OUR SLAVE STATES.
II. 
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A
JOUR1Y THROUGH TEXAS;
OR, A
SADDLE-TRIP ON THE SOUTHWESTERN FRONTIER:
WITH A
STATISTICAL APPENDIX.
BY
FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED,
AUTHOR OF "A JOURNEY IN THE SEABOARD SLAVE STATES,"
"WALKS AND TALKS OF AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND," ETC., ETC.
NEW YORK:
D IX, EDWARDS & CO., 321 BROADWAY
LONDON: SA.MIPSON LOWV, SON & CO.
EDINBURG: THOS. CONSTABLE & CO.
1  5.,, 
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1857, by
F. L. OLMISTED,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Cuurt of the United States for the
Southern Distrit of New York.
MILLER & HOLMAN,
Printers and Stereotypers, N. Y.
Fo5
. C)1 
P R E F A C E.
TVs work is designed further to promote the mutual acquaintance of the North and South. The great extent and capacities
of Texas, as well as its distinct position and history, have induced the author to devote to it a separate volume.
It has not been thought necessary to load the narrative with
extended remarks and deductions upon the economical experience of the young State, but while the facts presented are suffered to speak for themselves, some of the more obvious
conclusions to which their examination leads have been thrown
into the form of a letter, for the reader's consideration.
Owing to the pressure of other occupations, the preparation
of the volume from the author's journal has been committed,
with free scope of expression and personality, to his brother,
Dr. J. H. Olmsted, his companion upon the trip.
I,  
NOTE BY THE EDITOR.
THE editor's motive for this journey was the hope of invigorating
weakened lungs by the elastic power of a winter's saddle and tentlife. His present duty has been simply that of connecting, by a
slender thread of reminiscence, the copious notes of facts placed in
his hands, and in doing this he has drawn frankly upon memory for
his own sensations. The lapse of two years may have breathed a
little dullness on the pictures thus recalled, but it has served, also, to
cool and harden any glow in the statements.
A sort of alter-egotism in the book was unavoidable, and some
details that may seem rather trivial and spiritless have been preserved,
because a traveler's own impressions depend so muc}r on those unconsidered but characteristic trifles.   The  notes upon slavery in the
volume are incidental, but the extraordinary effect upon federal
policy produced by fluctuation in the local market, where ownership
in forced labor is the principal investment, imparts to observations
within these new limits a peculiar interest.
In an appendix will be found condensed tables of such statistics as
are most useful for reference.  
A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
NEW YORK, December 29th, 1856.
MY DEAR FRIEND:-I regret that I cannot respond to the congratulatory, nor yet entirely to the conciliatory, expressions of
your recent letter.
The character and reputation of the nation, and with it the
character, the social claims, and the principles, of every individual
citizen, have been seriously compromised in the eyes of the
civilized world, by recent transactions growing out of the unsettled state of our policy with regard to slavery-extension. The recent Presidential election decided nothing with respect to this, as
you seem to suppose, because the vital question which really divides
the country was not presented in its integrity by the party which
triumphed. No person, therefore, clailning for himself a respectable and responsible position in society, can, with decency, it
seems to me, when brought near the field of discussion, affect to
be indifferent, or avoid a respectful expression of his own judgment upon the grave issues in debate. For instance, the extension of slavery into Texas, commenced, for good or evil, in our
own day; and when we of the North had the power and the con stitutional right to prevent it. Our interest in its results cannot
of course be deemed impertinent by its most jealous partisan.
Offering to the public a volume of recent observations in Texas,
I do not, therefore, see how I can, as you seem to suggest I should,
avoid all discussion of slavery. 
Viii A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
At the same time, I do not desire to engage in it, as I hardly need
assure you, in a spirit at all inconsistent with a desirable friendship.
Rather, in explaining the significance which, in my own mind,
attaches to my narrative of facts, relative to the question upon
which we have the misfortune to be divided in judgment, I shall
hope to lessen, instead of aggravating, the causes of our difference.
Many of the comforts demanded by people in a moderate state
of civilization are necessarily purchased at a greater cost, in a
newly-settled region, than in the midst of a long-established
community. We cannot expect to find a grist-mill, much less a
baker's shop, still less a printing-office or a bookseller's shop, in
an actual wilderness.   The cost of good bread, therefore, or of
intellectual sustenance, will be greater than where the constant
demand to be expected from a numerous population has induced
labor (or capital, which represents labor) to establish such conveniences.
For the same reason, the usual means of civilized education,
both for young and for mature minds, will be procured with difficulty in the early days of any country. Consequently, though
we may perceive some compensations, certain fallings-short from
the standard of comfort and of character in older communities
are inevitable.
The prosperity of a young country or state is to be measured
by the rapidity with which these deficiencies are supplied, and
the completeness with which the opportunity for profitable labor
is retained.
An illustration will best enable me to explain how slavery prolongs, in a young community, the evils which properly belong
only to a frontier. Let us suppose two recent immigrants, one
in Texas, the other in the young free State of Iowa, to have
both, at the same time, a considerable sum of money-say five
thousand dollars-at disposal. Land has been previously ptlirchased, a hasty dwelling of logs constructed, and ample crops for
sustenance harvested. Each has found communication with
his market interrupted during a portion of the year by floods; 
A LETT ER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.  ix
each needs an ampler and better house; each desires to engage a
larger part of his land in profitable production; each needs some
agricultural machinery or implements; in the neighborhood of
each, a church, a school, a grist-mill, and a branch railroad are
proposed.
Each may be supposed to have previously obtained the necessary materials for his desired constructions: and to need immediately the services of a carpenter.   The Texan, unable to hire one
in the neighborhood, orders his agent in Houston or New Orleans
to buy him one: when he arrives, he has cost not less than two
of the five thousand dollars. The Iowan, in the same predicament, writes to a friend in the East or advertises in the
newspapers, that he is ready to pay better wages than carpenters
can get in the older settlements; and a young man, whose only
capital is in his hands and his wits, glad to come where there
is a glut of food and a dearth of labor, soon presents himself.
To construct a causeway and a bridge, and to clear, fence,
and break up the land he desires to bring into cultivation,
the Texan will need three more slaves-and he gets them as
before, thereby investing all his money. The Iowan has only
to let his demand be known, or, at most, to advance a small
sum to the public conveyances, and all the laborers he requires
-independent,  small capitalists of labor-gladly bring their
only commodity to him and offer it as a loan, on his promise
to pay a better interest, or wages, for it than Eastern capitalists
are willing to do.
The Iowan next sends for the implements and machinery
which will enable him to make the best use of the labor he has
engaged. The Texan tries to get on another year without them,
or employs  such  rude substitutes as his stupid, uninstructed,
and uninterested slaves can readily make. in his ill-furnished
plantation work-shop. The Iowan is able to contribute liber ally to aid in the construction of the church, the school-house,
the mill, and the railroad. His laborers, appreciating the value
of the reputation they may acquire for honesty, good judgment, 
X  A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
skill and industry, do not need constant superintendence, and
he is able to call on his neighbors and advise, encourage
and stimulate them. Thus the church, the school, and the rail  road are soon in operation, and with them is brought rapidly
into play other social machinery, which makes much luxury
common and cheap to all.
The Texan, if solicited to assist in similar enterprises, answers
truly, that cotton is yet too low to permit him to invest money
where it does not promise to be immediately and directly pro ductive.
The Iowan may still have one or two thousand dollars, to be
lent to merchants, mechanics, or manufacturers, who are disposed
to establish themselves near him. With the aid of this capital,
not only various minor conveniences are brought into the neigh borhood, but useful information, scientific, agricultural, and
political; and commodities, the use of which is educative of
taste and the finer capacities of our nature, are attractively pre sented to the people.
The Texan mainly does without these things. He confines
the imports of his plantation almost entirely to slaves, corn, bacon, salt, sugar, molasses, tobacco, clothing, medicine, hoes and
plow-iron. Even if he had the same capital to spare, he would live
in far less comfort than the Iowan, because of the want of local
shops and efficient systems of public conveyance which cheapen
the essentials of comfort for the latter.
You will, perhaps, say that I neglect to pay the Iowan laborers their wages. It is unnecessary that I should do so: those
wages remain as capital to be used again for the benefit of the
community in Iowa. Besides, the additional profit which has
accrued to the farmer by reason of the more efficient tools and
cattle he has acquire, the greater cheapness with which the railroad will transport his crops to be sold, the smaller subtractions
from stock and crops he will have met with from the better emrloyment of his neighbors, and the influence of the church and
school upon them, will go far towards paying these debts. 
A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
The difficulty of obtaining a profitable return for labor, applied with the disadvantages which thus result from slavery, is
such that all but the simplest, nearest, and quickest promises of
profit are neglected in its direction. As a general, almost universal, rule, the Texan planter, at the beginning of any season, is in
debt, and anxious to acquire money, or its equivalent, to meet his
engagements. The quickest and surest method of getting it
before the year ends, is to raise cotton-for cotton, almost alone,
of all he can produce under these disadvantages, bears the cost
of transportation to cash customers.   He will rarely, as I have
supposed, invest in a carpenter; he will rarely undertake the
improvement of a road.   He will content himself with  his
pioneer's log-cabin, and wait the pleasure of nature at the
swamp and the ford. His whole income will be reinvested in
field-hands.
He plants cotton largely-quite all that his laborers can cultivate properly. Generally, a certain force will cultivate more
than it can pick, pack, and transport to public conveyance.
Unwilling to lose the overplus, he obtains, upon credit again,
another addition to his slave force.  Thus the temptation constantly recurs, and constantly the labor is directed to the quickest
and surest way of sustaining credit for more slaves.
After a certain period, as his capital in slaves increases, and
his credit remains unimpaired, the dread of failure, and the
temptation to accumulate capital become less, and he may begin
to demand the present satisfaction of his tastes and appetites.
Habit, however, will have given him a low standard of comfort,
and a high standard of payment for it; and he will still be sa tisfied to dispense with many conveniences which have long before
been acquired by the Iowan; and to pay a higher price for those
he demands, than more recent, or less successful, immigrants to
his vicinity can afford.
Thus he will have pe.rsonally grown rich, perhaps; but few,
if any, public advantages will have accrued from his expendi tures.   It is quite possible that, before he can arrive at that
xi 
Xili A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
point of liberality in expenditure which the Iowan started with,
the fertility of his soil will have been so greatly reduced that the
results of labor upon it are no longer accumulative of profit,
but simply enable him to sustain the mode of life to which he
and his slaves are accustomed.
This occurs, I again remind you, not merely because labor is
applied to the end of immediately realizing a return in slaves,
but because it continues constantly to be applied without the
advantage of efficient machinery, and the cheapest means of
marketing its results; also, because the planter's mind, which,
by a freer expenditure of capital at an early day, would have
been informed and directed to a better method of agriculture,
remains in ignorance of it, or locked against it by the prejudice
of custom and habit.
I have described to you the real condition, and its historical
rationale, of a majority of the better class of planters in Texas,
as, after many favorable opportunities of acquaintance with them,
I have apprehended it. My knowledge of Iowan proprietors, of
similar capital, is not personal, but inferential and from report.
It may be there are none such, but it makes little difference in
the end whether the five thousand dollars to be expended is held
by one proprietor, or divided among a number. It is so much
capital disengaged.
I have made circumstantial inquiry of several persons whc
have resided both in Iowa and in Texas, and have ascertained,
most distinctly, that the rapidity with which the discomforts of
the frontier are overcome, the facility with which the most valuable conveniences, and the most important luxuries, moral, mental,
and animal, of old communities, are reobtained, is astonishingly
greater in the former than the latter.
Comparing Texas with New York, I can speak entirely from
personal observation. I believe it is a low estimate, that every
dollar of the nominal capital of the substantial farmers of New
York represents an amount of the most truly valuable commodities of civilization, equal to five dollars in the nominal wealth 
A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.  xiii
of Texas planters. And this, notwithstanding that the climate
of Texas has a great superiority over that of New York or Iowa.
I think that the labor of one man in Texas will more easily
produce adequate sustenance and shelter for a family and an
ordinary farm-stock of working cattle, than that of two anywhere
in the Free States.
And this, again, without regard to that quality of the climate which enables the Texan to share in the general monopoly
of the South in the production of cotton-a quality so valuable that Texans sell scarcely anything out of the State but
cotton, which they even find it profitable to exchange for
corn raised in Ohio, and taxed with the expense of a great
transportation, and several exchanges.   Not that corn is produced with less labor in Ohio, but that cotton is produced
with so much more profit in Texas. Corn, and every other
valuable staple production of the soil of the Free States, except,
perhaps, oats and potatoes, for which there are special substitutes, may be grown extensively, and with less expenditure
of labor, in Texas. Nor did we-my medical companion and
myself-have reason to retain the common opinion, after careful
attention to the subject, that the health of white people, or their
ability to labor, was less in the greater part of Texas than in
the new Free States. We even saw much white and free labor
applied to the culture of cotton with a facility and profit at least
equal to that attending the labor of enslaved negroes, at the same
distance from market.
All things considered, I believe that the prosperity of Texas,
measured by the rapidity with which the inconveniences and dis comforts, inevitable only in a wilderness or an uncivilized state of
society, are removed, would have been ten times greater than it
is, had it been, at the date of its annexation, thrown open, under
otherwise equally favorable circumstances, to a free immigration,
with a prohibition to slavery. I think that its export of cotton
would have been greater than it now is; that its demand from,
and contribution to, commerce would have been ten times what it 
X1V A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
now is; that it would possess ten times the length of railroad;
ten times as many churches; ten times as many schools, and a
hundred times as many school-children as it now has.
You may think it too soon to form a judgment of any value
upon the prosperity of Texas, as measured by the other criterion
I proposed-namely, "the completeness with which the opportu nity for profitable labor is retained." But what do you say to
the fact that, in the eastern counties, that spectacle so familiar
and so melancholy in your own State, in all the older Slave States,
is already not unfrequently seen by the traveler-an abandoned
plantation of " worn-out" fields, with its little village of dwellings,
now a home only for wolves and vultures?
This but indicates a large class of observations,* by which I
hold myself justified in asserting that the natural elements of
wealth in the soil of Texas will have been more exhausted in ten
years, and with them the rewards offered by Providence to labor
will have been more lessened than, without slavery, would have
been the case in two hundred.   Do not think that I use round
numbers carelessly.   After two hundred years' occupation of
similar soils by a free-laboring community, I have seen no such
evidences of waste as, in Texas, I have after ten years of slavery.
And indications of the same kind I have observed, not isolated,
but general, in evcry Slave State but two-which I have seen
only in parts yet scarcely at all settled.   Moreover, I have seen
similar phenomena following slavery in other countries and in
other climates.
It is not at all improbable, my good friend, that children of
yours, in, perhaps, the tenth generation, will have to work, whatever may be their occupation, one hour a day more, during all
their working lives, than they would have done but for this your
policy of extending slavery over Texas, and thereby permanently
* Of this class, frequent notes on live stock will be found in the volume. The
exception which Kentucky offers to all other Slave States, in this respect, is
easily accounted for, and is clearly maintained by a great sacrifice of other
soturces of wealth, which sacrifice would be unnecessary, but for slavery. 
A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
iiminishing the rightful profits of labor.  Bread is to cost them
more by the pound, cotton and wool stuffs more by the yard.
Will you say that no superficial observations  of a passing
stranger can shake your confidence in the great higher law of
demand and supply? That slavery cannot be forced by any legislation to exist for an injurious period in any country or region
where free labor would, on the whole, be more economical? That
free labor, on the other hand, cannot be restrained?   That the
climate of Texas demands African laborers, and that Africans are
incapable of persistent labor, unless they are controlled, directed,
and forced by a superior will?   There  are a few facts mentioned in these pages which bear on both these points, and to
which I will simply beg you to give a fair consideration. Especially, I would be glad to have you ponder the experience of the
German colonists, of which, though the narration is influenced,
perhaps, by an irresistible enthusiasm of admiration, the details
have been carefully obtained and verified.
As to the needlessness of legal restrictions upon slavery where
its introduction would be uneconomical, let me ask, do you
consider public lotteries of money economical institutions? They
exist in every civilized community wherein they are not prohibited
by law. Gambling-houses, and places of traffic in stolen goods,
you will hardly deem economical conveniences in any climate;
yet laws are everywhere required to restrict their increase.
I consider that slavery is no less disastrous in its effects on
industry-no less destructive to wealth.   The laws and forces
sustaining it, where it has been long established, may have become a temporary necessity, as poisons are to the life of some
unfortunate invalids. Judge you of that. But laws intended to
extend its field of improvidence are unjust, cruel, and oppressive.
Revolutionary resistance to them by all men whose interest it is
to have industry honestly paid, can only be wrong while likely to
be unsuccessful.
There are two reasons, both of which, you have confessed to
me, operate on your own mind, why, the power to hold slaves
xv 
XVi A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
being secured, men employ them in preference to the much
cheaper free labor, and why the vitality of slavery need be nowhere dependent on its mere economy as a labor system.
First: Slavery educates, or draws out, and strengthens, by example and exercise, to an inordinate degree, the natural lust of
authority, common as an element of character in all mankind. To
a degree, that is, which makes its satisfaction inconvenient and
costly-costly of other means of comfort, not only to the individual, but to the community.
Thus, a man educated under the system will be disposed no
longer than he is forced, by law or otherwise, to employ servants
or laborers who may make demands upon him, and if those
demands are refused, may in their turn legally refuse to obey
him.   He  will prefer to accept much  smaller profits, much
greater inconveniences, than would a man otherwise educated,
rather than submit to what he considers to be the insolence of a
laborer, who maintains a greater self-respect, and demands a
greater consideration for his personal dignity, than it is possible
for a slave to do.*
Secondly: The power of exercising authority in this way
is naturally overmuch coveted among you.   It gives position
and status in your society more than other wealth-(wealth
being equivalent to power). It is fashionable with you to own
slaves, as it is with the English to own land, with the Arabs,
* The apologetic style in which the Southern newspapers generally commented upon the homicide, by a member of Congress, educated in Alabama,
of a servant in a hotel at Washington, last spring, affords a sad indication of tho
strength of this educational prejudice. In some cases no apology, but a distinct
approval, of such a method of vindicating Southern habits of unmitigated
authority was expressed.   The Charleston Standard observed: "If white
men accept the office of menials, it should be expected that they will do so with
an apprehension of their relation to society, and the disposition quietly to encounter both the responsibilities and liabilities which the relation implies."
The Alabama Mail, extending the scope of its demand to free soil, remarked:
"It is getting time that waiters at the North were convinced that they are servants and not gentlemen in disguise. We hope this Herbert affair will teach
them prudence." 
A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND. XVii
horses; and as beads and vermilion have a value among the
Indians which seems to us absurd, so, among you, has the power
of commanding the service of slaves.   Consequently you are
willing to pay a price for it which, to one not educated as you
have been, seems absurdly high.   Nor are you more  likely
to dispense with slaves, when you have it in your power to possess them, than the Chinese with their fashion of the queue,
Turks with their turban, or Englishmen with their hats.
We need no restrictions upon fashions like these, which are
oppressive only to those who obey them. Such is not the case
with the fashion of slavery.*
But still you may doubt if slavery can long remain where it is
uneconomical; the influences I have mentioned might, you will
reflect, induce a Southerner to continue to employ his slaves
while he is able; but his ability to do so would soon be exhausted if the institution were really uneconomical; in a new
country the opportunity of employing slaves would soon be lost,
owing to the superior advantages those would have who em ployed the cheaper labor of freemen; in fact, capital would be
rapidly exhausted in the effort to sustain the luxury of com manding slaves.
Such, precisely, is the case.   How, then, does it continue?
Do not be offended if I answer, by constantly borrowing and
never paying its debts.
Look at any part of the United States where slavery has pre dominated for a historic period; compare its present aspect with
that it bore when peopled only by "heathen salvages," and you
* It might be supposed that the distinct " mean white" class, characteristic
of older communities in the Slave States, could hardly yet have been developed in a region where slavery itself has but just now been transplanted, and
where the avenues of escape from it, and of better possibilities, are so open and
inviting to all. But it appears that such a class is a necessary phenomenon
attending slavery. The planter in Eastern Texas speaks with the same irritation
of his poorer neighbors that he does elsewhere at the South, and says," If there
are hog-thieves anywhere, it is here." The existence of the classes, master and
slave, implies the existence of a miserable intermediate class. 
xviii A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
will see that the luxury of slaves, and what other luxury through
their labor has therein been enjoyed, have been acquired at an
immense cost beyond that of mere labor.   You will see that
what has been called the profit of slave labor has been obtained
only by filching from the nation's capital-from that which the
nation owes its posterity-many times the gross amount of all
the production of that labor.*
Governor Adams, in a recent message to the legislature of
South Carolina, intimates that, at ten cents a pound, English
manufacturers are paying too little for the cotton this country
sends them. I think twice that amount would be too little to
recompense the country for the loss of capital at present involved
in its production. I believe that, with free labor in Texas, unembarrassed by the inconveniences attending slavery, it could have
been profitably exported at half that price.
You will still ask how slavery, laboring under such economical
* A respectable Southern critic has asked, if evidences of a spendthrift system
of industry, similar to those described in the Slave States, might not have been
found by one disposed to look for them, in the Free, and has quoted official tes timony of a reduced production per acre of one of the crops cultivated in New
York, as refuting my evidence of the desolating effects of slavery in the Sea board States.
WVaste of soil and injudicious application of labor is common in the agriculture of the North, but nowhere comparably with what is general at the South.
Nowhere, in any broad agricultural district, does such waste appear to have
taken place, without a present equivalent existing for it. Nowhere is the land,
with what is attached to it, now less suitable and promising for the residence
of a refined and civilized people, than it was before the operations, which have
been attended with the alleged waste, were commenced.
I am mistaken if the same is true of Eastern Virginia and Carolina, or
any other district where slavery has predominated for a historic period. The
land, in these cases, is positively less capable of sustaining a dense civilized
community, than it would be if no labor at all had ever been expended upon it.
Had all its original elements of wealth remained intact, had it been hitherto
entirely reserved firom civilized occupation, it would have sold for more by the
acre to-day, than it is now to be valued at with all the ameliorations and constructions which labor has effected upon it. Labor, in the case of Eastern Virginia, for two hundred years, by a community in which the controlling force
has been the boasted Anglo-Saxon, the prevailing religion Cin-istian and Protestant. 
A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND. XiX
disadvantages, can take possession of any country, to the exclusion or serious inconvenience of free labor?
Plainly, it may do so by fraud and violence-by disregard of
the rights of citizens. I will not say that these are necessities
of its existence, only that they are alleged to be so by those
who have carried slavery into Texas, as well as by those who
have sought to establish it in Kansas. These missionaries of
the institution voluntarily make the declaration, and put it deliberately on record, that lawless violence and repudiation of state
pledges must be permitted in order to maintain slavery in these
regions. Whether with reason or not, the purpose to maintain
slavery is constantly offered and received as a sufficient excuse
for disregarding not merely personal rights under the Constitution, but the most solemn treaty-obligations with a foreign
nation.*
When you demand of us to permit slavery in our territory,
we know that you mean to take advantage of our permission, to
* Is not the general impression, that frequent deeds of lawless violence are
a necessary and pardonable characteristic of our frontier community, based
upon, and entirely sustained by, occurrences which are peculiar to the frontier
of the Slave States? Lynch law is not found a necessary preliminary to good government in Iowa and Minnesota. Tarring and feathering, mob executions, bowieknife fracases, deadly family feuds, etc., etc., are characteristic only of communities, the controlling minds in which have been educated in the Slave States.
No one looks with hope or anxiety for spontaneous popular invasions or filibustering occupations of Canada West by Minnesotans or Michiganians.
Plundering parties of Maine backwoodsmen do not constantly menace the
peaceful villages of Nova Scotia. We do not have periodical reports from
Eastport, of piratical fleets preparing to invade Newfoundland. But last year,
a large band of mounted Texan Free-Companions plundered and burned, in mere
wantonness, a peaceful Mexican town on the Rio Grande; four hundred United
States troops listening to the shrieks of fleeing women, and looking on in indolence. This has passed without rebuke; apparently with entire public and official indifference. It was looked upon as one of the necessary and pardonable
occurrences of a frontier. Would this have been the case, if it had happened
on the Northwestern frontier? Is it not time the people of the free West were
delivered from the vague reputation of bad temper, recklessness, and lawless ness, under which they suffer, and which, without doubt, greatly deters iid-is trious and peacefully disposed persons from immigrating among them? 
XX A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
forbid freedom of discussion, and freedom of election; to prevent
an effective public educational system; to interrupt and annoy
our commerce, to establish an irresponsible and illegal censorship of the press; and to subject our mails to humiliating surveillance.
And you ask-nay, you demand, and that with a threatening
attitude-that we shall permit you to do all this; for what purpose?
Not because you need an extension of your field of labor.
Governor Adams, in the message to which I have referred,
alleges that the poverty and weakness of the South are chiefly
due to its deficiency of laborers. To say that it has too few
laborers is to say that it has too much territory. And that is
true.
I learn from trustworthy and unprejudiced sources, that the
gentlemen who have carried slaves to Kansas have not done so
because they believe it to be the most promising field of labor
for slaves open to them; they do not hesitate to admit it to be
otherwise.   But they have gone there  as a chivalric duty to
their class and to the South-that South to which alone their
patriotism acknowledges a duty. If they succeed in once establishing slavery as a state institution, they have reason for thinking that Kansas will be thereafter avoided, as a plague country
would be, by free labor. For, to say to an emigrating farmer,
"Kansas is a slave state," is to tell him that if he goes thither
he will have to pay a dear price for everything but land; for
tools, for furniture, for stock; that he may have to dispense during his life-as may his children after him-with convenient
churches, schools, mills, and all elaborate mechanical assistance
to his labor. Thus they calculate-and this is their only motive
-that two more senators may be soon added to the strength of
slavery in the government. They are only wrong in forgetting
that free laborers are no longer constrained, by a compact with
them, to quietly pQrmrait this curse to be established in Kansas.
Danger from insurrection is supposed by some to be propor 
A LETTEr  TO A SOUTHERN  FRIEND.  XXi
tionate to density of population, and your demand is sometimes
urged on the plea that an extension of the area subject to the
waste of slavery is necessary to be made in order to avoid this
calamity.
If one-third of the land included in the present Slave States
!be given up to the poor whites and the buffaloes, and the remainder be divided into plantations averaging a square mile in size,
the present slave population must double in number before
each of these plantations will be provided with a laboring force
equal to five able-bodied men and women.
If the policy of thus dispersing capital and labor, withholding
so much wealth as it does from the service of commerce, and
involving so much unnecessary expenditure, be really persist ed in, from a fear of a slave rebellion, I think we have a right
to ask you, the gentlemen who own this hazardous property, to
provide some less expensive means of meeting the danger with
which it threatens you. For, where will this way of meeting it
carry us?  You are unsafe now: if safety is to be obtained by
greater dispersion, how great must it be? In another generation
you will require the continent, and the tide ot white immigration
will be returning to the old world. There is a great significance
in the emigration driven, even now, firom the Slave States, con trary to the normal inclination of immigration, which is always
southward and outward, into the colder Free States, which already
have more than twice their density of population.*
* The Census tables show that the Slave States have sent nearly six times as
many of their population into the Free Territories as the Free States have sent
into Slave Territories. Kentucky, alone, has sent into Free Territory 60,000 more
than all the Free States have sent into Slave Territory. Virginia, alone, has
sent 60,000 more into the Free Territory than all the Free States have sent into
Slave Territory. North Carolina and Tennessee have sent several thousands
more into the Free Territories than all the Free States have sent into Slave Territory. Maryland, with a total white population of 418,000, has sent more than
half as many persons into the Free Territories as all the Free States together,
with a total white population of 13,300,000, have sent into the Slave Territories -
See Putnam's Monthly, December, 1856, p. 652. 
XXii A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
But this is not the reason given by the most ardent and
talented extensionists.   Your favorite statistician, Mr. DeBow,
agrees with the South Carolina professor, Drew, who, he says,
has fuilly shown hb)w "utterlyvain'" are the fears of those who
apprehend  danger  from  a great increase  in the number of
slaves.* So say many others, especially when arguing the
military strength of the Slave States.
The only argument steadily and boldly urged in the South
itself, is that slavery must be extended in order to preserve the
equality of the South in the republic. It would be folly, your
editors and orators constantly assure us, to think that the South
will remain in association with the North, unless she can retain
such an equality.
There can be no dishonor for 1,100,000 citizens (the number
voting in the Slave States at the recent election) to have less
power of control in the government of a republic than 2,900,000
(the number of Northern voting citizens).   The alleged folly of
permitting the greater number of citizens to obtain a power of
controlling the federal government is founded solely in the rumor,
that it is the purpose of those who oppose the extension of slavery
to force an abolition of slavery where it exists under the sanction
of the sovereign state governments.
I trust you are not one of those who credit this rumor. My
acquaintance with the people of the North is extensive and
varied. I know, so far as it is within the ability of a man to be
informed of the purposes of other men, that this rumor is still,
as Daniel Webster declared it to be twenty-five years ago, a
wicked device of unprincipled politicians.t   I lose respect for
Resources of the South, etc., vol. ii., p. 233.
t In 1830, Daniel Webster said, in the Senate:
"I know full well that it is, and has been, the settled policy of some persons
in the South, for years, to represent the people of the North as disposed to interfere with them in their own exclusive and peculiar concerns. This is a deli
cate and sensitive point in Southern feeling; and of late years, it has always
been touched, and generally with effect, whenever the object has been to unite 
A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND. XXiii
gentlemen whom I find to have been imposed upon by it. There
are men, who, it is constantly asserted, are notoriously leaders
among those having this purpose, whom I have happened to meet
often, under circumstances favorable to a free expression of their
political views and intentions. I have heard from them never
the slightest suggestion of a desire to interfere by force, or any
action of the central government, with the constitutional rights
of the state governments to maintain slavery.
Since the attempt to extend slavery in Kansas) by the repeal
of our old compromise with you, I have heard one man express
the conviction, to which others may be approaching, that we
shall never have done with this constantly recurring agitation,
till we place ourselves in an offensive position towards the South,
threatening the root of the national nuisance.   This man, however, was not one of those who are considered the special enemies
of the South, nor a politician by profession, but an honest, directminded old farmer, who has heretofore been numbered among
those the South chooses to deem its friends; a man, too, who, as
it happens, has seen the South, knows its cdndition, and maintains friendly communication with slaveholders.
This indicates, in my opinion, the only way in which the people of the North can be tempted to use the control they already
actually possess, and by their numbers are justly entitled to, in
the confederate government, in the unconstitutional and revolutionary manner these lying political speculators are so ready to
anticipate.
The chief object of this false accusation, is to excite the igno rant masses of your own citizens to act, with blindly-zealous con cert, in favor of measures to which, if honestly presented, they
would be equally opposed with the intelligent people of the
the whole South against Northern men or Northern measures. This feeling,
always carefully kept alive. and maintained at too intense a heat to admit discrimination or reflection, is a lever of great power in our political machine. It
moves vast bodies, and gives to them one and the same direction. But it is
without adequate cause; and the suspicion which exists is wholly groundless." 
XXIV A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
North. Its danger is now made sufficiently obvious by the conspiracies, among the slaves, which, since the election, have been
discovered in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas-perhaps elsewhere.
These are the first general and formidable insurrectionary
movements since 1820, when, as your rumor is, the machinations of the abolitionists commenced. Many general and forminidable insurrections are matters of history previous to 1820.
The improbability that the abolitionists have been engaged in
stimulating insurrections, between 1820 and the present time, is
apparent. When you consider that, in all the districts wherein
these conspiracies are now discovered, there have been large and
excited public meetings, harangued by loud-voiced speakers,
whose principal topic was the imminent danger of an interference
by Fremont, and the people of the North, in behalf of the slaves
against their masters-Fremont's name being already familiar in
their ears as that of a brave and noble man-remembering
this-how can you doubt whether the abolitionists, or your own
recklessly ambitious politicians, are most responsible for your
present danger?
The late message of President Pierce to Congress has been
distributed in the government publication and the newspapers by
hundreds of thousands in the Slave States, and has fallen directly
into the hands of half your house-servants, or may have been
given to any slave who purchases a plug of tobacco at a grocery. This message, or almost any of the speeches made by
Southern members in the debate upon it, which have, in like
manner, been freely scattered, will give the confident impression
to any man, not otherwise better informed, who reads it, or
hears it read or talked of, that a formidable proportion of the
white people of the North are determined " to effect a change in
the relative condition of the white and the black race in the
Slaveholding States;" that they are prepared to accomplish
this "'through burning cities, and ravaged fields, and slatughtered
populations, and all that is terrible in foreign, complicated with 
A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.  XXV
civil and servile war, devastation, and fratricidal carnage.":* If lie
have any disposition to obtain his liberty, it will at once be suggested to him that he and his fellows should be prepared to take
advantage of the suggestions thus made-the encouragement to
fi,lit their way northward, thus published to them by a thoughtiless Northern ally of their masters. Is it the abolitionists or the
politicians you have most reason to fear?
Be assured, all attempts to extend slavery can only increase
the very danger which it is pretended they are made to avert.
In denying that a formidable number of the citizens of the Free
States are disposed to interfere between the slaves and the citizens in other States, I do not wish you to understand me to say
that there is not a large number of abolitionists among us: using
the word, as has lately become the custom, to mean those who
have formed a distinct judgment, that slavery is an evil,
the continuance of which it is proper, desirable, and possible
for you to more or less distinctly limit; who also think it
proper to express this opinion; who also think it their duty to
prevent those who hold the opinion that slavery is wholly a good
thing, desirable for indefinite perpetuation and extension, from
exercising the influence they endeavor to do, in our common
government, for the purpose of extending and perpetuating it.
I suppose about one-half of all the people of the Free States
are now distinctly and intelligently abolitionists, of this kind, and
nine-tenths of the remaining number are as yet simply too little
interested in the subject to have formed a judgment, by which
they can be reliably classed. Out of a few localities, where
a commercial sympathy with planters is very direct, there is
no society in which an avowal of positive anti-abolition opinion
would not be considered eccentric.
Even of those voting at the late election for Mr. Buchanan,
among my acquaintance, more than half have expressed opinions
to me which would at once range them as abolitionists, and ex
* Message of the President, December, 1856. 
XXVi A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN  FRIEND.
pose them to disagreeable treatment if uttered in Southern
society.   These voted as they did, not so much, I think, from
fear that a division of the Union would result from Mr. Fr6mont's election, as because, being influential men in their party,
and having been successful in obtaining the nomination of the
candidate they deemed least dangerous of those advanced for the
nomination, they felt bound in honor to sustain him.
Which way the progress of opinion tends, it is easy to see,
and you need not trust my  judgment.   Examine the vote of
the North in connection with statistics indicating the degree
of intelligence and the means of transmitting and encouraging
intelligence aniong-not the commercial or wealthy class, butthe general working people, and you will find Mr. Fre6mont's
vote bears a remarkable correspondence to the advantage of any
district or state in this particular. Now our means of improving education, of transmitting intelligence, and of stimulating
reflection are very steadily increasing. The young men, attaining
their majority in the next four years, will have enjoyed advantages, in these respects, superior to their predecessors. The effect
of railroads, and cheaper postage-significantly resisted by those
who are most violent partisans of the extension of slavery-and of
cheaper books and newspapers, is, as to this question, almost
all one way. It is our young men who are most sensitive to
the insulting tone which the South thinks it proper to assume in
all debates with those members of congress who are known to
best represent the North. It is among those whose interest in
public affairs is of recent date, that the old party terms of outcry are least expressive of evil.
It is not long since you yourself held in the highest respect
and profoundest confidence as true citizens, such men as Chief
Justice Parker and Judge Kent; Presidents Walker, Woolsey
and King; James Hamilton, James S. Wadsworth, and John M.
Read; Washington Trving, Longfellow and Bryant, and even
Mr. Fremont-all now strongly sympathizing and openly coopcrating with the party of the "abolitionists."  There are many 
A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND. Xxvii
thousand young men who must still hold these honored names in
as high respect as ever you did, who have lately acquired their
first distinct political associations.   Consider that, with these,
the terms Abolitionist and Disunionist, Black Republican and
Nigger-worshiper, must thus be hereaftertirrevocably attached to
names and characters once as familiar to the South as the North,
and ever commanding, everywhere, the completest popular confidence, as the first gentlemen, the purest patriots, and the soundest thinkers in the land.  Reflect, that at least nine out of ten of
the clergy of every denomination, and of the lay-teachers, in the
North, have been enrolled as "abolitionists," and probably a
majority have thought it proper to publicly profess the faith now
so denominated, and which the South has chosen to make the
subject of the most violent, reckless, and relentless denunciation
and persecution.
Do you think we shall go backward?  Consider, that in those
States which gave the only Northern majorities to Mr. Buchanan,
an efficient public-school system has been a creation entirely of
the last fifteen years: that in Southern Illinois and Indiana,
where the vote against Mr. Fremont was heavier than elsewhere,
the majority of living voters were born and lived in their early
life, subject only to such educational advantages as existed-and
exist-in the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and
Tennessee.  That the proportion of citizens who  were educated
in those States themselves, since schools became conveniently
frequent, and'newspapers and books a common luxury, will now
very rapidly increase.
Very many other considerations might be adduced, if you do
not believe that the policy of forcing an extension of slavery
is necessary to the honor of the people of the South, and a duty
to be performed without flinching, whatever sad consequences it
may involve, why you should join me in pleading for its imme diate and decisive abandonment.
I have said that already full one-half of the citizens of the
North are decisively abolitionists in their convictions. You have 
Xxviii A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND.
led them  to consider the moral question involved in maintaining
slavery where it is, by forcing them to think of the material profit
or otherwise which will result to themselves and their children
from carrying it where it is not, and their verdict is against you.*
I believe that, rather than be parties to its extension, rather than
shift the responsibility of a decision upon those who are so unintelligent or uninformed as to be willing to settle in a territory
where its prohibition is yet undecided-unless they are patriotic
enough to go for the purpose of deciding it-they will accept anything else that you may place in the alternative. Be it disunion,
be it war, foreign or domestic, it will not divert them from their
purpose.
Any further extension or annexation of slavery, under whatever
* While the interest of the South in occupying a larger area of soil, is one
that neither justice, generosity, friendship, nor self-interest would lead us to
regard, the interest of the nation, as a nation, in my judgment, is strongly opposed to anything which unnecessarily deters the voluntary determination of
independent laborers towards any unoccupied land. In fact, I believe that it
is of far more consequence to apply the doctrine of free trade to labor than to
anything else.
I have long been of the opinion that the proportion of capital nominally employed in agriculture in the Eastern Free States, though better there than in
the Slave States, was far too great, as a matter of national economy.
Though I esteem the advantages of a tolerably complete social organization
rather more than is usual, I consider that land has an exorbitantly high value,
relatively to the reward o'f labor expended upon it, in New England, New York,
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. I could state interesting facts in the social
condition of the agricultural, compared with other classes, to support this view.
I suppose that in Kansas, and I am sure that in Western Texas, if slavery did
not interfere, a laboring man with a small capital in stock and tools, would gain
wealth as fast as he could in New England, if he were obliged to pay a rent one
hundsed per cent. higher on the value at which his land would be generally appraised.
If this is so, the interest of the merchant and the manufacturer equally
with that of the laborer, enlists them to oppose the extension of slavery.
Who can doubt for a moment that it does so, comparing the value to commerce
of the demand of Virginia with Pennsylvania; of Kentucky with Ohio; of Missouri with Illinois, and of Texas with Iowa and Minnesota. Every laborer, who
is given the opportunity to work in Iowa, may be depended upon to soon call
))po)i Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, Lowell, Trenton, and Pittsburgh,
foi- ten times as much as any slave who is carried to Texas. 
A LETTER TO A SOUTHERN FRIEND. XXiX
pretense or covering it is attempted, will only be effected in contemptuous defiance of the people of the Free States.
I am, and I trust long to remain,
Your fellow-citizen, and friend,
FRED. LAW OLMSTED. 
INDEX.
CHAPTER I.
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
Southern Phenomena, 1; Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 2; Cumberland, 3;
Over the Blue Ridge; Wheeling, 4; The Ohio, 5; The Ohio Vineyards, 6;
Cincinnati, 7; Pork, 9; To Lexington; The Woodland Pastures of Kentucky,
10; Pork on Foot, 11; "Cash Clay," from the Kentucky Point of View, 12;
Kentucky Farming, 14; Corn-bread Begins, 15; Lexington, 16; Ashland, 17;
Lexington as a Residence, 18; Slaves in Factories; Toward Louisville, 19;
Self-defense, 20; Black Conversation; Fugitive Slave Law, 21; Louisville;
Down the Ohio, 22; Steamboat Time, 23; The River Banks, 24; Smithland,
mouth of the Cumberland, 25; The "D. A. Tomkins," 27; Crutches and
Shoals. 29; Life and Scenery on the Cumberland, 30; Iron Works; Negro
Wages, 32; Live Freight, 34; Nashville, 35; Return to the Ohio; The
"Sultana," 37; The Mississippi, 38.
CHAPTER II.
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
Routes into Texas, 43; Red River, 44; Our Mount, 45; A Red River Planta tion, 46; The Road before us, 53: Piney Wood Travel; Emigrant Trains,
55; A Yellow Gentleman; Road Talk, 57; Land Locating; Cotton Hauling,
59; The Entertainment for Man and Beast, 60; Worn-out Land; The People,
62; Spanish Remains; The Progress of Dilapidation, 63; Our Old Frontier
The First House in Texas, 64; Slave Life, 66; The Red-land District, 67;
San Augustine; A Texan Fete, 68; Manners, 69; Packing the Mule, 70;
Additions to the Company, 72; Our Experience with Arms, 73; Off Again,
75; The Coulintry, 76; Piety in Negroes; "Done gone," 77; Nacogdoches, 78;
Supplies, 80; The Angelina; Camp Diet, 81; The Neches; Worn-out
Plantations,82; A Sunday in Camp; Alimentary Substances, 83; Sunday 
I         N D E X.
Habits, 84; Black Temperance, 85; A Roasted Broad-axe, 86; A Windfall,
87; A Family Servant; Sunday Travel; Post-office Department, 88; The 
First Prairie, 89; Trinity River Navigation, 90; Trinity Bottom-lands; Sale
of Lands and Hands, 91; Leon County, 92; The Centreville Hotel, 93; Across
the Brazos; Saddle and Tent Life, 95; Venison; The Prairies, 97; The First
Norther, 99; A Grazier's Farm, 100; A Harbor in an Inn, 102; Texan Conversation, 103; About Niggers, 104; Manners and the Weather; Sheep and
Prices, 107; The Colorado, 109; Austin, 110; Hotels, 111; Legislature, 113;
The Materials of Living, 114; An Eastern Planter, 115; Literature, 117;
Foreign Relations, 118; Black Housekeeping, 119; Abolition Ridiculous,
120; Texan Women; A Northern Settler, 121; Ease versus Comfort, 122;
Slavery with a Will; Texas as it used to be, 123; Law and Gospel, 126;
Church and State; The Present Social State of Texas, 127.
CHAPTER III.
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS.
Over the Colorado; The Prairies, 129; Western Landscapes; A Mule Lesson,
130; A Well-ordered Plantation, 131; Agrarian Ideas; Approach to Ger mans, 132; Agricultural, 133; Incomplete Arrangements; The Ground and
Atmosphere, 134; Mesquit Grass, 135; San Marcos, 136; A Snug Camp, 137;
Notes of Temperature during a Norther; A Neighbor of the Germans; His
Report of them, 138; German Farms, 140; Free-labor Cotton; A Free-minded
Butcher, 141; Neu-Braunfels, 142; An Evening far from Texas, 143; Pleas ing Indications of a New Social Life, 146; The San Antonio Road; The
Cibolo, 147; Chaparral; Mesquit; San Antonio, 149; Economical Testimo nial of Respect; The Missions, 154; The Alamo, 155; The Environs; San
Antonio Spring, 156; Bathing, 157; Town Life; Street Affrays, 158; The
Mexicans in Texas, 160; Their Rights and Wrongs, 163; Their Number and
Distribution; A Pause, 165; A Mirage and a Norther; Notes of Tempera  ture, 167; Neu-Braunfels, 169; History of the German Immigration, 172;
Remarkable Sufferings of the Earlier Immigrants and their Effect on Cha  racter, 176; Satisfactory Progress; Present Appearances, 177; Some Social
Statistics; The Trades and Cooperative Institutions; Prices Current, 179;
Wages-Servants, 180; Slaves; A Pathetic Record, 181; Free Cotton; Free
versus Slave Labor, 182; Kendall's Sheep Ranch; A Night in a German
Cabin, 183; Comments on American Habits, 185; The Germans in the
Mountains, 187; Cordillera Scenery, 188; A New Settler from Bavaria, 189;
Sisterdale, 191; A Frontier Court; Otto Von Behr, 192; Saxony Sheep; The
Upper Guadalupe, 193; Gigantic Cypresses; Farming in the Dale, 194; A
Hydropathic Establishment, 195; German -Refugees, 196; A Panther Per  formance, 197; Political Exile, 199; The Martyr Spirit; Fredericksburg,
200; The Northern German Settlements, 201; Up-country Farming; The
Attractiveness of Western Texas to Emigrants; Profits of Agriculture, 204;
Estimate of Expense and Profit of a Stock and Sheep Farm, 205; Estimate
xxxi 
INDEX.
of Expense and Profit of a Cotton Plantation, 206; The Comanche Spring
Road, 209; Taking an Observation; Fording the Guadalupe, 210; A Horse
Bath, 211; A Wanderer, 212; Vegetation on the Mountains, 213; Range for
Sheep; The Egg Snake; Venison at last; "Sharp" Practice, 214; A Fight
with a Prairie Fire, 215; After the Battle; Qui vive!-A Narrow Escape, 220;
Game, 223; "Heaps" of Bears, 224.
CHAPTER IV.
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
A Mule Spirt, 227; A Wet Norther in Camp, 228; A Black Life, 229; The
Prettiest Town in Texas, 231; Camp on the San Geronimo-Satisfied Whites,
Dissatisfied Negro, 232; Spring in the Prairie, 233; Guadalupe Lands, 234;
American, German, and Mexican Settlers, 235; Wine, 236; Gonzales; Wa terless Camp, 237; Broader Views; How Corn is Kept; Cotton-hauling;
The Roads, 238; The Courtesy of the Road; Dead Cattle, 239; Slave Emi grants; Cool Prospects for a Night; Victoria, 240; Night on a Plantation;
Negro Servants again, 241; Cotton-growing- Profits; Sugar, 244; Expulsion
of Mexicans; The Coast Prairie; A Gale, 245; Prairie Navigation, 246;
Lying-to; Mustangs, 247; Lavaca; A Reformed Abolitionist, 248; Bed chamber Arrangements and Companions, 250; Subsidence of Mr. Brown, 251;
Physic to the Fishes, 252; Indianola, 253; A Charivari; Return to Upland,
255; A Runaway, 256; A Nigger Hunt, 257; Hardships; Sheep, 258; A Fast
Hotel, 259; A Nomination; One of the Sorts who Make a World, 260; Camp
on Manahuila, 261; The Mission Church of La Bahia; Goliad, 262; Le bon
Cure6, 262; Decorum under Difficulties; Hospitality, 264; Mexican Rights,
265; An Irish Colonist; A Horse-jockey Silenced, 266; The Soil; A Stam pede, 267; San Antonio River District; Mexican Plantations, 270.
CHAPTER V.
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
Frontier Trains, 273; A Cattle Drove for California, 274; Castroville; History
of the Settlement, 277; Frontier Colonies; A Beautiful Country, 278; Quihi;
Improving Settlers, 279; Early Hardships, 280; Organized Emigration, 281;
Emigrant Aid Societies, 282; A Suggestion for Philanthropists, 283; Border
Settlers; Victor Considerant, 284; A Frontier Military Post; The Mounted
Rifles, 285; Frontier Mail Carriage, 286; An Indian Camp, 288; A Ride with
the Noble Savage, 290; Indian Depredations, 294; Indians in Texas, 295;
Their Condition and Treatment, 296; The Best Policy, 297; Frontier De fenses, 298; Texas Rangers-A Sketch of their Organization and Habits, 299;
At the Seige of Monterey; A Military Salute, 302; A Capital Scout; Poetry
of the Indian, 303; Butter-cups and Primroses; A Reconnoisance, 304;
Beyond Settlements; Tobacco and Spirits too Heavy, 305; Camp a la Belle
Etoile, 306; The Cuisine; Precautions against an Ind(ian Attack, 307;
xxxii 
INDEX. 
Snakes, Insects, and Game, 308; Nigger Huntinu., in the Desert, 313; Fort
Duncan Military Post, 314; Eagle Pass; A Sleepy Town, 315; Funeral Ceremonies, 318; Piedras Negras, 319; An Alcalde, 321; Runaway Slaves in
Mexico, 323; Germans and Runaways, 327; Jews; A Mail Behind Time,
329; Plans of Slaveholders, 331; Peon Law, 334; Rules of the Road, 335;
A California Widow, 336; Economy of Breath; Bed Companions, 337;
Across the Rio Grande; A Vigilant Sentry; The Runaway again, 338; Effect
of Freedom on the Negro; The Country and the Roads, 339; Evidence of a
Centralized Government; Mexican Colonial Towns, 340; Irrigation; The
Chaparral Desert in Mexico, 341; Old Fields of Mexico, 342; A Mexican
Town; San Fernando, 343; The People, 344; Indians, 345; Lodgings: A
Mexican Interior, 346; Tortillas; A Pretty Study, 348; A Mexican Repast,
349; A Savage, 351; The Faculty in Mexico, 352; Annexation, 353; An
Agricultural Proprietor, 354; Condition of Mexico, 355.
CHAPTER VI.
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
The Ranch of Mr. Ujhazy, ex-Governor of Comorn; Hungarians in Texas, 356;
Neu-Braunfels to Lagrange; Lumber, 357; German Farmers in Eastern
Texas; Northern Settlers, 358; Free and Slave Labor together, 359; Capa  city of Whites for Cotton Labor; Corn from Ohio again; Recklessness;
Brazos Bottoms; A 300 Negro Plantation; Craw-fish Prairie, 360; Houston;
Business, Cotton Dep6t, Amusements, Tar Cisterns, 361; Germans; Mag  nolias; A Runaway Captured, 362; A Damaged Property; Slave Trade at
Houston; The Low Prairies, 363; Results of Personal Explorations in South  eastern Texas, 364; The Population Characterized; A Bad Market for Book  sellers, 365; Serpents, Alligators, and other Traveling Companions; Harris  burg; A Promising Town; Up a Tree; A Negro's Direction, 366; Copper
Currency; A First-class Texas Grazing Establishment, 367; An Un-patented
Milking Process, 368; Cattle "Driving," 369; Bogs and Insects, 370;
"Goched"-Value of Cattle-Sheep, Horses, 371  Breaking a Wild Horse
Feats of Horsemanship, 372; Exhausting Rest; Eye-water, 373; A Stunted
Hamlet; Retrograding Country; Negroes Taken for Debt; Germans and
Trash, 374; Sour Lake-A Lemonade Spring, 375; Naphtha; A Bottom
Boggle; The Neches Bottoms; Rather Wet, 376; Soundings, 377; Fanny
in Extremity, 378; A Tennessee Yankee; A Parting; Judy Convalescent,
379; Health of the rest of the Party; The Climate, 380; To Consumptives;
Out of Texas; The Sabine; A Cornless and Roadless Country, 381; Diet Im  proving; Queer Sleeping Arrangements; "Dipping;" Respectable Barba  rians, 382; An Examination; Light to Bed, 383; Knives to Let; Young Men
and their Education, 385; Free Negroes and Vigilance Committees, 387;
Cattle Crossing at the Sabine, 388; The Drover's Story, 390; Western
Louisiana, 391; Among the Creoles, 395; An Exile from Old Virginia, 397;
A "Native Dutch Frenchman's" Farm, 401; Arrival in Civilization, 405,
To New Orleans, 407
xxxiii 
INDEX.
CHAPTER VII.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.
Historical and Actual Positionr, 408; Surface and Structure, 411; Clill ate, 412;
Sources of Wealth, 414; Rail-roads, 416.
CHAPTER VIII.
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
New States, 418; Northeastern Texas, 419; Eastern Texas, 423; Central Texas,
424; Sugar; Western Texas, 425; Number and Position of the Germans,
428; Competition and Collision of Free and Slave Labor; Political Divisions
among the Germans, 433; History of an Attempt to Maintain a Free News paper, 434; "Americanism'  in Texas, 436; Method of Persecution, 437;
Thrashing an Abolitionist, 438; Incendiary Fanaticism in Texas, 439; Pro gross Westward of Slavery, 440; The Obstacles; The Mexican Border, 441;
Mustangs and Mustangers, 443; Catching Wild Horses-Their Unconquer able Viciousness, 444; The Soil and Climate, 445; Meteorological Pheno mena ard Conjectures; Northwestern Texas, 446; The Staked Plain, 447;
The Pacific Railroad, 449; The Rio Grande Country, 451; Country Beyond
the Rio Grande; Further Annexation, 453.
xxxiv 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
CHAP. I.
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
SOUTHERN P HIENOMENA.
IN entering new precincts, the mind instinctively looks for salient
incidents to fix its whereabouts and reduce or define its vague
anticipations. Last evening's stroll in Baltimore, from the absence
of any of the expected indications of a slave state, left a certain
restlessness which two little incidents this morning speedily dissipated. On reaching the station, I was amused to observe that
the superintendent was, overseer-like, bestride an active little
horse, clattering here and there over the numerous rails, hurrying
on passengers, and issuing from the saddle his curt orders to a
gang of watchful locomotives.
