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The Black Mesa (Mesa Prieta) near San Ildefonso is an old volcanic neck, standing exposed [[strikethrough]] for [[/strikethrough]] apparently 500 feet high in the bottom of the Rio Grande valley. As the valley opens the cliffs become soft, clays & sandstone etc. - beautifully eroded & sculptured into badlands, buttes, and castled walls.
From Embuda down the river valley is a barren desert except where irrigated along the bottoms. Good crops are raised but the Mexican settlements are the same poor little adobe villages as elsewhere. The wind blew such a cloud of dust & sand we could not see much of the country or the pueblos.
After leaving the river the country is all barren desert, almost uninhabited till we reach Santa Fe.
Went to the Palace hotel which proves to be a comfortable place.