Note 47 — [245] CHAPTER III [X]

This tributary of the Arkansa, designated on the old maps as the "First Fork," is known among the Spaniards of New Mexico, as the river of the souls in purgatory. We emerged from the gloomy solitude of its valley, with a feeling somewhat akin to that which attends escape from a place of punishment.—James.

Comment by Ed. The Philadelphia edition adds, after the words "First Fork," "as we learned from Bijeau." The Spaniards had two names for the river—Rio Purgatorio and Rio de Las Animas. The French equivalent of the former was Rivière Purgatoire, which appears sometimes in English in corrupted form, Picket-wire. The stream is of considerable size, heading on the slopes of the Culebra Range, near the state boundary, and flowing northeast across Las Animas, and corners of Otero and Bent counties.