And five minutes had not elapsed after we were off at a wave
of his hand, before a Virginia gentleman by my side, after carelessly gauging, with a glance, the effort necessary to reach the
hinged ventilator over the window of the seat opposite us, spat
through it without a wink, at the sky. Such a feat in New England would have brought down the house. Here it failed to
excite a thought even from the performer.
1 
2    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Here was rest for the mind.  Scene, the South; bound West.
It could be nowhere else. The dramatis personse at once fell
into place. The white baby drawing nourishment from a black
mamma on the train; the tobacco wagons at the stations; the
postillion driving; the outside chimneys and open-centre houses;
the long stop toward noon at a railway country inn; the loafing
nobles of poor whites, hanging about in search of enjoyment or
a stray glass of whisky or an emotion; the black and yellow
boys, shy of baggage, but on the alert for any bit of a lark with
one another; the buxom, saucy, slipshod girls within, bursting
with fat and fun from their dresses, unable to contain themselves
even during the rude ceremonies of dinner; the bacon and sweet
potatoes and corn-bread that made for most of the passengers
the substantials of that meal; the open kitchen in the background, and the unstudied equality of black and white that visibly
reigned there: nothing of this was now a surprise.
BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad runs for some eighty miles
through a fine farming country, with its appropriate, somewhat
tame, rural scenery. At Harper's Ferry, the Potomac hurries
madly along high cliffs over a rocky bed, and the effect, as you
emerge from a tunnel and come upon the river, is startling and
fine. Jefferson pronounced it the finest scenery he had seenbut he was a Virginian. After this the road follows up the valley
as far as Cumberland, coming upon new and wilder beauties at
every bend of the stream. But a day in a railway car is, in the
best surroundings, a tedious thing, and it is with great pleasure
that the traveler, in the early evening, shakes the dust from his 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
back, and partakes of a quietly-prolonged supper in the St.
Nicholas, the gaudy but excellent new inn at
CUMBERLAND.
This Cumberland, whence comes so much winter-evening comfort to us of the North, has itself the aspect of a most comfortless place. The houses of its 3,000 inhabitants are scattered
among and upon steep hills, and show little of the taste their
picturesque situations suggest. There is a certain dinginess and a
slow, fixed, finished look arising from absence of new constructions,
that remind you, especially in the dim light of a November rainy
day, of the small manufacturing towns of England. Judging
from the tones we heard and the signs we saw in some parts of
the town, some portion of its population seems to have come
from Wales or the West of England, and to possess, legitimately,
a slow-going propensity.
The mines, from which the chief supply of bituminous coal is
drawn for the use of the Atlantic coast, lie ten miles from the
town, and communicate with it and the world by a branch railway.
The transportation of this material forms one of the chief items
of the income of the B. and 0. Railroad. The price of the coal,
for which we in New York were paying nine dollars a tun, was
in the town one dollar and a half; at the mines, unselected, half
a dollar-a difference which, for my own part, I gladly pay.
Unattractive as is the town of Cumberland, it is not easily
forgotten, from its romantic position. From the cultivated hills
adjoining it, is seen a view which is, in its way, unsurpassed, and,
but a few minutes' walk above it, is a wooded gorge, into which a
road enters as into monstrous jaws, and, after sunset, the heart
3 
4    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
fairly quakes, spite of reason, to intrude, defiant of such scowls
of nature.
OVER THE BLUE RIDGE.
From Cumberland the rails plunge into the wild Blue
Ridge Mountains, and only by dint of the most admirable persistence in tunneling, jumping, squeezing, and winding, do they
succeed in forming a path for the locomotive over to the great
basin of the Ohio.   Vast sums and incredible Southern pains
have laid this third great social artery from the West, and New
York, after all, receives the blood.
Rocks, forests, and streams, alone, for hours, meet the eye.
The only stoppages are for wood and water, and the only waypassengers, laborers upon the road. The conquered solitude becomes monotonous. It is a pleasure to get through and see
again the old monotony of cultivation.
Broader grow the valleys, wider and richer the fields, as you
run down with the waters the Western slope. At length the
fields are endless, and you are following upward a big and muddy stream which must be-and is, the OHIO. You'have reached
the great West.   Here are the panting, top-heavy steamboats,
surging up against wind and current. The train slips by them
as if they were at anchor. Here are the flat-boats, coal laden
from Pittsburgh, helpless as logs, drifting patiently down the
tide. And here is
WHEELING.
A  dark clouded day, a "first-class hotel" of the poorest
sort, a day which began coldly by a dim candle four hours before
sunrise, and ended beyond midnight, after ten hours' waiting on 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
steamboat promises, are not conducive to the most cheering
recollections of any town; but the brightest day would not, I
believe, relieve the bituminous dinginess, the noisiness, and
straggling dirtiness of Wheeling.   Its only ornament is the
suspension bridge, which is as graceful in its sweep as it is vast in
its design and its utility.
THIE OHIO.
The stage of water in the river was luckily ample for firstclass boats, and we embarked upon the David L. Whsite, when at
length she came, on her long way from Pittsburgh to New
Orleans. She was a noble vessel, having on board every arrangement for comfortable travel, including a table of which the best
hotel would not be ashamed. The passage to Cincinnati occupies
thirty-six hours. From some conversational impressions, our anticipations as to enjoyment of scenery on the Ohio were small,
and we were most agreeably disappointed to find the book that
nature offered occupying us during all our daylight, to the
exclusion of those paper-covered ones we had thought it necessary to provide. Primeval forests form the main feature, but so
alternating with farms and villages as not to tire. Limestone hills and ranges bluff frequently in bold wooded or rocky masses
upon the river, terminating by abrupt turns the stately vistas of
the longer reaches.  For a first day, the rafts, "the fiats," all the
varieties of human river-life, are a constant attraction.   The
towns, almost without exception, are repulsively ugly and out of
keeping with the tone of mind inspired by the river.   Each
has had its hopes, not yet quite abandoned, of becoming the
great mart of the valley, and has built in accordant style its one
or two tall brick city blocks, standing shabby-sided alone on the
5 
6    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
mud-slope to the bank, supported by a tavern, an old storehouse,
and a few shanties. These mushroom cities mark only a night's
camping-place of civilization.
The route, via Baltimore to Cincinnati, we found, on the whole,
a very agreeable one. The time is somewhat longer than by the
more northern routes; but the charming scenery and the greater
quiet and comfort, amply repay the delay.
THE OHIO VINEYARDS.
Twenty miles above Cincinnati begin the vines. They occupy
the hill-slopes at the river's edge, and near the city cover nearly
the whole ground that can be seen under cultivation.   They are
grown as on the Rhine, attached to small stakes three or four
feet high, and some three by six feet apart. What a pity the
more graceful Italian mode of swinging long vine-branches from
tree to tree, could not be adopted. But profit and beauty are, as
often, here again at war.  The principal cultivators are naturally
Germans.   For the most part the land is held by them in small
parcels; but much is also rented for a fixed share of the crop.
Only the large owners bottle their own crop. The grape juice is
mostly sold to dealers who have invested in the necessary storehouses and apparatus. The principal dealer, as well as the largest
landholder and grower of vines, is Nicholas Longworth. To his
perseverance in prolonged experiments we are indebted for all
this success in the production of native wine. It is pleasant to
find now and then a case where the deserved fame and fortune
have followed intelligent efforts of such a kind, before the hand
that exerted them is laid low. The value of the wine crop in
its present youth is little known.
In 1855, the crop about Cincinnati is estimated at $150,000. 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
There are about 1,500 acres of vines planted; 1,000 in full
bearing, producing this year about 150 gallons only, to the acre.
In 1853, the average crop was 650 gallons; the extreme yield
900 gallons to the acre.   The acres planted in 1845, 350;
in 1852, 1,200.  Missouri and Illinois have also (1855)1,100
acres planted. Mr. Longworth is said to have at the end of
1855, 300,000 bottles stored in his cellars; one-half bottled
during the year.   It will not be many years, I hope, before the
famous hog crop will be of less value to this region in comparison. Let us pray for the day when honest wine and oil shall
take the place of our barbarous whisky and hog-fat.
The approach to Cincinnati is announced by the appearance
of villas, scattered on the hills that border the north side
of the river, and by the concentration of human life and
motion  along the bank.   But a moment after these  indica tions attract your attention, the steamer rounds with a great sweep
to the levee, and, before you appreciate your arrival, is pushing its
nose among the crowd of boats, butting them unmercifully hither
and thither in the effort for an inside place.
CINCINNATI.
From the edge of the stream rises the levee-a paved open hill
of gentle inclination, allowing steamboats and carmen to carry
on their usual relations at all stages of water.   Then extends
backward, on a gently-rising plateau, a square mile or two of
brick blocks and hubbub. Then rise steeply the hills by which,
in semicircle, the city is backed. At their base is a horrid debateable ground, neither bricks and mortar nor grass, but gaunt
clay, before whose tenacity the city has paused, uncertain whether
to "grade" or mount the obstinate barrier.
7 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
There is a prevalent superstition in Cincinnati that the hinder most citizen will fall into the clutches of the devil. A wholesome
fear of this dire fate, secret or acknowledged with more or less
candor, actuates the whole population. A ceaseless energy per vades the city and gives its tone to everything. A profound
hurry is the marked characteristic of the place. I found it diffi cult to take any repose or calm refreshment, so mnagnetic is the
air.   "Now then, sir!" everything seems to say.   Men smoke
and drink like locomotives at a relay-house.   They seem to
sleep only like tops, with brains in steady whirl.   There is no
pause in the tumultuous life of the streets. The only quiet thing
I found was the residence of Mr. Longworth-a delicious bit of
rural verdure, lying not far from the heart of the town, like a
tender locket heaving on a blacksminith's breast.
What more need be said of Cincinnati?  Bricks, hurry, and a
muddy roar make up the whole impression. The atmosphere, at
the time of our visit, was of damp coal smoke, chilly and dirty,
almost like that of the same season in Birmingham.   I was interested in inquiries about its climate, and learned that extreme
variations of temperature were as common as upon the sea-board.
That during one long season it was exposed to a fierce sun and
a penetrating dust, and during another to piercing winds from the
northwest.   Snow falls abundantly, but seldom  survives its
day.  On the whole, it was doubted if anxious lungs were better
here than in New York.   The environs, the purgatory of red
clay once passed, are agreeable enough, even at this season, to be
called charming-tasteful houses, standing on natural lawns
among natural park-groups of oak, with river views and glimpses.
The price of land for such places, within thirty or forty minutes'
drive of town, was, I was told, $1,000 per acre; and, of all eli
8 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
gible land, within ten miles around, $200. Cheap soil cannot,
therefore, be an inducement for settlers here. These are New
York prices.
PORK.
Pork-packing in Cincinnati was, at the time of our visit, nearly
at a stand-still, owing to the mild and damp weather unusual at
the season.   One establishment we found in partial operation.
We entered an immense low-ceiled room and followed a vista of
dead swine, upon their backs, their paws stretching mutely toward heaven. Walking down to the vanishing point, we found
there a sort of human chopping-machine where the hogs were
converted into commercial pork. A plank table, two men to lift
and turn, two to wield the cleavers, were its component parts.
No iron cog-wheels could work with more regular motion. Plump
falls the hog upon the table, chop, chop; chop, chop; chop, chop,
fall the cleavers.   All is over.   But, before you can say so,
plump, chop, chop; chop, chop; chop, chop, sounds again.
There is no pause for admiration. By a skilled sleight of hand,
hams, shoulders, clear, mess, and prime fly off, each squarely cut
to its own place, where attendants, aided by trucks and dumbwaiters, dispatch each to its separate destiny-the ham for
Mexico, its loin for Bordeaux.   Amazed beyond all expectation
at the celerity, we took out our watches and counted thirty-five
seconds, from the moment when one hog touched the table until
the next occupied its place.   The number of blows required I
regret we did not count.   The vast slaughter-yards we took
occasion not to visit, satisfied at seeing the rivers of blood that
flowed from them.
1*
9 
10    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
TO LEXINGTON.
We left Cincinnati at daybreak of a cloudy November day,
upon the box of the coach for Lexington, Ky. After waiting a
long time for the mail and for certain dilatory passengers, we
crossed the river upon a dirty little high pressure ferry-boat, and
drove through the streets of Covington. This city, with its low
and scattered buildings, has the aspect of a suburb, as in fact it
is. It is spread loosely over a level piece of ground, and is
quite lacking in the energy and thrift of its free-state neighbor.
Whether its slowness be legitimately traced to its position upon
the slave side of the river, as is commonly done; or only in
principal part to the caprice of commerce, is not so sure. It is
credible enough, that men of free energy in choosing their residence, should prefer free laws when other things are equal; but
200 miles further down the river, we find (as again at St. Louis)
that things arO not equal, and that the thrift and finery are
upon the slave side. Leaving it behind, we roll swiftly out upon
one of the few well-kept macadamized roads in America, and
enter with exhilaration the gates of magnificent Kentucky.
THE WOODLAND PASTURES OF KENTUCKY.
Here spreads, for hundreds of miles before you, an immense
natural park, planted, seeded to sward, drained, and kept up
by invisible hands for the delight and service of man. Travel
where you will for days, you find always the soft, smooth
sod, shaded with oaks and beeches, noble in age and form,
arranged in vistas and masses, stocked with herds, deer, and
game. Man has squatted here and there over the fair heritage,
but his shabby improvements have the air of poachers' huts
amidst this luxuriant beauty of nature. It is landscape garden 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
ing on the largest scale. The eye cannot satiate itself in a whole
day's swift panorama, so charmingly varied is the surface, and
so perfect each new point of view. Midway of the route, the
land is high and rougher in tone, and the richest beauty is only
reached at the close of the day, when you bowl down into the
very garden of the state-the private grounds, as it were, of the
demesne. Here accumulation has been easy, and wealth appears
in more suitable mansions, occupied by the lords of Durham
and Ayrshire herds, as well as of a black feudal peasantry, unattached to the soil. There is hardly, I think, such another coach
ride as this in the world, certainly none that has left a more
delightful and ineffaceable impression on my mind.
THE ROAD.
Coach and teams were good, and we made excellent time.
The weather was mild, and we were enabled t6 keep the box
through the day. Our first driver, waked, probably, too early, was
surly and monosyllabic. The second was gay, with a ringing
falsetto, which occupied all his attention.
The third was a sensible, communicative fellow. He told us,
among other things, that he had once driven over the road, eightyfour miles, during a high opposition, in seven hours, including all
stops. This route is now done by railway, with great gain, no
doubt, but also with what a loss!  This free canter over the
hills, exchanged for a sultry drag along the easiest grade. Where
will our children find their enjoyment when everything gets
itself done by steam?
PORK ON FOOT.
Our progress was much impeded by droves of hogs, grunting
11 
12    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
their obstinate way towards Cincinnati and a market. Many of
the droves were very extensive, filling the road from side to side
for a long distance. Through this brute mass, our horses were
obliged to wade slowly, assisted by lash and yells. Though the
country was well wooded, and we passed through now and then a
piece of forest, I venture to say we met as many hogs as trees
in all the earlier part of the day. The bad (warm) weather was
a subject of commiseration at every stopping place.
"CASH CLAY," FROM THE KENTUCKY POINT OF VIEW.
On the box with us were two Kentuckians, bound homewardsa farmer and a store-keeper, from the central part of the State.
Many of the hogs, they told us, from the brand, belonged to
Mr. Clay-Cassius-who buys them of farmers, and has them
driven to market.   He had made, they understood, $40,000 the
previous year, in this business. "Well, he'll lose money this
time," said one.  "No,"  said the other, "he has sold them all,
beforehand. They're all contracted for. He'll make another
$40,000 this year, I shouldn't wonder. I know one man myself who has paid him $2,000 to be let off from his engagement."
"Well, I aint sorry to have Cash Clay make money."
"Nor I either. If any man ought to make money, he had."
"Yes, he had  that.  He's a dam benevolent man, is Clay.
There aint a more benevolent man in the state of Kentucky."
"No there aint, not in the world."
"He's a brave man.   There aint no better man  than Clay.
I like a man that, when he's an abolitionist, frees his own niggers fuist, and then aint afraid to talk to other folks."
"He's a whole man, if there ever was one.   I don't like an 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
abolitionist, but by God I do like a man that aint afraid to say
what he believes."
"I hate an abolitionist, but I do admire a Kentuckian that
dares to stay in Kentucky and say he's an abolitionist if he is
one."
"There aint many men, I reckon," said the driver, "that has
got more friends than Cash Clay."
They are good friends, too."
"He's got a good many enemies, too."
"So he has; but, I tell you, even his enemies like him."
" There's some of his enemies that don't like him much," said
the farmer (a slaveholder).
"I reckon they'll let him alone after this, won't they."
"Well, I should think they'd got about enough of trying to
fight him. There aint a braver man in Kentucky, and I guess
everybody knows it now."
Afterwards at Lexington we heard Mr. C. spoken of in a similar tone of admiration for his courage and great force of charac ter. He was considered an excellent farmer, of course on the
subject of slavery "deluded" (with an expression of pity), and
as to influence, " losing rapidly."
Our farmer, it appeared, was the owner of twenty negroes; for
he mentioned that his whole family, including twenty black
people,'were laid up with erysipelas the previous year, and he
had lost one of his best boys. Since then he had had dyspepsia
horridly.  "He wouldn't begrudge the likeliest nigger he had got
to anybody who would cure him of dyspepsia."   This started
the store-keeper, who, thenceforward, could talk of little else than
some "bitters" he had invented from a recipe "he had found in
the dispensatory." After using it himself he had put it in circ(;u
13 
14    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
lation, and now had a regular labeled bottle, and had collected
a set of certificates that would be a sure fortune to any man that
had the capital to advertise. It appeared from the conversation
that dyspepsia was a common complaint in Kentucky, as God
knows it ought to be.
This "bitters" man was a rapid talker, and from the new and
entire Westernism of his phrases was to us quite an original. I
wish I could give, in his own language, a story he told of a
"bair-fight," apropos of a chained cub we passed on the road.
"By Godfrey," to his companion, "you ought not to have missed
that." The hero of the tale, was a sorry cur of his own, who till
that day had been looked upon as a spiritless thing of no account,
but whose mission was revealed to him when his eyes fell on that
baar.  He came off the champion of the pack, leaving his tail in
the pit, but a decorated and honored dog. The people came together, for twenty miles around, to see that baair-baiting, and the
most respectable, sober old members of the church, became so
excited as to hoot and howl like madmen, almost jumping over
into the fight.
KENTUCKY FARMING.
The farms we passed on the road were generally small, and
had a slovenly appearance that ill accorded with the scenery.
Negro quarters, separate from the family dwelling, we saw scarcely
anywhere. The labor appeared about equally divided between
black and white. Sometimes we saw them at work together, but
generally at separate tasks on the same farm.   The main crop
was everywhere Indian corn, which furnishes the food for man
and beast, and the cash sales evidently of hlogs and beef. Many
of the farms had been a great while under cultivation.   Large 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
old orchards were frequent, now loaded with apples left, in many
cases, to fall and rot, the season having been so abundant as to
make them not worth transportation to market. I was much
surprised, on considering the richness of the soil and the age of
the farms, that the houses and barns were so thriftless and
wretched in aspect.   They were so, in fact, to one coming from
the North; but on further experience they seemed, in recollection,
quite neat and costly structures compared with the Southern
average dwellings.
But a very small proportion of the land is cultivated or fenced,
in spite of the general Western tendency towards a horizontal,
rather than a perpendicular agriculture. Immense tracts lie unused, simply parts of our Great West.
CORN-BREAD BEGINS.-THE ROADSIDE.
We stopped for dinner at a small and unattractive village, and
at an inn to which scarcely better terms could be applied. The
meal was smoking on the table; but five minutes had hardly
elapsed, when " Stage's ready," was shouted, and all the other
passengers bolting their coffee, and handing their half dollars to
the landlord, who stood eagerly in the door, fled precipitately to
their seats. We held out a few moments longer, but yielded to
repeated threats that the stage was off without us, and mounted
to our places amid suppressed oaths on all sides.
At this dinner I made the first practical acquaintance with
what shortly was to be the bane of my life, viz., corn-bread and
bacon. I partook innocent and unsuspicious of these dishes, as
they seemed to be the staple of the meal, without a thought that
for the next six months I should actually see nothing else. Here,
relieved by other meats and by excellent sweet potatoes baked
15 
16   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
and in pone, they disappeared in easy digestion. Taken alone,
with vile coffee, I may ask, with deep feeling, who is sufficient
for these things?
At one of our stopping-places was a tame crow, hopping about
in the most familiar way among the horses' heels. When we
wvere ready to start, the driver, taking the reins, said to it, "No,
then, Charley; look out for yourself, we're going off." The bird
turned its wise head to one side, gave a sagacious wink with one
of its bright bead eyes, as much as to say, "Do you look out for
yourself, never mind me."
Near another we passed a husking bee-a circle of neighbors,
tossing rapidly bright ears of corn into a central heap, with jokes
and good cheer; near by, a group of idle boys looking on from
a fence, and half-a-dozen horses tied around.   The whole a picturesque study, which, with the knowing crow added, I would
like to have preserved on a better medium than one of the
fading tablets of memory.
Saddles, it was easy to observe, were very much more used
here than at the North, and I saw, not unfrequently, saddle-bags
across them, which had been as traditional in my previous experience as the use of bucklers or bows. Not long after, my
legs grew to that familiarity with them as to be as much astonished to find themselves free from their pressure for a transient
ride, as they now would have been to stride them for the first
time.
LEXINGTON.
We had had glowing descriptions of Lexington, and expected
muich.   Had we come from the South we should have been
charmed.  Coming from the East we were disappointed in the
involuntary comparison.  Of all Southern towns there are scarce 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
two that will compare with it for an agreeable residence. It is
regular in its streets, with one long principal avenue, on which
most of the business is done. The tone of building is more
firm and quiet than that of most Western towns, and the public
buildings  are neat.   There  are well-supplied shops;  many
streets are agreeably shaded; but the impression is one of irre
sistible dullness. It is the centre of no great trade, but is the
focus of intelligence and society for Kentucky, which, however,
is not concentrated in the town, but spread on its environs.
These have undeniably a rare charm. The rolling woodland
pastures come close upon the city, and on almost every knoll is
a dwelling of cost and taste.  Among these is
HENRY CLAY'S ASHLAND.
It was not without feeling that we could visit a spot haunted
by a man who had loomed so high upon our boyhood. Nothing
had been changed about the grounds or house. His old servant
showed us such parts of the house as could be visited without
intrusion, the portraits and the presents. The house was one of
no great pretensions, and so badly built as to be already falling
into decay.  The grounds were simple and well retired behind
masses of fine trees; the whole bearing the look of a calm and
tasteful retreat. What a contrast life here, with the clash and
passion, the unceasing and exciting labor of the capitol! As
we left, we met Mr. James Clay, once  charg6 to Portugal, who
purchased the homestead at his father's request. He struck us
as a man of feeling and good sense, and spoke with regret of
the necessity of rebuilding the house. He has since done this,
and has suffered in consequence a bitter and personal newspaper
controversy.
17 
18    A JOURNEY THROUGHII rEXAS.
Lexington boasts a university, well atnded,  and ranking
among the highest Western schools in its departments of Law
and Medicine. Its means of ordinary education are also said to
be of the best.
LEXINGTON AS A RESIDENCE.
With such advantages, social, atmospheric, educational, what
residence more attractive for one who would  fain lengthen out
his summers and his days?   Were it only free.   In the social
air there is something that -whispers this.   You cannot  but
listen.   Discussion maybe learned, witty, delightful, only-not
free. Should you come to Lexington, leave your best thoughts
behind. The theories you have most revolved, the results that
are to you most certain, pack them close away, and give them
no airing here. Your mind must stifle, if your body thrive.
Apart from slavery, too, but here a product of it, there is that
throughout the South, in the tone of these fine fellows, these
otherwise true gentlemen, which is very repugnant-a devilish,
undisguised, and recognised contempt for all humbler classes. It
springs from their relations with slaves, " poor whites," and
tradespeople, and is simply incurable.   A loose and hearty blasphemy is also a weakness of theirs, but is on the whole far less
repulsive. God is known to be forgiving, but slighted men and
slaves hanker long for revenge.   Lexington society, however,
can, I believe, be said to have less of these faults so offensive to
a Northern man, than any Southern city equally eligible in other
respects.
But, besides the social objections, there are others of a different
character. Malaria hangs over it, as over all the West, and whoever comes from the East runs double risk from its influences. 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
Labor, other than for,  and consequently, costly, slovenly, and
requiring incessant supervision, is not to be had.   The summer
heats are tedious and severe, and the droughts so unmitigated as
that sometimes the land is nearly baked to a depth of five feet,
and the richest soil is no better than the poorest.
SLAVES IN FACTORIES
The population of Lexington is about 12,000.  It is a market
for hemp, and manufactures it in a rough way into bagging for
cotton bales.  One of these factories, worked by slaves, we visited. The labl)or was almost entirely done by hand, and very rudely.
The plan of tasks was followed in the same way as in the to.
bacco factories at Riclhmond. By active working, a slave could
earn himself $2 or $3 a week, besides doing his master's work.
This sum he is always allowed to expend as he pleases. Thus,
the stimulus of wages is applied behind the whip, of course the
prime motor.
TOWARD LOUISVILLE.
From Lexington we went by rail to Frankfort and Louisville
(94 miles;  $3; 5 hours).   The  country passed over is, for
many miles, of the same general character as that described
north of Lexington-a rolling or gently-sloping surface, rich
soil, woodland pastures,* herds, fine farms, and prominent houses.
Then less-fertile and less-settled districts, elevated and thickly
wooded with beech, ash, oak, and hickory. Land, we were told,
' Woodland pastures: a blue grass sod under oaks. The blue grass is indigenous, and is the same much prized with us for lawns. The oak is the burr
oak, bearing a very large edible acorn, an excellent food for hogs. Its leaves are
said to decay with great rapidity, so as to nourish, not destroy, the grass on
which they fall. Throughout this region much attention has been naturally
given to pure-bred stock. One man is owner of ten bulls and thirty cows, pure
short-horns, of his own selection and importation.
1.9 
20    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
of the better class, and improved, commanded  $70 or $80 per
acre; near Lexington, $200. Its fertility was described as inexhaustible.  One field was pointed out that had been cultivated in
corn for sixty years, without interruption, and without manure.
Its produce was still forty bushels to the acre, with meagre care.
Of wheat, fifteen bushels was an average crop, though one farm
had this year yielded thirty bushels without unusual pains.
On the train we found acquaintances, and had much animated
conversation and advice upon our plans of travel. We could not
help observing that the number of handsome persons in our car
was unusual, and among the young Kentuckians we saw, were
several as stalwart in form and manly in expression as any
young men on whom my eyes have fallen.
SELF-DEFENSE.
A young man passing, with a pistol projecting from his pocket,
some one called out with a laugh-" You'll lose your pistol,
sh'." This opened a little talk on weapons, in which it appeared
that among young men a bowie-knife was a universal, and a
pistol a not at all unusual, companion in Kentucky.
Frankfort has a remarkable situation on the Kentucky river,
between its bank and a high bluff, which gives a threatening
gloom to the back of the town.   Though the capital of the
state, it is but a small and unattractive place.   Between it and
Louisville the country is comparatively sterile and vacant —the
country-houses are but cabins-and the villages small, and dirty,
with no feature of external interest. The railway lies through a
region in many places heavily wooded with beech, mingled with
oak, hickory, sweet gum, and sugar maple.    The  mistletoe
thrives here, selecting, when convenient, the boughs of the elm and 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
the black locust. Near Louisville we saw the Kentucky coffeetree, suggesting, at this season, our ailanthus.
BLACK CONVERSATION.
Near us in the railway car sat three mulattoes, quite at ease,
and exciting no attention. Two of them were exceedingly white,
and one looked so like an English friend of ours I should have
hailed him passing in very early twilight.   Their conversation,
when audible, was ludicrously black, however. At a station one
of them said, "I forgot to provide myself with cigors last night,
so when I got up I hadn' got nothin' to smoke. I told Chloe
and she jus' looked roun' on the floor, and ther' she found seven
stumps."
"Good gracious Lord, you didn't smoke'urn, did you?"
"Yes, I did that, and"-the rest was lost in uproarious guffaws. At another point the following queer passage reached us:
"I'd rather belong to the meanest white man in Scott County,
and have to get 200 lashes a-day, well laid on, with a raw
hide        "
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.
Here belongs, perhaps, a bit of Louisville conversation. We
were passing on the river bank just as a flat, loaded with furniture, manned by a white and black crew, was shoved off for the
other shore. A man near us shouted to the pilot, as the boat
drifted off-" H, remember, if any of them niggers, God
damn'em, tries to run, when you're over to the point, you've got
a double-barrel fowling-piece loaded with buck."
"Yes, God damn'em, I know it."
The negroes listened without remark or expression.
The general impression, from the negroes we saw in both city
21 
22   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
and country, is one of a painfully clumsy, slovenly, almost hopeless race. Intercourse with them, and dependence on them, as
compulsory as is that of a master, would be, to a man of Northern
habits, a despair.
LOUISVILLE.
Louisville has interminable ra,gged, nasty suburbs, and lacks
edifices-in other respects it is a good specimen of a brisk and
well-furnished city.  Its business buildings are large and suitable,
its dwellings, of the better class, neat, though rarely elegant, its
shops gay and full, its streets regular and broad, its tone active,
without the whirr of Cincinnati. It has great business, both as
an entrepot and as itself, a manufacturing producer. It owes its
position to the will of nature, who stopped here, with rapids, the
regular use of the river. Cincinnati, by the canal around them,
has, however, almost free competition with it, and it has well
stood its ground, showing some other than a temporary necessity
for itself. It has grown with all a Western rapidity. In 1800,
population, 600;  1820, 4,000;  1840, 21,000;  1850, about
50,000.
The hotel talk, while we stayed, was of little else than the
Matt. Ward tragedy, and dire were the threats of summary
punishment by the people, did the law fail in giving avenging
justice.
DOWN THE OHIO.
Finding that the night exposure, by stage, would be too great
to be voluntarily encountered at the season, we very reluctantly
abandoned our plan of proceeding across the state to Nashville,
by the way of the Mammoth Cave, and ordered our baggage to
be sent on board the favorite steamer "Pike, No. -,"  up for
St. Louis.   The promise of steamboat speed and comfort was 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
too seductive, and the charms of river scenery, both on the Ohio
and the Cumberland, had been glowingly painted for us.
Over a deep-rutted miry road, cut up by truck loads of cotton,
sugar, and iron, we were driven two or three miles to Portland,
once the rival, now the port and mean suburb, of Louisville.
After only a few hours more or less, not days as we feared, beyond her advertised time, the fast mail boat Pike took her
departure.
STEAMBOAT TIME.
It was a matter of luck, we found, that we were off so soon, and
was so considered, with mutual congratulations, by passengers
generally-other boats, advertised as positively to sail days before, lying quietly against the bank as we moved out.   Just
before we left, sitting on the guards, I heard the captain say,
"Yes, I guess we might as well go off, I don't believe we'll get
anything more. The agent told me to start out more than an
hour ago; but I held on for the chance, you know." Shortly
after this a man appeared in the distance running down the levee,
with a carpet-bag, straight for us. The last bell had been rung
with extra-terrible din, the gang-plank hauled aboard, and men
were stationed at the hawsers to cast off. " Halloo, look at that
chap," said the captain, "he's hell-bent on this boat now, aint he.
I'll have to wait for that fellow, sure." Accordingly the plank
was got out again, and the individual, who proved to be a deck
passenger, walked on board.
Toward night of the same day, we were steaming down tho
river at a fine rate, when we suddenly made a shear to the right,
and, after a long sweep, steamed some distance up the river, and
gently laid our nose against the bank.   The passengers all
gathered to see the landing.  Nothing was said, but, after a few
23 
24   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
minutes, the mate, who had been dressing, appeared, with a box
of raisins under his arm, and walked up to a solitary house at
some distance from the shore. He was met at the door by an old
gentleman and his wife, to whom he gave the box and a newspaper, and, after a moment's chat, he returned on board, gave the
necessary orders, and we were soon on our way again. Think
of a huge "floating palace," of 600 tons, with 200 passengers on
board, spending a quarter of an hour on such an errand! But
for thousands of miles here these steamers are the only means
of communication, and every article, be it a newspaper or a
thousand bales of cotton, must be delivered or dispatched in this
one way.
The Pike proved herself all she claimed to be for safety and
speed, laying up completely during a thick fog of the evening,
and running rapidly where the way was clear. Beds and table
were good, of their kind, as was our general experience on
Western boats.
THE RIVER BANKS.
New Albany, on the Indiana side of the river, nearly opposite
Portland, appeared a place of great growth and energy. From
the hammering, we judged that its chief business was the production of machinery.   Along the shore are extensive ship-yards, for
the perpetual creation of these short-lived high-pressure steamers.
Below this, the only town of note is Evansville, which also has
an encouraging and free-state look about it. On the Kentucky
side there is no village of consequence below Louisville.
Travelers usually make the observation in descending the
Ohio, that the free side shows all the thrift and taste. It is a
customary joke to call their attention to this, and encourage
them to dilate upon it when the boat's head has been turned 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
around without their notice. And I cannot say with candor,
that taking the whole distance, such was our own observation.
The advantage, if any, is slight on the side of the free states.
They certainly have more neat and numerous villages, and I
judge more improved lands along the river bank; but the dwellings, not counting negro huts, appeared to us nearly on a par,
and the farms, at a rough guess, of about equal value.
What is most striking everywhere, is the immensity of the
wasted territory, rather than the beauty of the improved. The
river banks seem, as you glide for hours through them, without
seeing a house or a field, as if hardly yet rescued from the beasts
and the savages, so little is the work done compared with that
which remains to do. Near the mouth of the Ohio, this is still
more striking, and on the Mississippi the impression is absolutely
painful, so rich yet so entirely desolate and unused is the whole
vast region. There is soil enough here, of the richest class, to
feed and clothe, with its cotton and its corn, ten-fold our whole
present population.
SMITHLAND-MOUTH OF THE CUMBERLAND.
At about 1 A. M., we found ourselves alone with a shivering
boy, almost speechless with sleep, upon a wharf-boat, looking
with regret on the fast-drifting lights of the Pike. Following,
by a blurred lantern, his dubious guidance, we climbed a clay
bank, and found ourselves shortly before our beds. At a first
experience of a Western, viz., one-sheeted, bed, I was somewhat
taken aback; and, determining not to abandon my hold on civilization sooner than necessary, I unconscionably caused the chambermaid, who was also the landlady, to be roused at this late
hour, and had, amid much grumbling and tedium, my bed put in
)
25 
26    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
a normal state.  Next morning I was happy to see that several
panes had been put in the window in anticipation of our arrival,
and some paper pasted about against the walls, but no provision
for personal ablutions could be discerned, though as the curtainless window opened on a gallery, there was every opportunity
for public inspection. Descending in search of these unwonted
articles, we discovered, by the sour looks we met, that we had
caused a family indigestion by our night attack, and, suddenly
concluding to adopt the customs of the country, we were shown
to the common lavabo, and why not? One rain bathes the just
and the unjust, why not one wash-bowl? Not twice in the next
six months, away from cities or from residences we pitched for
ourselves, did we find any other than this equal and democratic
arrangement.
Smithland is-or was, for who knows what a Western year
may bring forth-a thriving county seat, compcsed of about
two taverns, one store, five houses and a wharf-boat. Being
Thanksgiving day, we dined in company with several of our
fellow-citizens, wearing full-dress shirts, but no coats, on cornbread and pork, with sweet potatoes, and two pickles.
The prospect, in view of a long continuance of this life at
Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland, being composed of
the trees and bushes of the opposite shore, and of a long, flat
reach of river, was not encouraging. But, as good fortune
would have it, we had scarcely began the melancholy digestion
of our dinner, when the flat stern-wheel boat, David A. Tomkins, came in sight, and made direct for Smithland. On ascertaining that she was actually bound for Nashville, with great
eagerness we paid our first-class bill, and hurried our baggage on
board, preferring rather, should delay occur, to contemplate for a 
ROUTE TO TEXAS
season the town, "as it appears from the river bank," to prolonging our gaze at those bushes and the flat reach that lie before
the doors of Smithland, mouth of the Cumberland.
THE D. A. TOMKINS.
The boat was a good specimen of a very numerous class on
Western and Southern rivers.  They are but scows in build, perfectly flat, with a pointed stem and a square stern. Behind is
the one wheel, moved by two small engines of the simplest and
cheapest construction. Drawing but a foot, more or less, of
water, they keep afloat in the lowest stages of the rivers. Their
freight, wood, machinery, boilers, hands and steerage passengers,
are all on the one flat deck just above the surface of the water.
Eight or ten feet above, supported by light stanchions, is laid
the floor used by passengers. The engines being, as generally
in Western boats, horizontal, this floor is laid out in one long
saloon eight or ten feet wide from the smoke-pipes, far forward,
which stretches to the stern. It is lined upon each side with
state-rooms, which open also out upon a narrow upper guard or
gallery. Perched above all this is the pilot-house, and a range
of state-rooms for the pilots and officers, popularly known as
"Texas."   To  this Texas,  inveterate card-players retire on
Sundays, when custom forbids cards in the saloon. A few feet
of the saloon are cut off by folding doors for a ladies' cabin.
Forward of the saloon the upper deck extends around the
smoke-pipes, forming an open space, sheltered by the pilotdeck, and used for baggage and open-air seats.
Such is the contrivance for making use of these natural
highways. And lreally admirable it is, spite of drawbacks, for its
purpose. Without it the West would have found it impossible
27 
28   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
to be The West. Roads, in countries so sparsely settled, are imp'acticable. These craft paddle about, at some stage of water, to
almost every man's door, bringing him foreign luxuries, and
taking away his own productions; running at high water in
every little creek, and at low water, taking, with great profit, the
place of the useless steamers on the main streams.
Our captain promised we should be in Nashville the following
day; but he should have added " water and weather permitting,"
for we had one hundred tedious hours to spend upon the narrow
decks of the Tomkins.  We were hardly fairly under way when
we went foul of a snag, and broke, before we were clear, several
buckets of our wheel. We ran on in a dilapidated state till near
night, when the boat's head was put against the bank, and what
timber was required was cut in the woods. Woods are common
property here. With this and with planks kept on board for the
purpose, the repairs were soon effected. With the twilight, however, came a thick fog down upon the river, and we remained, in
consequence, tied quietly to a tree until late the next day, but a
few miles from Smithland.   The evening was something hard to
pass; a fierce stove, a rattle of oaths and cards within, and the
cold fog without. Luckily I had with me a Spanish grammar, in
view of a probable Mexican journey, and to that I grimly applied
myself with success. Our passengers were some twenty in number, mostly good-natured people from the neighboring country,
fraternizing loudly with the officers of the boat, over their poker
and brag.   The ladies occupied themselves in sewing and rocking, keeping up a thin clatter of talk at their end of the cabin.
Early next day we passed a side-wheel steamer of a small class,
upon a shoal, almost high and dry. She had been lying for a
month where she was, all hands discharged, and the whole ma 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
chine idle. We afterwards passed two or three others of a larger
size, accidentally locked into the river by a fall of water. Our
own craft, though drawing only fourteen inches, was within an ace
of a similar predicament. After many times grounding, but always getting free after more or less delay, we were at length
driven hard and fast by rapids upon a heap of rocks barely
covered with water.
CRUTCHES AND SHOALS.
Then it was we learned the use of those singular spars which
may always be seen standing on end against the forward deck, in
any picture of a Western boat. They are, in fact, steamboat
crutches.    One of these, or the pair, if occasion require, is set
upon the river-bottom, close to the boat's head, and a tackle led
from its top to a ring in the deck. Then, by heaving on the
windlass, the boat is lifted bodily off the ground. As soon as
she swings free of bottom, steam is applied with fury, and
forward she goes until the spar slips from its place, and lets her
fall. Such was the amusement we had during the greater part of
our Sunday on board. Finally, having secured, by going up and
down the river, two wood-scows, and having got into them,
lashed alongside, all our freight, having hobbled about here and
there, looking for a wetter place, during many hours, we scratched
over. The freight was soon restored, and the flat-boats sent
adrift, to find their way home with the current, under the management, one, of an aged negro, the other of a boy and girl of tender years.
We were amused to notice of how little account the boat was
considered, in comparison with the value of time.   Whenever
any part of the hull was in the way of these spars, axes were
29 
30    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
applied without a thought, other than that of leaving hull enough
to keep afloat. In fact, costing little, these steamers are used
with a perfect recklessness. If wrecked, why, they have long
ago paid for themselves, and the machinery and furniture can almost always be saved. This apparatus of stilts is used upon the
largest boats, and good stories are told of their persistence in
lifting themselves about, and forcing a passage over gravel banks,
whenever freights are higher than steamboats.   The " first boat
over" sometimes wins extravagant rewards. When sugar, for
instance, goes up to $1 per pound in up-river towns, after a dry
season, a few hogsheads will almost pay for a cheap steamboat.
LIFE AND SCENERY ON THE CUMBERLAND.
The Cumberland, flowing, after its head branches unite, through
a comparatively level and limited district, though watering an
immense region, is but a small and quiet stream.   Its banks, so
far as navigation extends, are low, though frequently bluffs of
small height come jutting down to the river. Ordinarily, the
trees of the rich bottom alone are to be seen overhanging the
placid surface. For miles, almost for hours, there is not a break
in the line of dripping branches.  Monotony is immediate.  But
it is not without suffering this that a traveler can receive true
and fixed impressions. You turn again and again fromn listlessly
gazing at the perspective of bushes, to the listless conversation
of the passengers, and turn back again. Making a landing, or
stopping to wood-up, become excitements that make you spring
from your berth or your book. Two sounds remain still very
vividly in my  ears in thinking of this sail-the unceasing
"Choosh, choosh; choosh, choosh," of the steam, driven out into
the air, after doing its work; and the" shove her up! shove her 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
up!" of the officer of the deck, urging the firemen to their
work.   The first of these sounds is of course constantly heard
upon high-pressure boats, and is part and parcel of Western
scenery. Of a calm day it rings for miles along, announcing
the boat's approach.  On board, the sound is not as annoying
as might be expected. Carried high, in wide-mouthed pipes, it is
partly dulled, and, once under way, is but a slow rhythmic accompaniment to the progress, which, in so monotoned a panorama,
becomes not unpleasant.
Turkeys, buzzards, and ducks make up the animated nature of
the scenery. The ducks clatter along the surface, before the
boat as it approaches, refusing to leave the river, and accumulating in number as they advance, until all take refuge in the first
reedy shelter offered by a flat shore.
The buzzards, hovering, keen-eyed, in air, swoop here and
there towards whatever attracts their notice, or loiter idly and
gracefully along, followving the boat's motion with scarce a play
of the wing, as if disdaining its fussy speed.
The turkeys sit stupidly in the trees, or fly in small or large flocks
across the stream.  We counted more than ninety in one frightened throng.  One of them was brought down by a rifle-shot
from the pilot-house, but fell into the woods. The boat stopped
to pick him up, but the bank proving difficult, we went on with out so pleasant a supper dish.
It is a matter of surprise to meet so few farms along the
banks of such a stream.   But it is the common surprise of the
West.   Everything almost, but land, is wanting everywhere.
Except a small quantity of tobacco, hardly anything else than
corn is here cultivated. The iron works along the river make
a large market for bread-stuiffs, i. e., corn-bread stuffs. The farms
31 
32    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
are carried on by slave labor on a moderate scale. The farmers,
not working themselves, are generally addicted to sporting, and
to all easy view of life. The spots chosen for cultivation, so far
as can be seen from the river, are those where the land comes
high to the bank, affording a convenient landing. A considerable item of revenue is the furnishing of wood to passing steamers-much black muscle paying thus its interest. The wood is
piled in ranks along the bank, or sometimes a flat is loaded
ready for steamers to take in tow, so that no time may be lost
in waiting. We saw the usual picturesque evening wooding-up
scenes to great advantage here. An iron grating, filled with
blazing chips of rich pine, is set upon the boat's guard, or upon
the bank. A red glare is thus thrown over the forest, the water,
the boat, and the busy group of men, running, like bees, from
shore to boat. A few minutes of mad labor suffice to cover the
boat's spare deck-room-the torch is quenched, and, with a jerk
of the bell, the steamer moves off into the darkness.
IRON WORKS.-NEGRO WAGES AND LABOR.
Near the course of the Cumberland are several furnaces and
iron mines. Their supply of fuel is drawn from the river forests,
and near them wood-land sells at $5 per acre. Improved land
is roughly estimated at $20. Lime is found adjoining the ore.
One of these establishments employs a capital of $700,000, and
owns 700 negroes. In most of them the hands are hired. For
common labor, negroes are almost exclusively used.  "Because
white men don't like the work, and won't do it unless they are
compelled to. You can't depend on'em. You can't drive'em
like you can a nigger." Foreign laborers are sometimes used;
but, though they do very well at first, soon "get off the notion." 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
Wages, we were informed by a flat-boatman, were from forty cents
to one dollar per day, with board. White men don't hiie by the
year; too much like a nigger. The furnaces pay $200 a year wages,
and, for hands at all skilled, $250. A gentleman on board,
however, tells me he hires his boys in preference to farmers
at $120 a year (clothed and M.D.'d), because it is safer. They
are less subject to accidents; they do not work so fiercely and
wear themselves out, and are less likely to fall into bad habits.
The negroes themselves much prefer the furnaces, because,
though the work is far more severe, " there is more life," and
they can get money in plenty by overwork, as in the factories.
The mate tells us that, for the same reason, negroes much prefer
being hired to boats. They then get " Sunday money" for
work on Sunday, and pick up little sums in various other ways,
working on other boats, or helping, if firemen, the deck hands in
port; doing extra work out of their watch; taking care of
horses, luggage, etc.
It is not unusual for the slave to buy his time of his owner at
a fixed price, and to hire himself on the river. The money
thus acquired they, of course, spend as pleases themselves.
Much of it they drink. The black deck hands we have observed calling for drinks at the bar several times in an evening.
" It's the kind of life niggers like," says the mate.   " They'll
have almost nothing to do maybe for a day or two, and then
have to work like the devil, perhaps all night, if the boat gets
aground or has a big lot of freight to come on at a landing.
They just make a frolic of it. White men don't like to work
so, but it just suits niggers. They go to singing, and work as
if they were half crazy." Steamboat food also pleases them
much better than their farm allowance.
2*
33 
34    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
In the river villages are some tobacco factories, in which
negroes are alone employed. In cotton factories only whites,
because negroes cannot be trusted to take care of machinery,
and negro women's capacity for labor in the field makes their
wages higher than white women's.
LIVE FREIGHT.
One evening we were hailed in the darkness to come in and
take some freight aboard.  It proved to be a negro woman
which her master wished to send to Nashville. Putting her on
board, he demanded a bill of lading. The captain declined to
sign it.  "Then I can't send her."  "Very well.  I'll be dam'd
if ever I sign a bill of lading for that sort of property. She
might  choose to jump  overboard.   Shove  off.  Go  ahead."
"What boat is that?" "The D. A. Tomkins." "Are you
from Cincinnati?"  "Yes, damn you."
A friend told us of a singular scene of which he was once
witness at Louisville. A large gang of negroes, in irons, had
been brought on board a boat, bound down the river. The
captain coming on board saw them, and was so seized with
indignation that he swore he would never carry a slave on his
boat, and ordered the whole gang, their master, and his baggage,
to be hustled out upon the levee. It was no sooner said than
done, to the great astonishment of the bystanders, who, however,
were awed by his impetuous anger, and made no demonstration.
As we lay quiet one evening in the fog, we heard and listened
long Lo the happy wordless song of the negroes gathered at
fire-light work, probably corn-husking, on some neighboring
plantation. The sound had all the rich and mellow ring of
pure physical contentment, and did one good to hear it.  Like 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
the nigLtingale, the performers seemed to love their own song,
and to wait for its far off echo.  It was long before we discovered that this was artificial, and came in response from the next
plantation. No doubt, had one the tender and ubiquitous ear of
a fairy, he might hear, of a fine evening, this black melody, mingled with the whippoorwills' notes, all the way from Carolina to
Kansas, resounding, as the moon went up, from river to river.
NASHVILLE.
It was with very great pleasure that we left the woods behind
us, and emerged into the cultivated district surrounding Nashville.  On a narrow boat, the berths and table must be correspondingly restricted, and four dlays of such confinement prove a
great fatigue. After an amount of excited shrieking on the part
of our steam-whistle, in quite inverse proportion to our real importance, we opened the town, and in a few minutes lay beneath
its noble suspension bridge, resting our crazy head upon its levee.
Two negroes with carriages had answered our tremendous calls,
two with hand-barrows soon joined them, and we were very
shortly in lodgings in the heart of the town.
The approach by the river, at a low stage of water, is anything
but striking. The streets are, as usual, regular-some of them
broad-but the aspect of the place, as a whole, is quite iuninviting. The brick, made from adjacent clay, are of a sombre hue,
and give, with many neglected frame houses, a dull character to
a first impression; in fact, though there are some retired residences of taste in the town, there is little that calls out admiration from an Eastern man.*   It is our misfortune that all the
* The mansions of palatial magnitude and splendor, mentioned in Lippin:ott's late Gazetteer, we did not see.
35 
36    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
towns of the Republic are alike, or differ in scarcely anything
else than in natural position or wealth. Our federal union has
been also architectural. Nashville has, however, one rare national
ornament, a capitol, which is all it pretends to be or need to be.
The whole city is on high ground; but thiis stands at its head,
and has a noble prominence. It is built of smooth-cut blue limestone, both within and without, and no stucco, sham paint, nor
even wood-work, is anywhere admitted. Ornamenting its chambers are columns of a very beautiful native porphyry, fine white
grains in a chocolate ground.   Better laws must surely come
from so firm and fit a senate house.
Like Lexington, Nashville stands in the centre of a rich district, for which it is a focus of trade and influence. Being also
the state capital, and its chief town in point of size, it holds its
most distinguished and cultivated society.   In its vicinity are
some large and well-administered estates, whose management
puts to shame the average bungling agriculture of the state. The
railroad to Chatanooga, connecting with the seaboard towns, was
just completed at the time of our visit, and gave promise of renewing the vigorous youth and growth of the town. Perhaps the
demands and condition of its society are best illustrated by one
fact, which may be said to speak volumes-the city has a bookstore (MIr. Berry's), which is thought to contain a better collection of recent literature, on sale, than is to be found elsewhere
in the United States.  Certainly its shelves have the appearance
of being more variously filled than any accessible to dollars and
cents in New York, and furnished us everything we could ask at
a moment's notice.
The population of the town, in 1853, was estimated at 18,000.
It is a speaking fact that a state so large should show a capital 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
so small.  Nor, except Memphis, its port, which has 10,000, is
there any other town worth mentioning in the state. Servile
labor must be unskilled labor, and unskilled labor must be dispersed over land, and cannot support the concentrated life nor
amass the capital of cities.
RETURN TO THE OHIO.
After a day or two of cordial personal intercourse, we left
Nashville, by water, for New Orleans. Taking a light-draught
passenger-steamer down the Cumberland, we met with no delay,
other than that usual at the time of starting. The boat was advertised for ten o'clock. Wishing to make an excursion, we went
on board at two, and stated our plans to the captain. He had no
objection to our excursion, but his boat was going off instantly,
and we must hurry our baggage on board if we wished to go in
her. We did so, and then sat five hours in that dismalest of all
delays, the waiting to be off.
We passed Smithland the second morning, and shortly after
reached Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee, a much jauntier
place than its neighbor.  By good luck, a first-class New Orleans
steamer rounded to the wharf-boat just as we arrived, and with
hardly a moment's delay we were installed in one of her capacious
state-rooms.
THE SULTANA.
The Sultana was an immense vessel, drawing nine feet, and
having an interminably long saloon. Loaded to the full, her
guards, even at rest, were on the exact level of the water, and the
least curve in her course, or movement of her living load, sent one
of them entirely under. Like the greater number of Western boats
I had the fortune to travel upon, some part of her machinery was
37 
38    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
" out of order." In this case one of the wheels was injured and
must be very gently used.  Carrying the mails, and making many
landings, this proved a serious detention, and we were more than
six days in making the passage from Cairo to'New Orleans, which
may be made in little over two.
Little could be added, within the same space, to the steamboat
comfort of the Sultana. Ample and well-ventilated state-rooms,
trained and ready servants, a substantial as well as showy table;
at the head of all, officers of dignity and civility. A pleasant
relic of French river dominion is the furnishing of red and white
wines for public use at dinner. A second table provides for the
higher employ6s of the boat and for passengers who have found
themselves de trop at the first. A third is set for white servants
and children, and a fourth for blacks. Among the last, several
ladies made their appearance, in whom, only when thus pointed
out, could you observe any slight indication of colored ancestry.
No wise man, therefore, should fall blind in love, on board these
steamers, till this fourth table has been carefully examined.
THE MISSISSIPPI.
In a voyage so long you forget the attitude of expectation
usual on a steamboat, and adapt your habits to the new kind of
life. It is not, after all, very different from life at a wateringplace. Day after day you sit down to the same table with the
same company, changing slightly its faces as guests come and go.
