generally fringed with trees and fragrant with blossoms. Some points presented views exceedingly picturesque. The western shore is peculiar from the high calcarious limestone hills which form a barrier to the stream when swollen by the efflux of the Sea of Galilee, during the