You meet the same persons in your walks upon the galleries
and in evening conversation. New acquaintances are picked up
and welcomed to more or less of intimacy. Groups form common
interests, and from groups cliques and social envies.  The life,
especially in the tame Mississippi scenery, is monot onous, but 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
Is barely long enough to get tedious, and the monotony is
of a kind you are not sorry to experience once in a lifetime.
With long sleeps, necessitated by nocturnal interruptions from
landings and woodings, long meals, long up and down walks, and
long conversations, duly interlarded with letters and books, time
passes, and space. With the Southern passengers, books are a
small resource, cards fill every vacuum. Several times we were
expostulated with, and by several persons inquiries were made,
with deep curiosity, as to how the deuce we possibly managed to
pass our time, always refusing to join in a game of poker, which
was the only comprehensible method of steaming along. The
card parties, begun after tea, frequently broke up only at dawn
of day, and loud and vehement disputes, as to this or that, occupied not only the players, but, per force, the adjacent sleepers.
Much money was lost and won with more or less gaiety or
bitterness, and whatever pigeons,'ere on board were duly plucked
and left to shiver.
Nothing can be less striking than vie river scenery after the
first great impression of solemn magn('ude is dulled.  Before
and behind are eight or ten miles of seetk'ng turbid water; on
each side is half a mile of the same, bounded by a sand or mud
bank, overhung by the forest.  The  eye finls nowhere any
salience. Steamers, fiats, rafts, wood-yards and villages (almost
synonymous), now and then a little rise of land charted as a
"bluff;" a large snag, a cut-off; where the river has charged
through an opposing peninsula-such are the incidents that
serve to mark the hours; in the days they are forgotten, and, as
at sea, you mark only the weather and the progress.
Moving constantly southward, you find each day pleasant
tokens of a milder zone.  First come the scathed leaves still
39 
40    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
clinging to the cotton-woods. Then the green willows and poplars, and the cotton-wood unharmed. Then magnolias and cotton fields show themselves, and you dispense after dinner with
your overcoat.  Then Spanish moss-soon in such masses as to
gray the forest green. Then cypress swamps, the live oak and
the palmetto along the shore, preluding but little the roses, jessamines, and golden oranges, the waving brightness of the canefields, and the drifting clouds from the sugar works.
Human life along the Mississippi is indescribably insignificant.
To  use a popular expression, it is "literally nowhere."   The
villages having large names upon the map are really but a
shanty or two, and when found will hardly serve to make a
note on. Even Chuzzlewit's descriptions might pass as not far
from accurate. I had heard some ludicrous accounts of Cairo,
for instance, at the mouth of the Ohio, but was fairly shocked
with amusement to see it in all sober detail composed of item,
one house, leaning every way, uncertain of the softest spot to
fall; item, one shanty, labeled "Telegraph office;" item, four
fiat-boats, high and  dry, labeled "boarding,"  "milk," etc.;
item, four  ditto, afloat, labeled  "Post-office,"  "milk,"  etc.
Compared with such a town as this, our craft, with its vast population and regal splendor, should rank a great metropolis. Most
of these places find it as necessary to show their name upon the
spot as upon the map, and display large permanent signs toward
the river, as
ORATORIO LANDING.
Sometimes other attractions are added in large letters, as
NORTHERN TERMINUS, MOBILE, OHIO R. R.-5,000 MEN WANTED.
And will be "wanted" a long time, I fear.  The Mississippi valley, in fact, with all its 16,000 miles of uninterrupted steamboat 
ROUTE TO TEXAS.
navigation, is a great wilderness of unexplored fertility, into
which a few men have crept like ants into a pantry. We give it
a vast importance in our thoughts, but it is an entirely prospective one. Has the reader ever thought to compare, for example,
the twelve or fourteen hundred miles of river between St. Louis
or Louisville and New Orleans with the one hundred and fifty
that flow between Troy and Albany and New York? If not, a
little footing up of figures from the last census will surprise him:
Po.Pp
Louisville........... 43.194
St. Louis ----------— 77.86(
Memphis............ 8.841
Vicksburg........... 3.678
Natches............  4,434
Baton Rouge........  5,347
Albany and Troy ----
Poughkeepsie........
Hudson....-.... —--
Catskill.............
Newburg............
Hudson River Towns.
Add New York......
Total about. —--
Mississipppi Towns:
With St. Louis.... 
With Louisville....
Add New Orleans. —
Distance.......
Total about....
Distance........
The Western region, including these as its principal towns,
sends sixteen senators to Congress. The Easterni towns together send not one; form, that is, less than half the population
of one state. Is not the noise made within the Republic also
in inverse proportion?
Who would not rather own his ten acres on the Hudson than
the two hundred or five hundred considered of equal value on
the Mississippi?
We had few opportunities of going on shore at our many
landings. Carrying a large supply of coal out of the Ohio, it
41
Pop.
. Pop.
78,548
13,944
6,286
5,454
11,415
115,647
750,000
860,000
150 miles
100.160
85.494
120.000
220-000
1,400 m's 
42    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
was only on the last day or two that we made long stops for
wood.  Twice we stopped at cotton plantations.  On both, the
hands were at work picking. One, in Mississippi, where we had
time to visit the negro quarters, we found to be an outlying
plantation without a residence. There were a dozen or twenty
cheap white-washed board cottages, in a long straight row, without windows, raised three feet from the ground upon log stilts.
Each served for two families, having a common central chimney
and one entrance. At the door of some were bits of log as a
step, at many nothing at all. In the centre, the overseer's cottage, larger than the rest, and planted in a garden. About the
others all was bare or dirty uninclosed space. In one of the
cottages was an old woman cooking the dinner of mush and
bacon. She directed us to the field, where we found all the
women at work, picking. The men were getting wood from the
swamp. The picking went on with a rapid and sullen motion,
one gang carrying the cotton to the gin-house in huge baskets.
All wore tight Scotch bonnets. The cotton plants,'seven feet
high, stood eighteen inches apart in rows six feet apart.
Near Fort Adams we noticed tomato and melon vines still
untouched by frost. And there we heard with reluctant ears
that yellow fever was lingering, and that the proprietor of an adjoining plantation had died the night before. The number of
victims in New Orleans had been terrible during the summer,
and though the city was now reported safe, it was not without a
sense of relief that we shivered in our berths through the night
before our arrival, and saw, at daylight, by the ice on our decks,
that the frost long prayed fbr had come with us, as we swept to
the centre of the thronged crescent that had been for days our
half-dreaded goal. 
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CHAP. II.
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
ROUTES INTO TEXAS.
TEXAS has but two avenues of approach-the Gulf and Red
River. Travelers for the Gulf counties and the West enter by
the sea, for all other parts of Texas, by the river. The roads
leading into the state throtugh Louisiana, south of Natchitoches,
are scarcely used, except by residents along them and herdsmen
bringing cattle to the New Orleans market. The ferries across
the numerous rivers and bayous are so costly and ill tended, the
roads so wet and bad, and the distance from steam-conveyance
to any vigorous part of the state so very great, that the current
is entirely diverted from this region.
The travel by Red River has three centres, Natchitoches,
Shrieveport, and Fulton. Immigrants enter now chiefly by the
two last.  To Shrieveport come the wagons from Alabama and
Mississippi, to Fulton those from Arkansas and Tennessee.
The Gulf steamers touch at but two ports, Galveston and Indianola; and as cotton and all produce, on its way out to the
world, must pass through the same points, these five places may
be strictly called the five gates of Texas.
For our purposes Natchitoches was deemed the best rendez vous, and there, on the 15th December, we were to join our
friend B., a volunteer companion. 
44    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
ALEXANDRIA.-RED RIVER.
Leaving New Orleans by steamboat at dusk, we entered Red
River at dinner-time next day, and the second morning reached
Alexandria. At low water there are here falls, which prevent
further navigation.   For the transfer of our passengers and
freight we were detained all day, with the usual lies about time.
The village is every bit a Southern one-all the houses being one
story in height, and having an open verandah before them, like
the English towns in the West Indies.   It contains, usually,
about 1,000 inhabitants, but this summer had been entirely depopulated by the yellow fever. Of 300 who remained, 120, we
were told, died. Most of the runaway citizens had returned,
when we passed, though the last case of fever was still in uncertain progress.
Passing the rapids on our way to the boat above, we saw the
explosion of the first of M. Maillefert's rock blasts under water.
His undertaking, since, if I am not misinformed, successfully
carried out, was to open a navigable passage through the rocks
that form the rapids. The jet of water shot suddenly high in
air was very beautiful. The boat above, when reached, we found
the most diminutive specimen we had met with. In her saloon
were but twelve berths, and, as there were some forty or fifty of
us, it may be imagined we spent an unenviable night. The table
was most barbarous in quality and even totally insufficient in
quantity. We were right glad, the following afternoon, to make
our escape at Grand Ecore, a village of eight or ten houses upon
the bluff where the river divides, and, at this stage of water, the
port of Natchitoches.   The old channel was now quite dry.
Three or four miles' drive along it was necessary to take us to
the town. 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
OUR MOUNT.
We spent several days in Natchitoches purchasing horses and
completing the preparations for our vagrant life in Texas. Finding
little that was eligible in the horse-market, and hoping to do better further on, B. left us for San Augustine, by public conveyance,
with our combined plunder. After patient trials we contented
ourselves with two animals, that proved a capital choice. I beg
to make the reader acquainted.
"MR. BROWN," our mule; a stout, dun-colored, short-legged,
cheerful son of a donkey, but himself very much of a gentleman.
We could not have done better.  Having decided that a pack
mule would be the most free and easy way of carrying our impediments, we selected "Mr. B." from a Missouri drove passing
through the town, and appointed him to that office. Receiving
his first ration simultaneously with the notice of his appointment,
he manifested much satisfaction, and from first to last, until his
honorable discharge, we had mutually no serious occasion for
any other feeling. He was endowed with the hereditary bigotry
of his race, but while in our service was always, if not by hook
then by crook, amenable to reason. When gentle persuasives
failed, those of a higher potency were exhibited, and always with
effect. Though subjected sometimes to real neglect, and sometimes even to contemptuous expressions (for which, I trust, this,
should it meet his eye, may be considered a cordial apology), he
was never heard to give utterance to a complaint or vent to an
oath. He traveled with us some two thousand rough miles,
kept well up, in spite of the brevity of his legs, with the rest,
never winced at any load we had the heart to put upon him,
came in fresh and active at the end, and, finally, sold for
as much as we gave for him. A saddle, saddle-bags, and the
45 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
doctor, were temporarily put upon his back until the pack was
overtaken.
F. chose a sturdy but gay little roan "creole pony," who also
proved to have all the virtues of his class. These ponies are a
tough, active race, descended and deteriorated from good Spanisla
and Norman blood, running at large almost wild upon the
prairies of Southwestern Louisiana.   Our little individual had
been the property of a physician now dead of fever, and we found
him an animal of excellent temper and endurance, full of boyish
life and eagerness, warm in his friendships with man and beast,
intelligent, playful, and courageous.   Once on friendly terms
with such a comrade, he is like an old family negro, you are
loth and half-ashamed to offer him for sale at last, and little
"Nack," as he was called, endeared himself to all of us to that
degree, that tears stood in our eyes, as well as his, when we were
forced to part.
A RED RIVER PLANTATION.
Thus mounted, we made one mild day of our stay at Natchitoches, an experimental trip of some ten or fifteen miles out and
back, at the invitation of a hospitable planter, whose acquaintance we had made at the hotel. We started in good season, but
we-ee not long in losing our way and getting upon obscure roads
throug,h the woods.  The planter's residence we did not find, but
ouir day's experience is worth a note.
Ae rode on from ten o'clock till three, without seeing a house,
except a deserted cabin, or meeting a human being. We then
came upon a ferry across a small stream or " bayou," near
which was a collection of cabins. We asked the old negro who
tended the ferry if we could get something to eat anywhere in
46 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
the neighborhood.   He  replied that his master sometimes took
in travelers, and we had better call and try if the mistress
wouldn't let us have some dinner.
The house was a small square log cabin, with a broad open
shed or piazza in front, and a chimney, made of sticks and mud,
leaning against one end. A smaller detached cabin, twenty feet
in the rear, was used for a kitchen. A cistern under a roof, and
collecting water from three roofs, stood between. The water
from the bayou was not fit to drink, nor is the water of the Red
River, or of any springs in this region.   The people depend entirely on cisterns for drinking water. It's very little white folks
need, however-milk, claret, and whisky being the more common
beverages.
About the house was a large yard, in which were two or three
China trees, and two splendid evergreen Cherokee roses; half a
dozen hounds; several negro babies; turkeys and chickens, and
a pet sow, teaching a fine litter of pigs how to root and wallow.
Three hundred yards from the house was a gin-house and stable,
and in the interval between were two rows of comfortable negro
cabins.   Between the house and the cabins was a large post, on
which was a bell to call the negroes. A rack for fastening horses
stood near it.   On  the bell-post and on each  of the rackposts were nailed the antlers of a buck, as well as on a large oaktree near by.   On the logs of the kitchen a fresh deer-skin was
drying. On the railing of the piazza lay a Mexican saddle with
immense wooden stirrups.   The house had but one door and no
window, nor was there a pane of glass on the plantation.
Entering the house, we found it to contain but a single room,
about twenty feet by sixteen.  Of this space one quarter was occupied by a bed-a great four-poster, with the curtains open,
47 
4S    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
made up in the French style, with a strong furniture-calico daycoverlid. A smaller camp bed stood beside it. These two articles of furniture nearly filled the house on one side the door.
At the other end was a great log fire-place, with a fine fire. The
outer door was left constantly open to admit the light. On one
side the fire, next the door, was a table; a kind of dresser, with
crockery, and a bureau stood on the other side, and there were
two deer-skin seated chairs and one (Connecticut made) rockingchair.
A bold-faced, but otherwise good enough-looking woman, of
a youngish middle-age, was ironing a shirt on the table. We
stated our circumstances, and asked if we could get some dinner
from her. She reckoned we could, she said, if we'd wait till she
was done ironing.   So we waited, taking seats by the fire, and
examining the literature and knick-knacks on the mantel-piece.
These consisted of three Natchitoches Chronicles, a Patent Office
Agricultural Report, Christie's Galvanic Almanac, a Bible, T/ze
Pirate of the Gulf, a powder-horn, the sheath of a bowie-knife, a
whiplash, and a tobacco-pipe.
Three of the hounds, a negro child, and a white child, had
followed us to the door of the cabin, three chickens had entered
before us, a cat and kittens were asleep in the corner of the fireplace. By the time we had finished reading the queer advertisements in French of runaway negroes in the Chronicle, two of the
hounds and the black child had retired, and a tan-colored hound,
very lean, and badly crippled in one leg, had entered and stood
asking permission with his tail to come to the fire-place.   The
white child, a frowzy girl of ten, came towards us. I turned
and asked her name.   She knitted her brows, but made  no
verbal reply. I turned my chair towards her, and asked her 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  49
to come to me. She hung her head for an instant, then
turned, ran to the hound and struck him a hard blow in the
chops.  The hound quailed.   She struck  him again, and  he
turned half around, then she began with her feet, and kicked
him out, taking herself after him.
At length the woman finished her ironing, and went to the
kitchen, whence quickly returning, she placed upon the table a
plate of cold, salt, fat pork; a cup of what to both eye and
tongue seemed lard, but which she termed butter; a plate of very
stale, dry, flaky, micaceous corn-bread; a jug of molasses, and
a pitcher of milk.
" Well, now it's ready, if you'll eat it," she said, turning to
us.  "Best we've got.  Sit up.  Take some butter;" and she
sat down in the rocker at one end of the table.   We took seats
at the other end.
"Jupiter! what's the matter with this child?" A little white
child that had crawled up into the gallery, and now to my side
-flushed face, and wheezing like a high-pressure steamboat.
" Got the croup, I reckon," answered the woman.   "Take
some'lasses."
The child crawled into the room.   With the aid of a hand it
stood up and walked round to its mother.
How long has it been going on that way?" asked we.
"Well, it's been going on some days, now, and keeps getting
worse.'Twas right bad last night, in the night.   I reckoned I
should lose it, one spell."
We were quite faint with hunger when we rode up, but didn't
eat much of the corn-cake and pork. The woman and the highpressure child sat still and watched us, and we sat still and did
our best, making much of the milk.
3 
50    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
"Have you had a physician to see that child?" asked the doctor, drawing back his chair.
She had not.
"Will you come to me, my dear?"
The child came to him, he felt its pulse and patted its hot
forehead, looked down its throat, and leaned his ear on its chest.
"Are you a doctor, sir?"
"Yes, madam."
"Got some fever, hasn't it?"
"Yes."
Not near so much as't had last night."
"Have you done anything for it?"
"Well, there was a gentleman here; he told me sweet ile and
sugar would be good for it, and I gave it a good deal of that:
made it sick, it did. I thought, perhaps, that would do it good."
"Yes.  You have had something like this in your family
before, haven't you? You don't seem much alarmed."
"Oh yes, sir; that ar one (pointing to the frowzy girl, whose
name was Angelina) had it two or three times-onst most as
bad as this. All my children have had it. Is she bad, doctor?"
"Yes. I should say this was a very serious thing."
Have you any medicine in the house?" he asked, after the
woman had returned from a journey to the kitchen.   She opened a drawer of the bureau, half full of patent medicines and
some common drugs.   " There's a whole heap o' truck in thar.
I don't know what it all is. Whatever you want, just help yourself. I can't read writin; you must pick it out."
Such as were available were taken out and given to the mother,
with directions about administering them, which she promised to
obey.  " But the first and most important thing for you to do is 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  51
to shut the door and make up the fire, and put the child to bed
and try to keep this wind off her."
Lord! sir, you can't keep her in bed-she's too wild."
Well, you must put some more clothes on her.  Wrap her up,
and try to keep her warm. The very best thing you can do for her
is to give her a warm bath. Have you not got a washing tub?"
" Oh! yes, sir, I can do that. She'll go to bed pretty early
-she's used to going between sundown and dark."
"Well, give her the warm bath, then, and if she get worse
send for a physician immediately. You must be very careful of
her, madam."
We walked to the stable, and as the horses had not finished
eating their corn, I lounged about the quarters, and talked with
the negro.
There was not a single soul in the quarters or in sight of the
house except ourselves, the woman and her children, and the old
negro. The negro women must have taken their sucklings with
them, if they had any, to the field where they were at work.
The old man said they had "ten or eleven field hands, such
as they was," and his master would sell sixty to seventy bags of
cotton: besides which they made all the corn and pork they
wanted, and something over, and raised some cattle.
Sixty bales of cotton would be worth three thousand dollars.
Last year, the negro said, their crop was larger still. The
expenses of the family (not very heavy, if our dinner was an indication) and of the negroes would probably be defrayed by
the swine and corn crop, and the profits should have been, in
two years, full six thousand dollars. What do people living in
this style do with so much money?  They buy more negroes and
enlarge their plantations. 
52    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
But it must be remembered that they were having the first use
of a very fine alluvial soil, and were subject to floods and fevers.
The yellow fever or cholera another year might kill half their
negroes, or a flood of the Red River (such as occurred August,
1849, and October, 1851) destroy their whole crop, and so use
up several years' profits.
A slate hung in the piazza, with the names of all the cottonpickers, and the quantity picked the last picking day by each, thus:
Gorge, 152; David, 130; Polly, 98; Hanna, 96; Little Gorge,
52, etc. The whole number of hands mentioned on the slate
was fourteen. Probably there were over twenty slaves, big and
little, on the plantation.
When our horses were ready, we paid the negro for taking
care of them, and I went in and asked the woman what I might
pay her for what we had eaten.
"What!" she asked, looking in my face as if angry.
I feared she was offended by my offering money for her hospitality, and put the question again as delicately as I could. She
continued her sullen gaze at me for a moment, and then answered as if the words had been bullied out of her by a Tombs
lawyer,
"Dollar, I reckon."
"What!" thought I, but handed her the silver.
Riding out at the bars let down for us by the old negro, we
wondered if the child would be living twenty-four hours later,
and if it survived, what its moral chances were. Poor, we
thought. Five miles from a neighbor; ten, probably, from a
Louisiana* school; hound-pups and negroes for playmates.
The State Superintendent lately recommended that two out of three of the
Directors of Common Schools in Louisiana should be required to know how 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  53
We found our way back to the town only late in the evening.
We had ridden most of the day over heavily-timbered, nearly
flat, rich bottom land. It is of very great fertility; but, being
subject to overflow, is not very attractive in spite of its proximity to a market.
THE ROAD BEFORE US.
Natchitoches was the terminus of the old Spanish trail from
Monterey, Chihuahua, and Sante Fe6, by San Antonio, to the
States, and, as such, had a considerable military and commercial importance. This trail we were to follow, with slight deviations to the Rio Grande.
We set out with some difficulty, amusing rather to by-standers than to ourselves, owing to the numerous holds upon civilization we were reluctant to let go. Having bequeathed to the
servants everything we thought we could spare to lighten our
load, our saddles were still so encumbered that we could scarcely
find room for the most important articles, viz., ourselves. Besides the bursting saddle-bags, both pommel and cantle, rising
high in Mexican fashion, were hung with blankets, overcoats, ammunition-pouches, lunch-bags, et cetera. Once astride in all this
lumber it was no small game that was inducement to dismount,
and as to a free trot or a canter, with loose guns hammering our
thighs, and everything else our knees and the horses flanks, it
was not to be thought of except in dire extremity. However, a
few days' experience made all right, and by means of a leather
holder, attaching the gun closely to the pommel, and by tight
packing and buckling generally, we shortly found ourselves very
to read and write; and mentioned that in one parish, instead of the signature,
the mark of twelve different directors was affixed to a teacher's certificate. 
54   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
good Texans in the matter of equestrianism, and had the full
freedom of the road and the prairie. But steady horseback travel can by no means be prosecuted in the rapid and lively style
of a morning ride. Consideration for your horse as well as for
yourself soon reduces it to a jogging caravan life, which, unless
in capital company or stimulating scenery, gets, like other uniform modes of travel, laborious and dull.
A word as to the saddles for such a trip. They should be
chosen to fit the horse rather than the rider, consequently should
be bought after the horse, and of course in Texas. We had had
varying advice about taking English or Mexican saddles, but the
Texan, a cross of the two, is far the best for the purpose. As
used in Texas, it is frequently an open tree, with no covering
whatever, two wooden pads lying fiat upon the muscles of the
back, and fitting them as closely as possible, joined by an upright
back and high pommel, leaving an open space of free air over
the spine. A blanket, smoothly folded, is always placed under
it in lieu of pad, which serves in camp for a manger, when corn
is to be had, and for a wrap at night. Before and behind are
long deer-skin thongs, far better than straps and buckles. An
extra blanket hangs by these, swinging loose like a saddle-cloth.
With a well-fitting saddle of this kind, galls can almost always
be escaped, especially if pains be taken to uncover, wash, and
rub dry the heated back at every opportunity.
It was with great satisfaction that we found ourselves of
a crisp December morning fairly en route, with all preliminaries,
from steamboats to buckles, at last, accomplished.
Five minutes' ride took us deep into the pines. Natchitoches,
and with it all the tumult and bother of social civilization, had
disappeared. Under the pines and beyond them was a new, calm,
$ 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
free life, upon which we entered with a glow of enthusiasm,
which, however, hardly sufficed to light up a whole day of pine
shadow, and many times afterwards glimmered very dull ovei
days on days of cold corn-bread and cheerless winter prairies.
PINEY WOOD TRAVEL.
For two days, as far as the boundary of Texas, we rode
through these pines over a sandy surface, having little rise and
fall, watered here and there by small creeks and ponds, within
reach of whose overflow, present or past, stand deciduous trees,
such as, principally, oaks and cotton-woods, in a firmer and
richer soil. Wherever the road crosses or approaches these
spots, there is or has been usually a plantation.
The road could hardly be called a road.  It was only a way
where people had passed along before. Each man had taken
such a path as suited him, turning aside to avoid, on high ground,
the sand, on low ground, the mud. We chose, generally, the
untrodden elastic pavement of pine leaves, at a little distance
from the main track.
EMIGRANT TRAINS.
We overtook, several times in the course of each day, the
slow emigrant trains, for which this road, though less frequented
than years ago, is still a chief thoroughfare. Inexorable destiny
it seems that drags or drives on, always Westward, these toil worn people. Several families were frequently moving together,
coming from the same district, or chance met and joined, for
company, on the long road from Alabama, Georgia, or the Caro.linas. Before you come upon them you hear, ringing through
the woods, the fierce cries and blows with which they urge on
their jaded cattle. Then the stragglers appear, lean dogs or
55 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
fainting negroes, ragged and spiritless. An old granny, hauling
on, by the hand, a weak boy-too old to ride and too young to
keep up. An old man, heavily loaded, with a rifle. Then the
white covers of the wagons, jerking up and down as they mount
over a root or plunge into a rut, disappearing, one after another,
where the road descends. Then the active and cheery prime negroes,
not yet exhausted, with a joke and a suggestion about tobacco.
Then the black pickininnies, staring, in a confused heap, out at
the back of the wagon, more and more of their eyes to be made
out among the table legs and bedding as you get near; behind
them, further in, the old people and young mothers, whose turn
it is to ride. As you get by, the white mother and babies, and
the tall, frequently ill-humored master, on horseback, or walking
with his gun, urging up the black driver and his oxen. As a
scout ahead is a brother, or an intelligent slave, with the best
gun, on the look-out for a deer or a turkey. We passed in the
day perhaps one hundred persons attached to these trains, probably an unusual number; but the immigration this year had
been retarded and condensed by the fear of yellow fever, the last
case of which, at Natchitoches, had indeed begun only the night
before our arrival. Our chances of danger were considered small,
however, as the hard frosts had already come. One of these
trains was made up of three large wagons, loaded with furniture,
babies, and invalids, two or three light wagons, and a gang of
twenty able field hands. They travel ten or fifteen miles a day,
stopping wherever night overtakes them. The masters are plainly
dressed, often in home-spun, keeping their eyes about them,
noticing the soil, sometimes making a remark on the crcps by.
the roadside; but, generally, dogged, surly, and silent. The
women are silent, too, frequently walking, to relieve the teams,
56 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  57
and weary, haggard, mud be-draggled, forlorn, and disconsolate, 
yet hopeful and careful. The negroes, mud-incrusted, wrapped
in old blankets or gunny-bags, suffering from cold, plod on, aimless, hopeless, thoughtless, more indifferent than the oxen to all
about them.
A YELLOW GENTLEMAN.
At noon, when we had stopped in the woods for a lunch, at a
roadside fire, left well piled for the next comer, as is the pleasant
custom, by some one in advance, a handsome mulatto young man
rode up, and bowing, joined us at this open hearth. He proved
a pleasant fellow, genial and quite intelligent.   He accepted a
share of our eatables, and told us he had been sent back to look
for a lost dog.  "His master, and a little boy, and two nigger
women, and another yellow fellow, were on ahead." When we
had finished, he said-" Perhaps youm (you and he)'11 wait a
spell longer."
" Yes."
"Well, then, I'll go along, my master'11 be looking for me,"
and he rode off, lifting his hat like a Parisian.
ROAD TALK.
Stopping at a cabin for a few minutes, I was left alone.  As I
rode out a man on the road joined me, with
"How d'ye do?"
"Good morning."
"Going into Texas?'
"Yes. To Austin."
"Yes.  Come from Alabama?"
"No: from New York."
" Come through Nakitosh?"
3. 
58    A 3JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Yes."
Get that horse in Natchitoches?"
"Yes."
"What did ye have to give for him?"
"Sixty dollars."
"What do ye reckon I had to give for this one?"
"I haven't the least idea.  How far is it to Fort Jesup?"
"You going to Fort Jesup to-night?"
"I expect to."
"You'll havo to ride a dam smart hickory."
"How far is it?"
"Fourteen miles, and long ones. That's a smart little horse.
Mine can't trot so fast."
"I see he can't."  (He was on a canter.)  "But I am a little
in haste."
"I got a right smart saddle and bridle'long o' this one.
What do ye think I gin for him?"
"I can't imagine."
"Well, I gin $20, saddle and bridle, too, less'n two months
ago."
"What's the matter with him?"
"Damnation laziness, that's what's the matter with him.
Can't make him go, only by spurring him all the time. Can't
make him trot by no matter of whippin'; you take his skin off
he won't trot. Do you ever drink anything?"
"Not very often."
"Will you drink now?"
"No, I thank you."
"What kind of a piece is that in that case?"
"A short rifle." 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
"Will she shoot good?"
" Yes."
" Well, you're too much for me."
"What?"
"You're too much for me, you are.  I can't keep along with
you no further. Good-by."
After a while we came up with our noon friend, the yellow boy.
"Well, you've overtook me again," said he.  "Do you ever
drink? Take some whisky," offering the jug.
LAND LOCATING.
His master, riding near, was from Mississippi, going to "locate
land" in Texas, and had no particular point in view. Most emigrants make a first excursion alone, to look at the country, and
having selected a spot to suit them return and bring out their families the following season.   The country is so little settled, that
it is not difficult to find land in desirable neighborhoods, the title
to which is still vested in the state, and immigrants usually purchase "land warrants," or "head rights," giving a title to a certain number of acres of the public domain, and choose, i.e.,
"locate," the particular spot for themselves.
COTTON HAULING.
We met, in course of the day, numerous cotton wagons, two
or three sometimes together, drawn by three or four pair of mules
or oxen, going slowly on toward Natchitoches or Grand Ecore,
each managed by its negro driver. The load is commonly five
bales (of 400 pounds each), and the cotton comes in this tedious
way, over execrable roads, distances of 100 and even 150 miles.
It is usually hauled from the eastern tier of Texan counties to
59 
60    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
the Sabine; but this year there had been no rise of water in the
rivers, and from all this region it must be carried to Red River.
The distance from the Sabine is here about fifty miles, and the
cost of this transportation about one cent a pound; the freight
from Grand Ecore to New Orleans from one to one and a quarter
cents.  If hauled 150 miles in this way, as we were told, the profit remaining, after paying the charges of transportation and
commission, all amounting to about five cents, must be exceedingly small in ordinary years.
At night we met three or four of these teams half-mired in a
swamp, distant some quarter of a mile one from another, and
cheering themselves in the dark with prolonged and musical "yohoi's," sent ringing through the woods.   We got through this
with considerable perplexity ourselves, and were very glad to see
the light of the cabin where we had been recommended to stop.
THE ENTERTAINMENT FOR MAN AND BEAST.
This was "Mrs. Stokers'," about half way to the Sabine.
We were received cordially, every house here expecting to do innduty, but were allowed to strip and take care of our own horses,
the people by no means expecting to do landlord's duty, but taking guests on sufferance. The house was a double log cabintwo log erections, that is, joined by one long roof, leaving an
open space between. A gallery, extending across the whole front,
serves for a pleasant sitting-room in summer, and for a toiletroom at all seasons. A bright fire was very welcome. Supper,
consisting of pork, fresh and salt, cold corn-bread, and boiled
sweet potatoes, was served in a little lean-to behind the house.
After disposing of this we were shown to our room, the other
cabin, where we whiled away our evening, studying, by the light 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
of the great fire, a book of bear stories, and conversing with the
young man of the family, and a third guest. The room was open
to the rafters, and had been built up only as high as the top of
the door upon the gallery side, leaving a huge open triangle to
the roof, through which the wind rushed at us with a fierce swoop,
both while we were sitting at the fire and after we retreated to bed.
Owing to this we slept little, and having had a salt supper, lay
very thirsty upon the deep feather bed. About four o'clock an
old negro came in to light the fire.  Asking him for water, we
heard him breaking the ice for it outside. When we washed in
the piazza the water was thick with frost, crusty, and half inclined
not to be used as a fluid at all.
After a breakfast, similar in all respects to the supper, we saddled and rode on again.   The horses had had a dozen ears of
corn, night and morning, with an allowance of fodder (maize
leaves). For this the charge was $1 25 each person. This is a
fair sample of roadside stopping-places in Western Louisiana and
Texas. The meals are absolutely invariable, save that fresh pork
and sweet potatoes are frequently wanting.   There is always,
too, the black decoction of the South called coffee, than which it
is often difficult to imagine any beverage more revolting.   The
bread is made of corn-meal, stirred with water and salt, and
baked in a kettle covered with coals. The corn for breakfast is
frequently unhusked at sunrise. A negro, whose business it is,
shells and grinds it in a hand-mill for the cook. Should there
be any of the loaf left after breakfast, it is given to the traveler,
if he wish, with a bit of pork, for a noon-" snack," with no firther charge. He is consc!ous, though, in that case, that he is
robbing the hounds, always eagerly waiting, and should none remain, none can be had without a new resort to the crib. Wheat
61 
62    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
biead, if I am not mistaken, we met with but twice, out of Austin, in our whole journey across the state.
WORN-OUT LAND.
The country was very similar to that passed over the day before, with perhaps rather more of the cultivable loam. A good
part of the land had, at some time, been cleared, but much was
already turned over to the "old-field pines," some of them even
fifteen years or more. In fact, a larger area had been abandoned,
we thought, than remained under cultivation. With the land
many cabins have, of course, also been deserted, giving the road
a desolate air. If you ask, where are the people that once occupied these, the universal reply is, "gone to Texas."
THE PEOPLE.
The plantations occur, perhaps, at an average distance of three
or four miles. Most of the remaining inhabitants live chiefly, to
appearances, by fleecing emigrants. Every shanty sells spirits
and takes in travelers. Every plantation has its sign, offering
provender for sale, generally curiously worded or spelled, as
"Corn Heare."  We passed through but one village, which consisted of six dwellings. The families obtained their livelihood by
the following occupations: one by shoeing the horses of emigrants; one by repairing the wheels of their wagons; one by
selling them groceries. The smallest cabin contained a physician.
It was not larger than a good-sized medicine chest, but had the
biggest sign.  The others advertised "corn and fodder."  The
prices charged for any article sold or service performed were enormous; filll one hundred per cent. over those of New Orleans.
We took our pork and corn-bread, at noon, in the house of an 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
old gentleman of a pious fox-hunting turn. He was so old a
settler, he said, as to have moved out of Texas at the time it
was ceded to Spain, and he was still sore on the point, as if he
had been swindled by some party in the transaction. His table
was richly supplied with Methodist publications, and he gave us
a very pressing invitation to stop and have a hunt.
In course of the day we passed a small sugar apparatus-a
battery of four kettles. We were told that it was not uncommon
for plantations about here to grow enough sugar for home-use.
SPANISH REMAINS.
We met Spaniards once or twice on the road, and the population of this district is thought to be one half of Spanish origin.
They have no houses on the road, however, but live in little
hamlets in the forest, or in cabins contiguous to each other,
about a pond. They make no progress in acquiring capital of
their own, but engage in hunting and fishing, or in herding cattle for larger proprietors of the land. For this business they
seem to have an hereditary adaptation, far excelling negroes of
equal experience.
THE PROGRESS OF DILAPIDATION.
The number of cattle raised here is now comparatively small,
most of the old herd proprietors having moved on to pastures new
in Western Texas. The cane, which is a natural growth of most
good soils at the South, is killed if closely fed upon. The bluejoint grass (not the blue-grass of Kentucky) takes its place, and
is also indigenous upon a poorer class of soils in this region.
This is also good food for cattle, but is killed in turn if closely
pastured. The ground then becomes bare or covereds with
63 
64    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
shrubs, and the "range" is destroyed. The better class of
soils here bear tolerable crops of cotton, but are by no means of
value equal to the Red River bottoms or the new soils of any
part of Texas. The country is, therefore, here in similar condition to that of the Eastern Slave States. The improvements
which the inhabitants have succeeded in making in the way
of clearing the forest, fencing and tilling the land, building
dwellings, barns, and machinery, making roads and bridges, and
introducing the institutions of civilization, not compensating in
value the deterioration in the productiveness of the soil. The
exhausted land reverts to wilderness.
OUR OLD FRONTIER.
Shortly after noon rain began to fall from the chilly clouds
that had been threatening us, and sleet and snow were soon
driving in our faces. Our animals were disposed to flinch, but
we were disposed to sleep in Texas, and pushed on across
the Sabine. We found use for all our wraps, and when we
reached the ferry-house our Mackintoshes were like a coat of
mail with the stiff ice, and trees and fields were covered. In
the broad river bottom we noticed many aquatic birds, and the
browsing line under the dense mass of trees was almost as clean
cut as that of Bushy Park. The river, at its low stage, was
only three or four rods across. The old negro who ferried
us over, told us he had taken many a man to the other side,
before annexation, who had ridden his horse hard to get beyond
the jurisdiction of the states.
THE FIRST HOUSE IN TEXAS.
If we were unfortunate in this stormy entrance into Texas, we 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
were very fortunate in the good quarters we lighted upon. The
ferry has long been known as Gaines's ferry, but is now the property of Mr. Strather, an adjacent planter, originally from Mississippi, but a settler of long standing.  His log-house had two
stories, and being the first we had met having glass windows,
and the second, I think, with any windows at all, takes high
rank for comfort on the road. At supper we had capital
mallard-ducks from the river, as well as the usual Texan diet.
We were detained by the severity of the weather during the
following day, and were well entertained with huntsman's stories
of snakes, game, and crack shots. Mr. S. himself is the best
shot in the county. A rival, who had once a match against him
for two thousand dollars, called the day before the trial, and
paid five hundred dollars to withdraw. He brought out his rifle
for us, and placed a bullet, at one hundred and twenty yards,
plump in the spot agreed upon. His piece is an old Kentucky
rifle, weighing fourteen pounds, barrel forty-four inches in
length, and throwing a ball weighing forty-four to the pound.
A guest, who came in, helped us to pass the day by exciting
our anticipations of the West, and by his free and good advice.
He confirmed stories we had heard of the danger to slavery
in the West by the fraternizing of the blacks with the Mexicans.
They helped them in all their bad habits, mnarried them, stole a
living from them, and ran them off every day to Mexico. This
man had driven stages or herded cattle in every state of the
Union, and had a notion that he liked the people and the state
of Alabama better than any other. A man would get on faster,
he thought, in Iowa, than anywhere else. He had been stagedriver in Illinois during the cold winter of 1851-2, and had
driven a whole day when the mercury was at its furthest below
6,5 
66   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
zero, but had never suffered so much from cold as on his present
trip, during a norther on a Western prairie. He was now
returning from Alexandria, where he had taken a small drove of
horses. He cautioned us, in traveling, always to see our horses
fed with our own eyes, and to hang around them till they
had made sure of a tolerable allowance, and never to leave anything portable within sight of a negro. A stray blanket was a
sure loss.
Mr. S. has two plantations, both on upland, but one under
the care of an overseer, some miles from the river. The soil he
considers excellent. He averaged, last year, seven and a half
bales to the hand; this year, four and a half bales. The usual
crop of corn here is thirty bushels (shelled) to the acre.
Hearing him curse the neighboring poor people for stealing
hogs, we inquired if thieves were as troublesome here as in the
older countries. " If there ever were any hog-thieves anywhere,"
said he, "it's here."  In fact, no slave country, new or old, is
free from this exasperating pest of poor whites. In his neighborhood were several who ostensibly had a little patch of land
to attend to, but who really, he said, derived their whole lazy
subsistence from their richer neighbors' hog droves.
SLAVE LIFE.
The negro-quarters here, scattered irregularly about the
house, were of the worst description, though as good as local
custom requires. They are but a rough inclosure of logs, ten
feet square, without windows, covered by slabs of hewn wood
four feet long. The great chinks are stopped with whatever has
come to hand-a wad of cotton here, and a corn-shuck there.
The suffering from cold within them in such weather as we ex 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  67
perienced, must be great.  The day before, we had seen a young
black girl, of twelve or fourteen years, sitting on a pile of logs
before a house we passed, in a driving sleet, having for her only
garment a short chemise.   It is impossible to say whether such
shiftlessness was the fault of the master or of the girl. Probably
of both, and a part of the peculiar southern and southwestern
system of " get along," till it comes better weather.
THE RED LAND DISTRICT.
The storm continuing a third day, we rode through it twentyfive miles further to San Augustine.   For some distance the
country remains as in Louisiana. Then the pines gradually disappear, and a heavy clay soil, stained by an oxide of iron to a
uniform brick red, begins. It makes most disagreeable roads,
sticking close, and giving an indelible stain to every article that
touches it. This tract is known as the Red Lands of Eastern
Texas.
On a plantation not far from the river, we learned they had
made eight bales to the hand. Mentioning it, afterwards, to a
man who knew the place, he said they had planted earlier than
their neighbors, and worked night and day, and he believed
had lied, besides. They had sent cotton both by Galveston and by
Grand Ecore, and had found the cost the same, about $8 per
bale of 500 lbs.
We called at a plantation offered for sale. It was described
in the hand-bills as having a fine house. We found it a cabin
without windows. The proprietor said he had made ten bales to
the hand, and would sell with all the improvements, a new ginhouse, press, etc., for $6 per acre.
The roadside, though free from the gloom of pines, did not 
68    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
cheer up, the number of deserted wrecks of plantations not at
all diminishing. The occupied cabins were no better than before. We had entered our promised land; but the oil and honey
of gladness and peace were nowhere visible. The people we met
were the most sturdily inquisitive I ever saw.   Nothing staggered them, and we found our account in making a clean breast of
it as soon as they approached.
We rode through the shire-town, Milam, without noticing it.
Its buildings, all told, are six in number.
We passed several immigrant trains in motion, in spite of the
weather.  Their aspect was truly pitifuil.  Splashed with a new
coating of red mud, dripping, and staggering, beating still the
bones of their long worn-out cattle, they floundered helplessly on.
SAN AUGUSTINE.
San Augustine made no very charming impression as we entered, nor did we find any striking improvement on longer acquaintance. It is a town of perhaps fifty or sixty houses, and
half a dozen shops. Most of the last front upon a central
square acre of neglected mud.   The dwellings are clap-boarded,
and of much higher class than the plantation dwellings.   As to
the people, a resident told us there was but one man in the
town that was not in the constant habit of getting drunk, and
that this gentleman relaxed his Puritanic severity during our stay
in view of the fact that Christmas came but once that year.
A TEXAN FATE.
Late on Christmas eve, we were invited to the window by
our landlady, to see the pleasant local custom of The Christmas
Sereniiade. A band of pleasant spirits started from the square, 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  69
blowing tin horns, and beating tin pans, and visited in succession every house in the village, kicking in doors, and pulling
down fences, until every male member of the family had appeared, with appropriate instruments, and joined the merry party.
They then marched to the square, and ended the ceremony with
a centupled tin row. In this touching commemoration, as strangers, we were not urged to participate.
MANNERS.
A gentleman of the neighborhood, addicted, as we knew, to a
partiality towards a Rip Van Winkle, tavern-lounging style of
living, told us he was himself regarded by many of his neighbors with an evil eye, on account of his " stuck up" deportment,
and his habit of minding too strictly his own business. He had
been candidate for Representative, and had, he thought, probably
been defeated on this ground, as he was sure his politics were
right.
Not far from the village stands an edifice, which, having three
stories and sashed windows, at once attracted our attention. On
inquiry, we learned a story, curiously illustrative of Texan and
human life.  It appeared that two universities were chartered
for San Augustine, the one under the protection of the Methodists, the other of the Presbyterians. The country being feebly
settled, the supply of students was short, and great was the consequent rivalry between the institutions. The neighboring people took sides upon the subject so earnestly, that, one fine day,
the president of the Presbyterian University was shot down in
the street. After this, both dwindled, and seeing death by starvation staring them in the face, they made an arrangement by
which both were taken under charge of the Fraternity of 
70    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Ma,,ols.  The buildings are now used under the style of "The
Masonic Institute," the one for boys, the other for girls. The
boys occupy only their third story, and the two lower stories are
falling to ludicrous decay-the boarding dropping off, and the
windows on all sides dashed in.
The Mexican habitations of which San Augustine was, once
composed, have all disappeared. We could not find even a trace
of them.
At San Augustine we rejoined our friend B., who had, in fact,
arrived but a few minutes before us. He had come on foot nearly
all the distance from Natchitoches, out of compassion for the poor
teams that should have dragged him, and had suffered extremes
of cold and wet dismals. Our friend was a Northern man, but
an old original Texan settler, ranger, and campaigner; a trader
in Central and Northern Mexico; a volunteer in the Mexican
war, and, withal, a Californian. A man of such large experience
and familiarity with practical details in matters we were quite
unversed in, it was a rare good fortune to fall in with. But we
were not long in discovering that prejudices creep in with experience, and that simple common sense goes a great way, too.
PACKING THE MULE.
We had set out intending, should no circumstance prevent, to
spend near a year in the saddle, partly in Mexico, and a great
part in Indian country, hundreds of miles from any resources
but our own. We accordingly provided ourselves, before leaving home, with the best equipment we could devise for the purp)ose, and to carry the necessary weight with the most freedom
we chose a pack mule.
Few things gave us more pleasure, for more reasons than one, 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  71
than the complete success of the pack-apparatus we had had the
hardihood to have made and to bring with us from New York.
B., when he saw it, was almost convulsed with laughter and con tempt.   We  should have half Texas hooting at our heels!
There was no occasion to pay our bill, we should never get out
of the inn-yard with that concern.   A real "aparejo," with a
Mlexican muleteer to put it on, was the only contrivance that
could be ever used for packing.   Our affair, even if it did not
topple over at the first step, would cut the mule to the bone in
ten miles slow walk! During our few days' stay at San Augustine, we heard so much of this foreboding as to be fairly tired of
the name of "aparejo," and to have ourselves a considerable
misgiving as to the result.
But we had read Ward's account of the Mexican "aparejo,"
and of his substitution for it of the English pack-saddle, and we
stood firm, insisting that our contraption should have at least a
fair trial.
The affair that excited so much amusement and discussion was
a simple pack-saddle, to which we had attached iron hooks, for a
couple of wicker hampers. It is composed of two wooden pads
joined by four straight horns, like those of a saw-horse, riveted
at the crossings, and projecting above, so as to give a convenient
hitching place for any stray bit of rope. Along the crotches of
these horns we laid our tent, made up in a compact roll; into
the hampers we stowed our household gods, and, buckling a
long leather girth over all, there we were.
On starting, B. entirely refused to take lunch-materials, knowing that we should shortly return to buy a wagon for our hampers or their contents.   But nothing happened.   The mule
walked off with as much unconcern as if he had been trained to 
72    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
carry hampers from his birth.   At noon, becoming hungry, we
stopped at a cabin for dinner.  During the meal Mr. Brown excited us by lying down and attempting to roll.  However, no
damage was done; for, finding a hamper well girthed down on
whichever side he turned, he became content to sit quietly and
await our pleasure.
Dreadful, as night approached, were the anticipations on B.'s
part, of the inhuman spectacle he was about to show us on removing the saddle. When the hampers had been lowered he
fairly groaned as we unbuckled the girths. We ourselves were
not without fear. But not a hair was started. After a roll the
mule was as gay as a kitten, and the spot heated by the saddle in
ten minutes could not be found.
For a day or two it was to-morrow, oh! to-morrow.   But
when day after day passed, and the mule still continued sound in
case and in excellent spirits, B., like a gentleman, gave in, and
acknowledged that it beat all.  Still, on the point of the
" aparejo," he would not yield, maintaining, that though this
might do well enough for a jaunt, the "aparejo" was the only
reliable thing for a long pull.  Now, the "aparejo" consists, in
brief, of a leather sack of hay, and five or six fathoms of rope.
With these tools, the reader may imagine how tedious and torturous a process is the roping on of the loose boxes or bags that
contain a traveler's things.
In short, our saddle and hampers worked admirably, and can,
in all respects, be recommended for a similar service.
ADDITIONS TO THE COMPANY.
We found as much difficulty in obtaining suitable horses in
San Augustine as at Natchitoches, and were some days in mak 
ROUTE AC1ROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
ing choice. Finally, B. made purchase of an old gray, afflicted
with an osseous structure which had long outgrown its hide, but
otherwise serving well enough for temporary use.  Being an animal of experience, he knew enough not to waste his remaining
substance in useless steps, and never budged a leg except under
positive orders.   He  answered, however, for  a start for a
"trade," and after a few days was left to ruminate upon the
prairie, and a spunky young mustang took his place in the caravan.
A chestnut mare was the last acquisition-a lithe, shapely
thing, with a keen volatile eye, a fine ear, and open nostril. I
found no friendship in her face, nor did she ever yield to the last,
one single smile to my tender advances. Restless, anxious,
overdone from the start, her nerves were too large for her dainty
muscle, and she was quite unfit for steady travel.
She could out-walk, out-trot, out-run any of her companions,
at their utmost effort, by three to two, with the most natural
ease. She never declined any work whatever, but, frequently, all
consolation, and, what was more  annoying,  all food.   Such
treatment as travelers could give she felt beneath her, and took
from the first the position of a high-bred girl who had seen better days. When I suggested, sometimes, a run over the prairie,
she was off like a hawk at the slightest pressure of the legs, and
we were flying mad out of sight in an instant. Such sports,
however, she disdained to enjoy with me, though fairly sobbing
after them with repressed excitement, turning a flashing eye
toward mine, as much as to ask, "Is that the creature to carry
saddle-bags?"
OUR EXPERIENCE WITH ARMS.
For arms, expecting to rely much on them for provision as
4
73 
74    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
well as defense, we selected a Sharp's rifle, a double fowlingpiece, Colt's navy revolvers, and sheathed hunting knives. In
this we found we had not gone wrong, every expert who inquired
into the matter highly approving our choice, and our own experience for us clinching the matter. The Sharp, in sure hands
(not ours), threw its ounce ball as exactly, though far deeper,
into its mark, at one thousand three hundred yards, as a
Kentucky rifle its small ball at one hundred. For force, we can
testify to its ball passing through a four-inch white oak fencepost; and for distance, to constantly striking a piece of water a
mile and a quarter distant, with the ordinary purchased cartridge.
By the inventor it can be loaded and fired eighteen times in a
minute; by us, at a single trial, without practice, nine times.
Ours was the Government pattern-a short carbine, of light
weight, and conveniently arranged for horseback use. Its barrel
had been browned, a box made in the stock, and a ramrod
added, to which a cleaning brush could be attached. Its cost in
this shape was forty dollars. We were furnished with moulds
for both conical and round balls, as when cartridges fail it may
be loaded at the muzzle with the ramrod, in the ordinary way.
It was also fitted with Maynard's primer, a self-capping apparatus, which, however, we found so unreliable as to be useless in
practice.  The capsule never failed to fix itself in position, but
frequently did not explode. Nothing about the piece during our
trip gave way or got out of order.
Two barrels full of buck-shot make a trustier dose, perhaps,
than any single ball for a squad of Indians, when within range,
or even in unpracticed hands for wary venison; but the combination of the two with Colt's, makes, I believe, for a traveling
party, the strongest means of protection yet known. 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  75
Of the Colt's we cannot speak in too high terms. Though
subjected for six or eight months to rough use, exposed
to damp grass, and to all the ordinary neglects and accidents of
camp travel, not once did a ball fail to answer the finger.
Nothing got out of order, nothing required care; not once,
though carried at random, in coat-pocket or belt, or tied thumping at the pummel, was there an accidental discharge. In short,
they simply gave us perfect satisfaction, being all they claimed to
be. Before taking them from home we gave them a trial alongside every rival we could hear of, and we had with us an unpatented imitation, but for practical purposes one Colt we found
worth a dozen of all others. Such was the testimony of every
old hunter and ranger we met. There are probably in Texas
about as many revolvers as male adults, and I doubt if there
are one hundred in the state of any other make. For ourselves,
as I said, we found them perfect. After a little practice we could
very surely chop off a snake's head from the saddle at any reasonable distance, and across a fixed rest could hit an object of the
size of a man at ordinary rifle range. One of our pistols was
one day submerged in a bog for some minutes, but on trial,
though dripping wet, not a single barrel missed fire. A border
weapon, so reliable in every sense, would give brute courage to
even a dyspeptic tailor.
OFF AGAIN.
December 26.-Thus fully equipped, far beyond what the tame
event justified, we sallied forth from the inn-gate at San Augustine amid the cheers of the servants and of two small black
boys who had watched with open eyes all our proceedings.
Fanny, the mare, took naturally the lead, followed by B. leading the mule by his halter, and Nack brought up the rear. The 
76      A JOURNEY  T H1tOUGH f  TEXAS.
mule, however, soon found the halter an annoyance, and pulling
it away, walked on at his own gait. Seldom afterwards did he
give us any trouble in guiding him. At first the mare must lead
the way, but soon he consented to go himself in advance, and be
driven whithersoever we would. When he loitered, the point of
a ramrod was thrust into his flank, a stimulus of which he soon
learned to have a peculiar dread. He was sometimes extremely
reluctant to pass a well-filled, satisfactory-looking corn-crib, and
in towns showed a strong propensity to turn down lanes, and to
force a passage into spaces between buildings which were too
narrow for his hampers, but on such occasions his long halter
was attached, by a turn or two, to the strong pommel of the
mare's saddle, and by dint of dragging before and poking behind
he was forced onwards. In going through wood he always
gauged very exactly the width of his load, frequently declining
to venture where we thought he could pass, and going a circuitous course upon his own hook.
THE COUNTRY.
We rode, during the day, eighteen miles, through a somewhat
more pleasing country.  The houses were less rude, the negrohuts more comfortable, the plantations altogether neater, than
those we had passed before. We noticed one group of magnolias and a few willow or swamp oaks (quercus phellos), whose
leaves are long and narrow, like those of the willow, and remain
green through the greater part of the winter. The principal
wood was oak, mingled here and there with chestnut. We
stopped for the night at a remarkably comfortable house, but
could look out, as usual, at the stars between the logs. There
being but one bed, B. lay upon the floor, with his feet to the fire. 
ROUTE ACROSS E ASTERN TEXAS.  77
PIETY IN NEGROES.
The host was an intelligent man, and had a supply of books
upon the mantel. Speaking about the preferences of negroes
for certain religious sects, he said they were not particularly religious about here any way. They generally joined the church
which their master attended, if he attended any.  Otherwise,
that which was nearest.
B. told of an old negro, near Victoria, the only Baptist of the
neighborhood.  He always "stuck up for his own faith," and was
ready with a reason for it.  "You kin read, now, keant you?"
" Yes."
"Well, I s'pose you've read de Bible, haint yout?"
"Yes."
"You've read about John de Baptis', haint you?"
"Yes."
"Well, you never read'bout any John de Methodis', did you?
You see I has de Bible on my side, den."
DONE GONE."
Our host called out, "Boy, why don't you get me those
things?"
"I done got'em, sar," replied the boy.
At San Augustine, the morning previous, the children of the
house were running about, wishing the lodgers a merry Christmas for a dime. One of them came to me a second time, but
seeing her mistake, shouted out, "Oh! you done give me
Christmas gift."
"Done gone," for "gone" is an ordinary expression.
Other modes of speech that strike a Northern man at almost
any part of the South are 
78   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
The use of "Ho!"-" Ho! John!" when we should call out
simply, "John."
" Far" and "bar," for fair, bear, etc.
The constant use of "no  account"-such a man,  dog, or
shower is of "no account"-for, worth little.
"Sure" and "I wonder," as replies.
Christ," as an expletive, like "Sacristie."
"Yallow fellow," for a mulatto. (Why yellow fellow, but
black man )
Ill," for "vicious."  "Is your dog ill?"
"Miss Jane," by the negroes to the mistress after mar
riage.
Constantly execrable grammar-" I never sawed," "I have
saw." This by the lazy, schoolless, young men and women.
NACOGDOCHES.
December 27.-A similar country. At two, P. M., reached
Nacogdoches, a considerable town.  Near it the soil changes to
sand, bearing pines. The houses along the road, at the entrance
to the village, stand in gardens, and are neatly painted-the
first exterior sign of cultivation of mind since Red River. The
town is compact, the houses framed and boarded. One or two
old Mexican stone buildings remain, and, like the Aztec structures in more Southern cities, have been put to the uses of the
invading race. One of them, fronting, with an arcade, on the
square, is converted into a bar-room. About Nacogdoches there
are many Mexicans still living. Two or three of them, wrapped
in blankets and serapes, we saw leaning against posts, and looking on in grand decay. They preserve their exclusiveness,
their priests and their own customs, intermarrying, except acci 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
dents, only among themselves, and are considered here as harmless vagabonds.
As we entered the town, we overtook one of them, a young
lad of a delicate brunette complexion and a soft, attractive eye,
mounted on a donkey, carrying a bunch of ducks and a turkey
across his saddle. B. hailed him at once in Spanish, and bought
a brace of his ducks for two dimes. For the turkey he asked
four bits (50 cents).  He  could speak no English; the fowl he
had shot upon the creek.
The streets were full of people, and our arrival caused a sharp
use of eyes and tongues. We were at once pronounced Californians, and accepted, of course, the designation.  Our fit-out
was examined in detail, as to prices and excellence, and, for the
most part, highly approved. The pack, not lacking now the prestige of actual performance, was pronounced a touch beyond anything they had seen.
When we inquired the occasion of the concourse, we were told
they were "having a march."  It was a joint celebration of
Masons, Odd Fellows, and Sons of Temperance. The first we
had the pleasure of seeing. There were about fifty men in
black, with various insignia of sashes and aprons.   After forming behind a house, two and two, they marched out upon the
square, at the word of command, "the precession will forward."
A tall negro with a violin struck up a jig with much dignity, and the officers in command displayed their swords to the
best advantage by using them as walking sticks. After perambulating the squiare, the body entered the court-house, the floor
of which had been strewn to a depth of six inches with saw-dust,
converted thus into a vast spittoon.
79 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
SUPPLIES.
In this town of 500 inhabitants, we found there was no flour.
At San Augustine we had inquired in vain at all the stores for
refined sugar.  Not satisfied with some blankets that were shown
us, we were politely recommended by the shop-keeper to try other
stores. At each of the other stores we were told they had none,
the only blankets in town we should find at's, naming
the one we had just quitted. The same thing occurred with
several other articles.
We provided ourselves with a couple of tin kettles, a fryingpan, and a small axe, preparatory to camp-life, which we were
determined to begin at once.
At night we reached a creek (streamlet) among the pines, five
miles beyond Nacogdoches, and there made our first camp.
Pitching our tent in the deepening twilight, at a first trial we
met with some blundering difficulties. B. looked on with an
experienced smile, while we made our arrangements as snug as
time permitted, saying nothing, but busying himself with picking
and cooking the ducks. After supper, rolling himself in his
blanket, he disappeared for the night, with his feet to the fire,
disdaining the canvas curtains.   For ourselves, we lay quietly
awake till morning dawned, numb with cold, and perhaps having
a little secret excitement at the novel bed-chamber.
On drawing our curtains, we found water already hot, and B.
hugging his knees over the fire.   We  cooked a kettle of chocolate, picked the duck bones, in default of better picking, and
went on our way.
THE ANGELINA.
The soil continued sandy, and the timber pine, during the
early part of the day; afterwards, oaks and black-jack, a black
so 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  81
barked, short, gnarly oakling (quercus ferruginea).   The soil of
the creek-bottoms bears good cotton, and on the edge of the
Angelina bottoms we saw a very heavy crop.   The Angelina
ferry is reached by a rude causeway, with bridges at intervals,
some two or three miles in length, the only structure of the kind
we saw in the state, though there is hardly a stream where it is
not more or less needed. By a levee, these bottoms might probably be made very valuable.
CAMP DIET.
We camped some twenty-five miles from Nacogdoches (Cherokee Co.). Finding nothing else, after foraging the neighborhood, than a few small andl watery sweet-potatoes,  we  had
recourse to our own stores, and made trial of Borden's meat
biscuit, a preparation which won high encomiums at the London
Exhibition.   After preparing a substantial dish of it, according
to directions, we all tried it once, then turned unanimously to the
watery potatoes.   Once afterwards on the journey we  tried
again, with no better luck, then left all we had purchased to the
birds. It may answer to support life, no doubt, where even cornmeal is not to be had, but I should decidedly undergo a very
near approach to the traveler's last bourne, before having
recourse to it, if that we had were an ordinary specimen.
Next morning, after renewed efforts, we procured a few eggs.
While eating them, we observed that Mr. Brown was missing.
He had been turned loose, with the idea that he would not stray
far from his companions, to augment the bulk of his rations by
browsing upon dead leaves and shrubs.   F. went in search of
him.   He soon met a stranger, who asked, in reply to inquiries,
"Was it a large mule?-Did he have a lariat? —Shod?-Shoes
4* 
82     A JOUPRNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
worn?" " It was a large dun mule, you could not mistake it."
" Oh, I have not seen your mule, but I saw the trail back yonder." He was at last found some four miles down a by-road,
whither he had followed a party of people returning from a ball.
Among their animals were two young colts, towards which mules
are said to have a peculiar tenderness.   On seeing F., probably
recollecting something hamperish in his face, the mule made off
into a swamp.   After a long chase he was captured, having his
lariat inextricably entangled in a vine, which was cut into small
pieces to free him.
TIE NECHES.-WORN-OUT PLANTATIONS.
Crossed the Neches into Houston County. This day's ride
and the next were through a very poor country, clay or sand soil,
bearing short oaks and black-jack. We passed one small meadow,
or prairie, covered with coarse grass.   Deserted plantations
appeared again in greater numbers than the occupied. One farm,
near which we stopped, was worked by eight field hands. The
crop had been fifty bales; small, owing to a dry season.   The
corn had been exceedingly poor. The hands, we noticed, came
in from the fields after eight o'clock.
The deserted houses, B. said, were built before the date of
Texan Independence. After Annexation the owners had moved
on to better lands in the West. One house he pointed out as
having been the residence of one of a band of pirates who occupied the country thirty or forty years ago. They had all been
gradually killed.
During the day we met two men on horseback, one upon
wheels, and passed one emigrant family. This was all the motion
upon the principal road of the district. 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
The following is a note of expenses during twenty-four hours.
It will give a concise idea of our fare.
1 bbl. corn (in the husk),12 bundles corn-fodder, 
Corn-bread,      -    - -
Bacon,      -    -    --
Eggs,        -  -  --
Chocolate (from our own stores)
$1 00
75
10
05
03
20
$2 13
Horses, 44 cents each; Men, 12~ cents each.
The chocolate being soon exhausted, and not to be replaced,
and eggs being a rare luxury, our private necessary expenses may
be put down at five cents each per diem. To live upon this sum
would, for some patients, be a capital prescription; for others it
is only a sour and aggravating discomfort.
The Neches is here about three rods in width. Were it not
for overhanging timber, it would be, at high water, a navigable
stream; as it is, keel-boats sometimes come up as far as the
ferry where we crossed. Like all the eastern rivers of Texas it
is thick with mud. The Colorado is the first stream that runs
clear. West of it each becomes more limpid as you progress.
The water of the Medina, twenty miles beyond San Antonio, is
as pure and transparent at the ford as the finest plate-glass.
This beauty of the West is not the least of those that have
caused such a desertion of Eastern settlements.
A SUNDAY IN CAMP.-ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES.
The second day's camp was a few miles beyond the town of
Crockett-the shire-town of Houston County. Not being able to
find corn for our horses, we returned to the village for it.
83 
84    A JOURNEY TIIRO()UGH TEXAS.
We obtained what we wanted for a- day's rest, which we proposed for Sunday, the following day, and loaded it into our
emptied hampers. We then looked about the town for current
provisions for ourselves.   We were rejoiced to find a German
baker, but damped by finding he had only molasses-cakes and
candies for sale. There was no flour in the town, except the little
of which he made his cakes.   He  was from Hamburgh, and
though he found a tolerable sale, to emigrants principally, he was
very tired of Crockett, and intended to move to San Antonio
among his countrymen. He offered us coffee, and said he had
had beer, but on Christmas-day a mass of people called on him;
he had "treated" them all, and they had finished his supply.
We inquired at seven stores, and at the two inns, for butter,
flour, or wheat-bread, and fresh meat. There was none in town.
One inn-keeper offered us salt-beef, the only meat, except pork,
in town.  At the stores we found crackers, worth in New York
6 cents a pound, sold here at 20 cents; poor raisins, 30 cents;
MVanilla rope, half-inch, 30 cents a pound. When butter was to
be had it came in firkins from New York, although an excellent
grazing country is near the town.
SUNDAY HABITS.
We got some work done at a saddler's. He told us he didn't
do work on Sundays, but he would try to finish this in the evening, and would leave it at the next store for us. The stores, he
said, were all open, and made their best sales on Sunday.  It
was usual in this part of the country. We asked if there were a
church in the town?
" Yes."
"Of what denomination?I, 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  85
"Oh, none in particular.   They let anybody preach  that
comes along."
BLACK TEMPERANCE.
Returning with our corn, we overheard the following negro
conversation:
"Wher' you gwine to-morrow?"
"To's."
"Ken you get whisky ther?"
"Yes."
"Good rye-whisky?"
"Yes."
"What do they ask for it?"
"A dollar and a half a gallon. I don't want no whisky dat
costs less'n a dollar and a half a gallon. I'd rather hev it then
your common rot-gut fur a dime. I don't want to buy no whisky
fur less'n a dollar and a half a gallon."
"Well, I du.  I'd like it was a picayune a gallon, I would."
January 1, 1854.-Our Sunday camp was in a sheltered spot,
where fuel abounded. The tent faced a huge hollow log, against
which we built, before going to bed, an enormous fire of logs,
piled six or eight feet high. The blaze shot high in air, and
illumined the whole neighborhood. But ice formed, notwithstanding, in water standing at the mouth of the tent, and we
passed another very chilly night. We had anticipated that cold
would be the greatest enemy to comfort, and had made every
provision for encountering it. We put on at night extra underclothing, an overcoat, a Guernsey shirt, two hunting-shirts, and
even Canada leggins.  But through all this, and a triple thickness of blanket, and through an india rubber carpet, the cold
of the ground penetrated and benumbed us.   The thermometer 
86    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
stood, at 10 P. M., at 38 deg. (Fahrenheit); at 8 A. M., at 36 deg.; at
12 M., Jan. 1st, in the tent, on which the sun was pouring, at 80
deg.; at 8 r. M., at 44 deg.
After feeding the horses, F. went with the rifle in search
of something for ourselves, but returned, having seen nothing.
B., going with dimes, had better luck. He brought at last
a hoe-cake and half a dozen eggs, from a neighboring cabin.
A rough omelette was speedily constructed and demolish
ed.
At this camp we were annoyed by hogs, beyond all description.
At almost every camp we were surrounded by them; but here
they seemed perfectly frantic and delirious withunger.   They
ran directly through the fire, and even carried off a chicken
which B., on a second excursion, had been able to procure, after
it was dressed and spitted. While the horses were feeding, it
required the constant attendance of two of us to keep them at
bay; and even then they secured more than half the corn.
Fanny was so shocked and disturbed as to refuse all food.   For
some minutes the fiercest of them would resist even a clubbing,
eating and squealing on through the blows.   These  animals
proved, indeed, throughout Texas, a disgusting annoyance, though
after procuring an excellent dog, a day or two after, we were rid
of the worst of it.
We occupied our day in writing and reading (for in our luxuriously capacious hampers was a compact little library of diamond editions), and in making, sailor-like, repairs to such
articles as were already giving way under the continued wear and
tear of travel.
A ROASTED BROAD-AXE.
Two pleasant incidents occurred: 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  87
A negro, who had been prowling about us for some time, suddenly came up and said:  "Genlumun, whar's that log?"
"What log?"
"Why, that ar log whar I lef my broad-axe."
We had seen no broad-axe.
"Well, I lef' my axe right here day afore yesterday, in de
holler of a log.  Yes, sar, dis am de very spot.  Dat ar's whar
I was cutting."
Sure enough, on poking in our ashes, we found something like
an axe, which we offered him. As it was red hot, he declined
taking it, and commenced, in a whining tone, to describe how new
it was, how he had put it all sharp in our big log, and how he
should have to pay for it, cause his massa never would believe
that it had done gone got burned up.
As we had, in fact, had the use of the wooden helve, we
determined that we were bound in equity to pay for it, and sent
him off with the cooled axe, a box of Borden's biscuit, and a
dollar, laughing on the other side of his mouth.
A WINDFALL.
Not long after this, while strolling with the gun, I came upon
traces of fresh blood, and following them, found a fine fat wild
turkey upon the ground. It had evidently been shot within an
hour or two, and had had time to fly and run thus far from the
sportsman before dropping.
This was a waif at any time not to be despised, and in the
actual state of our larder, a real piece of good fortune. Keeping for awhile my own counsel, I carried it proudly into camp,
where its arrival was welcomed with profuse congratulations. 
88   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Two hours thereafter, we were feeling decidedly happier
men.
A FAMILY SERVANT.
At the cabin where our hoe-cake was purchased, a negro man
was the sole servant. He had been away, he said, all night, to
see his wife, and came home at four o'clock to grind the corn,
and bake it for the family's breakfast. The women of the
family did no house work. The planter raised only corn and
hogs. These were the hogs whose acquaintance we had made.
Life there was certainly cheap. This one negro, supposing
them to be squatters, was the only investment, except a few
days' work once in a lifetime, in cutting and piling together the
logs that composed their residence. A little corn and bacon,
sold now and then to travelers, furnished the necessary coffee
and tobacco; nature and the negro did all the rest.
THE DAY OF REST.
An emigrant party from Alabama passed, having fifty negroes,
and 100 head of cattle, sheep, etc., going to the Brazos, to settle.
" Oh, my God! How tired I am," I heard an old negro
woman exclaim. A man of powerful frame answered, "I feel like
as tho' I couldn't lift my legs much longer." This was about
twelve o'clock.
Near us, within sound, were two negroes all day splitting rails
-Sunday and New Year's day.
POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.
At evening F. rode into town to mail our letters. One was a
package of notes, on letter sheets, in a large envelope. Wishing
to) prepay it he asked, "What is the postage on this, sir?" 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
"How many sheets are there?"
"Oh, twelve or fourteen."  The postmaster commenced tearing
off one end of the envelope.
"Stop. Don't open it."
"It'll save putting it in a way-bill.  I suppose I've no right to
charge only one cent?"
" Yes, three cents per half ounce. It must be weighed."
His scales were " broke down," but it was finally weighed after
a fashion, paid roundly, and put in a bag, unmarked.
THE FIRST PRAIRIE.
Jan. 2.-We came to-day upon the first prairie of any extent,
and shortly after crossed Trinity River. After having been shut
in during so many days by dreary winter forests, we were quite
exhilarated at coming out upon an open country and a distant
view. During the whole day's ride the soil improved, and the
country grew more attractive. Small prairies alternated agreeably with post-oak woods.   The post-oak (qziercus obtusiloba) forms
a very prominent feature in Texas scenery and impressions. It is a
somewhat small broad-leaved oak of symmetrical shape, and appears
wherever the soil is light and sandy, in a very regular open forest
growth. It stands in islands in the large prairies or frequently
borders on open prairie through a large tract. The roads, where
practicable, prefer the post-oak, for summer shade and dry and
uniform footing. It is seldom cleared for cultivating the soil;
but in the West, where timber is scarce, an island of post-oak
adds very much to the value of a tract for sale, furnishing materials for cabin and fences.
89 
90    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
TRINITY RIVER NAVIGATION.
We came upon the Trinity at a bluff, and found the ferryman
absent. His wife and a little son attempted to ferry us over, but
the boat was unprovided with oars, and though we all helped as
well as we could, with poles and bits of board, we were several
times swept down the river, and obliged to drag the boat back to
the point of starting. After long labor we succeeded in reaching
the opposite bank.
The Trinity here is, at this low water stage, about three rods
wide, muddy, and running with some rapidity.
It is considered the best navigable stream of Texas; but this
winter there had been no rise, and no navigation for six months.
It was still at low water when we crossed it on our return, four
months later. At high water it is navigable as high as the Three
Forks above, or some 300 miles from its mouth. But none of
the Texan rivers can be said to be permanently navigable, as is
evident, when this is called the best of them.   The Brazos is
broader, but more rapid and dangerous. In good seasons, boats
reach points from one to two hundred miles from its mouth.
The Colorado is said to be navigable for 200 miles, or as far as
Austin; but is so only for the smallest class of boats, and that
so seldom, and with so much danger, that, practically, all freight
is hauled to and from the coast by mules and oxen: in fact, cotton is hauled on wagons, from all parts of the state, to Houston,
Indianola, or Red River, unless its owners are content to leave it
an indefinite period upon the nearest river-bank, subject to the
vague chances of a rise. 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
TRINITY BOTTOM LANDS.
Onil landing on the west side of the Trinity, we entered a rich
bottom, even in winter, of an almost tropical aspect. The road
had been cut through a cane-brake, itself a sort of Brobdignag
grass.   Immense trees, of a great variety of kinds, interlaced
their branches and reeled with their own rank growth.  Many
vines, especially  huge  grape-vines,  ran  hanging  from  tree
to tree, adding to the luxuriant  confusion.   Spanish  moss
clung thick everywhere, supplying the shadows of a winter foliage.
These bottom lands bordering the Trinity are among the
richest of rich Texas. They are not considered equal, in degree
of fatness, to some parts of the Brazos, Colorado, and Guadalupe
bottoms, but are thought to have compensation in reliability for
steady cropping.  The open coast-prairie grazing districts extend
to within a short distance of where we crossed. Above are some
fine planting counties, and high up, in the region of the Forks of
the Trinity, are lands equally suitable to cotton, wheat, and corn,
which were universally described to us as, for Southern settlers,
the most promising part of the state.
We made our camp on the edge of the bottom, and for safety
against our dirty persecutors, the hogs, pitched our tent within
a large hog-yard, putting up the bars to exclude them. The
trees within had been sparingly cut, and we easily found tentpoles and fuel at hand.
SALE OF LANDS AND HANDS.
The plantation on which we were intruding had just been
sold, we learned, at two dollars per acre. There were seven hundred acres, and the buildings, with a new gin-house, worth near
91 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
ly one thousand dollars, were included in the price. With the
land were sold eight prime field hands. A quarter of the land
was probably subject to overflow, and the limits extended over
some unproductive upland.
When field hands are sold in this way with the land, the
family servants, who have usually been selected from the field
hands, must be detached to follow the fortunes of the seller.
When, on the other hand, the land is sold simply, the whole
body of slaves move away, leaving frequently wives and children
on neighboring plantations. Such a cause of separation must be
exceedingly common among the restless, almost nomadic, small
proprietors of the South.
But the very word " sale," applied to a slave, implies this
cruelty, leaving, of course, the creature's whole happiness to his
owner's discretion and humanity.
As if to give the lie to our reflections, however, the rascals
here appeared to be particularly jolly, perhaps adopting Mark
Tapley's good principles. They were astir half the night, talking, joking, and singing loud and merrily.
This plantation had made this year seven bales to the hand.
The water for the house, we noticed, was brought upon heads a
quarter of a mile, from a rain-pool, in which an old negress was
washing.
LEON COUNTY.
January 3.-From the Trinity to Centreville-county town of
Leon County. At some fork in the indistinct road we have
gone wrong, and are to the northward of the regular course.
During the first part of the day we went over small, level, wet
prairies, irregularly skirted by heavy timber, with occasional
isolated clumps and scattered bushes. Most of the prairies
92 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
have been burned over. Both yesterday and to-day we have
been surrounded by the glare of fires at night. The grass is
coarse and reedy, and exceedingly dry. Our road was little
better than a cow-track, and once we followed a worn cattlepath for some two or three miles, and were obliged to follow it
back again.
After a few miles began post-oak, which changed to blackjack, and for the remainder of the day the country was as forbidding as a moor. We shot a few quails, which are very common, and saw, several times, turkeys and wild geese. During the
day we passed but one house and one still saw-mill, in a narrow
belt of pine. At night, rain threatening our canvas, we took
shingle shelter in preference, in the
CENTREVILLE HOTEL.
The hotel was only a log cabin, and we suffered, as usual,
from drafts of cold air. Our animals, however, were well sheltered.
Mentioning to the host our annoyance from hogs, he offered
us a perfect protection in the shape of a sturdy bull-terrier.
After examining her, we added her to our company. She was
made up of muscle, compactly put together behind a pair of
frightful jaws, and had a general aspect which struck awe into
small Mexicans and negroes wherever she appeared.   Hogs
cared little for her eye; but at the word of command she
would spring upon them like a hungry lion, and rout a whole
herd.
"Judy" (this was her sonorous name) manifested some reluctance to join our party, and was, consequently, tied by a
stout cord to the mule, and hung by the neck until she-came.
93 
94    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
She tried, from time to time, the experiment of going an independent route upon the opposite side of stumps and trees, with
the result of being suddenly arrested, and quickly reappearing
upon the other side, with the loss of much temper and some
nose. She also manifested much disgust by yelps at the mudpuddles through which she was dragged without regard to delicacy. Finally, toward night of her first day's journey, having
become much entangled in the mule's legs and her own, by some
Providence, the cord parted, and she suddenly became the object
of the tenderest epithets and sundry remnants of corn-bread, on
which, not knowing what else to do, she came along, and frankly gave allegiance to her new masters. She suffered much from
fatigue, and in process of time wore her feet to the bone, but by
great care, which she certainly deserved, she accompanied us not
only through Western Texas, but even accomplished, on foot,
the whole distance back to Richmond, Va. Her tired bones
have now found a last rest upon Staten Island.
Our host was even more than commonly inquisitive, while we
happened to be in the humor of brevity. Finally, as we were
leaving, he asked us directly, what we were about. We must
excuse him, but his curiosity was so strong, and he knew he
should have a thousand people asking him. We told him some
of us were traveling for health.  He had reckoned that was it.
Well, we had taken the right way. He had left the height of
luxury in New Orleans on that account himself, and had had
perfect health in Texas.
There was much very rich land about here, he said, in the
creek bottoms. We had passed one field white with excellent
cotton, entirely unpicked. This, he informed us, was often the
case. The crop was so great that the hands that had sown the 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.
seed were unable to reap. Ten bales to the hand were sometimes
made.
ACROSS THE BRAZOS.
Through further experiences of this sort of travel it is useless
to ask the reader's company in detail of days.
Until we reached Austin, the people, in cultivation of character and style of life, were as uniform as their pork and corn diet.
The features of the country became gradually more attractive.
Near the Navasoto we rejoined the regular San Antonio road,
and came out upon large open prairies with long and heavy skirts
of timber, and this description applies to the whole region as far
as the Colorado, the prairies, as you proceed westward, growing
more and more extensive, and the proportion of wooded land
smaller.
We crossed the Brazos at the old Mexican post of Tenoxtitlan,
but saw no traces of ruins near the ferry. The Brazos bottoms
were here some six miles in width, with a soil of the greatest
fertility.
SADDLE AND TENT LIFE.
Our days' rides were short, usually from twelve to twenty
miles only, which is about the common distance, we found, in
steady travel. We soon reduced the art of camping to a habit,
and learned to go through the motions with mechanical precision,
and the least possible fatigue.
As the shadows grow long we intimate to one another that it
is time to be choosing a camp ground, and near the first house
at which we can obtain corn, select a sheltered spot, where fuel
and water are at hand.  Saddles off and hampers-the horses are
left free, save Fanny, who is tied for a nucleus.   The mule instantly is down, and reappears. with his four feet in the air,
95 
96    A JOURNEY THROUGH rEXAS.
giving loud grunts of satisfaction.  A tree, overhanging a smooth
slope, is taken for the back-rope of the tent, the hampers, saddles,
and arms placed by it.   The tent is unrolled and hoisted to the
tree, a pole is cut for its other end, the long tent-rope carried
over it and made fast to a bush or a peg, and when the corners
are pegged out by the flat iron pegs attached, our night quarters
are ready, and our traps already under it, secure from dew.
One of us, meanwhile, has collected fuel and lighted a fire,
brought water and set it heating. Then there is a journey for
corn, and a task to husk it.  The horses are caught and offered
their supper, each on his own blanket, as manger. They bite it
from the ear, taking, now and then, especially the mule, some of
the husks, as salad.   By this time it is nearly dark, and we
hastily collect fuel for the night, thinking, rather dolefully, what
we may have for supper.  If nothing have been shot or bought
there is only the hot corn-meal, engaged at the cabin with the
corn, to be sent for. This we discuss with some rancor and a cup
of coffee. Then comes a ramble out into the vague, nominally
for logs of fire-wood, but partly for romance. A little way from
the fire-light glower indistinct old giants all about; sticks crack
under the feet, the horses start and peer wildly, with stretched ears,
after you; who knows what wild-cat, wolf, or vagabond nigger may
be watching to spring upon you if you go further from the light.
Then, leaning upon your elbow, you lounge awhile upon the confines of combustion, toasting your various fronts, and never
getting warmed through.   Then a candle and a book or pencil
in the tent, hooded in blankets. Then a piling on of logs for a
parting and enduring fire, and your weary bones, covered with
everything available, stretch themselves, from a saddle-bag, out
towards the blaze, and-the chilly daylight. 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  97
VENISON.
The following evening, beyond Centreville, we stopped at a
small cabin, on a hill, in the edge of a prairie, which was occupied by the families of two herdsmen. They could not lodge us.
Could they provide us corn for our horses?   They rather
gTumblingly consented to do so; the man who measured it out
(and gave short measure, too,) muttering that "they had to most
slave themselves for travelers."   Perhaps the woman  would
oblige us by making a pone or two of corn-bread? She supposed
she must accommodate  us.   And,  perhaps, they might have
some meat? Yes, they had some venison and turkeys that they
had shot that day. We should be glad to have a small slice of
venison, if they could spare it.  Yes, they would let us have
some venison.
Instead of a small slice of venison, the man cut off a whole
haunch and threw it into our corn-sack.   For this the charge
was only twenty-five cents. The pone was twenty-five cents and
the corn one dollar per bushel. We went to the nearest wood and
camped for the night.
THE PRAIRIES.
In the morning we at first rode through the rich alluvial border of a creek, dark with the rank luxuriance of a semi-tropical
vegetation; great trees, with many reclining trunks springing
together from the ground, their limbs intricately interlaced with
vines; grotesque cactus and dwarf palm, with dark, glossy
evergreen shrubs, and thickets of verdant cane hedging in our
bridle-path; the sunshine but feebly penetrating through the
thick, waving canopy of dark gray moss which everywhere hung
above our heads.
5 
9S    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Soon after fording the creek, we ascended a steep hill, the
forest still continuing, till, reaching the brow, we came out sutddenly, as if a curtain had risen, upon a broad prairie, reaching, in
swells like the ocean after a great storm, to the horizon before
us; a thick screen of wood edging it in the distance on the left,
and an open grove of low, branching oaks breaking irregularly
upon it, with spurs and scattered single trees, to the right. Our
path, turning before us, continued along this broken edge, crossing capes and islands of the grove, and bays of the prairie.
Horses and gray and red cattle dotted the waving brown surface,
and in one of these bays, to our right, were six deer unconcernedly
browsing. As we approached, however, they stopped, and raised
high their heads, sniffing the air, and after a few moments' debate, slowly and undecidedly, often stopping to look again, they
walked into cover.
After two miles' ride along the woodland border, the prairie
opened fair in the course before us, and our trail led directly
across it.   The waving surface soon became regular, like the
swell of the ocean after the subsidence of a gale which has blown
long from the same direction. Very grand in vastness and simplicity were these waves.  Four of them would cover a mile, and
yet as we ascended one after another, the contour of the next
would appear dark against the sky, following Hogarthli's line of
beauty and of grace with mathematical exactness.   Vertically,
the line of the swell bent before us, and on the left we saw in the
hollow of the wave, or as its crest was there depressed, the far
away skirt of the dark wood; on the right, only the remote line
of the prairie swelling against the horizon. Here were redl and
black clouds of distant fires. The sky was nearly covered with
gusty, gray clouds, with the clearest blue seen through them. 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  99
The night had been unusually mild, and the forenoon was becoming sultry.
THE FIRST NORTHER.
Once again we came to the brow of the swell; but instead of
the usual grassy surface before us, the ground was dead black the grass having been lately burned off. The fire must have been
intense; for the whole surface of the ground appeared charred and
black as ink. The air had been perfectly calm; but as we arrived
near the next summit there was suddenly a puff of wind from the
westward, bringing with it the scent of burning hay; and in less
than thirty seconds, another puff, chill as if the door of a vault
had been opened at our side; a minute more, it was a keen but
not severe cold northerly wind. In five minutes we had all got
our overcoats on, and were bending against it in our saddles.
The change in temperature was not very great (12~ in 12 minutes,)
but was singularly rapid; in fact, instantaneous-from rather uncomfortably warm to rather uncomfortably cool.
"Is this a norther?" asked we.
"I shouldn't wonder," said B.
It was our first experience.
Steadily the gale rose, and the cold increased during the day.
And all day long we rode on, sometimes in the low, dark, and
. mparatively calm and mild " bottom lands," sometimes in the
s.<iel.ter of post-oak groves, but mainly across the high, broad,
Weak, upland prairies.   At sunset, we had seen no house for an
hour or two, and were fearing that we should have to find a harbIor in some sheltered spot, where wNe could stay our tent against
the blast, and let our horses go unfed. As we came to the top
of one of the prairie swells, we saw, about half a mile to the
right of the road, a point of woodland, and a little beyond it, on 
100    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
a hill-top, was a house.   We turned off, and with some difficulty
made our way across the gullies between the hills, and approachedl the house. It proved to be deserted; but beyond it, on the
top of the next and highest hill, there was another. We rode
to it, and inquired if we could obtain corn for our horses, and
shelter and food for ourselves. The proprietor " supposed we
might," and our horses were led away, not to a stable, but to a
pen or yard, on the windward side of the hill. We strapped
blankets upon them, and left them before their corn, to weather
it as they could, and betook ourselves to the house.
A GRAZIER'S FARM.
It was a log, cabin, of one room, fourteen feet by fourteen,
with another small room in a " lean-to" of boards on the windward side. There was no window, but there were three doors,
and openings between the logs in all quarters. The door of the
"lean-to" was barricaded, but this erection was very open; and
as the inner door, from sagging on its wooden hinges, could not
be closed at all, the norther had nearly free course through the
cabin. A strong fire was roaring in the great chimney at the
end of the room, and we all clustered closely around it," the
woman" alone passing through our semicircle, as she prepared
the " pone" and " fry," and coffee for supper.
Our host seemed a man of thirty, and had lived in Texas
through all the "trouble times."   His father had moved his
family here when Texas was still Mexican territory; and for
years of the young man's life, Indians were guarded against and
hunted just as wolves now are by the shepherd.   They had
always held their ground against them, however, and had constantly increased in wealth, but had retired for a few weeks be 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  101
fore the Mlexican invasion.   His father nad no property when
he came here, but the wagon and horses, and the few household
effects he brought with him.   " Now," said the son, "he raises
fifty bales of cotton"-equivalent to informing us that he owned
twenty or thirty negroes, and his income was from two to three
thousand dollars a year. The young man himself owned probably many hundred acres of the prairie and woodland range
about him, and a large herd of cattle.   He did not fancy taking
care of a plantation. It was too much trouble. He was a regular Texan, he boasted, and was not going to slave himself looking after niggers.  Any man who had been broughit -up in Texas,
he said, could live as wvell as he wanted to, without working
more than one month in the year. For about a month in the
year hlie had to work hard, driving his cattle into the pien, and
roping and marking the calves; this was always done in a kind
of frolic in the spring-the neighboring herdsmen assisting each
other. During the rest of the year he hadn't anything to do.
When he felt like it he got on to a horse and rode around, and
looked after his cattle; but that wasn't work, hlie said-'twas only
play. He raised a little corn; sometimes he got more than he
needed, and sometimes not as much; he didn't care whether it was
enough or not-he could always buy meal, only bought meal
wasn't so sweet as that was which they ground fresh in their
own steel mill. WVhen hlie wanted to buy anything, he could
always sell some cattle and raise the money; it did not take
much to supply them with all they wanted.
This was very evident. The room was, as I said, fourteen
feet square, with battens of split boards tacked on between the
broader openings of the logs.  Above, it was open to the rafters,
and in many places the sky could be seen between the shingles of 
102   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
the roof. A rough board box, three feet square, with a shelf in it,
contained the crockery-ware of the establishment; another similar box held the store of meal, coffee, sugar, and salt, a log
crib at the horse-pen held the corn, from which the meal was
daily ground, and a log smoke or store-house contained the store
of pork. A canopy-bed filled one quarter of the room; a cradle,
four chairs seated with untanned deer-hide, a table, a skillet or
bake-kettle, a coffee-kettle, a frying-pan, and a rifle laid across
two wooden pegs on the chimney, with a string of patches, powder-holm, pouch, and hunting- knife, completed the furniture of
the house. We all sat with hats and overcoats on, and the
woman cooked in bonnet and shawl.   As I sat in the chimneycorner I could put both my hands out, one laid on the other,
between the stones of the fire-place and the logs of the wall.
A pallet of quilts and blankets was spread for us in the li~ 
to, just between the two doors. We slept in all our clotil: --
incl,ding overcoats, hats, and boots, and covered entirely with
blankets.  At seven in the morning, when  we threw them off,
the mercury in the thermometer in our saddle-bags, which we
had used for a pillow, stood at 25 deg. Fahrenheit.
We contrived to make cloaks and hoods from our blankets,
and after going through with the fry, coffee and pone again, and
paying one dollar each for the entertainment of ourselves and
horses, we continued our journey.
The norther was stronger and the cold greater than the day
before; but as we took it on our quarter in the course we were
going during most of the day, we did not suffer.
HARBOR IN AN INN.
Late in the same evening we reached the town of Caldwell, 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  103
the "seat of justice" of  Burleson County.   We  were obliged
to leave our horses in a stable, made ulp of a roof, in which was
a loft for the storage of provender, set upon posts, without sideboarding, so that the norther met with no obstruction. It was
filled with horses, and ours alone were blanketed for the night.
The mangers were very shallow and narrow, and as the corn
was fed on the cob, a considerable proportion of it was thrown
out by the horses in their efforts to detach the edible portion.
With laudable economy, our landlord had twenty-five or thirty
pigs running at lge in the stable, to prevent this overflow from
being wasted.
The hotel building was an unusually large and fine one; the
principal room had glass windows. Several panes of these were,
howsever, broken, and the outside door could not be closed from
without; and when closed, was generally pried open  with a
pocket-knife by those who wished to go out.  A great part of the
time it was left open.  Supper was served in another room, in
wshielh there was no fire, and the outside door was left open for
the convenience of the servants in passing to and firom the
kitchen, which, as usual here at large houses, was in a detached
building.  Stupper was, however, eaten with such rapidity that
nothing had time to freeze on the table.
TEXAN CONVERSATION.
There were six Texans, planters and herdsmen, who had made
harbor at the inn for the norther, two German shop-keepers and
a young lawyer, who were boarders, besides our party of three,
who had to be seated before the fire during" the evening."  We
kept coats and hats on, and gained as much warmth, firom the
firiendly manner in which we drew together, as possible.   After 
104    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
ascertaining, by a not at all impertinent or inconsiderate method
of inquiry, where we were from, which way we were going, what
we thought of the country, what we thought of the weather, and
what were the capacities and the cost of our fire-arms, we were
considered as initiated members of the crowd, and "the conversation became general."
One of the gentlemen asked me if I had seen " this new
instrument."
" What instrument?"
"This grand boojer."
"I never heard of it before; what is it?"
"I don't know, only that." He pointed to a large poster on
the wall, advertising "L. Gilbert's celebrated patent GRAND, BouDOIR aid square piano-fortes."   I mention the circumstance as a
caution to printers on the choice of words for the use of their
emphatic type.
"Sam Houston and his eccentricities" formed a very interesting topic of conversation. Nearly every person present had seen
the worthy senator in some ridiculous and not very honorable position, and there was much laughter at his expense.  As he seemed
to be held in very little respect, we inquired if he were not popular in Texas.   He had many warm old friends, they said, and
always made himself popular with new acquaintances,  but the
greater part of the old fighting Texans hated and despised him.
ABOUT NIGGERS.
But the most interesting subject to Northerners which was
talked of, was brought up by two gentlemen speaking of the
house where they spent the previous night.   " The man made a
white boy, fourteen or fifteen years old, get up and go out in the 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  105
norther for wood, when there was a great, strong nigger fellow
lying on the floor, doing nothing. God! I had an appetite to
givne him a hundred, right there."
' Why, you wouldn't go out into the ndrther, yourself, would
you, if you were not forced to?" inquired one, laughingly.
"I wouldn't have a nigger in my house that I was afraid to
set to work at anything I wanted him to do at any time. They'd
hired him out to go to a new place next Thursday, and they
were afraid if they didn't treat him  well, he'd run away.  If I
couldn't break a nigger of running away, I wouldn't have him
any how."
"I can tell you how you can break a nigger of running away,
certain," said another. " There was an old fellow I used to
know in Georgia, that always cured his so.  If a nigger ran
away, when he caught him, he would bind his knee over a log,
and fasten him  so he couldn't stir; then he'd takle a pair of
pincers and pull one of his toe-nails out by the roots; and tell
him that if he ever run away again, he would pull out two of
them, and if he run away again after that, he told them he'd pull
out four of them, and so on, doubling each time. He never had
to do it more than twice-it always cured them."
One of the company then said that he was at the present time
in pursuit of a negro. lie had bought him of a connection of
his in Mississippi; he told him when he bought him that he was
a great runaway. He had run away from him three times, and
always when they caught him he was trying to get back- to Illinois; that was the reason he sold him.   " He offered him to me
cheap," he continued, "and I bought him because he was a firstrate nigger, and I thought perhaps I could break him of running
away by bringing him down to this new country.   I expect he's
St 
106    A JOURNEY THROUGH'TEXAS.
making for Mexico, now.  I am a-most sure I saw his tracks on
the road about twelve miles back, where he was a-coming on this
way. Night before last I engaged with a man who's got some
first-rate nigger dogs to meet me here to-night; but I suppose the
cold keeps him back." He then asked us to look out for him as
we went on west, and gave us a minute description of him that
we might recognize him.  He  was "a real black nigger," and
carried off a double-larreled gun with him.   Another man, who
was going on by another road westward, offered to look for
himn that way, and to advertise him. Would he be likely to
defend himself with the gun if he should try to secure him, he
asked. The owner said he had no doubt he would. He was as
humble a nigger when he was at work as ever he had seen; but
he was a mighty resolute nigger-there was no man had more
resolution.   " Couldn't I induce him to let me take tlhe gun by
pretending I wanted to look at it, or something?   I'd talk to
him simple; make as if I was a stranger, and ask him about the
road, and so on, and finally ask him what he had got for a gun,
and to let me look at it." The owner didn't believe he'd
let go of the  gun;  he was a "nigger of sense-as  much
sense as a white man; he was not one of your kinkey-headed
niggers."  The chances of catching him were discussed.   Some
thought they were good, and some that the owner might almost
as well give it up, he'd got such a start.  It was three hundred
miles to the Mexican frontier, and he'd have to make fires to cook
the game he would kill, and could travel only at night; but then
every nigger or Mexican he could find would help him, and if he
hlad so much sense, he'd manage to find out his way pretty
straight, and yet not have white folks see him. 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  107
SHEEP AND PRICES.
We had observed sheep not far from Caldwell for the first
time.  They were in a large flock of some four or five hundred,
overlooked by a black boy on horseback, attended by two hounds.
WAe were told that the wool from this flock had been sold in the
neilghborhioocl at twenty-seven cents per pound, and that the
flock had averaged four pounds to the fleece.
There had been a "hiring" of negroes at the County House
the week before.  Eight or ten were hired out at from $175 to
$250 per annum-the hirer contracting to feed them well and to
provide two substantial suits of clothing and shoes.
The price of beef at Caldwell was two cents per pound; pork,
five cents; corn-fed ditto, six cents.
MANNERS AND THE WEATHER.
WVe slept in a large upper room, in a company of five, with a
broken window at the head of our bed, and another at our side,
offering a short cut to the norther across our heads.
We were greatly amused to see one of our bed-room companions gravely.l)it in the candle before jumping into bed, explaining to some one who made a remark, that he always did so,
it gave him time to see what he was about before it went out.
The next morning the ground was covered with sleet, and the
gale still continued (a pretty steady close-reefing breeze) during
the day.
We w*ished to have a horse shod.  The blacksmith, who was
a white man, we found in his shop, cleaning a fowling-piece.  It
tats too d —d coldl to work, he said, and he was going to shoot
oSom  geese; he, at length, at our urgent request, consented to
earn ( dollar; but, after getting on his apron, he found that we 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
had lost a shoe, and took it off again, refusing to make a shoe
while this d     d norther lasted, for any man.  As he had no
shoes ready made, he absolutely turned us out of the shop, and
obliged us to go seventy-five miles further, a great part of the
way over a pebbly road, by which the beast lost three shoes before he could be shod.
This respect for the norther is by no means singular here. The
publication of the week's newspaper in Bastrop was interrupted
by the norther, the editor mentioning, as a sufficient reason for
the irregularity, the fact that his printing-office was in the north
part of the house.
We continued our journey during the day in spite of the increased chilliness of the air, occasioned by the icy surface with
which the sleet of the night had clothed the prairies, without
any discomfort, until we were obliged again to enter one of these
prairie houses. During the next night it fell calm, and the cold,
as measured by the contraction of the mercury, was greater
than at any time before. But the sun rose clear the next day
and by noon, the weather was mild and agreeable as in the fairest October day in New York.
During the continuance of the norther, the sky was constantly
covered with dense gray clouds, the wind varied from N.N.E.
to N.W., and was also of variable force. Our thermometrical
observations were as follows:
Jan. 5th, 10.30 A.M.  -  -  67 |      2 P.MN. -.47O
" 10.42            -  -  55o     4 "      - - - - — 420
6 P.M.  -  - -  - -  40~
Jan. 6th, 7.30 A.M. - --   - - -    250
It continued at about this point during the following two
days, when it fell (Jan. 8th, 7.30 A.M.) to 21~.
108 
ROUTE ACROSS E ASTERN TEXAS.   109
THE COLORADO.
Two more days' ride took us to Austin. We struck the Colorado at Bastrop-a village of considerable size and promise,
situated on the left river bank, and at the edge of an isolated
patch of pine timber, from which nearly all the pine lumber used
in Western Texas is taken.
The Colorado is the first of the clear water streams.  Its still,
limpid, blue-green surface appeared very charming, as the ferryman slowly pulled us over. Its width was here some four or five
rods.  Owing to obstructions and to its irregularities of depth,
it can scarcely be called navigable, though cotton is sometimes
rafted down or floated in flats, and steamboats ascend in very
high water.
The "bottom" was here narrow, the surface rising rapidly to
open prairie or post-oak.  Along the edge of the overflowed
bottom are some large and well-cultivated plantations.  It was
at one of these we first noticed the practice of extending
fences over the road, compelling mail-coaches and travelers to
seek out a new path wvherever it suits them.  The  law in Texas
permits this with very loose restrictions.
The scenery along the river is agreeable, with a pleasant alternation of gently-sloping prairies and wooded creek bottoms.
Here and there, particularly near Bastrop, is a good house and a
rich and well-cultivated plantation. Much of the soil is of the
heavy black character known as "hog-wallow parara," the prairie
surface being marked with a constant succession of depressions,
miry in wet weather and disagreeable enough in dry, from the continual rise and fall, and consequent pitching motion, of wagon or
horse.  The road upon the sward was very indistinct, and we
followed some wagon tracks, at twilight, two hours out of our 
110    A JOURINEY THRO U GH TEXAS.
way, reaching the ferry below Austin at nine o'clock in the
evening.  After some search, we found the feiry-house, but no
one was stirring. After not a little thumping at the door, the
ferry-man appeared, with  " What's the matter?"
"Nothing in particular; we want to cross the ferry."
"I thought somebody must be sick; trav'lin' at this time o'
night."
"Is it so extraordinary to cross the ferry in the evening?"
"Yes, sir, a very extraordinary thing, indeed."
AUSTIN.
Austin has a fine situation upon the left bank of the Colorado.
Had it not been the capital of the state, and a sort of bourne to
which we had looked forward for a temporary rest, it would still
have struck us as the pleasantest place we had seen in Texas.
It reminds one somewhat of Washington; Washington, en petit,
seen through a reversed glass.   The Capitol-a really imposing
building of soft cream limestone, nearly completed at the time of
our visit, and already occupied-stands prominent upon a hill, towards which, nearly all the town rises.  From it a broad avenue
stretches to the river, lined by the principal buildings and stores.
These are of various materials and styles, from quarried stone to
the logs of the first settlers.   Off the avenue, are scatered cottages and one or two pretty dwellings.   They  are altogether
smaller in number and meaner in appearance than a stranger
would anticipate.   The capital was fixed, in fact, upon a thinlysettled frontier, at a point the speculative, rather than the actual,
centre of the state.  There is one little church, with a pretty
German turret, another of stone is in process of erection, and a 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  111
Governor's mansion is to be built. There is a very remarkable
number of drinking and gambling shops, but not one book-store
A druggist, who keeps a small stock of books, sold us, at one
dollar, giving his word that its cost was seventy-five cents to him
self, a copy of "Eagle Pass" (one of Putnam's Semi-Monthlly Li
brary), the price of which, elsewhere, is forty cents. The popu
lation, at the census of 1850, was 629; the estimate, when we
were there, 3,000; a large one, we thought.  The country around
the town is rolling and picturesque, with many agreeable views
of distant hills and a pleasant sprinkling of wood over prairie
slopes.
HOTELS.
We had reckoned upon getting some change of diet when we
reached the capital of the state, and upon having good materials
not utterly spoiled, by carelessness, ignorance, or nastiness, in
cooking. We reckoned without our host.
We arrived in a norther, and were shown, at the hotel to
which we had been recommended, into an exceedingly dirty room,
in which two of us slept with another gentleman, who informed
us that it was the best room in the house.   The outside door,
opening upon the ground, had no latch, and during the night it
was blown open by the norther, and after we had made two ineffectual attempts to barricade it, was kept open till morning.
Before daylight, a boy came in and threw down an armful of
wood by the fire-place.   He appeared again, an hour or two
afterwards, and made a fire.   When the breakfast-bell rung, we
all turned out in haste, though our boots were gone and there
was no water.   At this moment, as we were reluctantly pulling
on our clothing, a negro woman burst into the room, leaving the
door open, and laid a towel on the wash-table.   "Here!" we 
112    A JOURNEY THR OURGH TEXAS.
cried, as she ran to the door again; "bring us some water, and
have our boots brought back."  She stood half outside the door,
and shaking her finger at us in a weird manner, replied: "Ilaant
got no time, master —got fires to make and ebery ting;" and she
vanished.
When finally we got to breakfast, and had offered us-but I
will not again mention the three articles-only the "fry" had
been changed for the worse before it was fried-we naturally began to talk of changing our quarters and trying another of the
hotels.   Then up spoke a dark, sad man  at our side-"You
can't do better than stay here; I have tried both the others, and
I came here yesterday because the one I was at was too dirty!"
And the man said this, with that leopard-skin pattern of a tablecloth, before him, with those grimy tools in his hands, and with
the hostler in his frock, smelling strongly of the stable, just handing him the (No. 3). Never did we see any wholesome food on
that table. It was a succession of burnt flesh of swine and bulls,
decaying vegetables, and sour and mouLldy farinaceous glues, all
pervaded with rancid butter.   After  a few  days, we  got  a
private room, and then, buying wheat-bread of a German baker,
and other provisions of grocers, cooked what was necessary for
ourselves, thus really coming back to caravansarism.
We  met at Austin many cultivated, agreeable and talented
persons; among them gentlemen whose manner of thinking on
certain subjects, on which their opinions differed much from my
own, greatly gratified me. With regard to slavery, for instance,
these gentlemen, I doubt not, honestly and confidently believe
the institution to be a beneficial one; gradually and surely making the negroes a civilized and a Christian people, and paying its
way (perhaps with handsome dividends) to the capitalists who 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  113
are the stockholders; that all the cruelty, or most of it, is a
necessary part of the process, necessary at least in the present
constitution of property and of society. The determination and
calculation to make another Slave State of Lower California, which
was openly expressed in their circle, did not seem to them, therefore, anything at all to be regretted or disapproved of. If it
would be profitable, it would be benevolent, they were confident.
The only thing they feared was the injury to business wvhich
might occur if it should be made the occasion for another sectional excitement. This would be fanatical and deplorable.
I fear there is some appearance of irony in what I have written. I did not intend it. I sincerely have a very deep respect
for the men who think and express their thoughts in this simple
manner. They are men of real benevolence and great talent;
but it does seem to me circumstances have given a singular twist
to their minds. No doubt they can see just such idiosyncrasies
in Northern minds.
But it was a pleasure to meet men, again, with whom such
subjects could be looked upon from their moral side.
LEGISLATURE.
We visited, several times, the Texas Legislature in session,
and have seldom been more impressed with respect for the working of Democratic institutions.
I have seen several similar bodies at the North; the Federal
Congress;  and the Parliament of Great Britain, in both its
branches, on occasions of great moment; but none of them commanded my involuntary respect for their simple manly dignity
and trustworthiness for the duties that engaged them, more than
the General Assembly of Texas. There was honest eloquence 
A JOURN E Y THROUGH TEXAS.
displacyed at every opportunity for its use, and business was
carried on with great rapidity, but with complete parliamentary
regularity, and all desirable gentlemanly decorum.   One gentleman, in a state of intoxication, attempted to address the house
(but that happens elsewhere), and he was quietly persuaded to
retire.
THlE MATERIALS OF LIVING.
The cost of living at Austin is extraordinarily high. Sutbjoined
is a list of prices of building materials, etc., and of articles of
household use, as sold at retail:
Pine lumber is carted from Bastrop, thirty miles. Boards are
sold at 84 50 to $5 a hundred feet. Brick, poorly made in the
vicinity, are sold at the kilns at $10 per M.  The town stands
upon a ledge of very soft limestone, which is worked almost as
easily as wood. It is frequently used for building-I did not
learn at what cost.
IVages of lnegroes are higher than I have known them anywhere else, notwithstanding some German  competition in the
labor market.   The Germans complained that the labor in building thle State Capitol was advertised to be contracted for to the
lowest bidder.  Many Germans came with ofilers, but were underbid by negro owners.  After the Germans had all left town again,
these gentlemen threw up their contracts, and new contracts
were made with them at advanced prices. A lot of the negroes
engaged as laborers on the Capitol, only one of them a poor mechanic, were lately hired for the year at $280 each, the hirer to
clothe and board them, etc.; field hands in the country, $190,
clothes, etc.  A negro cook, the poorest possible, I was told was
paid $60 a month at the hotel.   Another I heard of hired at
$600 a year.   I saw a very pretty girl, twelve years old, who
114 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS. 115
had been bought for $600.   A first-rate white journeyman mechalnic commanded $50 a month and found.
Rents-very high.   A  smithy, 30 by 20 feet, of brick, one
story ligh, rented for $50 a month.  A log shanty, the poorest
a mechanic could think of living in, $10 a month.
Rails, for fencing on plantations, $5 per hundred. Iron, bar,
8c.; nail, 9c.; shoe,  0Oc.; cast-steel, 30c.; horse-shoeing, 75c. a
shoe; charcoal, 25c. a bushel; mineral coal, none to be had;
wood for fuel, knotty oak, $3 a cord; washing, $1 per dozen.
There were thousands of cattle pasturing wvithin sight of the
town; but milk sold by contract, for the season, at 122c. a quart,
and at retail at 15c. to 20c.   Butter-Goshen, 40c.; country
fresh, 50c.
Flour, $15 a barrel; bread, of inferior flour, by German bakers,
8c. per lb.; corn, 50c. per bushel; sweet potatoes, 50c. to 75c.
a bushel;  eggs, 25c. per dozen;  crackers, 15c. per lb.; sugar,
crulshed, 18S4c. per lb.; "Star" (New York) candles, 40c. per lb.;
apples, inferior, 75c. per dozen; beef, fresh, 32c. per lb.; pork,
cto., Cc.  bacon, sides, 18c.; hams, 20c. to 25c. per lb.
Rope, Manilla half-inch line, 40c. per lb.   Harness leather
(such as is bought in New York at 20c.), 40c. per lb.
Freight is wagoned by mules and oxen from both Houston
and Indianola, but principally from the latter place.
AN EASTERN PLANTER.
Before leaving Eastern Texas behind us, I must add a random
note or two, the precise dates of which it would have been uncivil to indicate.
We stopped one night at the house of a planter, now twenty
years settled in Eastern Texas. He was a man of some educa 
116   A JOURNEY THROUGHI TEXAS.
tion and natural intelligence, and had, he told us, an income,
from the labor of his slaves, of some $4,000. His residence
was one of the largest houses we had seen in Texas.  It had a
second story, two wings and a long gallery. Its windows had
been once glazed, but now, out of eighty panes that originally
filled the lower windows, thirty only remained unbroken. Not
a door in the house had been ever furnished with a latch or even
a string; when they were closed, it was necessary to claw or to
ask some one inside to push open. (Yet we happened to hear a
neighbor expressing serious admiration of the way these doors
fitted.) The furniture was of the rudest description.
One of the family had just had a hemorrhage of the lungs;
while we were at supper, this person sat between the big fireplace and an open outside door, having a window, too, at his
side, in which only three panes remained. A norther was blowing, and ice forming upon the gallery outside. Next day, at
breakfast, the invalid was unable to appear on account of a " bad
turn."
On  our supper-table was nothing else than the eternal fry,
pone and coffee. Butter, of dreadful odor, was here added by
exception. Wheat flour they never used. It was " too much
trouble."
We were waited upon by two negro girls, dressed in shortwaisted, twilled-cotton  gowns, once  white,  now  looking as
though they had been drawn through a stove-pipe in spring.
The water for the family was brought in tubs upon the heads of
these two girls, from a creek, a quarter of a mile distant, this
occupation filling nearly all their time.
This gentleman had thirty or forty negroes, and two legitimate  sons.  One was an idle young  man.   The other was 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS. 117
already, at eight years old, a swearing, tobacco-chewing young
bully and ruffian. We heard him whipping his puppy behind
the house, and swearing between the blows, his father and
mother being at hand. His tone was an evident imitation of his
father's mode of dealing with his slaves.
"I've got an account to settle with you;  I've let you go
about long enough; I'll teach you who's your master; there,
go now, God damn you, but I havn't got through with you yet."
"You stop that cursing," said his father, at length, "it isn't
right for little boys to curse."
"What do you do when you get mad?" replied the boy;
"reckon you cuss some; so now you'd better shut up."
We repeatedly heard men curse white women and children in
this style, without the least provocation.
LITERATURE.
In the whole journey through Eastern Texas, we did not see
one of the inhabitants look into a newspaper or a book, although
we spent days in houses where men were lounging about the fire
without occupation. One evening I took up a paper which had
been lying unopened upon the table of the inn where we were
staying, and smiled to see how painfully news items dribbled
into the Texas country papers, the loss of the tug-boat "Ajax,"
which occurred before we left New York, being here just given
as the loss of the "splended steamer Ocax."
A man who sat near said  "Reckon you've read a good deal, hain't you?"
"Oh, yes; why?"
"Reckoned you had."
"Why?" 
118   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
"You look as though you liked to read.  Well, it's a good
thing.  S'pose you take a pleasure in reading, don't you?"
"That depends, of course, on what I have to read. I suppose
everybody likes to read when they find anything interesting to
them, don't they?"
"No; it's damn tiresome to some folks, I reckon, any how,
'less you've got the habit of it. Well, it's a good thing; you
can pass away your time so."
FOREIGN RELATIONS.
The sort of interest taken in foreign affairs is well enough
illustrated by the views of a gentleman of property in Eastern
Texas, who was sitting with us one night, "spitting in the fire,"
and talking about cotton. Bad luck he had had-only four
bales to the hand; couldn't account for it-bad luck; and next
year he didn't reckon nothing else but that there would be a
general war in Europe, and then he'd be in a pretty fix, with
cotton down to four cents a pound.   Curse those Turks!  If he
thought there would be a general war, he would take every
d —d  nigger he'd got right down to New Orleans, and sell
them for what they'd bring.  They'd never be so high ag;tin as
they were now, and if there should come a general war they
wouldn't be worth half so much next year.  There  always were
some infernul rascals somewhere in the world trying to prevent
an honest man from getting a living.  Oh, if they got to fighlting, he hoped they'd eat each other up. They just ought to be,
all of themn-Turks, and Russians,-and Prussians, and Dutchmen,
and Frenchmen-just be put in a bag together, and slung into
hell. That's what he'd do with them.
We afterwards noted a contrast when a German cotton 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  119
farmuer, beyond the Colorado, expressed to us, apropos to the
same probable depreciation of prices of the next year, the greatestfear lest the sovereigns should not permit a general war to
take place, with its chances for the peoples. There are some
hearts that swim above prices. God bless them.
BLACK HIOUSEKEEPING.
Remarking, one day, at the house of a womnan who was
brought up at the North, that there was much more comfort at
her house than any we had previously stopped at, she told us
that the only reason that the people didn't have any comfort
here was, that they wouldn't take any trouble to get anything.
Anything that their negroes could make they would eat; but
they would take no pains to instruct them, or to get anything
that didn't grow on the plantation. A neighbor of hers owned
fifty cows, she supposed, but very rarely had any milk and
scarcely ever any butter, simply because his people were too lazy
to milk or churn, and he wouldn't take the trouble to make
them.
This woman entirely sustained the assertion that Northern
people, when they come to the South, have less feeling for the
negroes than Southerners themselves usually have.  We  asked
her (she lived in a village) whether she hired or owned her servants. They owned them all, she said. When they first came
to Texas they hired servants, but it was very troublesome; they
would take no interest in anything; and she couldn't get along
with them. Then very often their owners, on some pretext (illtreatment, perhaps), would take them away. Then they bought
negroes. It was very expensive: a good negro girl cost seven
or eight hundred dollars, and that, we must know, was a great 
120   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
deal of money to be laid out in a thing that might lie right
down the next day and die. They were not much better either
than the hired servants.
Folks up North talked about how badly the negroes were
treated; she wished they could see how much work her girls
did.  She had four of them, and she. knew they didn't do half
so much work as one good Dutch girl such as she used to have
at the North. Oh! the negroes were the laziest things in creation; there was no knowing how much trouble they gave to look
after them. Up to the North, if a girl went out into the garden
for anything, when she camne back she would clean her feet, but
these nigger girls will stump right in and track mud all over the
house. What do they care? They'd just as lief clean the mud
after themselves as anything else-their time isn't any value to
themselves.  What do they care for the trouble it gives you?
Not a bit.  And you may scold'em and whip'em-you never
can break'em into better habits.
I asked what were servants' wages when they were hired out
to do housework? They were paid seven or eight dollars a
month; sometimes ten. She didn't use to pay her girl at the
North but four dollars, and she knew she would do more work
than any six of the niggers, and not give half so much trouble
as one. But you couldn't get any other help here but niggers. Northern folks talk about abolishing Slavery, but there
wouldn't be any use in that; that would be ridiculous, unless
you could some way get rid of the niggers. Why, they'd mur der us all in our beds-that's what they'd do.  Why, over to
Fannin, there was a negro woman that killed her mistress with
an axe, and her two little ones. The people just flocked toge ther, and hung her right up on the spot; they ought to have 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  121
piled some wood round her, and burned her to death; that
would have been a good lesson to the rest.  We  afterwards
heard her scolding one of her girls; the girl made some excutl patory reply, and getting the best of the argument, the mistress
angrily told her if she said another word she would have two
hundred lashes given her. She came in and remarked that if she
hadn't felt so nervous she would have given that girl a good
whipping herself; these niggers are so saucy, it's very t?-ing to
one who has to take care of them.
Servants are, it is true, " a trial," in all lands, ages, and nations.
But note the fatal reason this woman frankly gives for the inevitable delinquencies of slave-servants, " Their time isn't any
value to themselves!"
The women of Eastern Texas seemed to us, in general, far
superior to their lords. They have, at least, the tender hearts
and some of the gentle delicacy that your " true Texan" lacks,
whether mistresses of slaves or only of their own frying-pan.
They are overworked, however, as soon as married, and care gives
them thin faces, sallow complexions, and expressions either sad
or sour.
A NORTIIERN SETTLER.
Another night we spent at the house of a man who came
here, when a boy, from the North. His father was a mechanic,
and had emigrated to Texas just before the war of Independence.  He joined the army, and his son had been brought uprather had grown up-Southern fashion-with no training to
regular industry. He had learned no trade. What need? His
father received some thousand acres of land in payment of his
services. The. son earned some money for himself by driving a
team; bought cattle, took a wife, and a house, and now had
6 
122   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
been settled six years, with a young family. He had nothing to
do but look after his cattle, go to the nearest town and buy
meal and coffee occasionally, and sell a few oxen when the bill
was sent in. His house was more comfortless than nine-tenths
of the stables of the North. There were several windows, some
of which were boarded over, some had wooden shutters, and
some were entirely open. The doors were closed with difficulty.
We could see the stars, as we lay in bed, through the openings
of the roof; and on all sides, in the walls of the room, one's
arm might be thrust out. Yet that night the mercury fell below
twenty-five degrees of our Fahrenheit thermometer.  There was
the standard food and beverage, placed before us night and
morning. We asked if there was much game near him? There
were a great many deer. He saw them every day. Did he
shoot many? He never shot any;'twas too much trouble to
hunt them. When he wanted "fresh,"'twas easier to go out
and stick a hog (the very words he used). He had just corn
enough to give our horses one feed-there was none left for the
morning. His own horses could live well enough through the
winter on the prairie. He made pets of his children, but was
cross and unjust to his wife, who might have been pretty, and
was affectionate. He was without care-thoughtless, content,
with an unoccupied mind.   He took no newspaper-he read
nothing. There was, indeed, a pile of old books which his father
had brought from the North, but they seemed to be all of the
Tract Society sort, and the dust had been undisturbed upon
them, it might have been, for many years.
This man did have the wit to say he believed he should have
been better off now if he had remained at the North. Think of
the probabilities-the son of a master mechanic, with a consi 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  123
derable capital. Educate him where you please, in any country
not subject to the influence of slavery, how different would have
been his disposition, how much higher and more like those of
a reasonable being, would have been his hopes, aims, and life.
SLAVERY WITH A WILL.
We were several times struck, in Eastern Texas, with a pectiu liarity in the tone of the relation between master and slave.
Elsewhere at the South, slavery had seemed to be accepted
generally, as a natural, hereditary, established state of things,
and the right and wrong of it, or the how of it, never to be dis cussed or thought of any more than that of feudal tenures elsewhere.   But in Texas, the state of war in which slavery arises,
seems to continue in undertone to the present..
"Damn'em, give'em hell," frequent expressions of the ruder
planters towards their negroes, appeared to be used as if with a
meaning-a threat to make their life infernal if they do not submit abjectly and constantly. There seemed to be the consciousness of a wrong relation and a determination to face conscience
down, and continue it; to work up the " damned niggers," with
a sole eye to selfish profit, cash down, in this world. As to "treasures in Heaven," their life is a constant sneer at the belief in
them.
TEXAS AS IT USED TO BE.
I will add no further details upon the moral and social aspect
of Eastern Texas. Cheap as such privileges may be considered, old Texans express, in speaking of them, great admiration
and satisfaction. Society has certainly made a great advance
there in becoming even what it is. The present generation has,
peculiarly, but the faults founded upon laziness. The past, if 
1214    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
we may believe report, had something  worse.  In fact, in the
rapid settlement of the country, many an adventurer crossed
the border, spurred by a love of life or liberty, forfeited at home,
rather than drawn by the love of adventure or of rich soil. Probably a more reckless and vicious crew was seldom gathered than
that which peopled some parts of Eastern Texas at the time
of its first resistance to the Mexican government.
"G. T. T.," (gone to Texas,) was the slang appendage, within
the reader's recollection, to every man's name who had disappeared before the discovery of some rascality. Did a man emigrate thither, every one was on the watch for the discreditable
reason to turn up.
Mir. Dewees, in his naive "Letters from Texas," thus describes
(1831):
"It would amuse you very much, could you hear the manner
in which people of this new country address each other.  It is
nothing uncommon of us to inquire of a man why he ran away
from the States! but few persons feel insulted by such a question. They generally answer for some crime or other which
they have  committed;  if they deny having  committed  any
crime, or say they did not run away, they are generally looked
upon rather suspiciously.   Those who come into the country at
the present time, frequently tell us rough, ragged, old settlers,
who have worn out our clothes and our constitutions in the
service of the country, that they have a great deal of wealth in
the States which they are going after, as soon as they can find a
situation to suit them. But we, not relishing this would-be aris tocracy, generally manage to play some good joke upon them in
return.
"One day, there were quite a number of these aristocrats, who 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS. 125
seemed to think themselves better than those who were worn out
by toil and hardships, seated at the dinner table, in a sort of
tavern kept by a man named William Pettis, or Buck Pettis, as
he was always called at San Felipe; these persons were boast ing largely of their wealth, their land, their negroes, the ships
they had at sea, etc. There was at the table an old man by the
name of Macfarlane, a don't care sort of a fellow, who had mar ried a Mexican wife, and was living on the Brazos when we first
came to the country.   He listened to them quietly for a while,
at length he could restrain himself no longer.' Well, gentlemen,'
he said,' I, too, once commenced telling that I had left a large
property in the States, and, in fact, gentlemen, I told the story so
often, that at length I really believed it true, and eventually
started to go for it.  Well, I traveled on very happily till I
reached the Sabine river which separates this country from the
United States.   On its bank I paused, and now for the first
time, began to ask myself seriously, What am I doing? Why am
I here? I have no property in the States, and if I had,
if I cross the river,'tis at the risk of my life; for I was
obliged to flee to this country to escape the punishment of the
laws. I had better return, and live in safety as I have done.
I did so, gentlemen, and since then have been contented without
telling of the wealth I left in the States.'   The relation of this
story so exasperated thcse for whose benefit it was told, that they
fell upon the old gentleman, and would have done him injury,
had it not been for the interference of his friends.   This, however, put a stop to long yarns."
If your life, in those times, an old settler told us, would be of
the slightest use to any one, you might be sure he would take it,
and it was safe only as you were in constant readiness to defend 
126   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
it. Horses and wives were of as little account as umbrellas in
more advanced States. Everybody appropriated everything that
suited him, running his own risk of a penalty. Justice descended
into the body of Judge Lynch, sleeping when he slept, and
when he woke hewing down right and left for exercise and pastime.
Out of this has come, with as much rapidity as could be expected, by a process of gradual fermentation and admixture, the
present society.
LAW AND GOSPEL.
We picked up one incident oddly illustrating the transition
state:
We were speaking of the probability of a further annexation
of Mexican territory, with a road companion, upon a prairie
near the Brazos. He was an old ranger, had made one of the
Mier expedition, and had the fortune to draw a white bean on
the occasion of the decimation. He had afterwards spent two
years in Mexico, as prisoner.
"Mexico!" said he, " what the hell do we want of it?  It
isn't worth a cuss.   The people are as bigoted and ignorant as
the devil's grandchildren.    They haven't even the capacities of
my black boy. Why, they're most as black as niggers any way,
and ten times as treacherous. Howv would youl like to be tried
by a jury of Mexicans?  You see it an't like it was with Texas.
You go any further into Mexico with your surveyor's chains, and
you'll get Mexicans along with your territory; and a dam'd lot
of'em, too.   What are you going to do with'em?   You can't
drive'em out, because there an't nowhere to drive'em.  No, sirI
There they've got to stay, and it'll be fifty year before you can
outvote'em.   Well, they'll elect the judges, or they'll elect tho 
ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.  127
legislature, and that'll appoint their judges-same thing.  And
their judges an't a going to disqualify them, you may be dam
sure of that.  But how many of'em would pass muster for a
jury?   The whole of'em ought to be disqualified.   Just think
of going before a jury of them. How could they understand
evidence? They don't know the first difference between right
and wrong, any way."
We asked an explanation of the "disqualifying."   It appeared that the Texan county courts had the power to disqualify
citizens from serving upon juries for bad moral character, gross
ignorance, or mental incapacity.   In further explanation, he
gave us the incident:
The decision as to moral character, of course, rests with the
judges.  A few years ago, it happened that the bench inCounty was filled entirely by ministers of the gospel, and men
of bigoted piety. The court, during a night session, ruled
that no man should be considered as of good moral character,
who was known to have drunk spirits, to have played a game of
cards, or to have used profane language.   Accordingly, the
whole population of the county was incapacitated, except a few
leading church members in good and regular standing. And
though every one was glad to be rid of jury-duty, in general,
no one liked to be classed in this way as unfit for it, and the indignation rose nearly to open riot. However, the matter was
passed by, and nothing done until the following election, when
the tables were turned by rigorously excluding all church members from the court.
The reader who has not been there, may think our social experience of this part of the state peculiar and exceptional. I
can only say that we traveled on an average not more fa 
128   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
fourteen miles a day, and so must have stopped at almost every
tenth or fifteenth house on the chief emigrant and mail-road of
the state. I have given our impressions as we received them,
and the only advantage they now have over his own, is in the
the strength which the reiteration of day after day gives over
that of page after page. Had we entered Texas by the sea,
stopped at the chief towns and the frequented hotels, traveled by
public conveyances, and delivered letters to prominent and hospitable individuals, upon rich old coast plantations, our notes of
the East might have had, perhaps, a more rosy tone. 
C HAP. III.
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS.
OVER THE COLORADO.
AFTER spending a pleasant week in Austin, we crossed the
Colorado, into, distinctively, Western Texas.
The river is here too a blue green in color, and we enjoyed
again the beauty of its placid surface and transparent depths, as
the " flat" slowly rippled its way to the further bank. Its width
is about a hundred yards. Not far from the ferry is a floating
mill, erected by an enterprising German, similar to those that
have so quaint an effect, moored in platoons by the towns upon
the Rhine, the wheel slowly paddled by the current. Owing
to the danger from the sudden freshets to which the stream is
liable, and from the rafts of broken timber which come sweeping
down, it was considered a doubtful speculation. The wooded
bottom is narrow. and we soon came upon high prairies.
THE WVESTERN PRAIRIES.
The impression as we emerged, strengthened by a warm, calm
atmosphere, was very charming.   The live-oaks, stand(ing alone
or in picturesque groups near and far upon the clean sward,
which rolled in long waves that took, on their various slopes, 
130   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
bright light or half shadows from the afternoon sun, contributed
mainly to an effect which was very new and striking, though still
natural, like a happy new melody. We stopped, and, from the
trunk of a superb old tree,-preserved a sketched outline of its
low gnarled limbs, and of the scene beyond them.
Had we known that this was the first one of a thousand similar scenes, that were now to charm us day after day, we should
have, perhaps, spared ourselves the pains. We were, in fact, just
entering a vast region, of which live-oak prairies are the characteristic. It extends throughout the greater part of Western
Texas, as far as the small streams near San Antonio, beyond
which the dwarf mesquit and its congeners are found. The liveoak is almost the only tree away from the river bottoms, and
everywhere gives the marked features to the landscape.
The live-oaks are often short, and even stunted in growth,
lacking the rich vigor and full foliage of those further east.
Occasionally, a tree is met with, which has escaped its share of
injury from prairie burnings and northers, and has grown into a
symmetrical and glorious beauty. But such are comparatively
rare. Most of them are meagerly furnished with leaves, and as
the leaf, in shape, size, and hue, has a general similarity to that of
the olive, the distant effect is strikingly similar. As far West as
beyond the Guadalupe, they are thickly hung with the gray
Spanish moss, whose weird color, and slow, pendulous motions,
harmonize peculiarly with the tone of the tree itself, especially
where, upon the round, rocky, mountain ledges, its distorted roots
cling, disputing a scant nourishment with the stunted grass.
A MULE LESSON.
At the end of an afternoon's ride, mostly over bare prairies,
we reached Manchac Spring. A lucky accident compelled us to 
PROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 1]11
stop at the house we found there, and for once we were oblig,ed
to confess that quarters within were better than any canvas we
could have set up without.  B. had quitted us at Bastrop to re join us at San Antonio. In passing through the thin wood upon
the banks of a branch we started a covey of quails, and hitching
Fanny, I went after broiled birds for supper. Mr. Brown was
not much disposed to go on without the mare, and F. was disposed to give him a lesson in single driving for future  convenience.   A sort of pitched tournament or ramrod-skrimmago
ensued, in which the persevering activity of Nack and F. were
pitted against the tortuous and obstinate movements of the
loaded mule. F. finally came off victor; but in the rapid counter-marchings the horns of the pack-saddle came into violent
contact with a low branch of live-oak, and the saddle gave way
at one of its joints. For repairs more time would be necessary
than we could spare from the labors of camping.
A WELL-ORDERED PLANTATION.
We found a plantation that would have done no discredit to
Virginia.  The house was large and well constructed, standing
in a thick grove, separated from the prairie by a strong wormfence. Adjacent, within, was the spring, which deserved its prominence of mention upon the maps. It had been tastefully grottoed with heavy limestone rocks, now water-stained and mossy,
and the pure stream came gurgling up), in impetuous gallons, to
pour itself in a bright current out upon the prairie. The fountains of Italy were what came to mind, and "Fontana de Manciocco" would have secured a more natural name.
Everything about the house was orderly and neat.   The proprietor came out to receive us, and issued orders about the horses, 
132   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
which we felt, from their quiet tone, would be obeyed, without our
supervision. When we were ushered into a snug supper-room
and found a clean table set with wheat-bread, ham, tea, and preserved fruits, waited on by tidy and ready girls, we could scarce
think we had not got beyond the bounds of Texas. We were, in
fact, quit, for some time to come, of the lazy poverty of Eastern
Texas.
AGRARIAN IDEAS.
There were two or three travelers besides ourselves.   The
conversation ran upon the Germans, through whose settlements
one, a Jerseyman, had just passed.  The "Dutch" he had seen
at the North, he said, were very different from those of this country. There, they were honest and industrious, and minded their
business. Here, they didn't appear to have any business. They
were thieves and loafers, and nothing better than a "set of regular damn'd agrarians." All joined in these denunciations, which
appeared to afford them relief, though founded, so far as they
could show us, on mere prejudice. The master of the house was
not backward, and intimated that he refused them fire and water
as outlaws and barbarians, whenever he had the opportunity.
"Agrarianism," a strange charge for such a country and place,
we reflected, probably meant free-laborism and abolitionism, but
did not push investigations.
APPROACH TO THE GERMANS.
On entering Texas we had been so ignorant as not to know
that there were larger settlements of Germans there than in any
other Southern State.   We had met about the usual number of
German traders in the Eastern towns, and once had heard that
there were a large number settled at San Antonio.  At Bastrop. 
ROUTE TItROUGH WVESTERN TEXAS. 133
at a watchmaker's shop, I had seen, with surprise, a German
newspaper, the San Antonio Zeitung of the week previous, and
found that it contained more news of matters of general interest
than all the American Texan papers I had come across since en tering the state.
In Austin, we learned from Governor Pease and other acquaintances familiar with our route, that we should reach, in a day or
two, the German settlements, and pass through, in fact, a German village of considerable size-Neu Braunfels. We inquired
with a good deal of interest as to the condition and social relations of the Germans, and learned, from the same sources, that
the great part of them were exceedingly poor, but that, as a body,
they were thriving. As to slavery, as fast as they acquired property, they followed the customs of the country and purchased
~aves, like other white people, even Northern men, who invariably
conquered their prejudices when they came here to settle and found
their practical inconvenience.  However, no one could give us
any precise information about the Germans, and we had not the
least idea that they were so numerous, and had so important a
position in Western Texas, until we reached them, a day or two
after this.
AGRICULTURAL.
Our host was a man of accurate information in agricultural
matters. He told us he was now (January 14) beginning to
plough for his spring crops. Corn is planted usually in the middle of February.  Hie planted cotton in May, and even in June,
as there was no danger of its not maturing here as in the Eastern and Northern cotton states, and its growth is more rapid, if
not exposed when young to checks from cold.  This is much
later than is customary; but the time varies, with the amount 
134    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
and the period of rain of each season.  Corn, he told us, was
killed here if touched by frost after it is sprouted.
The prairie is broken by huge ploughs, drawn by six yoke of
oxen, turning a sod thirty-two inches wide and four inches deep.
He thought it better policy to use a smaller plough, drawn by
two or three yoke of oxen, and in breaking fresh prairie to turn
a shallow furrow. The old sod, when turned deep under, rots
much more slowly, and remains a long time an impediment to
cultivation. These great ploughs have two clumsy wheels attached, and once set in furrow need no other guidance.  His own
had a mould-board the hinder part of which was made of ironrods, for lightness and strength. It acted like a coarse screen,
and was said to answer well.*
THE GROUND AND ATMOSPHERE.
Leaving Manchac Spring, our road led us across a bleak open
prairie, on whose rolls stood no house, and scarce a tree, for fifteen miles. At our right, to the north, was a range of distant
' At this house, where everything was extremely neat, and where we had si]ver cups for drinking, there was no other water-closet than the back of a bush
or the broad prairie-an indication of a queerly Texan incompleteness in cultivation of manners.
From something a German gentleman afterwards told us, it would appear
that water-closets are of recent introduction in Texas. He had lived some
time in the town of S, then quite a large settlement, before he had time to
erect one of those little social necessaries. Though the first to do so, he had no
idea that it was a matter of interest to any other person than himself; but no
sooner did it appear, than he was assailed for indecency, and before he well
knew on what account, his edifice was torn down and dragged away by a nocturnal mob. He shortly rebuilt it. It again disappeared on the sly. Nothing
daunted, he caused a third to be put up, and as the thing was founded on a
real want in human nature, it took, and two or three others appeared. Nothing
further occurred until the following Christmas, when the whole number in the
town, now twelve or fifteen, were found drawn up in a line upon the public
square. 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTE RN TEXAS. 135
hills, from which orchards of live-oak occasionally stretched to
within a moderate distance of us.
While riding slowly, we saw some white objects on a hill before us. We could not make them out distinctly, and resorted
to the spy-glass.  " Sheep,"  said one.   " Cattle," said  the
other.  As we rode on, we slowly approached.  "Yes, sheep,"
said one.  "Decidedly not sheep," said the other.  Suddenly,
one of the objects raises a long neck and head. " Llamas-or
alpacas."   "More like birds, I think."   Then all the objects
raise heads, and begin to walk away, upon two legs. "What!
ostriches? Yes, ostriches, or something unknown to my eye."
We were now within four or five hundred yards of them. Suddenly, they raised wings, stretched out their necks, and ran over
the prairie, but presently left ground, and flew away. They
were very large white birds, with black-edged wings, and very
long necks and legs. They must have been a species of crane,
very much magnified by a refraction of the atmosphere.
MESQUIT GRASS.
A great change occurred here in the prairie grass-we had
reached the mesquit grass, of which we had heard much throughout Eastern Texas. The grass of the Eastern prairies is coarse
and sedgy, like that of rank, moist, outlying spots in New England. Where not burned, it lay, killed by the frost, in a thick,
matted bed upon the ground.   Our animals showed no disposition to eat it.  This mesquit they eat eagerly as soon as we
came upon it, as if it were an old acquaintance. It is a fine,
short grass, growing with great vigor and beauty over the Western prairies. It is usually found iu very thick tufts and patches,
interspersed with other grasses, but in the San Antonio river dis 
136    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
trict covers the whole surface.  It is extremely nutritious and
palatable to cattle, horses, and sheep, and has the very great advantage of preserving its sweetness, to a certain degree, through
the winter. The usual frosts, perhaps owing to the closeness of
its growth, do not kill it to the ground, the lower parts of its
leaves and stem retaining a slight verdure, unless burned over,
until new leaves shoot out in spring. It is this which gives the
prairies of Western Texas their great superiority, as a pasture
ground, over those of the central and eastern parts of the state,
and mark it as forever a pastoral country, whatever, in other
respects, be its future.
SAN MARCOS.
At noon we forded the Blanco, the principal branch of the San
Marcos river, a bright, clear, rapid stream.
In its bottoms and those of the San Marcos (which rises from
a single spring a few miles west) are said to lie the best lands
of Texas. Ward mentions that, as long ago as 1804, the banks
of the main stream were selected for a Spanish colony, on account of their surpassing fertility. I have never seen a district
whose soil seemed to me so rich. It was like a fine garden compost, in which black vegetable mould, clay, and lime had been
equally mixed. The few cotton fields we passed were still white.
Not more than half the product seemed to have been picked.
The dlifficulty, however, which will go far to prevent this from
becoming a great enslaved planting country, was again brought
to our notice by complaints of the loss of negroes, who were sipposed to have fled to Mexico.   Another difficulty which the
planter has here to encounter, is the scarcity of timber, and of all
materials suitable to fencing purposes. Very strong and high
fences are required to resist the charges of the half wild cattle 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 137
and horses of the prairies. Wire fences are sometimes used, but
are expensive, if well made, and very few planters have the
patience or enterprise to make trial of hedges.
We were told that two bales and a half of cotton had been
sometimes picked here from an acre.   Owing to the freedom of
the new soil from weeds, much less labor is required than in old
settled countries.   One hand is said to be able to tend twenty
acres of corn and ten of cotton. If the ground have been well
prepared corn requires but two ploughings after planting, and
will yield, one year with another, fifty bushels to the acre. It is
admitted that, to take care of thirty acres, a hand must be hard
worked; but it is said to be often done.   In Virginia, ten acres
of corn per hand is considered a good allowance.
San Marcos was a town of about three shabby houses. Beyond
it our road approached closely the hill-range, which is made
up of spurs coming down from mountains North. They are
well wooded with cedar and live-oak. With such a shelter from
the northers and such a soil, it is no wonder that the settlers are
numerous.   We passed a house perhaps every mile, beyond San
Marcos, and, in general, they were of a better character than we
had seen anywhere before, unless in the neighborhood of Bastrop
or Austin. The workmanship applied to farming and the crops
resulting, appeared to have been also much better.
We pitched our tent at night in a live-oak grove, by the side
of a deep pure spring, at the mouth of a wooded ravine closed by
rugged hills toward the north. Behind us were the continuous
wooded heights, with a thick screen of cedars; before us, very
beautiful prairies, rolling off far to the southward, with the
smooth grassed surface, varied here and there by herds of cattle,
and little belts, mottes and groups of live-oak. The cactus, 
138   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
growing rank, tortuous, and grotesquely hideous, and the "yucca,"
or "Spanish bayonet," here a low clump of sharp-pointed stiff,
tusk-like leaves, indicated our gradual approach to Mexico.
The night was oppressively warm.   After breakfast a sudden
black cloud rose in the North, and with incredible swiftness and
a frightful roar spread over the heavens.   The cattle came running headlong for the cover, and we hurried everything under
the tent, expecting a deluge of rain.  It was only wind-a norther. An immense change took place at once in the temperature,
the thermometer indicating a fall of 15~ in fifteen minutes, and
the furious wind gave a cutting effect, which was most severe.
The following were the temperatures observed:
Jan.16. 10.39 A.M.
"   11.27   "
"   12.00   "
"    9.30 P.M f.
Jan.17.10.30 A.M.
"     1.00 P.M.
"    3.15  "
"     5.00  "
"     9.30  "
A NEIGHBOR OF THE GERMANS.
We had applied for corn at a house not far from camp. The
family were at supper.
"I wished," said I, " to inquire if I could get some corn of
you?"
"I reckon you might."
"I won't trouble you to leave your supper."
" No trouble."
Out comes the proprietor, leaving a strong negro to wait upon
the table. He was a young man, but had been settled for seve
Jan. 16. 9.52 A.M.
11 9.54 11
11 9.56 11
11 9.58 11
11   10-00    11
11 10.02 "
11 10-06 "
11   10-10    11
11 10-16 "
- 72, Ther.
-70-   11
-68-   "
-66-   "
-64-   "
-62-   11
_58.,
-56-   "
-541- "
- 51, Ther.
- 47- 11
-45,.,
-39-    11
-39-,
-49-    11
-57-    11
-57-    11
-48-    11 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 139
ral years at this place. He informed us that we should be aminong
the German settlers in the first hour of our next day's ride.   We
anxiously made inquiries to ascertain what his experience had
been with regard to the character of the Germans; for we had
obtained, from the short intercourse we had enjoyed with this
people in their native land, such a kind regard for them that we
were yet unwilling to trust the fairness of the judgment of them,
which the American Texans seemed to have formed.   We were
immediately surprised and gratified by his answers. He seemed
to have had no reason at all to think of them as bad neighbors, but
as extremely useful and valuable ones.  Their mechanics worked
cheaply, steadily and excellently.   Their teamsters frequently
camped within twenty rods of his house; he had no complaints
to make of them at all. They had been very honest and trustworthy in their dealings with him.
"But  I understand,"  said I, "that they are in a rather
wretched condition, and are hardly able to get their living in this
country."
"Why, the most of them seem to be very poor people," said
he, "but they are getting along very well, I should think, for
poor folks; they are every year improving about their houses
and building new houses which are more comfortable than the
old ones, and they work their little pieces of land first-rate.  I
reckon those that had a good deal of money when they came
out, have a good many of them got poor. You see they did
not come here expecting to do anything to make money by, but
because they thought they could live a good deal cheaper here
than in the old country. Well, they don't know how to give up
their old habits, and they think they must have their wine to
drink, and so on, as they have been used to; and it used to cost 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
them a dime a bottle, they say, there, and here it costs four bits,
and I reckon a good many have got poor that way. But the
people that came here poor must be getting along very well-at
any rate they say so, and it looks so."
" I am told that they buy negroes as fast as they get money
enough to be able to."
Yes, he reckoned they did. How many of them owned negroes, that he knew? He couldn't tell. Were there a hundred?
Oh, no. Were there ten? No, not more than five. And I
supposed he knew some hundreds of them? Yes, he knew more
than a thousand, he thought, that did not own slaves.
GERMAN FARMS.
The country, next morning, continued the same in all respects
as that of the day before. The first German settlers we saw, we
knew at once. They lived in little log cabins, and had inclosures of ten acres of land about them. The cabins were very
simple and cheap habitations, but there were many little conveniences about them, and a care to secure comfort in small ways
evident, that was very agreeable to notice.  So, also, the greater
variety of the crops which had been grown upon their allotments,
and the more clean and complete tillage they had received contrasted favorably with the patches of corn-stubble, overgrown
with crab-grass, which are usually the only gardens to be seen
adjoining the cabins of the poor whites and slaves. The people
themselves were also to be seen, men, women, and children, busy
at some work, and yet not so busy but that they could give a
pleasant and respectful greeting to the passing traveler.
A few miles further on, we passed several much more comfortable houses, boarded over, and a good deal like the smaller class
140 
ROUTE THROUGHI WESTERN TEXAS. 141
of farm-houses in New England, but some of them having exterior plaster-work, or brick, laid up between the timbers, instead
of boards nailed over them. About these were larger inclosures,
from which extensive crops of corn had been taken; and it
caused us a sensation to see a number of parallelograms of COTTON-FREE-LABOR COTTON.   These were not often of more  than
an acre in extent. Most of them looked as if they had been
judiciously cultivated, and had yielded a fine crop, differing,
however, from that we had noticed on the plantations the day
before, in  this circumstance-the  picking  had  been  entirely
completed, and that with care and exactness, so that none of the
cotton, which the labor of cultivation had produced, had been
left to waste. The cotton-stalks stood rather more closely, and
were of less extraordinary size, but much more even or regular
in their growth than on the plantations.
A FREE-MINDED BUTCHER.
We were entering the valley of the Guadalupe river, which
is of the same general character as that of the San Marcos, and
had passed a small brown house with a turret and cross upon it,
which we learned was a Lutheran church, when we were overtaken by a good-natured butcher, who lived in Neu-Braunfels,
whence he had ridden out early in the morning to kill and dress
the hogs of one of the large farmers. He had finished his job,
and was returning.
He had been in this country eight years.  He liked it very
much; he did not wish to go back to Germany; he much preferred to remain here. The Germans, generally, were doing
well, and were contented. They had had a hard time at first,
but they were all doing well now-getting  rich.  He knew 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
but one German who had bought a slave; they did not think
well of slavery; they thought it better that all men should
be free; besides, the negroes would not work so well as the
Germans. They were improving their condition very rapidly,
especially within the last two years. It was sickly on the coast,
but here it was very healthy. He had been as well here as he
was in Germany-never had been ill. There were Catholics and
Protestants among them; as for himself, he was no friend to
priests, whether Catholic or Protestant. He had had enough of
them in Germany. They could not tell him anything new, and
he never went to any church.
We  forded, under his guidance, the Guadalupe, and after
climbing its high bank, found ourselves upon the level plateau
between the prairie hills and the river on which Neu-Braunfels is
situated. We had still nearly a mile to ride before entering the
town, and in this distance met eight or ten large wagons, each
drawn by three or four pairs of mules, or five or six yokes of
oxen, each carrying under its neck a brass bell. They were all
driven by Germans, somewhat uncouthly but warmly and neatly
dressed; all smoking and all good-humored, giving us "good
morning" as we met. Noticing the strength of the wagons, I
observed that they were made by Germans, probably.
"Yes," said the butcher, "the Germans make better wagons
than the Americans; the Americans buy a great many of them.
leere w re sevet wajgon-7ninuftictories in Braunfels."
NEU-BRAUNFELS.
The main street of the town, which we soon entered upon, was
very wide-three times as wide, in effect, as Broadway in New
York. The houses, with which it was thickly lined on each side
142 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 143
for a mile, were small, low cottages, of no pretensions to elegance, yet generally looking neat and comfortable. Many were
furnished with verandahs and gardens, and the greater part were
either stuccoed or painted. There were many workshops of
mechanics and small stores, with signs oftener in English than
in German; and bare-headed women, and men in caps and short
jackets, with pendent pipes, were everywhere seen at work.
AN EVENING FAR FROM TEXAS.
We had no acquaintance in the village, and no means of in troduction, but, in hopes that we might better satisfy ourselves
of the condition of the people, we agreed to stop at an inn and
get dinner, instead of eating a cold snack in the saddle, without
stopping at noon, as was our custom. "Here," said the butcher,
"is my shop-indicating a small house, at the door of which hung
dressed meat and beef sausages-and if you are going to stop,
I will recommend you to my neighbor, there, Mr. Schmitz." It
was a small cottage of a single story, having the roof extended so
as to form a verandah, with a sign swinging before it, " Guadalupe Hotel, J. Schmitz."
I never in my life, except, perhaps, in awakening from a
dream, met with such a sudden and complete transfer of associations. Instead of loose boarded or hewn log walls, with crevices
stuffed with rags or daubed with mortar, which we have been
accustomed to see during the last month, on staving in a door,
where we have found any to open; instead, even, of four
bare, cheerless sides of whitewashed plaster, which we have
found twice or thrice only in a more aristocratic American residence, we were-in short, we were in Germany.
There was nothing wanting; there was nothing too much, for 
144   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
one of those delightful little inns which the pedestrian who has
tramped through the Rhine land will ever remember gratefully.
A long room, extending across the whole front of the cottage,
the walls pink, with stenciled panels, and scroll ornaments in
crimson, and with neatly-framed and glazed pretty lithographic
prints hanging on all sides; a long, thick, dark oak table, with
rounded ends, oak benches at ifs sides; chiseled oak chairs; a
sofa, covered with cheap pink calico, with a small vine pattern;
a stove in the corner; a little mahogany cupboard in another
corner, with pitcher and glasses upon it; a smoky atmosphere;
and finally, four thick-bearded men, from whom the smoke proceeds, who all bow and say "Good morning," as we lift our hats
in the doorway.
The landlady enters; she does not readily understand us, and
one of the smokers rises immediately to assist us. Dinner we
shall have imnmediately, and she spreads the white cloth at an end
of the table, before she leaves the room, and in two minutes'
time, by which we have got off our coats and warmed our hands
at the stove, we are asked to sit down. An excellent soup is
set before us, and in succession there follow two courses of meat,
neither of them pork, and neither of them fried, two dishes of
vegetables, salad, compote of peaches, coffee with milk, wheat
bread from the loaf, and beautiful and sweet butter-not only
such butter as I have never tasted south of the Potomac before,
but such as I have been told a hundred times it was impossible
to make in a southern climate. What is the secret? I suppose
it is extreme cleanliness, beginning far back of where cleanliness
usually begins at the South, and carefuil and thorough working.
We then spent an hour in conversation with the gentlemen
who were in the room. They were all educated, cultivated, 
ROUTE TTIROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 145
well-bred, respectful, kind. and affable men.  All wcere natives of
Germany, and had been living several years in Texas.  Some of
them were travelers, their homes being in other German settle   ments; some of them had resided long at Braunfels.
It was so very agreeable to meet such men again, and the ac  count they gave of the Germans in Texas was so interesting and
gratifying, that we were unwilling to immediately continue our
journey, We went out to look at our horses; a man in cap and
jacket was rubbing their legs-the first time they had received
such attention in Texas, except from ourselves, or by special and
costly arrangement with a negro. They were pushing their noses
into racks filled with fine mesquit hay —the first they had
had in Texas. They seemed to look at us imploringly. We
ought to spend the night. But there is evidently no sleeping room for us in the little inn.   They must be full.   But then w6
could sleep with more comfort on the floor here, probably, than
we have been accustomed to of late.   We  concluded to ask if
they could accommodate us for the night. Yes, with pleasure would we be pleased to look at the room they could afford us?
Doubtless in the cock-loft.   No, it was in another little cottage
in the rear. A little room it proved, with blue walls again, and
Dak furniture; two beds, one of them would be for each of usthe first time we had been offered the luxury of sleeping alone in
Texas; two large windows with curtains, and evergreen roses
trained over them on the outside-not a pane of glass missing
or broken-the first sleeping-room we have had in Texas where
this was the case; a sofa; a bureau, on which were a complete
set of the Conversations Lexicon; Kendall's Santa Fe Expedition; a statuette in porcelain; plants in pots; a brass study
lamp; a large ewer and basin for washing, and a couple of tow      7 
146   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
els of thick stuff, full a yard and a quarter long. 0, yes, it will
do for us admirably; we will spend the night.
In the afternoon, we called upon the German Protestant clergyman,  who received us kindly,  and, though speaking little
English, was very ready to give all the information he could
about his people, and the Germans in Texas generally. We
visited some of the workshops, and called on a merchant to
ascertain the quality and amount of the cotton grown by the
Germans in the neighborhood. At supper, we met a dozen or
more intelligent people, and spent the later evening, with several
others, at the residence of one of our accidental inn acquaintances.
I will simply remark here, that the facts learned from these
gentlemen, confirmed the simple good accounts of the butcher.
As I was returning to the inn, about ten o'clock, I stopped for
a few moments at the gate of one of the little cottages, to listen
to some of the best singing I have heard for a long time, several parts being sustained by very sweet and well-trained voices.
In the day time, I saw in the public street, at no great distance
from a school-house, a tame doe, with a band on its neck, to distinguish it from the wild deer, lest it should be shot by sportsmen.
It was exceedingly beautiful, and so tame that it allowed me to
approach, and licked my hand.  In what Texan town, through
which we have passed before, could this have occurred.
In the morning we found that our horses had been bedded, for
the first time in Texas.
As we rode out of town, it was delightful to meet again troops
of children, with satchels and knapsacks of books, and little ket tles of dinner, all with ruddy, cheerful faces, the girls especially
so, with their hair braided neatly, and without caps or bonnets, 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTERN TEXAS. 147
smiling and saluting us-" guten mnorgen"-as we met.  Nothing
so pleasant as that in Texas before, hardly in the South.
Such was our first encounter with the Germans in Texas.
Chance afterwards threw us in the way of seeing much more of
them; but I have preferred to preserve the order of time and give
now simply these first notes, that the reader who follows vs
may receive our succession of impressions.
THE SAN ANTONIO ROAD.
WVe had hardly left the town, which is straggling thickly to
the westward and merges, by degrees, its town-lots into ten-acre
homesteads and small farms, when one of our table companions
came up on the road behind us, also on his way to San Antonio.
He joined us, by our invitation, and though we found some diffi culty in mutual comprehension, added much to our pleasure and
information.
The distance to San Antonio, by the shortest road, is about
thirty miles. The old road follows up a creek bottom, and houses,
sheltered by live-oaks, stand thick along it, each in the centre of
a little farm, having a broad open range of pasture before it.
WVe left these and the hills beyond them, to the right, and went
in a straight course out upon the open prairies. The grass had,
in many places, been recently burned, giving the country a desolated surface of dead black monotony.
The trees were live-oaks and even these very rare. The groundswells were long, and so equal in height and similar in form, as
to bring to mind a tedious sea voyage, where you go plodding on,,
slow hour after slow hour, without raising a single object to attract the eye.
At noon we crossed the Cibolo (pronounced by Texans "Se 
148    A JOURNEY THRIOUGH TEXAS.
willa"), a creek which has the freak of here and there disappearing
in its course for miles, leaving its bed dry, except during freshets.
Here were several settlements, almost the only ones on the day's
route. Not very far away, however, are, in several places, Germans, who have built neat stone houses out upon the prairie
away from any running water, depending entirely upon wells.
Seven miles from San Antonio we passed the Salado, another
smaller creek, and shortly after, rising a hill, saw the domes and
white clustered dwellings of Sam Antonio below us. We stopped
and gazed long on the sunny scene.
The city is closely-built and prominent, and lies basking on
the edge of a vast plain, through which the river winds slowly
off beyond where the eye can reach.  To the east are gentle
slopes toward it; to the north a long gradual sweep upward to
the mountain country, which comes down within five or six miles;
to the south and west, the open prairies, extending almost level
to the coast, a hundred and fifty miles away.
There is little wood to be seen in this broad landscape. Along
the course of the river a thin edging appears, especially around
the head of the stream, a short ride above the city. Elsewhere,
there is only limitless grass and thorny bushes.
These last, making chapparal, we saw as we went further on, for
the first time. A few specimens of mesquit (algarobbia glandu losa) had been pointed out to us; but here the ground shortly
became thickly covered with it. This shrub forms one of the
prominent features of Texas, west of San Antonio. It is a short
thin tree of the locust tribe, whose branches are thick set with
thorns, and bears, except in this respect, a close resemblance to a
straggling, neglected peach-tree.  Mixed with other shrubs of a
like prickly nature, as an undergrowth, it frequently forms, over 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 149
acres together, an impenetrable mass. When the tree is old, its
trunk and roots make an excellent fire-wood; but for other purposes it is almost useless, owing to its bent and tortuous fibre.
A great value is said to lie in its gum, which, if properly secured,
has been pronounced equal to gum-arabic in utility.
By a wall of these thorns the road is soon closed in. Almost
all the roads of entrance are thus lined, and so the city bristles
like the porcupine, with a natural defense. Reaching the level,
we shortly came upon the first house, which had pushed out and
conquered a bit of the chapparal.   Its neighbor was opposite,
and soon the street closed in.
The singular composite character of the town is palpable at
the entrance. For five minutes the houses were evidently German, of fresh square-cut blocks of creamy-white limestone, mostly
of a single story and humble proportions, but neat, and thoroughly
roofed and finished.   Some were filrnished with the luxuries of
little bow-windows, balconies, or galleries.
From these we enter the square of the Alamo. This is all
Mexican. Windowless cabins of stakes, plastered with mud and
roofed with river-grass, or "tula;" or low, windowless, but better thatched, houses of adobes (gray, unb)urnt bricks), with groups
of brown idlers lounging at their doors.
The principal part of the town lies within a sweep of the river
upon the other side. We descend to the bridge, which is close
down upon the water, as the river, owing to its peculiar source,
never varies in height or temperature.   We irresistibly stop to
examine it, we are so struck with its beauty. It is of a rich blue
and pure as crystal, flowing rapidly but noiselessly over pebbles
and between reedy banks.   One could lean for hours over the
bridge-rail. 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
From the bridge we enter Commerce street, the narrow principal thoroughfare, and here are American houses, and the triple
nationalities break out into the most amusing display, till we
reach the main plaza. The sauntering Mexicans prevail on the
pavements, but the bearded Germans and the sallow Yankees
fuirnish their proportion. The signs are German by all odds,
and perhaps the houses, trim-built, with pink window-blinds.
The American dwellings stand back, with galleries and jalousies and a garden picket-fence against the walk, or rise, next
door, in three-story brick to respectable city fronts. The Mexican buildings are stronger than those we saw before, but still of
all sorts, and now put to all sorts of new uses. They are all
low, of adobe or stone, washed blue and yellow, with flat roofs
close down upon their single story. Windows have been knocked in their blank walls, letting the sun into their dismal vaults,
and most of them are stored with dry goods and groceries, which
overflow around the door.  Around the plaza are American
hotels, and new glass-fronted stores, alternating with sturdy battlemented Spanish walls, and confronted by the dirty, grim, old
stuccoed stone cathedral, whose cracked bell is now clunking for
vespers, in a tone that bids us no welcome, as more of the intruding race who have caused all this progress, on which its
traditions, like its imperturbable dome, frown down.
SAN ANTONIO.
We have no city, except, perhaps, New Orleans, that can vie,
in point of the picturesque interest that attaches to odd and antiquated foreignness, with San Antonio.  Its jumble of races,
costumes, languages and buildings; its religious ruins, holding
to an antiquity, for us, indistinct enough to breed an unaccus
150 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 151
tomed solemnity; its remote, isolated, outposted situation, and
the vague conviction that it is the first of a new class of conquered cities into whose decaying streets our rattling life is to be
infused, combine with the heroic touches in its history to enliven
and satisfy your traveler's curiosity.
Not suspecting the leisure we were to have to examine it at
our ease, we set out to receive its impressions while we had the
opportunity.
After drawing, at the Post-office window, our personal share
of the dear income of happiness divided by that department, we
strolled, by moonlight, about the streets. They are laid out
with tolerable regularity, parallel with the sides of the main
plaza, and are pretty distinctly shared among the nations that
use them. On the plaza and the busiest streets, a surprising
number of old Mexican buildings are converted, by trowel, paintbrush, and gaudy carpentry, into drinking-places, always labeled
"Exchange," and conducted on the New Orleans model. About
these loitered a set of customers, sometimes rough, sometimes
affecting an " exquisite" dress, by no means attracting to a
nearer acquaintance with themselves or their haunts. Here and
there was a restaurant of a quieter look, where the traditions of
Paris are preserved under difficulties by the exiled Gaul.
The doors of the cabins of the real natives stood open wide,
if indeed they exist at all, and many were the family pictures
of jollity or sleepy comfort they displayed to us as we sauntered
curious about. The favorite dress appeared to be a dishabille, and
a fiee-and-easy, loloppy sort of life generally, seemed to have
been adopted as possessing, on the whole, the greatest advantages
for a reasonable being. The larger part of each family appeared
to be made up of black-eyed, olive girls, full of animation of 
152   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
tongue and glance, but sunk in a soft embonpoint, which added
a somewhat extreme good-nature to their charms. Their dresses
seemed lazily reluctant to cover their plump persons, and their
attitudes were always expressive of the influences of a Southern
sun upon national manners. The matrons, dark and wrinkled,
formed a strong contrast to their daughters, though, here and
there, a fine cast of feature, and a figure erect with dignity, attracted the eye. The men lounged in roundabouts and oigaritos,
as was to be expected, and, in fact, the whole picture lacked nothing that is Mexican.
Daylight walks about the town yielded little more to curiosity.
The contrast of nationalities remained the chief interest. The
local business is considerable, but carried on without subdivision
of occupation. Each of a dozen stores offers all the articles
you may ask for.  A druggist or two, a saddler or two, a watchmaker and a gunsmith ply almost the only distinct trades. The
country supplied from this centre is extensive, but very thinly
settled. The capital owned here is quite large. The principal
accumulations date from the Mexican war, when no small part
of the many millions expended by Government were disbursed
here in payment to contractors. Some prime cuts were secured
by residents, and no small portion of the lesser pickings remained in their hands. Since then the town has been well-to-do,
and consequently accumulates a greater population than its position in other respects would justify.
The traffic, open and illicit, across the frontier with interior
Mexico, has some importance and returns some bulky bags of
silver. All the principal merchants have their agencies on the
Rio Grande, and throw in goods, and haul out dollars, as opportunity serves.   The transportation of their goods forms the 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTERN TEXAS. 153
principal support of the Mexican population.   It is this trade,
probably, which accounts for the large stocks which are kept, and
the large transactions that result, beyond the strength of most
similar towns.
All goods are brought from Matagorda Bay, a distance of 150
miles, by ox-teams, moving with prodigious slowness and irregu larity. In a favorable season, the freight-price is one-and-a-quarter cents per lb., from Lavacca. Prices are extremely high, and
subject to great variations, depending upon the actual supply, and
the state of the roads.
Cash is sometimes extremely scarce in the town.  The Mexican dollars are sent forward to a good market. Government
brings its army-stores direct from the coast. But some hay, corn,
and other supplies, are contracted for in the region, and from this
source, and from the leavings of casual travelers, and new emigrants, the hard money for circulation is derived. Investments
at present are mostly in lands. There are no home-exports of
the least account. Pecan-nuts, and a little coarse wool, are
almost the only items of the catalogue. The wealth and steady
growth of the town depend almost entirely upon the rapid settlement of the adjacent country.
A scanty congregation attends the services of the battered old
cathedral.   The Protestant church  attendance  can almost be
counted upon the fingers. Sunday is pretty rigidly devoted to
rest, though most of the stores are open to all practical purposes,
and the exchanges keep up a brisk distribution of stimulants.
The Germans and Mexicans have their dances. The Americans
resort to fast horses for their principal recreation.
We noticed, upon a ruined wall, the remains of a placard,
which illustrates at the same time a Yankee shrewdness in devot      7* 
154    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
ing a (lay to grief, without actual loss of time, and the social
manners of the people:
" RESOLUTIONS on t!Le death of THE Ho-. DANIEL WEBSTER."
"Be it resolved by the Board of Aldermen of the city of San
Antonio, in Common Council assembled, that, by the death of the late
Daniel Webster, the people are plunged in mourning, and in testimonial
of our grief, we sincerely join with other cities and towns of our
country in requesting a suspension of labor, and the closing of all places
of business, on SUNDAY, the loth irist., from  10 o'clock A. M. to 4
o'clock P. M., and that all the flags in the city be displayed at half-mast,
and minute guns fired through the day."
The town of San Antonio was founded in 1730 by a colony
of twelve families of pure Spanish blood, from the Canary
islands. The names of the settlers are perpetuated to this day,
by existing families, which have descended from each, such
as  Garcia, Flores, Navarro,  Garza, Yturri, Rodriquez.    The
original mission and fort of San Antonio de Valero dates from
1715, when Spain established her occupancy of Texas.
THE MISSIONS.
Not far from the city, along the river, are these celebrated religious establishments. They are of a similar character to the
many scattered here and there over the plains of Northern Mexico and California, and bear a solid testimony to the strangely
patient courage and zeal of the old Spanish fathers. They pushed off alone into the heart of a savage and unknown country,
converted the cruel brutes that occupied it, not only to nominal
Christianity, but to actual hard labor, and persuaded and compelled them to construct these ponderous but rudely splendid
edifices, serving, at the same time, for the glory of the faith, and
for the defense of the faithful.*
Good drawings of two of these missions may be seen in Bartlett's "Per
sonal Narrative. 
ROUTE THIROUGH W,ESTERN TEXAS. 1t55
The Alamo was one of the earliest of these establishments.
It is now within the town, and in extent, probably, a mere wreck
of its former grandeur.  It consists of a few irregular stuccoed
buildings, huddled against the old church, in a large court sur rounded by a rude wall; the whole used as an arsenal by the
U. S. quartermaster. The church-door opens on the square, and
is meagerly decorated by stucco mouldings, all hacked and battered in the battles it has seen. Since the heroic defense of Travis
and his handful of men, in'36, it has been a monument, not so
much to faith as to courage.
The Mission of Concepcion is not far from the town, upon the
left of the river. Further down are three others, San Juan, San
Jose6, and La Espada. On one of them is said to have been
visible, not long ago, the date, " 1725."  They are in different
stages of decay, but all are real ruins, beyond any connection
with the present-weird remains out of the silent past.
They are of  various magnificence, but all upon a common
model, and of the same materials-rough blocks of limestone,
cemented with a strong gray stucco. Each has its church, its
convent, or celled house for the fathers, and its farm-buildings,
arranged around a large court, entered only at a single point.
Surrounding each was a large farm, irrigated at a great outlay
of labor by aqueducts from the river.
The decorations of the doors and windows may be still examined. They are of stucco, and are rude heads of saints, and
mouldirigs, usually without grace, corresponding to those described as at present occupying similar positions in Mexican
churches.  One of the missions is a complete ruin, the others
afford shelter to Mexican occupants, who ply their trades, and
herd their cattle and sheep in the old cells and courts.   Many is 
156   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
the picturesque sketch offered to the pencil by such intrusion
upon falling dome, tower, and cloister.
THE ENVIRONS.
The system of aqueducts, for artificial irrigation, extends for
many miles around San Antonio, and affords some justification
for the Mexican tradition, that the town, not long ago, contained
a very much larger population. Most of these lived by agriculture, returning at evening to a crowded home in the city. These
water-courses still retain their old Spanish name, "acequias."  A
large part of them are abandoned, but in the immediate neighborhood of the city they are still in use, so that every garden-patch
may be flowed at will.
In the outskirts of the town are many good residences, recently
erected by Americans. They are mostly of the creamy limestone,
which is found in abundance near by. It is of a very agreeable
shade, readily sawed and cut, sufficiently durable, and can be procured at a moderate cost. When the grounds around them shall
have been put in correspondence with the style of these houses,
they will make enviable homes.
THE SAN ANTONIO SPRING.
I
There are, besides the missions, several pleasant points for excursions in the neighborhood, particularly those to the San Antonio and San Pedro Springs. The latter is a wooded spot of
great beauty, but a mile or two from the town, and boasts a restaurant and beer-garden beyond its natural attractions.   The
San Antonio Spring may be classed as of the first water among
the gems of the natural world.   The whole river gushes up in
one sparkling burst from the earth.   It has all the beautiful tc 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTERN TEXAS. 157
companiments of a smaller spring, moss, pebbles, seclusion,
sparkling sunbeams, and dense overhanging luxuriant foliage.
The effect is overpowering. It is beyond youir possible conceptions
of a spring. You cannot believe your eyes, and almost shrink
from sudden metamorphosis by invaded nymphdom.
BATHING.
The temperature of the river is of just that agreeable elevation
that makes you loth to leave a bath, and the color is the ideal
blue.   Few cities have such a luxury.   It remains throughout
the year without perceptible change of temperature, and never
varies in height or volume.   The streets are laid out in such a
way that a great number of houses have a garden extending to
the bank, and so a bathing-house, which is in constant use. The
MIexicans seem half the time about the water. Their plump
women, especially, are excellent swimmers, and fond of displaying their luxurious buoyancy. The fall of the river is such as
to furnish abundant water-power, which is now used but for a
single corn-mill. Several springs add their current to its volume
above the town, and that from the San Pedro below. It unites,
near the Gulf, with the Guadalupe, and empties into Espiritu
Santo Bay, watering a rich, and, as yet, but little-settled country.
The soil, in the neighborhood of the city, is heavy, and sometimes mixed with drifts of limestone pebbles, and deposits of
shell, but is everywhere black, and appears of inexhaustible fertility, if well cultivated and supplied with moisture. The market-gardens, belonging to Germans, which we saw later in the
season, are most luxuriant.   The prices of milk, butter, and
vegetables are very high, and the gains of the small German market-farmers must be rapidly accumulating. 
158    A JOURNEY THROUGH- TEXAS.
TOWN LIFE.
The street-life of San Antonio is more varied than might be
supposed.   Hardly a day passes without some noise.   If there
be no personal affray to arouse talk, there is some Government
train to be seen, with its hundred of mules, on its way from the
coast to a fort above; or a Mexican ox-train from the coast, with
an interesting supply of ice, or flour, or matches, or of whatever
the shops find themselves short. A Government express clatters
off; or news arrives from some exposed outpost, or from New
Mexico. An Indian in his finery appears on a shaggy horse, in
search of blankets, powder, and ball.   Or at the least, a stagecoach with the "States," or the Austin, mail, rolls into the plaza
and discharges its load of passengers and newspapers.
The street affrays are numerous and characteristic.   I have
seen, for a year or more, a San Antonio weekly, and hardly a
number fails to have its fight or its murder.   More often than
otherwise, the parties meet upon the plaza by chance, and each,
on catching sight of his enemy, draws a revolver, and fires away.
As the actors are under more or less excitement, their aim is not
apt to be of the most careful and sure, consequently it is, not
seldom, the passers-by who suffer. Sometimes it is a young man
at a quiet dinner in a restaurant, who receives a ball in the head;
sometimes an old negro woman, returning from market, who gets
winged.   After disposing of all their lead, the parties close, to
try their steel, but as this species of metallic amusement is less
popular, they generally contrive to be separated (" Hold me!
Hold me!") by friends before the wounds are mortal.  If neither is seriously injured, they are brought to drink together
on the following day, and the town waits for the next excitemnent. 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TE X A S. 159
Wvhere borderers and idle soldiers are hanging about drinking places, and where different races mingle on unequal terms, assas sinations must be expected. Murders, from avarice or revenge,
are common here. Most are charged upon the Mexicans, whose
passionate motives are not rare, and to whom escape over the
border is easiest and most natural.
The town amusements of a less exciting character are not
many. There is a permanent company of Mexican mounte banks, who give performances of agility and buffoonery two or
three times a week, parading, before night, in their spangled
tights with drum and trombone through the principal streets.
They draw a crowd of whatever little Mexicans can get adrift,
and this attracts a few sellers of whisky, tortillas, and tamaules
(corn slap-jackls and hashed meat in corn-shucks), all by the
light of torches making a ruddily picturesque evening group.
The more grave Americans are served with tragedy by a thin
local company, who are death on horrors and despair, long
rapiers, and well oiled hair, and for lack of a better place to
flirt with passing officers, the city belles may sometimes be seen
looking on.  The national background of peanuts and yells, is
not, of course, wanting.
A day or two after our arrival, there was the hanging of a
Mexican. The whole population left the town to see. Family
parties, including the grandmother and the little negroes, came
from all the plantations and farms within reach, and little ones
were held up high to get their share of warning. The Mexicans
looked on imperturbable.
San Antonio, excluding Galveston,* is much the largest city
* The two towns have nearly kept pace in growth. The yellow fever, it is
Paid, hsq now given San Antonio the advantage. 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
of Texas. After the Revolution, it was half deserted by its
Mexican population, who did not care to come  under AngloSaxon rule. Since then its growth has been rapid and steady.
At the census of 1850, it numbered 3,500; in 1853, its population was 6,000; and in 1856, it is estimated at 10,500. Of
these, about 4,000 are Mexicans, 3,000 Germans, and 3,500
Americans. The money-capital is in the hands of the Americans, as well as the officers and the Government. Most of the
mechanics and the smaller shopkeepers are German. The Mexicans appear to have almost no other business than that of carting goods. Almost the entire transportation of the country is
carried on by them, with oxen and two-wheeled carts. Some of
them have small shops, for the supply of their own countrymen,
and some live upon the produce of farms and cattle-ranches
owned in the neighborhood. Their livelihood is, for the most
part, exceedingly meagre, made up chiefly of corn and beans.
THE MEXICANS IN TEXAS.
We had, before we left, opportunities of visiting familiarly
many of the Mexican dwellings. I have described their externals. Within, we found usually a single room, open to the
roof and invariably having a floor of beaten clay a few inches
below the level of the street. There was little furniture-huge
beds being the universal piece de resistance. These were used
by day as sofa and table. Sometimes there were chairs and a
table besides; but frequently only a bench, with a few earthen
utensils for cooking, which is carried on outside. A dog or a
cat appears on or under the bed, or on the clothes-chest, a saint
on the wall, and frequently a game-cock fastened in a corner,
supplied with dishes of corn and water.
160 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 161
We were invariably received with the most gracious and beam ing politeness and dignity. Their manner towards one another
is engaging, and that of children and parents most affectionate.
This we always noticed in evening walks and in the groups
about the doors, which were often singing in chorus-the atti tudes expressive  of confident affection.   In one house,  we
were introduced to an old lady who was supposed by her grand children to be over one hundred years old. She had come from
Mexico, in a rough cart, to make them a visit. Her face was
strikingly Indian in feature, her hair, snow white, flowing thick
over the shoulders, contrasting strongly with the olive skin.
The complexion of the girls is clear, and sometimes fair, usually
a blushing olive. The variety of feature and color is very striking, and is naturally referred to three sources-the old Spanish,
the Creole Mexican, and the Indian, with sometimes a suspicion
of Anglo-Saxon or Teuton. The hair is coarse, but glossy, and
very luxuriant; the eye, deep, dark, liquid, and well set. Their
modesty, though real, we heard, was not proof against a long
courtship of flattering attentions and rich presents. The constancy of the married women was made very light of, not that
their favors were purchasable, but that they are sometimes seized
by a strong penchant for some other than their lord.  There was
testimony of this in the various shades and features of their
children; in fact we thought the number of babies of European
hair and feature exceeded the native olive in number.   We noticed, in a group of Mexican and negro women, when an indelicate occurrence took place, that the former turned away in annoyed modesty, while the latter laughed broadly. Their constitutions, in general, are feeble, and very many of both sexes,
we were informed, suffered from  scrofulous disease.  Never 
162   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
theless, with  good  stimulus, the  men  make  admirable  laborers.
The common dress was loose and slight, not to say slatternly.
It was frequently but a chemise, as low as possible in the neck,
sometimes even lower, with a calico petticoat. On holidays
they dress in expensive finery, paying special attention to the
shoes, of white satin, made by a native artist.
The houses of the rich differ little from those of the poor, and
the difference in their style of living must be small, owing to the
want of education and of all ambition. The majority are classed
as laborers. Their wages are small, usually, upon farms near
San Antonio, $6 or $8 a month, with corn and beans. That of
the teamsters is in proportion to their energy. On being paid
off; they hurry to their family and all come out in their best to
spend the earnings, frequently quite at a loss for what to exchange them. They make excellent drovers and shepherds, and
in work like this, with which they are acquainted, are reliable
and adroit. A horse-drover, just from the Rio Grande, with
whom we conversed, called them untiring and faithful at their
work, but untrustworthy in character. To his guide, he paid $24
a month, to his " right bower," $15, and to his "left bower," $12
a month.
Their tools are of the rudest sort. The old Mexican wheel
of hewn blocks of wood is still constantly in use, though supplanted, to some extent, by Yankee wheels, sent in pairs from
New York.   The carts are always hewn of heavy wood, and are
covered with white cotton, stretched over hoops.   In these they
live, on the road, as independently as in their own house. The
cattle are yoked by the horns, with raw-hide thongs, of which
they make a great use. 
ROUTE THRO U G H WESTE RN  TE X A S. 163
They consort freely with  the negroes, making no distinction
from pride of race. A few, of old Spanish blood, have purchased
negro servants, but most of them regard slavery with abhorrence.
The Mexicans were treated for a while after annexation like a
conquered people. Ignorant of their rights, and of the new lan guage, they allowed themselves to be imposed upon by the new
comers, who  seized their lands and property  without  shadow
of claim, and drove hundreds of them homeless across the Rio
Grande. They now, as they get gradually better informed, come
straggling back, and often their claims give rise to litigation,
usually settled by a compromise.
A friend told us, that, wishing, when he built, to square a corner of his lot, after making diligent inquiry he was unable to
hear of any owner for the adjoining piece. IHe took the responsibility, and moved his fence over it. Not long after, he was
waited upon by a Mexican woman, in a towering passion. Hie
carried her to a Spanish acquaintance, and explained the transaction. She was immediately appeased, told him he was welcome
to the land, and has since been on the most neighborly terms,
calling him always her " amigo."
Most adult Mexicans are voters by the organic law; but few
take measures to make use of the right.  Should they do so, they
might probably, in San Antonio, have elected a government of their
own. Such a step would be followed, however, by a summary
revolution. They are regarded by slaveholders with great contempt and suspicion, for their intimacy with slaves, and their
competition with plantation labor.
Americans, in speaking of them, constantly distinguish themselves as " white folks."   I once heard a new comer informing
another American, that he had seen a Mexican with a revolver. 
164    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
"I shouldn't think they ought to be allowed to carry fire-arms.
It might be dangerous."   "It would be difficult to prevent it,"
the other replied; " Oh, they think themselves just as good as
white men."
From several counties they have been driven out altogether.
At Austin, in the spring of 1853, a meeting was held, at which
the citizens resolved, on the plea that Mexicans were horse-thieves,
that they must quit the county. About twenty families were
thus driven from their homes, and dispersed over the western
counties.   Deprived of their means of livelihood, and rendered
furious by such wholesale injustice, it is no wonder if they should
take to the very crimes with which they are charged.
A similar occurrence took place at Seguin, in 1854; and in
1855, a few families, who had returned to Austin, were again
driven out.
Even at San Antonio, there had been talk of such a razzia. A
Mexican, caught in an attempt to steal a horse, had been hung
by a Lynching party, on the spot, for an example.   His friends
happened to be numerous, and were much excited, threatening
violence in return. Under pretext of subduing an intended riot,
the sheriff issued a call for an armed posse of 500 men, with
the idea of dispersing and driving from the neighborhood a
large part of the Mexican population. But the Germans, who
include among them the great majority of young men suitable
for such duty, did not volunteer as had been expected, and the
scheme was abandoned. They were of the opinion, one of them
said to me, that this was not the right and republican way. If
the laws were justly and energetically administered, no other
remedy would be needed. One of them, who lived on the Medina,
in the vicinity of the place of the occurrence, told us he had no 
ROUTE THRO U GH WE STERN TEXAS. 165
complaint to make of the Mexicans; they never stole his property,
or troubled him in any way.
The following is the most reliable estimate I can obtain of the
actual Mexican population in Texas, (1856):
San Antonio....    4,000
Bexar Co..                     2.000
Uvalde Co.....    1,000
Laredo.....       1,500
El Paso, with Presidio..           8,500
Lower Rio Grande Counties..        3,000
Goliad and Nueces Counties..    1,000
Other parts of State..       1,000
Floating, say....    3000
25,000
A PAUSE.
We had made it our first business, on arriving at San Antonio,
to find what company was to be had for our Mexican trip, and
we were somewhat dismayed, on delivering our letters, to find
that communication with Mexico was thought to be infrequent
and precarious. Merchants dispatched goods occasionally to different points on the Rio Grande; now and then a Government
express, or an officer with escort, left for our military stations
there; a post-rider, once a week, crossed the desert beyond the
Nueces, riding rapidly and sleeping on the ground. But traveling parties, such as we had thought to join, for the interior cities
of Mexico, were almost unheard of: in fact, in the unsettled state
of political affairs in that crazy Republic, it was considered highly
dangerous for a party to travel there, whose numbers did not
enable them, not only to stand nightly guard, but to resist, if
necessary, organized attacks upon the road.
A train for Chihuahua, via E1 Paso, was just about leaving,
which, if we wished to go in that direction, would afford us ample 
166   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
protection. We rode a mile or two out of town to the spot where
it was encamped.   It was commanded,  we found, by Julius
Froebel, who escaped, by so slender a thread, the republican
martyrdom which his companion, Robert Blum, actually suffered
in Vienna, and whose scientific contributions to the natural and
human history of the central parts of the continent, have now and
then appeared in the New  York Tribune.  The train was a very
large one, and equipped in the best style.   There were twentysix wagons, drawn by 260 mules, with experienced drivers,
forage and provisions, besides professional hunters, to obtain fresh
meat where possible. Mr. Froebel, however, gave such an account
of the slowness and tedium of the travel-life of such a trip as
quite discouraged us, especially as the train was to leave within
twelve hours.  We were fortunate, the event proved, in not having joined it, as, though it reached its destination quite safely,
it was detained for some?nonths, in camp at the frontier, near E1
Paso, while custom-house difficulties were being arranged.
After a day or two, our friend B. announced that a change in
his business affairs at the north would compel him to ask a discharge from his enlistment, which we unwillingly granted. This
more completely blocked our wheels, and threw us quite upon
chance for our route and our company. We made inquiries on
all sides without success. The officer in command of the station
here could give us no promise of company, within a short time,
even to the Rio Grande.   We consulted many old border travelers, who strongly dissuaded us from attempting the trip by
ourselves.  Finally, among the boarders at a German inn, we
heard of a scientific gentleman, living at Braunfels, who was
about to make the trip to the city of Mexico, and resolved on returning there to offer ourselves as companions. 
ROUTE THROUGII WESTERN TEXAS. 167
On entering San Antonio, our fellow-traveler had taken us with
him to this German inn, the more willingly on our part, as we
retained a vivid impression of the contrast between the hotel at
Neu-Braunfels and every other hotel we had seen in Texas. We
had been extremely interested in what we had seen of the Germans, too, and were glad of an excuse to see more of them.  We
found a miserable old Mexican house, and close quarters enough
for sleep)ing, but most pleasant company, a hearty, hospitable,
uinremnitting kindness, and a table which, with its refreshing salads
and variety of vegetables, was like returning spring to our salt
and husky palates. At each meal we met some twenty boarders,
mostly clerks or men in business, but with a sprinkling of professional men, and, from first to last, gentlemen in manner, and full
of such information as we wanted. We cannot too strongly recommend a quiet traveler to follow our example.
By their advice we called upon the editor of their German
newspaper, who received us most politely, and was able, not only
to give us the name of the gentleman who was intending to go to
Mexico, but to give us a more accurate idea of the numbers and
position of the Germans in Texas than we had before obtained.
A NORTHER.
The day before we left San Antonio was cold and foggy.  The
following morning was warm but still foggy, making our ride,
with a light wind behind us, exceedingly oppressive.  We threw
off our coats, and soon stripped off vest and cravat; but this, we
found, was not enough, and we were obliged to stop to take off
our flannel.   Our horses were reeking with sweat.   At two
o'clock the thermometer, in a cool, shady spot, stood at 79~, and
the sky was  nearly clear.  We were very tired and thirsty, and 
165    A JOU RNEY T H ROUGH TEXAS.
one of us suggested that this was the very country and the very
weather for mirage. It was not long after we saw the edge of
the horizon rising in the flickering heat, and groups of trees
standing free in the air, as an island or a point stretches off into
the sky of a hot day on the sea-coast. Then the trees connected
themselves with the land below upon each side, and we saw a
beautiful lake, the water rippling in the sunlight. It grew wider
and longer, and shortly was like the open sea, with a rich and
shady shore, extending up, at intervals, like bays and rivers, into
the land. Soon the lakes were common here and there about us,
calm of surface, trees with heavy foliage bending over their
banks to rest in the water.   Had  we not been prepared, by a
knowledge of the country, we should have been strongly tempted
to ride towards some of them for a drink of cool water.
Later in the day, the air became clearer, and a pleasant breeze
played upon our backs. The mirage gradually disappeared, and
we lost it in descending a swell of the prairie. It was near sunBet, with a dull cloud bank in the north. We were still suffering
with the heat, when one of us said   "See this before us, what is it, fog again or smoke?"
"A prairie fire, I think," said the other.
"Probably it is; but what is this on the hill close by, this is
fog, surely? It must be a norther coming. Yes, it is a norther;
listen to that roar!  We must get our clothing on or we shall
be chilled through."
First, a chilly whiff, then a puff, the grass bends fiat, and,
bang, it is upon us-a blast that would have taken a top-gallant
sail smack out of the bolt-ropes, and cold as if blowing across a
sea of ice. We galloped to the nearest ravine, and hurried on
all the clothing we could muster. Fortunately, though our bag 
ROUTE T H I ROUGH WE S TERN TEXAS. 169
gage was left behind, we had taken a supply, having strapped.
blankets, Guernsey shirts, and Canada leggins, behind our sad
dles.
At nine o'clock, the thermometer stood at thirty-three degrees,
and, at seven next morning, at twenty-one degrees. A thermo meter hanging in Neu-Braunifels showed a fall of sixty degrees
in seven hours.
These northers upon the open prairies are exceedingly trying.
The fierce wind that accompanies such a sudden change gives
them triple effect, especially as they often interrupt warm,
relaxing weather. Teamsters, herdsmen, and travelers, caught
out far from habitations, not unfrequently perish, and very great
suffering is caused to animals. Cattle instinctively make for the
nearest shelter of trees; but, on the open prairies of the coast,
they fall by thousands before a freezing rain, which is sometimes
added.
The northers continue from one to three days, growing milder
at the close, and occur once or twice a week during the winter
months. But a tight house and a blazing fire make one quite independent of them, and such we found in the German inn.
NEU-BRAUNFELS.-THE ORPHANS.
Our naturalist, we were told, lived adjacent to the Orphan
Asylum at Neu-Wied, a hamlet some three miles from the town.
Thither, after breakfast, next day, we went, with a note of
introduction, on foot, and briskly, for it was too cold to ride.
The Orphan Asylum, as we approached it, had the appearance
of being a small American farm-house, with a German rear erection of brick laid up in a timber frame-work. A large live-oak
sheltered the stoop, but the whole establishment was very rough,
8 
170    A JOURNEY THRO UGH TEXAS.
with a common rail-fence about it, and not the least indication
of fashionable philanthropy. As we entered a large, dark, unpainted hall, a man came forward from an inner room, who,
from his dress, might have been taken for a day-laborer. It
was the gentleman, however, whom we wished to see-a courteous and cultivated professor.
It was a holiday, and he had been engaged in preparing some
botanical specimens, but immediately left them to ferry us over
the Guadalupe, which ran through his grounds, the probable traveler residing beyond.
Leaving the house, we passed through a garden in the rear
where he showed us little plots of wheat from Egypt, Algiers,
Arabia, and St. Helena, which he was growing to ascertain
which was best adapted to the climate. Wheat-growing, of any
sort, is a novelty here, but the Germans are not satisfied with
corn, nor are they willing to pay for the transportation of flour
from Ohio, like the Anglo-Americans.  There has been, therefore, considerable wheat grown among them, and that with satisfactory success.
From the garden, we passed into a grove, where, in a circular
opening of the trees, a rude theatre had been formed, which was
used by musical parties from Neu-Braunfels, and as a school or
lecture-room in summer.
Not finding the gentleman of whom we were in search, we
returned to the professor's house, and spent there, at his invi tation, a delightful day.
He had come to this country in 1839. In the steerage of his
ship there were about forty Norwegians with their families.
They suffered much hardship, and he assisted and comforted
them as much as was in his power.  They were very grateful, 
ROUTE.THROUGH WVESTERN TEXAS. 171
and before reaching New York they unanimously requested him
to continue with them as their pastor, and assist them in forming
their settlement at the West. While the ship was detained at
Quarantine, he went to the city with the captain to make ar rangements for their necessary stay in the city.   Returning to
Staten Island, he found the ship had gone up, and the ferry-boat
had discontinued running for the night. It was not till late the
next day that he succeeded in finding the ship at her wharf in
New York, and then all the Norwegians had departed. He
spent several days searching for them, but saw none of them un til nearly two years afterwards. He was then in a crowd at
Milwaukie, when his arm was suddenly seized with both hands
by a little boy, who sprung up to kiss him, crying, "Oh! papa
E.! oh, papa E.!"  It was one of the children of the steerage.
He went with the boy to his father's house, who told him that
some persons came on board the ship, while they were still at
Quarantine, and represented that they had been engaged by
some of their countrymen to advise and assist the emigrants.
They were accordingly taken to, a boarding-house as soon as the
ship reached New York, and during the evening they were induced to purchase a considerable tract of land by the counsel of
their disinterested friends, who also furnished them with cheap
tickets to carry them through to Milwaukie by a steamboat that
was to start the next morning. They had thus been led to leave
the city almost immediately; but the lands they had purchased,
and, in part, paid for, they never found. The deeds they had
received were forgeries.
From Wisconsin he had come to Texas, and joining the first
company of the settlers who established Neu-Braunfels, became
their pastor. The following year several thousand were landed 
172   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
upon the coast, and, unprovided with food or shelter, perished like sheep. Slowly, droves of them found their way into
Neu-Braunfels, haggard and almost dying, having lost all family
affection or fellow-feeling in intense despairing personal suffering.
Many children came whose parents had died, and he found them
starving upon the river bank. He could not bear the sight, but
collected sixty of them, and went to work upon this farm with
them. Hie had no means of his own, but took what he could find
belonging to the children, and has since sustained them. Working with his wife and the children in the field he has managed to
raise corn and keep them alive, until now, in better times, they
are mostly distributed as helps in various homes. Eighteen are
with him still, all calling him papa. He had obtained from the
Legislature an incorporation for a University at Braunfels, and
himself, as yet, sole Professor, had given a classical education to
a few pay scholars.
The whole narrative was exceedingly interesting, as we heard
it at our simple farm-house dinner-the Professor, with his horny
hands, and with his much-patched coat, telling us Df his own
noble conduct in the simplest manner, but sometimes glowing
and flushing with a superb home eloquence.
HISTORY OF THE GERMAN SETTLEMENTS.
The most accurate and full published account of these German
settlements is the report of a lecture, by FREDERICK KAPP, upon
the Germans in Texas, in the New  York Tribune of January 20,
1855. From this, and from our notes of oral statements on the
spot, I will concisely give the story. The experiment was a most
interesting one; that of using associated capital for the transportation and settlement of emigrants on a large scale; in fact, the 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTERN TEXAS. 173
removal, in organized bodies, of the poor of an old country to the
virgin soil of a new.
In the year 1842, among many schemes evolved in Germany
by the social stir of the time, and patronized by certain princes,
from motives of policy, was one of real promise. It was an asso ciation, of which Count Castel was the head, for the diminution
of pauperism by the organized assistance and protection of emigrants. At this time, annexation being already almost a certainty, speculators, who represented the owners of large tracts of
Texas land, appeared in Germany, with glowing accounts of their
cheapness and richness.   They succeeded in gaining the attention
of this association, whose leaders were pleased with the isolated
situation, as offering a more tangible and durable connection
with their emigrants, and opening a new source of wealth and
possible power. A German dependency or new Teutonic nation
might result. Palmerston, it is said, encouraged the idea,* the
Texan political leaders then coquetting with an English Protectorate, to induce more rapid advances on the part of the United
States.    X
In 1843, an agent of the association, Count Waldeckl, visited
Texas, but effected nothing else than to secure himself a slave
plantation, not far from the coast. He was dismissed. The following year the association commenced active operations. It
According to the work of Ir. SIEMERING upon the Germans in Texas, now
in the hands of the publisher, this encouragement went so far as to take the
form of a contract between the Verein and the British Government. By it the
former agreed to place 10,000 families in Texas; the latter to furnish armed protection to the colony. A new market with indefinite capacities; a new source
of cotton; opposition to slavery and to the extension of the area of the United
States; such were the sufficient motives for England. Prince Leiningen was the
half-brother of the Queen of England. Prince Solms was an intimate friend of
Prince Albert, with whom he was educated at Bonn.  Copies of the correspondence still exist. 
174   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
obtained, under the title of the MAINZER ADELS VEREIN, a charter
from the Duke of Nassau, who assumed the protectorate. It had the
Prince of Leiningen as president; Count Castel as director;
Prince Frederick of Prussia, the Duke of Coburg-Gotha, and
some thirty other princes and nobles as associated members. A
plan, inviting emigrants, was published, offering each adult, subscribing $120, a free passage and forty acres of land; a family,
subscribing $240, a free passage and eighty acres. The association undertook to provide log-houses, stock, and tools at fair
prices, and to construct public buildings and roads for the settlements.
Prince Solms, of Braunfels, was appointed General Commissioner and proceeded to Texas. Had he procured from the State
Legislature a direct grant of land for the colony, as he might
have done, all would have been well. But, most unfortunately,
the association were induced, without sufficient examination, to
buy a grant of the previous year.   It was held by Fisher and
Miller, and the tract was described by them as a second paradise.
In reality, it lay in the heart of a savage country, hundreds of
miles beyond the remotest settlement, between the Upper Colorado and the great desert plains, a region, to this day, almost
uninhabited. This wretched mistake was the ruin of the whole
enterprise.   The association lost its money and its character,
and carried many emigrants only to beggary and a miserable
death.
In the course of the year, 180 subscribers were obtained, who
landed with their families in the autumn upon the coast of Texas, and marched towards their promised lands, with Prince Solms
at their head. Finding the whole country a wilderness, and
being harassed by the attacks of Indians, on reaching the union 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 175
of the Comal with the Guadalupe, they became disheartened, and
there Prince Solms, following the good advice of a naturalist of
the company, Mr. Lindheimer, encamped, and laid out the pre sent town of Neu-Braunfels.
This settlement, receiving aid from home, while it was needed,
was a success, in spite of the Prince, who appears to have been
an amiable fool, aping, among the log-cabins, the nonsense of
mediaeval courts. In the course of a year he was laughed out of
the country.
He was succeeded by C. Von Meusebach, who proved at least
much better adapted to the work.
Had he not been reduced to inaction by home routine, and a
want of funds, the misery that followed might, perhaps, have
been prevented.*
In course of the next year, 1845, more than 2,000 families
joined the association. The capital which had been sufficient for
its first effort was totally inadequate to an undertaking of this
magnitude. These poor people sailed from Germany, in the fall
of this year, and were landed in the winter and early spring, on
the fiat coast of the Gulf, to the number of 5,200. Annexation
had now taken place, and the war with Mexico was beginning.
The country had been stripped of provisions, and of the means
of transportation, by the army. Neither food nor shelter had
been provided by the association. The consequences may be
imagined.   The detail is too horrible.   The mass remained for
I It is here difficult to sift various statements to an exact appreciation.-A
new company (at Bieberich) subsequently bought out the Verein, but Mr. Martin, their agent in Texas, has never entered possession, having been forced
into the law by Spies, the successor of Meusebach. In 1855, the original Fisher
makes his re-appearance, with a scheme for "scaling" both claims, and securing what remains. This speculation nowise affects the actual colonists. 
176   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
months encamped in sand-holes, huts, or tents: the only food
procurable was beef. The summer heats bred pestilence.
The world has hardly record of such suffering. Human na
ture could not endure it.  Human beings became brutes. "Your
child is dying."   "What do I care?"  Old parents were hurried
into the ground before the breath of life had left them. The
Americans who saw the stragglers, thought a new race of savages
was come. Haggard and desperate, they roved inland by twos
and threes, beyond all law or religion. Many of the survivors
reached the German settlements; many settled as laborers ini
American towns. With some of them, Meusebach founded another town-Fredericksburg-higher up than Braunfels.'He
also explored the Fisher grant, and converted the surrounding
Indians, from enemies, into good-natured associates.
It is but justice," says Mr. Kapp," to throw the light of
truth upon all this misery. The members of the association,
although well-meaning, did not understand what they were about
to do.   They fancied that their high protection, alone, was sufficient to make all right.   They had not the remotest idea of the
toil and hardship of settling a new country. They permitted
themselves to be humbugged by speculators and adventurers;
they entered into ruinous bargains, and had not even funds enough
to take the smallest number of those, whom they had induced to
join them, to the place of settlement.   When money was most
wanted, they failed to send it, either from mistrust or neglect.
To perform the obligation imposed by the agreement with Fisher,
they induced the emigration to Texas by the most enchanting
and exaggerated statements. The least that even the less sanguine ones expected, was, to find parrots rocking on the boughs,
and monkeys playing on the palm-trees." 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 177
This condemnation seems to fall justly.
Such was the unhappy  beginning.   But the wretchedness is
already forgotten. Things soon mended. The soil, climate, and
the other realities found, were genial and good, if not Elysian.
Now, after seven years, I do not know a prettier picture of contented prosperity than we witnessed at Neu-Braunfels.    A satisfied smile, in fact, beamed on almost every German face we saw
in Texas.
PRESENT APPEARANCES.
Of the general appearance of Neu-Braunfels I gave some
notion in describing the route to San Antonio. We now took
pains to obtain some definite facts with regard to its condition.
The dwellings in general are small and humble in appearance,
but weather-tight, and, generally, provided with galleries or
verandahs, and with glazed casement windows.   In the latter
respect, they have the advantage over most houses we have seen
in Texas, and, I have no doubt, the average comforts of life within are much greater than among the Anglo-Americans, generally,
in the state.
The citizens are, however, nearly all men of very small capital. Of the original settlers scarcely any now remain, and their
houses and lands are occupied by more recent emigrants. Those
who have left have made enough money during their residence
to enable them to buy farms or cattle-ranches in the mountains,
to which they have removed.
Half the men now residing in Nen-Braunfels and its vicinity,
are probably agricultural laborers, or farmers, who themselves
follow the plough. The majority of the latter do not, I think,
own more than ten acres of land each. Within the town itself,
8* 
178   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
there are of master-mechanics, at least, the following numbers,
nearly all of whom employ several workmen:
Carpenters and Builders... 20
Wagon-makers.....         7
Blacksmiths.....   8
Gun and Locksmiths....        2
Coppersmiths......   1
Tinsmiths......          2
Machinists......  1
Saddlers.....    3
Shoemakers......  6
Turners.....        2
Tailors.......   5
Button and Fringe-makers...      1
Tanners......   3
Butchers.....    3
Bakers.......  4
There are four grist-mills, and a couple of New-England men
are building a sash and blind factory, and propose erecting a
cotton factory.
A weekly newspaper is published-the Neu-Braunfels Zeitung.
It is a paper of much higher character than most of the German
American papers, edited by the naturalist, Lindheimer.
There are ten or twelve stores and small tradesmen's shops,
two or three apothecaries, and as many physicians, lawyers, and
clergymen. I do not think there is another town in the slave
states in which the proportion to the whole population of mechanics, or of persons employed in the exercise of their own discretion in productive occupations, is one-quarter as large as in
Neu-Braunfels, unless it be some other in which the Germans are
the predominating race.
There are several organizations among the people which indicate an excellent spirit of social improvement: an Agricultural 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTERN TEXAS. ].79
Society, a Mecharics' Institute, a Harmonic Society, a Society
for Political Debates, and a "Turners'" Society.  A  horticul tural club has expended $1,200 in one year in introducing trees
and plants.
These associations are the evidence of an active intellectual
life, and desire for knowledge and improvement among the
masses of the people, like that which distinguishes the New Englanders, and which is unknown wherever slavery degrades
labor. Will this spirit resist the progress of slavery westward,
or must it be gradually lost as the community in which it now
exists becomes familiar with slavery?
In Neu-Braunfels and the surrounding German hamlets, there
are five free schools for elementary education, one exclusive
Roman Catholic school, a town free school of higher grade, and
a private classical school. In all of these schools English is
taught with German. The teacher of the higher department of
the central town school is paid four hundred dollars a year;
that of the primary department (a female), two hundred dollars.
The following were the prices current at the time of my visit:
Maize, 35 cents a bushel; meal, 45 cents; wheat, none in market; flour, extra St. Louis, $12; soda crackers, 20 cents; beef,
fresh, retail for households, 3 cents per pound; pork, 7 cents;
bacon, sides, 15 cents; hams, sugar-cured, 20 cents; fowls, 25
cents each; turkeys, 50 cents; ditto, wild, 25 cents; ducks, L'
cents; venison, a whole deer, $1, a quarter, 20 cents, or about 1
cent a pound; mutton, 7 cents; sweet potatoes, 50 cents per
bushel.
There are here two items which New York farmers will hardly
credit when placed in connection. Maize, 35 cents a bushel;
pork, 7 cents a pound; and, still more remarkable hams, 20 
180   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
cents!  In New York, I suppose, corn was fully double  that
price, and pork no higher.
Pine boards, 50 cents a foot; cedar, 40 cents; bar iron, 8 to
9 cents per pound; nails, $8 per keg. These articles are
brought in wagons from the coast, about one hundred and fifty
miles. Transportation by teams (owned and driven altogether
by Germans), usually one cent a pound from the coast. Stone
and brick clay, lime, sand and water-power can be conveniently
and cheaply obtained.
Money here, as everywhere else in Western Texas, is very
scarce, and may be always loaned on perfectly trustworthy
securities, at fifteen per cent. and upwards. The law of Texas
makes all above eight per cent. usurious. Master-mechanics,
with whom I conversed, informed me that they had no lack of
work, but that it was difficult to get payment in money.
Journeymen (late emigrants and rough hands) informed me
that they were paid wages, $15 a month and upward, and found.
Farm-laborers, $8 to $15, and found. Domestics (females), $5 to
$8. It is very difficult to obtain the latter, and still more difficult
to keep them, as but few girls emigrate in proportion to the men,
and they generally obtain situations for life within a few weeks
after their arrival. This state of things is likely to continue for
a long time, and, as the Germans grow wealthy and luxurious,
will, undoubtedly, lead to their occasionally purchasing slaves to
relieve themselves from the annoyance of constant changes in
their household.
In Neu-Braunfels and the immediate vicinity are living about
three thousand Germans.* The Anglo-American population
~ Since our notes, the adjacent farming county has increased its population
at the expense of the town. The county-population is now estimated at 5,000,
the towi, 2,000. 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 181
of the place does not exceed twenty.  Just out of the town a
wealthy planter has settled, who holds one hundred negroes. He
also owns a mill and water-power, and a good deal of real es tate. Another American, living in the town, owns a negro girl,
and one negro girl is hired by one of the Germans as a domestic. There are no other negroes in town. The blacks of the
plantation, we were told, had acquired the power of speaking
German in an extremely short time after their arrival.
Sunday was observed more thoroughly as a day of rest from
labor than we had seen in any town of Texas. The stores, except one kept by a New-Englander, were closed during the day.
The people who appeared in the streets were well dressed, quiet,
and orderly. We saw no drunkenness. In the evening there
were amusements, among them a ball, which the Lutheran pastor
was expected to attend.
The health of the town is good. For several years there Eas
been no epidemic illness. The greater part of those of whom I
made inquiry assured me their health had been better here than
in Germany.*
The Lutheran clergyman informed us that he had registered
but seven deaths, during the year, among his congregation. The
pastoral record during the early years of the settlement tells a
pathetic story. It is as follows:
Deaths.
1847..  71
1848..  19
About one-half the people, if I am not mistaken, are nominal
Catholics.
* Some particulars of the summer temperature will be found in the Appendix.
Deaths.
1845.. 27
1846. - 304
Births.
9
34
][3irths.
35
75 
1.62    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
FREE COTTON.
In the town, each house has its garden-plot, and over the
neighborhood are scattered hundreds of small farms. Owing to
the low price of corn, most of these had been cultivated, partly, in
cotton during the year before our visit.* The result was a total
crop of eight hundred bales, which, at Galveston, brought from
one to two cents a pound more than that produced by slaves,
owing to the more careful handling of white and personally interested labor; but the expense of hauling cotton to the coast
prevents any large profits at this distance. A railroad or a
local manufactory must precede any extensive cultivation of cotton, while corn, which requires much less labor, can find a marKet at a fair price. With water-power and hands upon the spot,
it certainly seems an unnatural waste of labor to carry the staple to Massachusetts to be spun, but such, for want of local capital, is now the course of trade.
In spite of the common assertion, that only blacks can endure
the heat of southern labor, the production of cotton, by whites
alone, is by no means rare. There are very many, both of those
who work their own small cotton farms and of those who work
with their few negroes, day after day in the field. Corn cultivation, for year after year, is the common work of the less vagabond of the poor whites.   But there is hardly in the South
another as striking an instance of pure free-labor upon cottonfields, as this of the Germans. Their cotton goes in one body to
market, entirely separate from the great mass exported, and from
their peculiar style of settlement, it may be even considered as
' For the two succeeding years, corn has returned to its old price of $1 and
upwards. At this price cotton cannot compete with it, consequently its cultivation has been temporarily abandoned. 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 183
the product of one large plantation, worked by white hands, and
divided into well-marked annual tasks.
These 800 bales, therefore, though but a drop in the bucket to
the whole crop, are a very substantial evidence of the possibilities
of not only white, but of well-regulated free-labor in the South.
KENDALL'S RANCH.
We had the pleasure of spending an evening at Neu-Braunfels
with Mr. G. W. KENDALL, of the New Orleans Picayune, who has
a sheep-ranch five or six miles north of the town. Upon it he
has a good stock of mares, some cattle, and a large flock of sheep,
under charge of an imported Scotch shepherd. Owing to some
mismanagement, in cold weather, his first experiences were not
very favorable. Now the farm was in a fair way to be extremely
profitable. He uses no negroes, but hires all extra labor done by
Germans from the town.  In talking over our plans with him we
found no particular encouragement toward entering Mexico.
We should find the distance, he said, everywhere, at least twice
as far as it was reported. The scenery was composed of desert
plains and cactus, and once a day, perhaps, of a stone wall, in
addition.  We  should wear out about one horse a week, and
would be robbed each day of something we had, until we should
reach Mexico without a sou in our pockets, and without one rag
with which we started. Certain circumstances in his first visit to
Mexico, we thought, however, might have given him a permanently
unfavorable impression.
A GERMAN CABIN.
Our naturalist, we found, had but vague Mexican intentions.
We  returned to San Antonio, by way of Seguin.   Setting out 
184   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
late firom the latter place, we were benighted on the road, and
took shelter at a cabin, which we found occupied by two German
settlers. Their house and life are worth describing, from its contrast, if nothing else, with the home of the native poor white
further East.
There were,a man and his wife, with a son, and another single
man, who came from Germany four years ago.  They landed at
Lavacca, and came directly to the interior, at Neu-Braunfels.
For the first year the bachelor hired himself to a farmer; the
second he had been employed in a grocery in San Antonio. The
other, who was a shoemaker in Germany, worked at his trade.
The two then combined their capital, most of it made during
these two years, and purchased, about a year since, the cabin
they lived in, 100 acres of land, and some cattle. The land was
worth about $2 an acre, but they ranged their cattle over as
much of the adjoining prairie as they chose. The soil was extremely fertile, and the pasturage rank and nutritious. They had
raised last summer a large supply of corn for themselves and their
stock, together with a good store of various vegetables. Their
stock of cattle had been carefully watched, and, with the natural
increase, now exceeded twenty head.   They had sold butter,
eggs, shoes, and stockings, and purchased two mares, now heavy
with colt. They had taken up the rotten wooden floor of the
American, preferring to it a hard earthen floor. They had re paired the roof, and, with a stucco, which they formed by mixing
grass with a calcareous clay, had made tight and smooth walls
inside and out, doing all the work with their own hands.   The
house was small, but tight and comparatively comfortable. They
had put glass sashes into the windows, and had made new doers,
swinging easily on their hinges, and furnished with wooden latches. 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTERN TEXAS. 185
The house was not comfortable enough for them, however, and
they told us that next year, or as soon as they had got certain
fences made, and land broken up, they were going to build a new
house, at another point on their land where there were some trees.
It would not cost them anything to make it, they said, because
they could cut all the wood on their own land, and they could
do all the work themselves in the winter.
They were in a very solitary situation-fifteen miles from any
village, but with two other German settlers and an American
plantation within three miles. They were well satisfied with the
country.
"And you are glad you left Germany?" I asked the young
man.
"0, yes; very glad: a thousand times better here."
"You can have more comfort here?"
"Oh, no; not so much.   It is hard for a young man, he can
have so little pleasure.   These American gentlemen, here in
Texas, they do not know any pleasure. When they come together sometime, what do they? They can only sit all round the
fire and speet! Why, then they drink some whisky; or may be
they play cards, or they make great row. They have no pleasure
as in Germany."
"Why, then, do you like it better to be here?"
"Because here I am free.   In Germany I cannot say at all
how I shall be governed. They govern the people with soldiers.
They tried to make me a soldier, too, but I run away."
"In Germany, too, I suppose, you had to work very hard."
"Oh, we work harder here; but, by-and-by, when we get
fixed, then we will not have to work hard then, it will be very
easy. In three years I go back to Germany. I left a sweet 
18D   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
heart there. I marry her and come back and have here my
home."
"But they will arrest you because you ran away and did not
serve as a soldier."
"Ah, no; for then I shall be a citizen!"
"Did you give notice, when you first arrived, of your intention, then?"
"Oh, yes."
"Do most of the Germans do so?"
"Those that have good sense-all."
We were surprised to hear how well the son of the shoemaker,
a boy of fourteen, spoke English, and asked where he learned it?
"At school in Neu-Braunfels." He had attended school, where
he had been taught English, while his father lived there during
two years. This year he had not been at school, because they
had too much work to do in their new place; but next winter
they would send him to an American academy-boarding-school
-where, he said, he thought he should learn very fast; but it
would be very costly; two dollars a month for the lowest class
and four dollars for the uppermost.
All of them were well dressed, but the woman was a pattern
of neatness. As she cooked our supper it seemed as if she had
been "made up" for a model housewife.  She had a fine, healthy,
kind German face, and was so good-natured and so desirous to
make us comfortable, and so easily amused and gratified herself,
that when we left we parted from a friend.
The house was supplied with about the same amount of large
furniture as an American's-bedsteads, and chests, and cupboards
-but there were fifty little conveniences to be used in cooking,
or for other purposes, here, which are wanting there. For sup 
ROUTE THROUGH WVE STERN TEXAS. 187
per we had wheat and Indian bread, buttermilk and eggs.   At
breakfast, besides the same articles, there were also pfannekuchen,
something between a pancake and an omelette, eaten with butter
and sugar.   The sugar was refined, and the butter yellow and
sweet.  "How can you make such butter?" we asked, in astonishment.  "Oh, ho! it is only the American ladies are too lazy;
they not work enough their butter. They give us fifty cent a
pound for our butter in San  Antone! yes, fifty cent! but we
want to eat good butter, too." Such was the fact. At the house
of the American herdsman I described in Eastern Texas, who
owned probably one hundred cows, there was no milk or butter
-it was too much trouble.  A friend told me that he had spent
a fortnight at the house of an American here who owned five
hundred cows, without tasting milk or butter; not because the
family did not like these luxuries, but because  it was too much
trouble. The German had a cow driven into a pen to be milked
at daylight. His wife milked her herself. The American owned
a number of negroes. The German was happy in the possession
of freedom, undebilitated by mastership or slaveship.
Or is it, as they say, the climate? and will the German, in his
turn, after a few years, be debilitated so by it and labor only
under the influence of fear or of excited passion? I do not believe it.
THE GERMANS IN THE MOUNTAINS.
Finding still no company for Mexico at San Antonio, we gladly
accepted an invitation from the German editor, Dr. Douai, to accompany him on a few days' excursion, he was about making,
into the mountains to the northward.
There are certain persons with whom acquaintance ripens rapidly. Our companion, we found, was one of these. We listened to 
188    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
some details of a varied and stormy life, in learning what brought
him here, and were not long in falling into discussions that ran
through deep water, and demanded all our skill in navigation.
Our horses took advantage of our absence to stray into unknown parts, and for some hours after we started, we traveled
loosely over the prairies, only keeping their heads toward the
north.   Night, however, found us on the Cibolo, and near a settlement, where we secured quarters for the night.
Five or six miles from San Antonio, the prairies rise, in gentle
slopes, into hills, which become steeper and nearer one another
as you travel further. In thirty miles, the valleys have become
very narrow, and the hills and mountains rugged with projecting
strata of limestone. These strata are very peculiar, and are
said to be characteristic of the inland region all the way to Missouri. They are of the thickness of building stones, and lying
horizontally, they give the hills the appearance of artificial structures, so that a conical hill leaves very much the impression of a
crumbling, overgrown pyramid.   The soil is black, but has been
washed from the square edges. Wherever it exists, grass grows,
even over the summits of the mountains, if they be not bare
rocks. In the smaller valleys, particularly the following day, we
found ourselves in real Sonora scenery. The stunted live-oaks
were rarely to be seen, besides grass, there were only large cacti,
yuccas, and agaves, scattered over the arid rocky elevations.
In the larger valleys, were groves of post-oak, and along the
principal water-courses, timber of various kinds, and some good
bottom-land, as on the Cibolo, at the road-crossing, where a town
called Borne had been laid out, and a few houses built.  But the
natural use of the country was, palpably, for grazing, and that,
sheep-grazing.  We could hardly refrain from expecting, on each 
RO L TE THROUGH WE S TE RN TEXAS. 189
bleak hill, to startle a black-faced flock, and see a plaided, silent,
long-legged shepherd appear on the scene.
A NEW SETTLER.
The family whose hospitality we sought, were newly arrived
German farmers. They had reached Texas in the fall, and had
been settled here but about two months.
Their house, although built merely for temporary occupancy,
until they could spare time and money for one more comfortable,
was a very convenient long, narrow log cabin, with two rooms,
each having a sleeping loft over it, two halls, or rooms open at
the ends, and a corn-crib.   The cooking was done outside, by a
camp-fire, but with utensils brought from Germany, and peculiarly
adapted to it.   A  considerable stock of furniture was stored in
the halls, yet in the boxes in which it had been imported.   The
walls of the two rooms had been made tight with clay, the doors
were furnished with latches. (No man who has traveled much
on the frontier will look upon these indications as trivial.)  Our
supper was served to us on china, on a clean table-cloth,
in one of these rooms, skillfully and nicely. A sofa, occupying one side of the room, had evidently been made by the women of the family after the building of the cabin.   On the walls
there were hung a very excellent old line engraving of a painting
in the Dresden gallery, two lithographs, and a pencil sketch, all
glazed, and framed in oak.
The family consisted of several middle-aged and elderly people,
a young man, a young lady, and four very sweet, flaxen-haired
children. They were all very neatly dressed, the head-dresses of
the females being especially becoming and tidy. They were courteous and affable, and the tones of voice were amiable and musical. 
190   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Our conversation with them was naturally left pretty much to
our German companion.  He went, however, after supper, to call
on one of the neighbors. An hour or two later, as I returned to
the house, after looking to our horses, one of the elder women
spoke to me in German. I could not understand, and she called
to the young lady, who came before me, and bowing in a very
formal manner, addressed me in these words: " Sire, will you to
bed now go, or will you for rest wait?"   I replied that I would
at once go to bed, if she pleased. She bowed and walked before
me till opposite the open door of the second tight room, in
which a candle had been placed, and pointing to it, said: "There,
Sire." There were three single beds in our sleeping-room, all
extremely clean, and we were provided with washing apparatus,
and other bed-chamber luxuries very unusually found, even in
the "best hotels," in the Southwest.   The walls of the room,
too, were adorned with some good engravings, and some paintings of religious subjects, of ordinary merit.
The head of this family had been a tradesman in a small town
ill Bavaria, where, also, he had owned a little farm. He had
evidently bon able to live there with considerable comfort.   He
could not, however, see any way in which he might provide for
his family, so that he could leave them without great anxiety at
his death. But now, if this farm should be divided among his
children, all of them could, by honest labor, be sure of obtaining,
come the worst, sufficient food, and raiment, and shelter, and in
no case would they be dependent on the favor or kindness of pub lic functionaries for the privilege of laboring for their living.
"Only one thing," said the mother, " we regret. It is that
our children, who have so well commenced their education in
Germany, cannot here continue it." 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 191
SISTERDALE.
Next day our road took us over a rugged ridge to the valley of
the Guadalupe. From the summit was a wide and magnificent
view of misty hills and wooded streams. We were crossing a
little creek beyond, when two horsemen, in red shirts and slouch  ed hats, came over the hill upon us at a hand gallop.   They no
sooner saw us, than they reined up with a shout, and gave our
companion a hearty grasp of the hand.    They were two men of
Sisterdale, in search of stray cattle.
Sisterdale is a settlement of eight or ten farms, about forty
miles from San Antonio, upon the Guadalupe, at the junction
of the Sister creeks and the crossing of the Fredericksburg
road. The farmers are all men of education, and have chosen
their residences, the first by chance, the latter by choice, within
social distance of one another.   Up and down the Guadalupe,
within long walking range, are a dozen or twenty more, single
men, living in huts or caves, earning a tough livelihood chiefly
by splitting shingles.   They are of the same stamp, but of less
social disposition, disheartened, or tired of circumstances, a sort
of political hermits, who have retired into the woods, and live
with one companion, or in complete solitude.
The gentlemen we met were two of these singular settlers; one
of them, the schoolmaster, a Berlin student; the other a Baron,
over whose Texan "domain" we were actually passing.   He took
us to his castle, which was near by.   It was a new log-house.
The family occupied a lean-to in the rear, as the roof was not
quite finished. Here we were presented to the lady, who received
us with cordial politeness, holding up, in commendation of the
climate, a bouncing baby, seven days old, weighing, she said,
three times as much as babies at home. 
A JOURN E Y THROUGH TEXAS.
During a luncheon of bread and broth, we were interrupted by
the clatter of hoofs. On looking out, we found a dozen men on
horseback, partly Americans, from the next settlement.   They
were on their way to the Dale, to attend a Justice's Court.
Draining our cups we joined the cavalcade.
A few minutes brought us to the judge's house, a double logcabin, upon a romantic rocky bluff of the Guadalupe.   He came
out to receive us, and after converting his dining-room into a temporary court-room, for the reception of the legal arrival, resumed
his long pipe, and gave us a special reception in his own apartment. We had interrupted him at work at notes upon a meteorological table, and availed ourselves of his judicial absence to look
over his observations, and to make notes of such as interested us.
They will be found in the Appendix.
Court over, our host rejoined us. The case had been one of
great simplicity, requiring a few words only, to fix the value of
a dog which had been shot and to reconcile all parties. This
function of a peacemaker, we found, was one that was a habitual
blessing to the neighborhood, with the judge-a certain large ness in his nature sufficing to quell all expressions of ill-feeling
and put an end to silly discords.
He was partly bald, but seemed to have an imperturbable and
happy good-nature that gave him eternal youth. A genial cul tivation beamed from his face. He had been a man of marked
attainments at home (an intimate associate with Humboldt and a
friend of Goethe's Bettina), and kept up here a warm love for
nature. His house was the very picture of good-nature, science,
and back-woods. Romances and philosophies were piled in heaps
in a corner of the logs. A dozen guins and rifles, and a Madonna,
in oil, after Murillo, filled a blank on tho wall.   Deer-skins
192 
ROUTE THIROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 193
covered the bed, clothes hung about upon  antlers, snake-skins
were stretched to dry upon the bedstead, barometer, whisky, pow (ler-hlorns, and specimens of Saxony wool, occupied the table.*
The dinner was Texan, of corn-bread and frijoles, with coffee,
served in tin cups, but the salt was Attic, and the talk was worthy
of golden goblets.
We passed, as may be imagined, a rarely pleasant day. A
stroll to the Guadalupe showed us the corn-field and the sheep-a
small flock of the finest Saxony. They had been selected with
care. had arrived safely, and had now been, for two or three years,
shifting for themselves. They had thriven wvell, but the flock of
twelve had not much increased, owing to the depredations of
panthers and Indians. A German shepherd had been shot by
Indians in the early days of the settlement, and it was afterwards
impossible to give, to so small a flock, the constant attention they
needed. They had been, however, very profitable for their numbers, from the constant demand for thorough-bred bucks.
THE UPPER GUADALUPE.
The Guadalupe was even more beautiful here than below, quick
and perfectly transparent. I have rarely seen any resort of woodJ nymphs more perfect than the bower of cypress branches and
vines that overhang the mouth of the Sister creek at the ford
near the house. You want a silent canoe to penetrate it; yet
would be loth to desecrate its deep beauty. The water of both
* OTTO vON BEHR has since gone to heaven. About a year after our visit
to the Dale he went to Germany to spend a few months, and on his return was
seized with an illness, at sea, which terminated fatally, after his ship had entered
the Mississippi. A touching notice of his life and death appeared in a number
of the San Antonio Zeitung of March, 1855. His loss, out of such a settlement,
it may be conceived, is irreparable.
9 
194    A JOURNEY T H ROUGH TEXAS.
streams has a delicate, cool, blue-green color; the rocky banks
are clean and inviting; the cypresses rise superbly from the very
edge, like ornamental columns.   We  found, while shooting in
the river bottoms, some real monarchs of this species-(c. distichla).
One of them, which had fallen, was at least fourteen feet in diameter.  Its heart, as is frequently the case, was unsound.   It is
one of the most common trees along the creeks of this region.
The wood is similar to that of the pine, but less valuable for the
purposes of the lumberman. The trunks of the older trees rise
branchless to a great height, having a bark remarkably clean and
bright, and a foliage feeble and quivering, like that of the larch.
In the afternoon, several neighbors had dropped in, and
there was some pleasant dispute as to what roof should offer
us shelter. We were, finally, carried off by Mr. T., whose
farm lies uppermost  on the  Guadalupe.   A  somewhat  circuitous route thither led us to a high hill, from which we saw
the valley to great advantage. The farm lies in a bend of the
river, and has an agreeable proportion of timber and of rich
meadow. The house, of logs, is large, warm, and substantial.
The evening's talk ran upon the principles of government,
and kept us late. Mr. T. had been a member of the Frankfort
Parliament. He had arrived in this country with little else
available than a hopeful energy, but with this capital had be come, in a few years, what, in Texas, was considered a wealthy
man, owning large tracts of land, and able to live freely upon
his rents.
F      G IN THE DALE.
FAIWIING IN THE DALE.
We rode with him, next day, over the Dale. The land is
much broken, but well wooded and drained. In each little valley are one or more small prairies adapted to cultivation, and 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 195
the hills are thickly covered with grass. It is here not the mes quit, but a taller and coarser leaf, rich in summer but affording
poor nourishment in winter. Cattle, however, manage to find
their own subsistence through the year, browsing, during the
cold, in the river bottoms, where there is always some verdure
as well as protection from the wind. The soil for cultivation is
excellent. The principal crop is corn, the yield being thirty to
sixty bushels, from what would be considered at the North a
very small outlay of labor. Wheat has been introduced with
such success as to induce the settlers to send for harvesting and
thrashing-machines. The crop this year had been bad, owing to
dry weather. One of the greatest sources of profit is from
droves of hogs, which increase with remarkable rapidity, and
pick their living from the roots and nuts of the river bottoms.
The distribution of a few ears of corn at night brings them all
every day to the crib. Tobacco is cultivated by the settlers for
their own use, but none has yet been prepared for market.
A WELL-CULTIVATED SETTLEMENT.
We called upon several of the settlers. The first house was
a surprise-a neat, stuccoed, Swiss cottage, almost the only
thing of the kind we had seen in Texas. Its proprietor came
from the plough to welcome us-literally, a free laborer. We
found within, a thousand evidences of taste such as the exterior
led us to expect. Another short ride took us to a large stuccoed log-house, near the bank of one of the Sister creeks.
Here lives a professor who divides his time between his farm and
his library. The delicious brook water has been turned to account by him for the cure of disease, and his house is thrown
open to patients. To any friend of mine who has faith in pure 
19G    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
air and pure water, and is obliged to run from a Northern winter, I cannot recommend a pleasanter spot to pass his exile than
this.
Evening found us in the largest house of the settlement, and a
furious norther suddenly rising, combined with the attractive reception we met to compel us to stay two days without moving.
Mr. D., our host, was a man of unusually large education,
and, having passed some years at school in England, spoke English in perfection. Before the Revolution he had controlled an
estate on which the taxes were $10,000. He had become a
popular leader, and was placed at the head of the temporary
government of his Duchy. When the reaction came, all was
swept away, and, exiling himself, he came to settle here. Now,
working with his own hands in the Texan backwoods, he finds
life not less pleasant than before.
His house stands upon a prominence, which commands the
beautiful valley in both directions. His fields are just below.
He had this year cultivated sixty acres, and with the help of the
forenoons of his two sons, of fourteen and fifteen, who are at
school the rest of the day, had produced 2,500 bushels of corn,
besides some cotton, wheat, and tobacco. These sons were as
fine pictures of youthful yeomen as can be imagined- tall, erect,
well knit, with intelligent countenances, spirited, ingenuous, gentle and manly. In speaking of his present circumstances, he
simply regretted that he could not give them all the advantages
of education that he had himself had. But he added that he
would much rather educate them to be independent and self-reliant, able and willing to live by their own labor, than to have
them ever feel themselves dependent on the favor of others. If
he could secure them, here, minds free from prejudice, which 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 197
would entirely disregard the conclusions of others in their own
study of right and truth, and spirits which would sustain their
individual conclusions without a thought of the consequences, he
should be only thankful to the circumstances that exiled him.
Our supper was furnished by the boys, in the shape of a fat
turkey fromn the river bottoms.   This one made eighty-five that
had been shot by them during the winter.   Among other feats
of theirs at the gun, we were told of two adventures with panthers. Made aware, at dusk, one night, by the dogs, that something unusual was around the house, the two boys started with
their guns to see what it might be. Light enough was left to
show them a panther, who retreated, and, pressed by the dogs,
took to a tree in the bottoms.   He  was  ensconced in the
branches of a cotton-wood that hung obliquely over the stream.
It was too dark to see his exact position, and taking places upon
the bent trunk, to prevent his descent, the boys agreed to keep
guard till the moon rose. But they were tired with work, and
daylight found them both asleep where they were-the panther
missing! He had either walked over their bodies or dropped
into the river.
On the other occasion, the boys were alone with their mother,
Mr. D. having gone on a two or three days' excursion. They were
awakened in the night by a stir about the out-houses. There
had been signs of a panther about the hog-yard for several days,
and they sprang out as they were, seizing their guns, in the hope
of putting an end to the marauds.   The night was pitchy dark,
and stealing cautiously along, they came suddenly upon an enormous panther, within a few yards of the door. The panther
gave one bound into a tree, probably more startled than themselves.   He was quite invisible, and perfectly still.   One of the 
198   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
boys thought of a lantern, and, running back, found his mother
already up and alarmed.   "A lantern," he shouted, in a furious
whisper, and ran back to the tree. The mother appeared with
the lantern at the door, and came, in her night-dress, to the tree.
What would she have thought at court, five years before, of holding a lantern, to shoot a panther? She held it high. Both boys
took slow aim at the glaring eye-balls, which alone were visible
above them.  One pulled; the gun snapped.   A quick jerk of
the eye-balls gave warning of a spring, when a ball from the
other rifle brought the panther dead to their feet. It proved, by
daylight, the largest that had been known in the settlement, measuring nine feet from nose to tip of tail, and weighing, by estimate, 250 lbs.
After supper, there were numerous accessions of neighbors,
and we passed a merry and most interesting evening. There was
waltzing, to the tones of a fine piano, and music of the highest
sort, classic and patriotic.  The principal concerted pieces of
Don Giovanni were given, and all parts well sustained.   After
the ladies had retired, the men had over the whole stock of student-songs, until all were young again. No city of fatherland,
we thought, could show a better or more cheerful evening company.  One  of the party said to me:   "I think, if one or two
of the German tyrants I could mention, could look in upon us
now, they would display some chagrin at our enjoyment, for there
is hardly a gentleman in this company whom they have not condemned to death, or to imprisonment for life."
In exile, but free, these men make the most of life.
I have never before so highly appreciated the value of a welleducated mind, as in observing how they were lifted above the
mere accident of life. Laboring like slaves, (I have seen them 
TRO U TE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAs. 199
working side by side, in adjoining fields,) their wealth gone; deprived of the enjoyment of art, and, in a great degree, of literature; removed from their friends, and their great hopeful designs so sadly prostrated, "their mind to them a kingdom is," in
which they find exhaustless resources of enjoyment. I have been
assured, I doubt not, with sincerity, by several of them, that
never in Europe had they had so much satisfaction-so much intellectual enjoyment of life, as here. With the opportunity permitted them, and the ability to use it, of living independently
by their own labor-with that social and political freedom for
themselves which they wished to gain for all their countrymen,
they have within them means of happiness that wealth and princely power alone can never command.
But how much of their cheerfulness, I thought, may arise
from having gained, during this otherwise losing struggle to
themselves, the certain consciousness of being courageously loyal
to their intellectual determinations-their private convictions of
right, justice, and truth.
Truly, it has seemed to me, there may be a higher virtue than
mere resignation, and our times may breed men as worthy of reverence as the martyrs of past ages.
What had not these  men  lost-voluntarily resigned-that
mean, and depraved, and wicked souls are most devout to gain.
And for what? For the good of their fellow men-for their
convictions of truth and justice. Under orders of their conscience. In faithfulness to their intellect. And they have failed
in every earthly purpose, but are not cast down-are not unhappy. What shall we think of those from whom life was also
taken —who as cheerfully and bravely gave their life also?
I was looking, in a room here, at some portraits of gentlemen 
200    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
and ladies.  "Those are some of my relatives that remain in
Germany."   "And who are these?" I asked, pointing to a collection, on the opposite wall, of lithograph and crayon-sketched
heads.   " These are some of my friends.   That one-and that
one-and that one-have been shot; that one-and that one —
are in prison for life; that one'-poor fellow-is in Siberia; and
that once-he has been made to stiffer more than all the others, I
am afraid."
I once, when in Germany, met an American clergyman, who,
[ have since seen, has been sent to Asia, to teach the Hindoos
Christianity. He was good enough to inform me, that all the
German Republicans were mischievous, cut-throat infidels, who
well deserved to be shot, hung, and imprisoned for life; and that
I very much wronged those who were doing this for them, in
some feelings I was expressing. He had dined, only the day before, with several of the higher classes, with a number of Prussian
and Austrian officers, and he never met with more gentlemanly
and kind-hearted men. When I mentioned the fact, that one of
these officers had, a few days before, knocked down upon the
pavement, with a blow of his fist,- an aged laboring man, for
coming, guiltlessly, into the street with red stockings, he presumed that he had thought it his duty to do so; harsh measures had
to be used to support the laws, when the people were so exceedingly depraved. He did not alter very much my feelings about
the circumstance, and I confess that a few days with these refugees in Texas has been worth more to me than many sermons.
AROUND FREDERICKSBURG.
Amid such hospitality of such men, the time we had intended
to devote to an examination of Fredericksburg and the country 
ROUTE THROUGI V ESTERN TEXAS. 201
north of it, slipped by, and we were compelled to return to San
Antonio without seeing it. The village, we learned, was quite
similar in character to Neut-Braunfels,but on a much smaller seale,
containing about 700 inhabitants, who are chiefly Catholics. The
country around them, although not equal to that below, was
good, very fertile along the creek and river bottoms, and afforded
excellent pasturage.   Following the Llano and San Saba, downwards, the land becomes richer and better wooded, and the region
of the Upper Colorado was described to us as being one of the
finest parts of the state. This district, now Llano and San Saba
Counties, has since been much taken up by emigrants, principally
planters, who have located, as much as possible, with reference
to the proposed line of the Pacific Railroad. The outposted
settlers here, however, are still much exposed to attacks of
Indians.   Fredericksburg itself has grown  rapidly during the
last year or two. The population of the town is now 1,200; all
Germans. The adjacent country has also become closely settled.
From Fredericksburg starts the upper road to E1 Paso. It
is called forty miles shorter than the lowerroad, but as water is
scarce, it is less used.
Mr. Bartlett, the Boundary Commissioner, followed this route.
Of this vicinity, he says: "The soil continues of good quality,
until the San Saba is reached. From that, to the north fork of
Brady's Creek, it is not so good. The grass is generally light to
the latter place, with less wood and water, though enough for
parties traveling."   We  then reach "the great table-land of
Texas, where there is little rain and a poor soil."
The furthermost German settlements now reach the San Saba.
The extreme settlements of the northern part of the state are near
the clear fork of the Brazos, at Fort Belknap, where there is an
9* 
202   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Indian reservation of forty leagues, and enough American settlers
to have formed the new County of Young. These outposts are
connected by a road, now in considerable use, which passes by
Forts McKavett, Chadbourne, and Phantom Hill. A line of
settlements will soon follow, and the Indians will then be confined
to the great desert plains, which can furnish them with little game,
and, probably, no cultivated food. Starvation will compel submission or emigration, and this great district will become open
to peaceable occupation.
UP-COUNTRY FARMING.
In the month of March, after our return from the coast, we made
a second excursion to the mountains, by ourselves, partly to pass
away idle time, partly to renew the pleasant intercourse of our
first visit, partly in order to learn more definitely, for our own
benefit, what were the prospects for a northern man who should
fix on this point for a future home, in case he should be driven
to a milder climate. Western Texas had charmed us; and of
all Western Texas the Upper Guadalupe seemed, all things considered, the most attractive point. I know of no other spot in a
Southern state where white agricultural laborers can be hired,
than the German neighborhoods of Texas; in fact, no other spot
where the relative advantages of white or slave labor can be even
discussed in peace. From a thorough examination of Southern
agriculture, we had become convinced that slave-labor is everywhere uneconomical and cruel, and, to a man of Northern habits,
to the last degree, an irritating annoyance, which, when choosing
for a lifetime, he should not voluntarily inflict upon himself.
Here new and old emigrants can be hired in all capacities, as in
Michigan or Iowa. 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTERN TEXAS. X   20,
Within the German neighborhood, the mountains presented
the principal advantage of being free from the malarious diseases
of the lower country.   Not one of the inhabitants of Sisterdale
had had intermittent fever, or had known one day's sickness since
their settlement. The elevated country, also, offered purer water,
a more invigorating winter, and a cooler and more steady breeze
during the long summer.   The dry hillside furnished the best
range for sheep, and if the position were chosen not too far from
the edge of the great mesquit prairies, no pasture in the world
could rival this for cattle. The cultivable soil was adapted to
wheat-an indispensable luxury. The social privileges, if deficient in some respects, such as access to good public schools, were
certainly superior to most back-woods, or even agricultural residences. San Antonio, except the principal port, the most populous and well-stocked town of Texas, would be within a day's
ride. Within visiting-reach would be Europeans, of broad cultivation and genial hospitality.
One of the gentlemen of Sisterdale gave us his own reasons for
his choice of a residence, and they will not be inappropriate here.
He was not an exile, and had even been offered office under the
reactionary government after the events of 1848. But he had
taken active part on the side of liberal progress, and, well aware
that the aristocratic government, once finding itself firmly reestablished, would not forget its enemies, he determined to look for
a home in America while he had the opportunity.   He set out
with the intention of traveling rapidly over the whole country,
and afterwards examining more carefully such points as had attracted him.   He landed at Boston.   The town pleased him, but
the farms were too cold and sterile.   With the country around
New York he had been delighted, and for a pleasant residence 
204   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
only he should have chosen Staten Island or Rockland County
over any other position in America; but he was determined to
engage in agriculture, and could not persuade himself, after inves tigation, that the sales from a farm here would pay even the
interest on its cost.   The scenery of Vermont and Champlain
was very beautiful, but the long winter too forbidding. Next he
was induced to stop in Michigan; but, on examination, he found
two objections: the rich land was low and, unhealthy; the high
land was gravelly, and with gravel he had previously had experience enough. With Illinois he was better pleased, as an agricultural country, than any he had seen at the North, particularly
with the high lands along the Mississippi, at no great distance
from St. Louis. He then traveled through most of the Southern
states, liking extremely their sunny luxuriance.   The hospitalities of Louisiana, and the Creole life there, he had enjoyed vastly,
perhaps from its contrast with his own nature, and would have
been tempted to settle there, but he had become, as he traveled,
disgusted with slave-labor, and the impossibility of using any
other was evident. He then rode through Texas. On reaching
the Germans he was so thoroughly delighted with the situation
that he abandoned any further search, and, making a purchase
of a large tract in the mountains, returned at once for his family.
He remains entirely satisfied that his choice was just.
His farm had, for profit, fully equaled his expectations.   I
have mentioned with how little labor he had secured 2,500 bushels
of corn, upon sixty acres of ground. The price, unfortunately,
this year, had never been known to be so low. It was worth, on
the spot, but twenty-five cents per bushel. But none was sold
at this price, and in March we had the pleasure of paying eighty
cents per bushel for what we purchased for the use of our animals 
ROUTE THROUGIIH WVESTERN TEXAS. 205
in the neighborhood, and, not long after, the price reached and
remained at one dollar. But a new farm demands a great outlay
for the first preparation of the land, for the residence and the
stock, and readily absorbs, for some years, all the cash it can
produce.
Land, in this neighborhood, was generally held in tracts of
from 600 to 2,000 acres. In the mountains but one-fifth to onethird of this would be handsomely-lying surface suitable for the
plough.   The price of land varied, of course, in proportion.
Tracts of 1,000 acres, well watered, and containing one-quarter
good land, were valued at about $2 per acre; in 1856, probably,
$2 50.  Most of those upon the Upper Guadalupe have a front
upon the river.   For a stock or sheep-farm  but few acres are
necessary. Forty acres would probably suffice for all desirable
purposes, such as preventing a disagreeable contiguity and preserving a convenient outlet to " the range" or great public pasture, as well as for growing sufficient grain and vegetable food
for the family and work-horses.   The following are the statistical results of our inquiries:
COST OF A STOCK AND SHEEP-FARM.
Land-1,000 acres, at $2 50, - -    -    -
House and furniture,       -. —--
Fencing and breaking 50 acres, by contract,    -
Horses, working oxen, and tools,           -    -
Stock-cattle 200, at $9 per head,   -      -    -
Sheep, say 650 Illinois ewes, at $4, -    -    -
Improved bucks,    -       -    -    -    -    -
$2,500
750
500
350
1,800
2,600
500
$9,000
ANNUAL PRODUCTION.
23 cows, at $20,    -.  -    -    -  --         $460
23 steers, at $20,   -    -    -    -    -    -   460 — $920 
206   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Lambs, say 600 improved, at $4 00, -
Wool, say 1,300 lbs., at     25,
- 2,400
-    325-  2,725
$3,645
- $360
-  360-  $720
per cent., -  -.                                      440
- 1,160
Clear returns, -       -    -    -    -    -          $2,485
(The farm, say $3,500, will pay 8 per cent. in increased value.)
COST OF A COTTON PLANTATION.
Land-1,000 acres, at $2 50, -    -    -    -
House and furniture,      -    -    -    -    -
Fencing and ploughing 70 acres, by contract, -
Gin, press mules, harness, and tools, -    -    -
Slaves-2 prime hands, $1,000,        -    -    -
"     4 half hands, $600, (breeding women) -
$2,500
600
700
800
2,000
2,400
$9,000
ANNUAL PRODUCTION.
At 3 bales per hand, 450 lbs. each, 5,400 lbs., at 6 cents, -
,'. s " " " 1                               at 8 cents, -
At 4 bales      "          "          7,200 lbs., at 6 cents, -
Ad " 1 " "                                   at 8 cents, -
At 5 bales      "          "          9,000 lbs., at 6 cents, -
" ",              " 1               "        at 8 cents, -
The average,. ---
Increase in negroes, 7 per cent., -     --
-  -  $522
-    -   308
$830
Deduct clothing and expenses, $150,
interest on capital, at 8 per cent., $720
Loss, --.. —
I have added a similar estimate for a cotton plantation of' the
De
-  $324
- 432
- 432
- 576
- 540
- 720
870
$40 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTERN TEXAS. 207
same capital. The contrast is very strongly in favor of the farm.
The plantation barely pays its eight per cent., at five bales per
hand, netting six cents at the press. The farm, losing eight per
cent. of lambs and twenty-five per cent. of calves, pays thirty per
cent.
It is difficult to fix an average price for cotton. Where land
can yet be bought at $2 50 per acre, it is probable that the
freight and charges on cotton hauled to the coast would destroy
all profit. To be within profitable reach of market, the planter
must pay 85 to $10 per acre for a suitable tract of 1,000 acres.
This would essentially interfere with the necessary investment in
labor.
In this comparison each is supposed to have average luck.
Each is understood to provide subsistence, for the first season,
for the family and laborers, and afterwards is supposed to obtain
the same from the soil, which he finds previously prepared for
operations by contract.   In practice, a plantation is very often
compelled to import both corn and pork, while, from the field
cultivated by the farm workmen, with some help from the shepherds, there should be a surplus of corn, beans, and pork for
sale.
The following presents the same comparison on a large scale.
So extensive a capital has, perhaps, never been applied to sheephusbandry in this country, but in Mexico far larger farms exist,
and such are probably destined to be established in Texas, along
the edge of the great Western plains. The same capital invested in a cotton plantation is not rare at the South. I have been
told that there are, in one county (Adams), in Mississippi, five
men who make over five thousand bales each. 
208   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
SHEEP ON A LARGE SCALE.
Land- 1,000 acres, at $2,          -      -    -
House and furniture, ----
Fencing and ploughing, by contract,    -
Tools, horses, wagons, -     -    - -
24,125 Northern sheep, at $4,    -    -
Improved bucks, -..
i-     - -  $120,000
ANNUAL PRODUCTION.
40,000 lbs. wool, at 25 cents, -       -   -    -
18,000 lambs (25 per cent. lost), at $4,  -    -
$82,000
-  $18,000
5,000
- 1,400
2,800
500
9,200
Deduct wages, 100 Mexican shepherds, at $180,
"        10 head        "          500,
"         I1 bailiff,  -    -    1,400,
"        14 farm hands,     -       200,
"         1 farm foreman,   -       500,
Deduct interest on $115,000, at 8 per cent.,  -
36,900
Clear returns, -  -  -
COITON ON A LARGE SCALE.
Land-2,000 acres, bottom, at $8 50,             -
50 prime field hands, at $1,000, --
50 half hands, at     -    600,    - -
50 quarter hands, at -    300, --
House and furniture,    -    -    --
Quarters and overseers' houses,     - -
Mules and tools, -         -—.
ANNUAL PRODUCTION.
At 4 bales per hand, of 450 lbs., 158,400 lbs., at 8 cents,    -  $12,672
Increase of slaves, at 5 per cent., $4,750    -    -    -    -    4,750
$17,422
-    $2,000
4,000
2,000
1,500
- 96,500
- 14,000
Capital outlay, -
- $10,000
- 72,000
$45,100
- $17,000
.   50,000
- 30,000
-   15,000
4,000
2,000
2,000
- $120,000
Capital outlay, - 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 209
Deduct a        nnual expenses, ----
"   interest on $120,000, at 8 per cent.
-   $1,000
I,  -  9,600
10,600
Carus.. —-      -   $6,822
THE COMANCHE SPRING ROAD.
On this second excursion to the mountains, we took the old,
now disused, Fredericksburg road, which passes by Comanche
spring.   We  saw but one house after leaving San Antonio till
we reached the spring. This was a small stone building, in the
centre of a farm, some four miles from the city. A solitary
Mexican, who was hoeing corn, directed us on our way. The
old road-marks were grown over with grass, and quite indistinct.
At Comanche spring, we found a German stock-farmer, with a
considerable establishment. The spring gushes from the rocks
of a hillside, furnishing a great abundance of clear water.  It
was covered with a roof, and flowed into large limestone tanks,
for what purpose we did not learn. The road had hitherto followed a long, narrow valley, through steep hills, which furnished
excellent pasture, but no land for agriculture. We here struck
to the right, across the dry bed of the Cibolo, attempting to follow a road which should bring us obliquely to the Guadalupe,
some ten miles below Sisterdale. But we soon lost the trail, and
at night were obliged to camp without water. In the morning
we procured water from a pool in the bed of the Cibolo, whose
general course we had followed at no great distance, and then
set out by compass toward the northwest, across the grassy
hills. Taking the first entering valley that offered in that direction, we left the Cibolo bottom, which is broad and fertile, but
wanting in wood and water, and, continually ascending where
Clear returns, 
210   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
the best ground offered, found ourselves, after a good deal of
labor, upon a rocky ridge that overlooked the Guadalupe. The
surface was agitated in steep waves as far as the eye could reach,
and with its broken lights and its silvery ribbon of water, winding many miles away, made a rich and effective, though wild,
landscape. We marked one of the few settlements in sight, and,
after scrambling down a mass of broken rock, found ourselves
at the head of a valley which opened directly towards it. On
our way down we saw many deer, but were always warily seen
by them first.
FORDING THE GUADALUPE.
At last we reached a trail, coming from the southeast, which
entered the bed of the Guadalupe, at the foot of the valley, and
passed on the opposite side to a house-the settlement we had
seen from above. The water appeared deep and swift, and the
trail on the opposite bank rose some distance below. The entrance seemed to be by a perpendicular jump of some ten feet,
and not one of our animals would approach it. We fell to
shouting for directions, and soon a man came from a corn-field,
and indicated across the roar a private entrance through a mudhole. Fanny, as the tallest and most agile, was detailed to explore
the depth of water. But she was also the most excitable, and,
after nearly breaking her legs among stumps and decaying
branches in the deep mud-hole, was very unwilling to breast the
furious clear stream. At length, by patient urgency, and step
by step, she advanced, staggering with the force of the current,
and slipping upon the smooth boulders of the bottom, wetting
me to the thighs. In the centre she fell, and, recovering herself,
turned her head to the current, and refused to budge, standing,
yet on the very point of swimming, apparently poised to a 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 211
nicety between the contending forces of buoyancy, gravity, and
the impulse of the torrent, and ready to yield to the strongest
at the slightest movement. From one side, I was recommended,
by signs to come on, from the other to come back. The position became disagreeable and chilly, not to say ridiculous. So,
when the mare had somewhat recovered her breath, shaking my
feet clear of the stirrups, I gave her the spurs with such cruelty
as I was capable of using. The cool suspense was soon terminated by a full cold bath, for after a momentary stagger and
plunge, over we rolled, helter-skelter, puffing, sneezing, kicking,
and striking out among one another generally. Luckily, the
mare's head was towards the further bank, and partly dragged
by the bridle, and partly scrambling and swimming, on my own
hook, I soon emerged without losing hold of the mare or my
temper. Not wishing to have my exertion go for nothing, I procured a stout bag of corn at the house, and, on a second trial,
crossed without difficulty. The additional weight, perhaps, secured us a better foothold.  If so, the idea should have occurred
to us of carrying over the others, puss-back, for the long legs
of the mare would certainly have reached and held bottom had
she been well ballasted from above. As it was, it was useless to
think of getting over dry on the short pegs of Mr. Brown and
the pony, and, after drying the wet clothing and distributing the
corn among our four-iooted companions, we proceeded upon a
trail which led lip the right bank. After some six miles it also
took to the river. As it was now near dusk, and I was indifferently disposed for so active a hydropathic course as that to
which an attempt to follow up the examination into the depth
and current-force here might have led, we camped upon the
bank. 
212   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
A WANDERING JOURNEYMAN.
We had not been long at rest before we were joined by a
short, active German, with a pack, who inquired of us the direction to San Antonio. It appeared he was a German mechanic,
who had recently arrived in Texas, and hearing that there was
a German settlement without a blacksmith in the mountains, had
set out to walk there, and offer his services in exchange for a
plot of land where he might raise food for his family. He had
lost his way, and had wandered all day along the river, swimming it twice with his clothes upon his head.  He had left his
wife sick, and had already been out two days longer than he anticipated, and was only anxious to return. We indicated the
shortest practicable route across the hills, but, as the sun was
setting, advised him to share the hospitality of our tent, and
start again in the morning. This he accepted, setting himself
at once at work to get wood from the bottom, and helping us
through the preparation and the demolition of the supper like an
adept, adding a private pone of corn-bread from his pack. From
his story, it appeared he had been a traveling apprentice, and
had found himself in Pesth on the outbreak of the Revolution in
Hungary. He was ordered home to Saxony, and, traveling
slowly, had reached Munich at the close of the war, where he
was allowed to remain. There he married, and when his time
was finished, became an emigrant. In the morning he was off
before sunrise, heading for Comanche spring.
CURRIE'S CREEK.
Before we were ready to start, next day, a negro came to the
opposite side of the ford, wvho told us it was easy and safe. We
found it so, but too deep for our hampers.   We were obliged to 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 213
unpack them, and carry the contents in successive trips of the
mare.  Not far beyond the thick wood of the bottom of the
north side, we came upon Currie's Creek, and found an Ameri can settler, with some negroes.  He is owner of an adjacent saNw mill, rented and managed by a German, who appeared a man of
education, and, we learned, was one of the exiles who had retreated to the Guadalupe.    At the last freshet, the whole roof
of the mill, which is on high ground, and has its power from
the creek, was covered by the back-water of the river. The chief
wood sawed is cypress, and all lumber finds a ready market.
Our road followed Currie's Creek, a pleasant brook, bordered
by meadows, here and there interrupted by ledges of rock, extending from the hills, and walling the roadside with stunted liveoak and cedar.   We stopped, a few miles on, near three or four
families of American farmers, new settlers, still engaged in finishing their houses. The rocky hills here extend in bluffs to the
Guadalupe; the creek bottom is wide, and covered with trees,
across whose tops we looked from the dry terrace on which we
camped.
Going on next day, we gradually mounted the ridge which
sheds the water of the creek, and, from the highest point of the
road, ascended a little peak not far off. The view was even
wider than that on the other side the Guadalupe. The whole
upper valley now lay before us, with those of the two Sister
creeks and a wild array of tumbled hills to the north.  The;
valleys appeared densely wooded, with here and there a green
and fertile prairie. With the glass we could distinguish three
houses in the dale, and behind us the settlements we had left
three hours before.   A  dwarf live-oak reached even these summits, with the cactus and the aloes. A coarse, thin grass cover 
214   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
ed all the soil.   We  were again much struck with the artificial
look of the near hills, and several times in walking stopped,
thinking we had discovered old mason work in the blocks of apparently hewn stone we climbed over.
As we descended, we found thicker grass, and abundant
springs, guaranteeing its verdure through the summer. There
could not be better range for sheep.   For other purposes it is of
no value.
We met here the first snake of the season, a bright, glistening
fellow, basking upon a ledge. We interrupted his siesta with a
pistol-ball, as he seemed to us an ugly customer, measuring some
seven feet in length, but we were afterwards familiar with his
species, which is quite harmless to anything else than eggs, for
which they have an irresistible hankering.
VENISON AT LAST.
On one of the grassy slopes we came upon a deer.   He had
not seen us; venison was certain. Dismounting quietly, we led
the horses a few rods back, the ground covering them. Then
creeping directly up, as the wind favored, in the cover of a patch
of bushes, I saw the deer still unalarmed, and within easy riflerange. Now, it is necessary to confess, that down to this time,
we had not eaten one morsel of venison of our own shooting.
Many times before, after long preliminaries, I had got within
what I supposed was fair " Sharp" range, and had blazed away
without result, until I began to have a certain distrust of"  Sharp."
It might do very well, as I knew, at a target, but seemed to be
less reliable, for some reason, on the open prairie. But here
there was no occasion for long range, the deer was within almost
pistol-shot. A barrel of buck might have been a trifle safer, but
as there certainly could be no mistake now, Sharp should have 
ROUTE THROUGH AVE S TERN TEXAS. 21)5
the credit. I drew a fine bead upon a well-defined spot behind
the left shoulder, thinking of how the venison should be packed,
and the pleasure we should have, should any of the friends in
the Dale visit our camp, in offering them a tender steak, as if it
were a matter of course for us to be never without wild meat,
and-but it seemed too much like a butcher, dashing in the ribs
of the innocent brute, cropping the tender grass just there, all
guileless and unsuspicious. However, there was no denying the
advantages to mankind. I raised the muzzle again to place, and
taking a second cool and deliberate aim, (I would have staked
anything on winning at a target) pulled.  Crack!   Putting
my hand to my  knife, I stepped forward, to put an  end to
any brief misery I had created, when I saw my venison going
at a spanking rate, down the mountain, a stiff white tail, derisively hoisted, like the colors of a runaway prize, behind him.
The Doctor, who had lain looking on with some envy, was already mounted, and driving the mule down the road, in speechless
contempt.  Quickly breeching another cartridge, I sent a spiteful
ball after the flying tail, by this time a mile away, and not waiting to see if it caught the spindle-legged rascal, resumed my
seat in the saddle, and a rear position on the road, just beyond
conversational distance, having, probably, some idea of the feelings of a centaur when he rejoins his companions with his tail
between his legs.
A FIGHT WITH A PRAIRIE FIRE.
On reaching the dale, we crossed the creek, and selected our
camping ground on a narrow slope of prairie, near the foot of a
rocky spur of the mountains. One stream ran parallel with the
hillside, at about two hundred yards distance. 
216   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
We halted at a spot where three or four large live-oaks, growing
at the foot of the hill, threw a shade upon the grass. Having
staked the horses out to graze, we proceeded to make our camp.
I unrolled the tent, and cut stakes to set it up, while the Doctor
began to burn the grass off a small circle of the ground, that we
might have a place to cook our supper upon, without danger of
setting fire to the prairie at large. There was a strong southerly wind blowing; the grass had not been at all fed down, and
was the thickest and heaviest we had anywhere seen, and perfectly dead and dry. Just as the fire was touched to the grass,
there came an unusually violent gust, and in a moment it was
burning furiously. He immediately attempted to smother it, and
fearing that it would get beyond his control, called to me to assist him. I caught up a corn sack, and in half a minute was at
his side, but the fire had already spread several feet, and when
we tried to prevent its progress to leeward, we were almost immediately so suffocated by heat and smoke from flames to windward,
that we were obliged to come back. In another moment the fire
was leaping along the top of the grass before the wind, and we
saw that in this direction it was master of the prairie.
The fire extended itself in an ellipse, slowly to wvindward,
rapidly across the wind, furiously before it.   Our first care was
to prevent its reaching our tent, ammunition, and camp-stores,
which were to windward. The only artillery we could make use
of was our corn-sacks;  striking hard with these upon the flame
at any particular point, it would be blown out and smothered,
and the progress of the fire at that point prevented, until it was
again reached by the flame from the side.
Starting together, we extinguished the flame at the extreme
windward point to which it had reached, and then proceeding 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTERN TE'XAS. 217
from each other each way, we continued to put it out, and to
restrict its sidewise progress within two diverging diagonal lines.
From the live-oaks, at the foot of the steep hill, there extended
along its base, for a hundred yards or more, a thick growth of
brushwood. Following up the fire industriously in this direc tion, I soon had arrested its windward progress until it had
reached the coppice, within which, as its only fuel was a few dry
leaves and dead sticks, I was glad to perceive it extended very
slowly. I therefore joined the Doctor, who was in a similar man ner following it up on the right. Finding one of us could, with
certainty, prevent its extending to windward, we hastened its
advance laterally by drawing it along with a burning wisp, as fast
as we could, and still keep it within our control, until we reached the bank of the creek. There was then no danger of its
reaching the camp until it had burned around the coppice, and
advanced to windward beyond the live-oaks.
Before us there were now several acres of black, smoking,
ground, beyond which the flames and white smoke still roared
frightfully, and entirely obscured the view. Running around the
live-oaks, and along the side of the hill, to the left, to see what
the progress might be in that direction, we found that there were
several irregularly parallel coppices and outcrops of rock, which
interrupted and divided the advance of the fire, so that, although
when it reached a steep slope of thick grass it swept over it with
flashing rapidity, its movement up the hill was, on the whole,
comparatively slow.
I continued running along the hillside, above the fire, to observe how far it had reached directly to leeward, and what was
before it in that direction. We were very fearful of the damage
that might be done to the settlers by our carelessness, there being
10 
:18   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
the liability, not only of the destruction of their remaining winter pasture, but also that their fences, and even their cabins and
fodder-stacks and cattle, might be consumed by the fire driving
so furiously before the wind.  I found there was a curve to the
left, in the course of the creek, and of the hill, and, at about a
quarter of a mile beyond the camp, came to a small gully or
ravine which ran straight down the hillside, and across the prairie at its foot, to the creek.   The sides of this gully, which was
about ten feet deep and twenty feet across on the top, were thinly
covered, to the foot of the steep hill, with trees and brushwood,
and it occurrd to me that it might be possible to stop the progress of the flame as it came down its windward side, where it
crossed the prairie below, and then to put it out as it came irregularly and divided through the bushes.
The van of the fire had already arrived at the bushy part of
the gully, and the two wings were coming up, as I have described,
in elliptic sweeps-one upon the prairie, the other upon the steep
hillside. I arrived at the foot of the bushes, in the gully, just as
the right wing of the fire upon the prairie began to pass them.
There was, fortunately, a slight shift of the wind to the right of
the fire at this moment, occasioned, probably, by the fire itself,
so that its advance down the side of the gully was rather sidewise
to the wind, and I could crawl on my knees close under, and
beat it back with my sack. The grass was stronger and taller
than usual at this point, and some dead bushes retained the fire,
so that I had much difficulty in smothering it, and was obliged
repeatedly to return; nevertheless I succeeded in breaking the
line, and continued advancing and increasing the length of the
gap faster than the flame came up on the right to the gully.
Finally, I reached the creek again, and effectually prevented the 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. "19
further advance of the fire here by touching off some long rushy
bogs in the edge of the water, and then putting it out with my
wet sack to the leeward of these also. A triangle of the prairie
was thus left burning on the edge of the creek, but was sur  rounded by water and burned ground, so that its communication
with the prairie beyond was entirely cut off.
The sun had gone down, and it had grown dark before I had
accomplished this, and the wind had considerably moderated, as
well as changed its direction.   I returned up the hill on the
burned ground, and found the fire had been successfully with stood by the bushes in the gully, and the flames were advancing
among them only at intervals and slowly. Wherever they ap peared, I easily succeeded in smothering them. Thus the enemy,
which had before been charging in column, with resistless force,
upon the smooth prairie, was able only to move in a long line,
irregular and broken by the scattered masses of brushwood and
the ledges, up the hill, and its right upon the gully, and its left
upon the coppice and live-oaks of our camp.
Advancing upon the fire in its rear, and running through the
flame, I found the Doctor, taking advantage of the lull of the
wind, setting fire to the grass to the windward of the main line,
and constantly smothering it and preventing its progress to leeward, so that when the flame, charging only to windward, met
the other, it would have cut off its fuel and thus arrest it.  He
was then moving up and across the hill, always advancing diagonally upon the main fire, and destroying all the grass before it,
between the scattered copses of brushwood. I went to the left
of the line and there pursued the same tactics, advancing upwards
and sidewise upon the hillside, setting fire to the grass to windward of me, and allowing none to burn to leeward. After about 
220   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
two hours of this labor we met, and though the fire was still
burning with a great roar around a large circle below us, we had
the satisfaction of knowing that we had entirely surrounded it
and cut off its supplies, and restricted its damages to a matter of
small consequence.   If it had reached the prairie beyond the
gully or over the hill, it might have extended to Canada or California for all we could do.
There is something peculiarly exciting in combatting with a
fierce fire. It calls out the energies and the strength of a man
like actual war. We had been hotly engaged for more than three
hours, and it may be imagined we returned to our tent, after patrolling together our whole outer lines, greatly exulting and
fatigued.  Our wounds were mainly for the good of the trade o.
shoemakers and tailors, and the singeing our heads received
somewhat postponed our poll-tax payment to the hair-cutters.
The landscape was still brightly illuminated by the central fire
on the hillside, and we amused ourselves with each other's appearance, our faces, red with heat, being painted in a very bizarre
fashion, like Indian warriors', with streaks and spots, and clouds
of soot and coal.
Having got up our tent and washed, and changed our drenched clothing, and made a pot of coffee, and watered our horses,
and given them corn, we brought out our blankets and lay down
in the edge of the standing grass, and waited still an hour, that
we might be sure all was safe for the night, before we went to
sleep. And as the flames grew less, and the smoke-cloud slowly
vanished, and the big, red moon came up swelling like a bal loon on the other side of the dale, and the ants came crawling
up our legs, and the first musquito of the season came singing
in our ears, we reflected on the immense destruction of insect 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 221
life that such fires must occasion, and recalled, in the leisire of
imagination, some of the scenic effects of the flame and smoke
hurrying up the face of the hill, that had passed with but momentary perception while we were in the heat of our exertions.
" The fear of the damage it might do the settlers," said the
Doctor, " did not make me feel the culpability of starting the
fire, nearly as much as seeing the ants crowding away from it
upon the stones in the edge of the water, when we had carried
it down to the creek, and afterwards, when I noticed the tumultuous excitement of a wren, that probably had a nest in the
bushes."
The grandest and most remarkable picture that had painted
itself on my memory, had presented itself at the time when I came
up the hill in the rear of the fire. The ground under me, and above
the level of the eyes before me, was black as the darkness of the
darkest night. I could see nothing, and knew not on what I
should place my foot. I stretched out my hands before my face,
to defend me from anything that might stand in my way, and I
could not see my hands. I particularly noticed this, and it
seemed to me I was groping in a sea of darkness, when just
over me there was an atmosphere of light.   My eyes, looking
unward, were dazzled.   The tide of fire was moving on, in one
grand, clean sweep, and, through the waving flames and the turbid surge of hurrying sparks and lurid smoke, I saw, in distinct
brightness, the ragged edges of the protruding rocks, and of the
rough bark of old trunks and branches of dwarf-oaks, and the
young leaf-points of the bushes, in their springing life, against
the dim red dusk of the general grassy slope-and, further up,
the outline of the hill itself against the dark, distant sky. 
2'*2    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
TO SAN ANTONIO.-QUI VIVE.
We spent a week in this camp, visiting and visited by the
settlers, examining tracts of land, and collecting such agricultural information as we could; the general results of which have
been tabled above. We then rode over the rocky hills again, and
followed the Comanche Spring road to San Antonio.   During the last night's camp, some miles below the Spring, we were
disturbed by some noise in the night.   Going out, we  could
discover nothing but the growling dog; the horses were feeding
quietly at their stakes. Shortly after, we heard what might be
a smothered foot-fall, but after a more thorough search, returned
to our blankets again. While we were building the fire, after
morning dawned, a well-armed party came up, consisting of an
American, with two negroes, and a small pack of hounds. The
negroes crouched at the fire.
"Mornin', gentlemen," said the white man.
"Good morning, sir."
"Travlin'?
"Yes."
"Well. I swaar you came near not travlin' much further, last
night."
" How so?"
"Well, you see, I've lost my horses since a week ago, and
bein' as how a new settler, I couldn't very well afford to do
without'em.   Late last night, I heerd bells around, so I went
and roused out two of my niggers, and told'em to see if that
wan't our horses ranging back again. Well, they went out, and
by and by came back almighty skeered, a sayin' they'd follerd
'em by the bells over the hills this way, and had come into a
Mexican camp before they knew it.  Well, I knew as no honest 
ROUTE THROUGH WVESTa R[N'J.EXAS. 223
Mexicans could have any good business over here, and I just put
on my boots, and told'em to call the rest, and get the dogs, and
I got the guns, and we set out to see who ye was. So when we
got here, I kinder scooted roun' to see what I could, and I tell
you I didn't like the looks o' ye. I told part of'em to go down
the road round the hill, and I went up with the rest that way,
and when we got covered up with the hill we made a fire and lay
round till daylight, keepin' watch of ye. Tell ye what, if ye'd
budged much, you'd have got some buck-shot in your stomachs,
you may bet on that. Them's likely animals you've got there."
"Yes, sir."
"Well, I'll go'long. lHan't seen a pair of gray horses, have
ye, with a bay mare with'em?"
Moral: (For prairie travelers,) Never mind what's stirring, lie
quiet in your blankets.
GAME.
A goo(l 1lat ot large game is still found in these hills, though
it is disappearing before the rapid settlement of the country. As
an evidence of its past abundance, we were told that a gentleman, who resided at Comanche Spring, undertook to make, a
few years since, a collection of the skins of Texan wild animals
for a Prussian cabinet. He employed a German carpenter of
the vicinity, for nine months, to hunt for him, and during this period
the man delivered to him 11,000 lbs. of wild meat. There was
still, at a spot near Currie's Creek, a man who made his livelihood
by hunting. He kept a pack of trained hounds, and had killed
sixty bears in the course of two years. During the last year,
he had devoted himself to bee-hunting, and had sold two hundred dollars' worth of honey and wax. Mr. Vogt, a herdsman
on the Cibolo, told us that wild cattle were still to be seen on the 
224    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
ridge between the Cibolo and the Medina. They frequently associate with his herds, and almost every year he shoots two or
three of them. He describes them as of various colors, small,
and very active, and the bulls as of a savage ferocity.
We passed, on the Salado, a second flock of five or six of the
immense white cranes (I suppose  grus Americana), mentioned
previously. We did our best to get one in hand, but found them
exceedingly shy, even of Sharp's rifle.
"HEAPS" OF BEARS.
While in the mountains, the settlers told us, with fresh excitement, the story of a great bear-hunt, which had but recently
come off: The hero was one of the German hermits, named
P, a famous sportsman.   Not long before, he had had a
"personal difficulty" with a bear, in which, after the animal had
drawn his fire, he  tosed with the hunter, A,rnied onlywith
a knife, upon a rocky ledge, and attempted either to throw him
over the precipice, or to force him, in pure vengeance, to roll
down the steep with himself. Almost crushed with the hug, P.,
with his one free hand, had succeeded in giving the bear seven
deep stabs, and left him dead upon the verge.
On the last occasion, he had wounded a bear, who took to his
heels, and disappeared in a pile of rocks. Following with all
his speed, P. found a hole, down which the bear seemed to have
dropped.  Convinced that his shot had been fatal, yet unable to
enter the cavity, he pried a large stone over the mouth, and went
for assistance. His hut-companion returned with him, and they at
first attempted to smoke the bear out. Not succeeding in this, they
battered the edges of the aperture till it was large enough to enter.
Then, held by the heel, P. went on his hands in search of his 
ROUTE THROUGH WESTERN TEXAS. 225
booty. After some not very pleasant groping, he found the carcass, and, attaching a rope, it was hauled out, a magnificent hebear, worth a good deal in cash, and much more in glory. But
while half-smothered in the cave, he had heard an indistinct
growl, at no great distance, which indicated that more fun was to
be had, if properly applied for. It was a hazardous experiment,
but one that exactly suited P.'s humor, to enter, and have a
hand-to-hand fight in the dark with the growler, whoever he
was.
Arming himself with a freshly capped and cocked Colt, and
placing a knife between his teeth, he crept cautiously in again.
The passage shortly became narrow, and he soon reached a turn
which he could only pass feet foremost. Retreating a bit, he
turned himself, and pushed on. On clearing the obstacle, he
found himself free, and heard now close before him, the steady
breathing of a bear. It was a darkness of Erebus, but hit or
miss he resolved to have a shot. Aiming, deliberately, at the
sound, he fired two barrels, then took himself out as fast as
hands and knees would carry him. But no stir followed, and it
was impossible to tell the result.
Piling the rocks again over the aperture, the two returned to
their hut, manufactured torches of wax from a bee-tree, and
calling a neighbor or two to see the sport, went again to the den.
Armed now with a torch, P. forced himself to where he had been
before, and saw his bear lying dead. It was dragged out.
After a congratulatory and recuperative draught of whisky all
round, P. resolved on further explorations. He found, beyond
the scene of his last adventure, a narrow cleft in the rocks. He
had hardly squeezed himself into this, when he suddenly found
his hand in contact with a third bear-dead. It had probably
10* 
226   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
beei — smothered by their smoke.   This, too, was got out amid
an excitement that made the woods ring with echoes.
But if three bears had been found, that was no reason why
there should not be more beyond. Creeping down again to the
cleft, he squeezed in, head foremost, as before. He had not progressed far, when he was met with a savage roar, and the glare of
a pair of mad eyes in motion directly before him. He attempted
to fall back to recover himself, but one of the neighbors, who
had made up his mind to have a finger in the pie, was close behind, and prevented, by his entangled body, any quick retreat;
so aiming hurriedly between the eyes, he fired.   Before his excited senses had recovered from the reverberated din and smoke,
he saw the eyes again in a different place, this time fixed in a
steady gaze. He fired again. The echoes over, nothing more
was to be seen or heard. Advancing cautiously once more, he
came upon two warmn carcasses, bot/h shot between the eyes. Here
was the end of the cave. He had killed the whole of the Bruin
family.
Imagine the cheers, when the five bears were carried by his
neighbors, on poles, into the settlement, P. striding modestly at
the rear. A three days' feast of bears'-meat and whisky was
proclaimed and celebrated, and P., if he do not, like old Put.,
find his way into history, will at least live long in local tradition. 
CHAP. IV.
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
WE left San Antonio on the 14th of February for an excursion to the coast. The road lies, for some miles, through mesquit chapparal, which extends much further from the town than
on the Austin road. It is sparse, however, and good grass
grows beneath it. The Mexican inhabitants make use of these
great commons, driving in their cows every night.
A MULE SPIRT.
Our week in the mountains Mr. Brown had spent in corn-fed
idleness at the inn-stables. On resuming the hampers, he eyed
them wickedly, as if he were more than half inclined to resist,
and, when we reached the crossing of the Cibolo, with a snort
of fat defiance, he suddenly declared his independence, and tearing his lariat from our hands, set off to display his claims to the
original freedom of his ancestors. Throwing his ears and his
heels straight out behind him, he made first for the nearest cover
of tall brushwood. Saplings were of no consideration at all,
and were prostrated in a flash, leaving a broad trail, as if a mowing machine had passed. But the hampers were well tackled on,
and stood the test. Next came a series of ground and lofty
tumblings on both sides the creek bank, and in the creek itself,
which were equally unsuccessful. Of course we were after him 
228   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
with all our legs; but the freakish course he ran was more than
we could follow and keep up the necessary laughter at the same
time, and we were much relieved when we saw him suddenly
strike out on a bee-line, across the prairies, for Metamoras, the
hampers still clinging like wolves to his flanks. Fanny was
fully equal to any bee-line that ever was drawn, and though a
short-legged mule, when fully under way on a stampede, is
"some pumpkins" at going, she made brief work of the intervening distance, and I very soon had the lariat round the
pommel of the saddle, and the chop-fallen runaway in tow back
to the ford.
These proceedings occupied some time; but the damages we
found, on examination, were confined to the breaking of our
thermometer and the indiscriminate mixing of some articles that
had been better apart. Rain soon began to fall, and we made a
short day of it, camping in the lee of a mesquit thicket, some
twelve or fourteen miles from San Antonio.
Mr. Brown was securely fastened by the nose to a high branch,
and so, for his sins, took supperless a cold standee for the
night. When morning came, his ears and spirits were completely wilted, and he always carefidly avoided the subject of
his private Cibolo stampede-never afterwards offering the least
symptom of insurrection.
A WET NORTHER.
Next day the rain continued falling, with occasional dashes of
snow, a cutting north wind, making matters very disagreeable.
We, of course, kept camp.   Without our tent we should have
had a sorry time of it; but, with a dry cover, good books, a
rousing fire, and a freshly-stocked havre-sack, time passed easily 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
enough.  The protection given by the thin clump of trees was
astonishing. The tent was hardly shaken, while out of the lee
it was difficult to support the furious and continued force of the
blast.
February 16.-Rain at intervals. We rode on to the Guadalupe, and camped in the bottom.   The  country was mesquit
prairie, hilly, and much covered with thickets, but fine grazing.
We saw many cattle in very fine order, and one large cavallada
of about two hundred mares and colts.  Our tent stood under a
magnificent cypress, overhung with enormous vines.  Fuel was
abundant, and we did not spare it. The fire-glare lighted up a
grand dome of leaves resplendent with the falling rain.
February 17.-A light rain continued.  We  made a stew for
breakfast of such small birds as came within range of the fryingpan. A boy, attracted by our guns or by the savory odor, made
his appearance on horseback, attended by a pack of hounds. He
seemed somewhat taken aback on observing our comfortable arrangements, and after a tame proposal to "to swop horses,"
took his departure.
A BLACK LIFE.
Soon afterwards an old negro man and woman came by with
a team, going for rails. They stopped near us, and the old man
came to our fire for a brand to light their pipes. We asked him
if we could get corn at his master's.   He didn't reckon we
could.
"Why not?"
"'Cause he buys all he uses himself."
"Why don't he raise it?"
"Well, he ha'n't been long in the country."
"How long?"
229 
230    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
"Only one year. But I've been roun' these parts these four
year."
"Where have you lived before?"
"Well, I lived in Arkansaw'fore I come here."
"Were you born there?"
"Lor' bless you, no.   I was born on the Eastern shore [of
Maryland]."
"How came you in Arkansas?"
"My mass'r sold me to go in a drove when I was a little boy,
and I was bought out of the drove in South Carolina, and when
I was most a man grown my mass'r moved to Tennessee. Thar
I got my old woman, and we raised thirteen chil'en. Then we
was sold to go to Arkansaw."
"Did your children go with you?"
"No, but afterwards my mass'r bought one of my darters.
There I stayed some time, and then we was sold to a German,
and he sold me to a man that was coming to Texas. Mass'r
couldn' jus' find a place to suit him at first, and I hired my time
for three year, and lived in San Antone."
"How did you like San Antonio?"
"I never lived no-where I liked so well as San Antone."
"How did you get on with the Mexicans and the Germans?"
"Oh, very well; they're very civil people and always treated
me well. I never had no complaint to make of anybody, and I
b'leeve everybody was sorry when I had to leave."
"Why did you leave?"
"They made a law that no nigger shouldn't hire his time in
San Antone, so I had to cl'ar out, and mass'r wanted me, so I
come back to him."
"How much did yout pay for yourself?" 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
"Tree hundred dollar a year for both on us.  Wasn't that
pretty good wages, mass'r, for two old folks?"
"How old are you?"
"Well, sar, so far as I am acquainted, I am  sixty-four years
old; just about sixty-four, sar."
They remained near us in the rain, cutting at opposite sides of
a big tree.  We passed, soon after we started, the field to which
they were carting the rails. Half-a-dozen women and two or
three men were eating their dinner- corn-pone and eggs. A little
apart was a woman, nursing her child, sitting on the newlyploughed wet ground.
SEGUIN.
About a mile from the river we entered Seguin.   It is the
prettiest town in Texas; at least of those we saw. It stands on
elevated ground, in a grove of shaggy live-oaks, which have been
left untouched, in their natural number and position, the streets
straying through them in convenient directions, not always at
right angles. How wonderful, that so cheap and rich an ornamentation should not be more common. The hotel is large and
good. We were kindly treated, and furnished with clear information, at the store of Mr. Wuppermann, of whom we purchased
some supplies.   Irish potatoes were sold by him, we noted, at
$6 the bushel, for seed.   A number of buildings in Seguin are
made of concrete-thick walls of gravel and lime, raised a foot
at a time, between boards, which hold the mass in place until it
is solidified. As the materials are dug from the cellar, it is a
very cheap mode of construction, is neat in appearance, and is
said to be as durable, while protected by a good roof, as stone or
brick.   One man may erect a house in this way, calling in
mechanics only to roof and finish.
231 
232   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
We camped near the San Geronimo creek, at the edge of a
live-oak grove, looking across a charming lawn. The rain continuing, we were obliged to spend the following day in camp.
With the help of the mule we got together some huge live-oak
logs, and made a quasi-permanent fire-place, which kept a-glow
all night.
A negro, who was getting wood near us, informed us that lihe
was born in Tennessee, and wished he was back there againTexas was a miserable place for the likes o' him.   There were
several houses in the neighborhood, at which we obtained fowls
and eggs. At one house a long consultation on the subject resulted favorably, and three negro girls, two boys, and two dogs
were set upon the unfortunate pullets. All the whites with whom
we talked were well pleased with the country-they had had uniform good health and satisfactory crops. One family had come
from a river county in Missouri, and congratulated themselves
much upon the change.
February 19.-The rain ceased, and a light breeze sprung up
from the southwest. The road soon entered post-oak woods and
sandy land.   This alternated with black hog-wallow prairies.
The depressions varied from two to six yards across, and had now
each a miry centre.   The soil is more tenacious than the ordinary prairies, and produces well, only in peculiar seasons, which
afford it neither too much nor too little moisture. Here and
there were ledges and hills of limestone, and, sometimes, what appeared to be a red sandstone, cropping out.   We passed Mount
Capote, which is a wooded summit, terminating a long range of
hills. Though not high, it is the only object that rises above the
general surface, and can be seen for a great distance. We went
through some small rich prairies, where the mesquit and sedge 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
grasses were mixed. The cattle upon these looked in good condition, but upon the large hog-wallows were in very bad order.
SPRING.
February is a spring month in Texas, and, in spite of the
cold, we had already found one or two feeble flowers near our
camps.
To-day, the genial sun warmed the fresh moistened soil, and
three or four more species opened into bloom. After this hardly
a day passed without some addition, and very soon it was impossible to welcome each new-comer; the whole prairies became
radiant and delicious. The beauty of the spring-prairies has
never been and never will be expressed. It is inexpressible.
A few days sufficed now, in fact, to change the whole face of
nature. A quick flush spread over all; the bosom of old Mother Earth seemed to swell with life.
In another day the elm-buds were green and bursting, and the
wild plum in fragrant blossom; the dreary, burnt prairies, from repulsive black, changed at once to a vivid green, like that of young
wheat. The cheering effect I leave to be imagined. The herds
all left the dry sedge, and flocked to the new pastures. The
unburnt districts, covered with the thick mat of last year's
growth, were a month behind.
We passed, in the afternoon, a cotton field in the river bottom. The stalks were short, but much cotton remained unpicked. The country is more suited to small farms and grazing
than to planting.
Toward night we could find no water for our camp. At a
house, where we inquired, they told us they brought water friom
the river, half a mile. We stopped by a water-hole, fresh filled
233
A 
234    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
by the rain.  A  great many cardinals came  about  our camp.
Their notes were now very clear, varied, and agreeable, their
plumage a somewhat dingy scarlet, but flashing bright when on
the wing.
GUADALUPE LANDS.
The bottom lands of the Guadalupe here are usually from
two to four miles wide. They are said to be less subject to
overflow than those of any other large river in Texas. They
are covered with timber, which is mainly heavy and very valuable, especially so here where timber of any kind is difficult to be
procured.   The principal sorts are white-oak, pecan, walnut,
hickory, box-alder, mulberry, cotton-wood, and cypress.
Exterior to the timber, on each side, is generally a portion of
flat bottom-prairie. It has a rich, black, clay soil, difficult to
work, but producing heavy crops. Beyond this bottom-prairie,
the surface rises abruptly to uplands, which present a good deal
of variety in soil and scenery. The largest part is rolling prairie, with some chapparal and groves of live-oaks near the terrace. Further back are sandy elevated tracks, the soil of which
is comparatively poor and covered by a thin growth of post.
oaks.
The banks of the river, on both sides, are considered to be
well settled. The houses of the residents are, perhaps, a mile
apart on the more valuable parts. On the east side are some
families who came here before the Revolution. Most of the settlers are extensive herdsmen and small planters. The plantations have a small front on the river, and extend back sometimes
several miles over the upland prairie, no part of which is in.
closed. Only the best of the bottom land is cultivated, and of
that, probably, much less than a hundredth part. 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
A large proportion, perhaps almost half, of the white residents
we saw were Germans.   Their tracts are usually small, not
more than from twenty to one hundred acres, which they till
with their own hands. The American proprietors own, gene rally, at least, one thousand acres, and work each from five to
fifty slaves. There are very few Mexicans. The Americans
are exceedingly suspicious of their vicinity, and drive them off at
the least provocation. Those who remain are poor, owning
small herds.
On the 20th February we reached Gonzales. The prairies
through which the road passes were cropped very close, and we
passed many carcasses of cattle, that had miserably perished by
the road, of cold and starvation.
The late storm coming at the end of winter caused the destruction of a great number of cattle, both working oxen, belonging to teams that were engaged in hauling goods to San Antonio, and the half-starved herds upon the poorer and most exposed prairies. A little care to provide shelter and fodder for
these rare occasions would prevent this great suffering and loss;
but in not one instance did we see any such forethought.
We passed a number of old places having much the aspect
of Virginia plantations, inclosed within very high zigzag fences,
with gin-houses, negro women poughing, and sometimes a small
garden, and a half dozen peach-trees.
We were joined by a planter from the opposite side of the
river, where there are many Tennesseeans and Mississippians.
He was from Tennessee; had moved first to Alabama, afterwards to Mississippi, whence he came to Eastern Texas. He
didn't like it there, and pushed on. He liked the country better
and better as he came further, and finally reached the lower
235 
236    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Guadalupe, where he hired land, and was able to purchase it
with the proceeds of his first crop. But he found it sickly
there, and came higher up. Here he was well satisfied. They
had no sickness, but a little bilious fever and very light fever and
ague.  There was a good deal of pneumonia in winter.  The
land was very fine; he made one bale to the acre always, and
always grew twice as much cotton as his hands could pick.
Seven bales to the hand was a common crop, and of corn forty
to fifty bushels.  He had known ten bales to the hand to be made,
and had heard of a hundred bushels of corn to the acre, but had
never seen it.
Land had "bounced up powerful."   A tract that he could
have bought, three years ago, for two dollars, had just been sold
at ten dollars. The mustang grape, he told us, was very abundant
in the bottoms. It was not worth much to eat, but made beautiful wine. The Germans made it right fine, he heard. Last
year he thought he'd try it himself. He mashed them in a barrel, and let them stand and work for six or eight days, then
drained them, and bottled the juice.  "It was splendid; made
a splendid drink, sir, splendid; as good as any cider ever you
see." He could get a wagon load in a day if he wanted, and
next year he would make a good lot, and squeeze them in his
cotton-press.
The price of cattle was now very high, six dollars per head
for stock-cattle. He had known a sale at seven dollars. A cow
and calf sold at from fifteen to twenty dollars. This expres sion, "stock cattle," is constantly used to express the usual
herd of cattle bought as herdsmen's stock. It includes here all
the cows of a herd, with their calves, and all young cattle un der three years of age. 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
He spoke very highly of the Germans of the neighborhood.
ThIere were some thieves among them, but, in general, they
were very steady workers, trustworthy, and needing no watching
when hired; they were very friendly-disposed people. The hire
of negroes was now very high. First rate hands, $300; ordinary hands, $150 to $250.
GONZALES.
Gonzales is a town of perhaps one thousand inhabitants. It
is a centre of distribution for hardware and whisky for a rich
district, and is probably destined to a steady increase until the
soil of the district is exhausted. It has at present nothing to
distinguish it from other towns. There is the usual square of
dead bare land, surrounded by a collection of stores, shops,
drinking and gambling-rooms, a court-house, and a public-house,
or two, with the nearly vacant mapped streets behind.
We could procure no flour, meal, corn, or crackers in town.
The price of corn, by the load, was seventy-five cents per
bushel; of bacon, twenty-five cents per pound. At a German
baker's we found wheat-bread. He informed us that there were
about fifty Germans in the town-a few were farmers, most were
mechanics.
Our camp, at night, was a few miles beyond Gonzales, in thick
post-oak woods. We applied at an adjacent house for water,
and were directed to a pool half a mile distant. When found,
it made a poor beverage, even after boiling, and, by morning
light, we discovered it was so extremely dirty that we postponed
any personal ablutions till a better opportunity. This was soon
offered in the tolerably clear stream of Peach Creek, a few miles
on.
237 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
BROADER VIEWS.
Beyond Peach Creek bottoms, the scenery becomes more and
more open. The bare prairie hills extend to the flowed river
bottom. Scattered at distances of about a mile, along the road,
are the houses of herdsmen. The soil is black, but sandy.
After twenty miles' ride, we camped in a charming spot, by the
side of a clear rippling brook, hanging our tent between two superb live-oaks, upon a swell of prairie, on our right a motte of
moss-hung trees, through which we saw the sun go down, lurid
and swollen, in the smoke of a distant prairie fire. The horses
regaled themselves with the fresh grass. For corn, both yesterday and to-day, we paid one dollar the bushel. To-day it proved
quite uneatable from mould. Throughout the South, corn is
stored in rude cribs, or half-covered piles, always unhusked.
The consequence is, it is almost always musty. The bushel is a
barrel of ears in the husk, the purchaser stripping it for himself,
a task which added not a little to our daily camp labors. Even
when carted thirty miles' distance, the corn is left upon the cob
and in the husk.
A thick mist came up in the night, which dropped from the
oak leaves so rapidly upon the tent as to induce me to get up to
rebuild the fire, thinking it rain.
COTTON HAULING-THE ROADS.
February 22.-The country was much more wooded than yesterday, frequent mottes of live-oak, coppices of mesquit, and
forests of post-oakls, diversifying the prairie. The houses were
old, and of a more comfortable sort. We saw near some of
them the first peach-blossoms of the season. We passed cottonfields again, and wagons loaded with cotton.   One carryi,g
238 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
eight bales, drawn by ten very lean oxen, was from San Marcos,
bound to the coast. The teamster, who was on horseback, told
us his best day's work was ten miles.  Across the wet hog wvallow prairie of the latter part of the day, the road was very
heavy.   In the creek, near which we made our camp, was a cot ton team stalled, and it was late at night before the whipping,
and swearing came to an end.  While we were at breakfast in
the morning, the teamster drove by his cattle, which had strayed
away in the night for better pasture, and stopped to ask our as sistance.   He had cut trees for fulcrum and lever, and thought
with our help he should be able to get out. We worked for an
hour under his guidance, covering ourselves with mire, but effecting nothing. A man appeared on horseback, who added his
forces. After perceiving that our combined efforts would not
suffice to raise the wheel, he said, "Stranger, I'll give you my
advice. I'm sick, and not able to help you much. I'm going
now to see a doctor.    But your wagon isn't very badly stalled,
sir.   The mire is not  deep  here.   That  wheel is on the
gravel now. I'll tell you what's the matter; your cattle are too
weak.   Now you take them all out, and give them a feed, and
turn them out to graze till another team comes up, and they'll
have to help you, because there isn't room to get by. And I'll
tell you what I'll do.  I'll call at the overseer's (of roads), and
tell him you sent for him to help you. He's got plenty of teams
and hands, and if he don't come, you return him (to the County
Court), because he's no business to leave a place like this in the
road."   With that he mounted, and rode on.   We did the
same, the teamster offering us no thanks, but shouting after us,
"What'll you take for that mule?"
We saw again along the road to-day many dead cattle.   The
239 
240   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
herds were miserably poor in flesh.  Most of the carcasses were
of working oxen, usually from the carts of Mexicans, who give
their teams no corn, depending entirely upon the pasturage. The
latter part of the day, the road left the river, and stretched out
upon flat, high, sandy prairies, the poorest prairie land we have
seen.
SLAVE EMIGRANTS.
Toward night, we entered on the great level prairies of the
coast.  Here we met a gang of negroes, three men, two women, and two boys, under guard of a white man and a very
large yellow mastiff. The negroes had each some article to
carry, one an axe, another a rifle, another a kettle, a fourth led
a horse, to whose saddle were fastened a ham, a coffee-pot, and
a buffalo robe. This last, undoubtedly, would be the white
man's covering at night, the negroes having no extra clothing.
They were evidently slaves consigned to some planter in the
interior, probably by his factor in New Orleans, as part of the
proceeds of his crop.
They were much fagged, and sullen with their day's walk. The
prospect before them was a boundless flat prairie, with a cold
north wind, and rain threatening. They were evidently intending to camp upon the open prairie, as for eight miles we had
passed no house. Before midnight, a severe rain-storm did, in
fact, commence.
VICTORIA.
Shortly before reaching Victoria, we came into a German settlement. The houses were poor and small, and indicated much
less thrift than any we had seen.
Victoria is a very ditto of Gonzales, and all the rest. It stands
on the great flat coast prairie, near the edge of the river bottom. 
A TRIP TO THEE COAST.
It is an old settled town, and has about 1,000 inhabitants.
About half its population are Germans, many of whom remain  ed at the first settled spot reached during the great immigration.
Several tracts adjacent were divided into plots for them, which
they eagerly bought with their savings, or first earnings, and are
now unable to sell without the loss of their improvements. Two
of them together commonly bought a lot of forty acres.   Com paring their position with that of their countrymen in the upper
country, it was really pitiful. Many of the lots we saw were
undrained flats, now half under water, which sometimes sur rounded the houses; covered with a green slime.  Yet they told
us the town was not unhealthy, and the Americans assured us that
it was as healthy as any town in Texas, and much more so than
Gonzales, in particular. Yellow fever had visited them the previous year, but was said not to have been epidemic. On the
coast we were told that it was anl extremely unhealthy town,
severe bilious and congestive fevers prevailing every year.
We found the town ill-provided with provisions and goods;
and for all small articles we were charged exorbitant prices.
Corn was not to be had.  Its nominal price was  $1 50 per
bushel.
NIGHT ON A PLANTATION.
We went on some miles beyond Victoria, and not finding a
suitable camping place, stumbled, after dark, into a large plantation upon the river bottom.
The irruption of such a train within the plantation fences
caused a furious commotion among the dogs and little negroes,
and it was with no little difficulty we could explain to the planter,
who appeared with a candle, which was instantly blown out, upon#
the porch, our peaceable intentions.   Finally, after a general
11
241 
242    A JOURNEY THRO UIGH TE X A S.
striking out of Fanny's heels and the master's boots, aided by
the throwing of our loose lariats into the confused crowd, the
growling and chattering circle about us was sufficiently enlarged
and subdued for us to obtain a hearing, and we were hospitably
received.
"Ho Sam!  You Tom, here!  Call your missus.  Suke! if
you don't stop that infernal noise I'll have you drowned! Here
Bill! Josh! some of you, why don't you help the gentleman?
Bring a lantern here!  Packed, are you, sir.  Hold on, you
there, leave the gun alone.  Now, clear out with you, you little
devils, every one of you!  Is there no one in the house?  St!
after'em, Tiger! Can't any of you find a lantern? Where's
Bill, to take these horses? What are you doing there? I tell
you to be off, now, every one of you!   Tom! take a rail and
keep'em off there!"
In the midst of the noise we go through the familiar motions,
and land our saddles and hampers upon the gallery, then follow
what appears to be the headmost negro to the stable, and give
him a hint to look well out for the horses.
This is our first reintroduction to negro servants after our
German experiences, and the contrast is most striking and disagreeable.   Here were thirty or forty slaves, but not an order
could be executed without more reiteration, and threats, and oaths,
and greater trouble to the master and mistress, than would be
needed to get a squadron under way.   We heard the master
threaten his negroes with flo,gging, at least six times, before we
went to bed. In the night a heavy rain came up, and he rose,
on hearing it, to arrange the cistern spout, cursing again his inernal niggers, who had turned it off for some convenience of their
own. In the morning, we heard the mistress scolding her girls 
A TRIP  TO THE  COAST.
for having left aiticles outside which had  )een spoile(l by the
wet aiter iepeate(l orde's  to biring tlhem in.   On vi:iting' tlhe
stables we found the door fastened by a boaid leaned a(,'iist it.
All the animnals were loose, except the mule, wh-icll I had ias tened myself.  The rope attached to my saddle was stolen, and a
shorter one substituted for it, when I mentioned the fact, by which
I was deceived, until we were too far off to return.   The master,
seeing the horses had yet had no fodder, called to a boy to get
some for them, then, countermanding his order, told the boy to
call some one else, and go himself to drive the cows out of the
garden.  Then, to another boy, he said, "Go  and pull two or
three bundles of fodder out of the stack and give these horses."
The boy soon came with two small bundles.   "You infernal
rascal, couldn't you tote more fodder than that? Go back and
bring four or five bundles, and be quick about it or I'll lick you."
The boy walked slowly back, and returned with four bundles
more.
But on entering at night we were struck with the air of comfort that met us. We were seated in rocking-chairs in a wellfurnished room, before a blazing fire, offered water to wash, in a
little lean-to bed-room, and, though we had two hours to wait
for our supper, it was most excellent, and we passed an agreeable
evening in intelligent conversation with our host.
After his curiosity about us was satisfied, we learned from him
that, though a young man, he was an old settler, and had made
a comfortable fortune by his plantation.   His wife gave us a
picturesque account of their wagon journey here with their people,
and described the hardships, dangers, and privations they had at
first to endure. Now they were far more comfortable than tlhe
could have ever hoped to have been in the state from which they
243 
244   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
came.   They thought their farm the best cotton land in the
world. It extended across a mile of timbered bottom land from
the river; then over a mile of bottom prairie, and included a large
tract of the big prairie "for range."  Their field would produce,
in a favorable season, three bales to the acre; ordinarily a bale
and a half: the "bale" 400 lbs.   They had always far more
than their hands could pick. It was much more free from weeds
than the states, so much so, that three hands would be needed
there to cultivate the same area as two here; that is, with the
same hands the crop would be one-third greater.
But so anxious is every one in Texas to give all strangers a
favorable impression, that all statements as to the extreme profit
and healthfulness of lands must be taken with a grain of allowance.  We found it very difficult, without impertinent persistence,
to obtain any unfavorable facts. Persons not interested informed
us, that from one-third to one-half the cotton crop on some of
these rich plantations had been cut off by the worm, on several
occasions, and that negroes suffered much with dysentery and
pneumonia.
It cost them very little to haul their cotton to the coast or to
get supplies. They had not been more sickly than they would
have been on the Mississippi. They considered that their steady
sea-breeze was almost a sure preventive of such diseases as they
had higher up the country.
SUGAR.
There were several sugar-plantations near them, one above
Victoria, which had done extremely well, always selling their
sugar at the highest price, for the supply of the back country.
As there is, for the present, abundance of fuel in the bottoms,
sugar-making will probably be an extensive business on the lower 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
Guadalupe, for some time to come. The land is very well adapted, and can be bought, improved, for $10 per acre. We were
shown, as high as Seguin, cane, which was of unusual size, and
perfectly developed.
-In the garden were peach and fig-trees, and raspberries. Pears
on quince-stocks have produced fine crops in the neighborhood.
The banana is cultivated here and at Indianola, but only as a
curiosity, requiring to be housed or well protected.
They always employed German mechanics, and spoke well of
them. Mexicans were regarded in a somewhat unchristian tone,
not as heretics or heathen to be converted with flannel and tracts,
but rather as vermin, to be exterminated.   The lady was particularly strong in her prejudices. White folks and Mexicans
were never made to live together, anyhow, and the Mexicans had
no business here.   They were getting so impertinent, and were
so well protected by the laws, that the Americans would just
have to get together and drive them all out of the country.
THE COAST PRAIRIE.
We looked out in the morning upon a real sea of wet grass.
A dead fiat extended as far as the eye could reach, reeking with
water.   The rain fell in sheets, and the wind blew a gale from
the southward. But we were anxious to reach the coast, and
sheathing ourselves and our hampers in india-rubber, we put off
in the face of the blast.
We had come a long way off the road in finding the plantation,
and on leaving, our host gave us advice how to find it again-advice not at all unnecessary; for we might easily have lost all traces
of our whereabouts on the limitless expanse before us, and have
furnished, perhaps, another example of the accident mentioned
245 
246   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
in the "Visit to Texas," and introduced (like all the other avail.
able incidents of that little book) into one of Seatsfield's novels,
where the traveler, losing himself upon the great coast prairie,
finally congratulates himself, when, on the second day, he finds
the trail of a horseman. Following it, with the idea that it must
lead somewhere, he finds it joined by other tracks, which fill him
with joy, till he eventually discovers that he has for four days
been traveling in his own tracks in a frightful circuit around the
vast prairie.
Our directions were as follows: "The wind is now just about
south, and it will most likely stay so. Well, you keep the wind
right square on your shoulder, and ride straight across the prairie, and when you've gone about a mile, you'll rise the tops of
some timnber. Then you go right toward that till you can see
the bottoms of the trees, and when you can see the ground where
they grow, then you can bear off to the right of them till you
see the road."
Following these sailing orders as if we were really at sea, we
at length reached the road. Several times we had to recall the
direction to keep the wind on our right shoulder, finiding that in
conversation we had diverged, till quite at right angles with our
course, and each having a different idea, as we looked up, as to
the proper bearing of the point we were aiming at. The road
was a mere collection of straggling wagon-ruts, extending for
more than a quarter of a mile in width, from outside to outside,
it being desirable, in this part of the country, rather to avoid a
road than to follow it. We had heard, the day before, at Victoria, that two parties, who wished to meet, had passed one
another unnoticed, and it now seemed quite credible; one had
taken the right of the road, the other the left. We, ourselves, 
A  TRIP  TO  THE  COAST.
usually rode outside all the tracks, using them only as a guide
to our course.  We met the mail-coach standing in the opposite
direction, many hundred yards to our left, across the way.
The storm was severe, and during the whole day we saw
no one working to windward but ourselves. The distance to Lavacca was twenty-eight miles.   We passed, until near our arrival there, but one house, a miserable, half drowned ranch, upon
a slight elevation, near a still creekl.  The rain fell constantly,
and the clay-soil having been saturated before, the whole now
remained upon the surface, so that we waded through water fetlock deep.  Wherever the turf was not too soft to support the
hoofs of the horses, we went at round trot, splashing sheets of
water over one another.  The greater part of the time, our view
was entirely uninterrupted, across a nearly level, treeless space
around three quarters of  the horizon.   Objects loomed into
7vagueness, as at sea. Part of the prairie wvas hog-wallow, very distressing to the laboring horses, and now and then came a slightly
elevated long roll.  As we approached the coast, the ground became still more perfectly level, and more deeply inundated.
The horses were half-knee deep.
We met seventeen wagons and nine Mexican carts upon the road,
t)ound up, and ten cotton wagons and seventeen Mexican carts
bound( to the coast, laid up in stress of weather, the teamsters huddled in pitiful plight under their slight protection. We passed
near several herds of deer, and saw many wild geese, cranes, and
prairie hens, and innumerable smaller birds and water-fowl.
Two herds of horses came near us; one of about forty we approached closely. They stood tails to windward, scattered and
feeding.  When we were within about five hundred yards, all
raised their heads, trotted together, and stood gazing at us in a
247 
248   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
troop. When we had approached within three hundred yards,
they broke into a frolicsome gallop, stopping after a short run to
look at us again. They were, probably, half-tamed mustangs,
though, possibly, a stray troop of wild horses from the desert
prairies to the West.
LAVACCA.
Lavacca seemed to recede as we drew near it. We saw the
masts of vessels two hours before we reached the town. We
found a very indifferent hotel, but, luckily, a capital stable,
where we saw our jaded horses rubbed thoroughly dry and well
fed. The town stands on the edge of the bay, the surface of
which is some fifteen feet below the prairie. The streets were
now completely flooded. It lacks churches, school-houses, a
public square, shade-trees, and Venetian blinds, but, in other
respects, reminds one completely of a small New England seaport or fishing village. There were four New York schooners at
the end of long, slightly-built jetties, and three or four smaller
bay craft. There is no rise and fall of tide of consequence, but
the depth of water is changed by the prevailing winds. There
are said to be seven feet of water in the channel; the depth,
however, varies with the residence of your informant, and is
only to be correctly ascertained from the Coast Pilot.
A REFORMED ABOLITIONIST.
We were invited, when we arrived, into the ladies' sittingroom, to dry our wet clothes at the only fire. The room was
well filled by a family fiom Alabama. They were on their way
with their negroes to the interior, and had been detained here a
week, unable to procure wagons. The mistress was in conversation with an Irish lady upon the subject of negroes. 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
When she left Ireland she was an abolitionist; she wouldn't
own a slave; and, bless you, as to whipping one, why she'd just
as soon think of whipping a white person. But she very soon
had to change her views on arriving in Texas. She found they
couldn't get any servants they could depend on, except  niggers,
and now she had just as lief whip a nigger as not. She used
to think ni,ggers were hard used, but now she knew they weren't
a bit more than they deserved to be. They all deserved to be
whipped; if they were whipped more they'd be better; unless
they was whipped they was good for nothing. She knew and
acknowledged she didn't whip her own servants half enough;
they were so saucy, and didn't care a bit for your interests.
There was a girl they had owned now four years, and she didn't
care a bit more for their interests than she did for anybody
else's. The other day, a lady called out to her that the pigs
were in the garden, and what do you think she said?  Why,
she said they weren't any of her pigs, was they? And so she
let'em root up all the potatoes they had planted, and the seed
cost them six dollars a bushel, and had to be brought from St.
Louis. Did they have white servants in Ireland? one of the
young ladies asked. Oh, yes, nothing else. And didn't they
whip'em when they wouldn't mind?   Oh, you see, my dear, it's
very different; they an't like niggers at all, they're enough sight
better; they mind of their own accord. You see, it's their interest to mind, because, if they don't, they'll get sent away;
and they're more respectable than niggers, and more humble, too,
a great deal, though they are more respectable. But they are
spoiled as soon as they come to this country, complete. When
I first came here I hired me a seamstress, and it wasn't a day
before she wanted higher wages; then she wanted to sit at my
11*
2.49 
250    A JOURNEY T H ROUGH TEXAS.
table, she \wvIsn't a nigger, she said; she thought she was our
equal.  So I dischlargedl her, and she thought she could do better; and, sure enough, there was a lady hired her before night
of the same day, and when I took tea with the lady, here was
this girl at table as good as anybody, and I thought I should
have laughed in her face when she turned to me and asked if
she shouldn't help me to something more, just as if she was the
mistress herself.
The Alabamians did not seem to appreciate the peculiar fun
of this.
The head of the Alabamnian family seemed to fear the bill.
He was asking the landlord what the charges were, as, now it
was storming again, it looked like as if they wouldn't be able to
get wagoned up the country for a week more.   They were
charged one dollar per night, each person and each horse. There
was nothing eatable upon the table, save the old corn-bread.
Everything else was drenched in bad melted butter. As usual,
no milk.
We were shown to bed by a little negro, who led us across an
open space, ankle-deep in mud and water.  Three  beds occupied
the room, with scarce space to move between them. The towel
was a quarter yard of twilled cotton.  We remonstrated.   The
little negro said, "that ar's a good one, put in here to-day, never
been used but once, mass'r."   We  asked what time breakfast
was served.   " Jus' as soon as we ken get it ready, mass'r."
"What time is that usually?"  " Can't till'ou, mass'r."  "Is
there any one else to sleep in this room?"   "Yes, sar; thar's
an old gen'l'm'n sleeps here, but he don' often come in till morning, sar."   At midnight two  men  entered the room, talking
loudly, and holding a candle to our faces to see who we were. 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
They occupied the same bed, half dressed, and continued talking
in the most profane manner.   They appeared to be professional
gamblers, and spoke of a young man of whom they had got, that
night, $200. One expressed some compassion for the poor fellow. The other laughed. "Why, damn him, don't he deserve
to lose all he's got, if he's fool enough to gamble without knowing more about cards than he does."
We went next day to get some work done at a blacksmith's.
He was not at his shop.  "Well, mechanics don't work steady
here, as they do at the north," said his neighbor, when we asked
at what time he could usually be found.
SUBSIDENCE OF MR. BEOWN.
At noon, the weather being good, we started for Indianola.
WVe went splashing through the water again, the depth as before.
At a short causeway, two or three miles from Lavacca, we paid
a hleavy toll, crossing the Chockolate, a small, crooked, dirty
creek.
Not long after, we noticed we  were wading through water
deeper than usual, and suddenly the mare sunk through the turf,
mired.  The doctor jumped off, and, relieved of his we;ght, after
some plunging, she relieved herself.  The mnule, who had sunk
in the same place, only went deeper and deeper for his efforts,
and, feeling the ground giving way beneath the pony, I spurred
on and joined the doctor, who, up to the knees in water, was
leading Fanny, trelmbling with excitemeiat, cautiously towards the
nearest elevation, which was some three hundred yards distant.
This we soon reached, and found the ground firm, and tolerably
d.+y.  Looking back, to learn the fate of the mule, we beheld one
of thle most painfully ludicrous sights I have ever seen.  Nothing
251 
252    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
whatever was visible of Mr. Brown, save the horns of the packsaddle and his own wvell-known ears, rising piteously above the
treacherous waves. He had exhausted his whole energy in efforts
that only served to drag him deeper under, and seeing himself
deserted, in the midst of the waters, by all his comrades, he gave
up with a loud sigh, and laid upon his side to die, hoisting only
his ears as a last signal of distress. We threw off our saddles,
hobbled the horses, and prepared to wade to his help, when we
saw him renewing his struggles, and, after getting his fore feet
upon some more solid turf, he gradually came forth, and walked
eagerly toward us, emerging upon the upland, sleek and dripping
like a drowned rat, the water shooting from the wicker hampers
as from some patent watering-cart.
We thought, bitterly, for a moment, of our pistols and sugar,
our Epsom salts and gunpowder, our gingerbread, our poets
and our shirts, then broke into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
But the hampers had become two barrels of water, which, added
to our ridicule, the mule, his excitement over, found more than
he could bear, and, sitting down, he gave us a beseeching look,
as if ready to burst into a torrent of tears.
We at once unlimbered, and selecting the least wet portion of
available land, spread our property to dry. The grateful mule
commenced rolling and grunting in his usual manner, and was
soon restored to good spirits. A bright sun and strong northerly
wind facilitated our operations, and the damages were less than
could have been expected. The medicine chest was the greatest
sufferer, and, if any fishes frequented the neighborhood of the
disaster, they must have got a well-sweetened dose of a cold infusion of the pharmacopceia in general, that ought to have prolonged their lives to a most unexpected old age. 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
INDIANOLA.
After three or four hours' delay, we repacked, and got under
way again. Indianola was in plain view, but a good deal of navigable prairie was still to be passed. The sun set in a gray haze,
in the flat prairie, giving the horizon a greater apparent distance
than even  the calm  ocean.   Half a mile  from  the town
we struck the shore, a narrow, hard, sand beach, between a
lagoon and the sea, hardly twenty feet wide. As soon as it
expands,  the  town  begins  abruptly.   At the  entrance are
some prominent gables, and it was so like the approach to a
European seaport that we thought of our passports and the octroi
officers.
The beach on which the town is built is some three hundred
yards in width, and extends about a mile in length, having but
two parallel streets, front and back. It has a more busy and
prosperous appearance than Lavacca, and is much larger, but is
said to have less heavy business, and less capital. The rivalry
is extreme and amusing. At Lavacca we heard of Indianola as
"a little village down the bay (they call it Indianola), where our
vessels sometimes land goods on their way up." Each consider
the other to be sickly.  Indianola has the advantage of the best
water, and of the New Orleans steamers, which land at Powderhorn, a sort of hotel suburb, four miles below, by a hard beachroad, where nine to ten feet of water can be carried. Lavacca
has the advantage of twelve miles' distance in land-carriage,
which, in the present state of transportation, is an important
consideration, though the distance from hard roads across the
low level prairie is about the same. Schooners, of ordinary
coasting draught, come without difficulty to the wharves of Indianola, and with greater difficulty, and with some liability to de
253 
254    A JQURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
tentionl from grounding, to Lavacca, through a channel kept
open by a steam dredge.
Ships from Europe lie several miles below Indianola, outside
a bar, as at Mobile, and must employ lighterage to either town.
There are two towns, of a speculative character, laid out further
down the bay, La Salle and Saluria, the former on the main, the
latter upon Matagorda Island, and the proposed terminus of the
San Antonio and Gulf Railroad. Of neither of these can we
speak from personal observation. The mutual jealousy among
the speculators in these several towns is immense.   It is only
certain, at present, that some one great town must grow up
upon Mlatagorda Bay, which will be forever the great sea-gate
of Western Texas. It is said that since our visit a great storm
has resulted in the partial removal of the outer bar, and persons
interested in Western Texas now claim as much water as Galveston for the entrance to their bay.  To any reader who wishes
to verify the fact, I can only recommend a series of personal
soundings upon the two bars.
We spent a quiet Sunday at Indianola. The beach beyond
the town forms a pleasant promenade, and we enjoyed to the full
the calm sunny sea, which seemed like a return to an old friend,
after our months of inland journeying.
Our hotel was a great improvement on that of the day before.
The Germans, who compose half the population, have the enterprise to cultivate vegetable gardens, which furnish, at least,
salads at all seasons. Around one of these gardens we noticed
a hedge of enormous prickly pear. The native oysters are large
and abundant.  Game  of all kinds is cheap.   The landlord
complained, as usual, of the difficulty of obtaining meat in a
country covered with cattle and sheep.  The butcher, in summer, 
A ~RIP TO THE COAST.
wouldn't kill because it was too warm for keeping meat, and in
winter because it was too cold or too rainy, he must go to a
"saloon" to keep himself warm.
The yellow fever, last year, was severe, as in all the coast
towns.   In ordinary years, about half the inhabitants leave
during the hot months for the interior; but there are many planters from the Caney and the Colorado who come then to the town
as a watering-place. Little business is then done, and the New
Orleans steamers make their trips but once instead of twice a week.
There is no wood within many miles of the town.   That used
for fuel is brought mostly from Texana, on the Navidad, fifty
miles distant.  The price of wood was nine dollars per cord; it
is sometimes more than twenty dollars. Coal, from one dollar
upwards; corn, one dollar and fifty cents; potatoes, four dollars.  The banana produces an abundant but inferior fruit.  In
winter it is cut in, to a height of five feet, and covered with hay.
Oranges and lemons require protection from northers.
In the evening we heard a din which proved to be a charivari,
offered as a tribute of public opinion to a couple who had been
married in the morning.   The bride was suspected not to be immaculate. After some exhibition of endurance, the bridegroom,
we were told, "caved and treated," that is, came to the door,
and furnished drinks for the crowd.
RETURN TO THIE UPLAND.
We left Indianola on the 27th February.  Our intention had
been to visit Corpus Christi, and some other parts of the coast;
but we found this wading over wet prairies so extremely disagreeable, that we determined to retreat to higher land as fast as
possible.
255 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
The water still covered the prairies, and we splashed our way
through it as before. Leaving at noon, we stopped for the night
upon the Chockolate, twelve miles distant. The house being
somewhat crowded, a noise, which seemed to come from several
young babies, attracted great attention.  " The fact is," said the
father, proudly, " they're twins, and they've got the measles.
Leastways, there was a lady here when they was seven days old,
said they looked as if they were going to have the measles, and
they've been sick ever since."
"Travlin'?" inquired an old man.
"What, sir?"
"Was the lady trav'lin'?"
No, sir.  She come up here to see'em from the city.   We
had a great many come here from all about. I suppose as many
as half of all the ladies in the city come out here. Such an extraordinary interesting event, you see-twins!"
A RUNAWAY.
Which way did you come?" asked some one of the old man.
"From."
"See anything of a runaway nigger over there, anywhar?"
"No, sir.  What kind of a nigger was it?"
A small, black, screwed-up-faced nigger."
" How long has he been out?"
"Nigh two weeks."
" Whose is he?"
"Judge's, up here.   And he cut the judge right bad.
Like to have killed the judge. Cut his young master, too."
"Reckon, if they caught him,'twould go rather hard with
him."
256 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
"Reckon'twould. We caught him once, but he got away
from us again. We was just tying his feet together, and he give
me a kick in the face, and broke.   I had my six-shooter handy,
and I tried to shoot him, but every barrel missed fire. Been
loaded a week.   We shot at him three times with rifles, but he'd
got too far off, and we didn't hit, but we must have shaved him
close.  We chased him, and my dog got close to him once.   If
he'd grip'd him, we should have got him, but he had a dog him self, and just as my dog got within about a yard of him, his dog
turned and fit my dog, and he hurt him so bad we couldn't get
him to run him again.   We run him close, though, I tell you.
Run him out of his coat, and his boots, and a pistol he'd got.
But'twas getting towards dark, and he got into them bayous,
and kept swimming from one side to another."
"How long ago was that?"
Ten days."
If he's got across the river, he'd get to the Mexicans in two
days, and there he'd be safe. The Mexicans'd take care of him.
"What made him run?"
" The judge gave him a week at Christmas, and he made a
good deal of money, and when the week was up, I s'pose he
didn't want to go to work again.  Hie got unruly, and they was
a goin' to whip him."
"Now, how much happier that fellow'd'a' been, if he'd just
stayed and done his duty. He might have just worked and done
his duty, and his master'd'a' taken care of him, and given him
another week when Christmas come again, and he'd'a' had nothing to do but enjoy himself again.  These niggers, none of
'em, knows how much happier off they are than if they was
free.  Now, very likely, he'll starve to death, or get shot."
257 
258   A JOURNE Y THROUGH TEXAS.
"Oh, the judge treats his niggers too kind.  If he was stricter
with them, they'd have more respect for him, and be more contented, too."
"Never do to be too slack with niggers."
We were accompanied, next day, by a California drover,
named Rankin. He was in search of cattle to drive across the
plains. He had taken a drove before from Illinois, and told us
that people in that state, of equal circumstances, lived ten times
better than here, in all matters of comfort and refinement.   He
had suffered more in traveling in Texas, than ever on the
plains or the mountains. Not long before, in driving some mules
with his partner, they came to a house, which was the last on the
road for fourteen miles. They had nothing in the world in the
house but a few ears of corn, they were going to grind in their
steel mill for their own breakfast, and wouldn't sell on any
terms.  "We hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, but we actually could get nothing. The only other thing in the cabin,
that could be eaten, was a pile of deer-skins, with the hair on.
We had to stake our mules, and make a fire, and coil around
it.   About twelve o'clock, there came a norther.   We heard it
coming, and it made us howl.   We didn't sleep a wink for cold."
On the banks of the Chockolate we saw a flock of some 500
sheep.  They were Mexican, very poor and thin, coarse-wooled,
large-framed, long-legged, without wool upon their bellies, legs,
or heads. A Mexican shepherd attended them, who could speak
no English. A few goats were herded with them, as is the Mexican custom, for the prevention of disease. There could not be a
country, we thought, at this season, less adapted for a sheep-walk
than this open, flat, wet prairie, without protection of any sort.
We learned that these were part of a flock of 7,000, purchased 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
by a Mr. Caldwell, on the Rio Grande, and driven here by Mexican shepherds.   They had been taken first to Corpus Christi,
afterwards to the upper part of Goliad County, and were now on
their way to one of the islands of the coast.   During the late
northers 1,500 had died from exposure to the cold and wet.
We afterwards examined, in Medina Connty a flock of 300
sheep belonging to a German gentleman named Riecharz, which
had been provided during the northers with both shelter and hay.
Not one had been lost by exposure.  These were mostly Mexican
sheep, in process of rapid improvement by admixture of Saxony
blood. They were regularly housed at night and the consumption of hay, used only in extreme weather, had been trifling.
The road from Indianola strikes the uplands along the Guadalupe, twelve miles below Victoria, and thence the road was good
and dry.   We passed one large plantation, where the negroes
were planting cotton. The women were sowing from bags, and
the men ploughing in.   An overseer sat upon the ground looking on.
RAILROAD HOUSE.
We stopped, in Victoria, at the Railroad Hotel. As soon as
our baggage was disposed of, the landlord stepped up and said,
"Go over and take a drink, gentlemen?"  On our declining, he
repeated the invitation to each of us in person. At every other
arrival he put the same question, when all, including the innloungers, went together, we afterwards discovered, to a bar upon
the square, it not being the fashion to have the bar in the house.
Before night twenty-four travelers had arrived, all with saddle
horses.
The advertisement of the house made a point of the great
number of sleeping-rooms.   These were made by partitions of
259 
260   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
white cotton, without doors. Our own room was furnished with
two beds, and was entered by every one, indiscriminately, in
search of water, a match, or a candle, at all hours of the night.
Of course the whole conversation of the various guests was audible
-not always of the most agreeable stamp.
In the public room was a written advertisement, as follows:
"NOTICE.
"I am a candidate for the vacancy in the Board of Aldermen occa,
sioned by the resignation of the Globe man."   (There is a "Globe
Hotel" in the city.)  " I am in favor of establishing an Academy, and
of the sale of the corporation lands. Also, for the sale of the square on
which the First Presbyterian Church is built. Also, if elected, I shall
go for the removal of              from the office of Clerk of the Corporation. These are my views; and, if elected, I shall remain your
humble servant,
THE GUADALUPE TO THE SAN ANTONIO.
March lst.-We crossed the Guadalupe upon a ferry-boat, the
bridge having been long ago carried away in a freshet. The
ferryman informed us that a steamboat of light draught used to
ply upon the river, reaching Victoria.   In summer there was
sometimes not more than eighteen inches water in the channel.
Since our visit I understand that both the lower Guadalupe, as far
as Victoria, and the San Antonio, as far as Goliad, have been
made navigable, by individual enterprise.   The bottom, at the
crossing, is heavily timbered. Very few leaves were yet to be
seen. From the bottom, the ascent is rapid, and our day's ride
towards Goliad lay through high prairie, with belts of post-oak.
The soil is sandy, and appeared poorer than on the east side the
river, but the cattle were in much better order.
Two men overtook us, and made offers of horse-trading.   On
learning we were from New York, one of them said, " From New 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
York!   You're a long way from your native home, aint you?
I expect you seem to think the country here tolerable curious.
Folks from up north always think the people here's awful rough.
We aint so smart down south as you be up to the north. We
don't fix up so much, I reckon, do we? Reckon you see some
people that's right curiosities, don't you?  Well, folks down
south likes to live rough. It takes all sorts to make a world."
We passed a man engaged in firing the prairie. He drew a
handful of long, burning grass along the dry grass tops, at a run.
Before the high gale it kindled furiously, and in fifteen minutes
had progressed a mile to leeward, jumping, with a flash, many
feet at a time.   In a moderate wind we had once noted the
progress of prairie flame, to windward, at about one foot per
minute.
Camped on Manahuila creek.   The following morning  we
were writing in the tent, waiting the termination of a gentle
shower which was falling, having had before a delicious bath, of
agreeable temperature, in the creek, when we heard an indistinct
roar advancing toward us. As usual, we did not recognize the
sound for an instant, and thought a freshet was, perhaps, coming
down the creek. At the door we saw and recognized the black
cloud approaching, and jumped to the tent pins, which had been
partly drawn before the shower. We were barely in time; the
blast struck us before we could fasten down the doors. The tent
bellied and swelled and pulled like a balloon, but, securing all
tightly, we covered ourselves with blankets, and resumed the
portfolios. Heavy rain accompanied the norther, but in an hour
the fierceness of the storm was over, and we broke camp and proceeded. As spring comes on, the northers lose much of their
force and duration.
261 
262   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
We  saw large flocks of wild geese, and I crept within two
hundred yards of one, and secured-a quill or two. We soon
reached Goliad, a settlement of half a dozen houses, two stores,
a wvheelwright's and a blacksmith's shop.
THE MISSION CHURCH AT GOLIAD.
While the horses were being shod, I rode to the old Mexican
town of La Bahia, or old Goliad, on the opposite side of the
river, to visit the mission and fort, where the massacre of Fannin took place. There are several of the missions in the neighborhood, of which this seems to have been the principal. The
ruins I found quite extensive; there are the remains of a large
fort, with bastions, which appears to have been about two hundred
feet square. Several stone buildings stand about it, all now in
ruins. Behind one of the bastions, in a corner of the inclosure,
is the church. It is also of limestone, and in similar style to
those of San Antonio.  The  modern village is composed of
about twenty jacals, large, and of a comparatively comfortable
character, scattered over two hills. The city was formerly one
of some importance, and is said to have contained some thousand inhabitants.  It was the head of navigation on the San
Antonio, and the port of collection for the Bay of Espiritu
Santo, whence its old name.
I rode through the village and the fort, and stopped my horse
before the door of the ruined church.  I should have probably
ridden in, but for a general respect for the worshipful design
of a church; for two of those we had lately seen at San Antonio, though less ruinous, are used as stables. As I stopped my horse I saw the figure of a man beyond a dilapidated
wall. 
A TRIP  TO  THE  COAST.
"Good  evening,  sir,"  said I;  "can I look within  the
church?"
Oh, yes, certainly," he replied, "why not?"
Seeing a frame in the court, on which were hanging two old
Spanish bells, I rode thither, and fastened my horse. While I
was looking at the bells, the man stepped over the broken wall,
and looked at me. He migniht have taken me for a bandit or a
Texan Ranger.   We had been cautioned against hlorse-thlieves in
this region, and I had slept with my Colt and b)owie-knife
buckled round may waist, and had added, when the nortler arose,
a blue flannel hunting-shirt, and a low cap, which was drawn
over my eyes; the short rifle hung at my saddle-bow.
He was a man of forty years, thin, dark-complexioned, and
with features that indicated culture. I raised my cap and
saluted him, saying that I had ridden over to look at the ruins,
and had not known that they were occupied. I did not wish to
intrude upon a family.
"Oh, no," said he, "no family, only myself.  And where are
you from, sir?"
"From New York."
"Ah, from New  York, indeed;  you are a long way from
home.  I am glad to see you here.  All, it's a poor old ruin;
come in and you shall see.  It was once a very fine church, but
the Americans destroyed it as much as they could.  See, there
we had a gallery, with the oriel over it; they burned it.  All
the pictures they burned; the carvings they cut with knives-ah
it is all ruins!  It is hard, my people here are so very poor;
you have no idea.  I don't suppose that thirty dollars could be
found among them all; as for me, I have just come here, eight
days ago, and three days I have been a journey to visit some
263 
264   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
sick. I had no time to do anything. Ah, it seems as nothing
could be done. See, here I have made a beginning."
At the end of the church, he had whitewashed a space of the
wall, and covered it with calico; over it, an old and battered
image, it was now impossible to guess of.what, had been set up,
and several glass candlesticks were placed before it. The rain
had already beaten in, and stained the walls, and the calico had
been half-torn off, and thrown upon the floor.
"The wind," said he, "has done this-the norther this morning. I have not yet had time, since I am back, to replace it."
I asked the history of the church. He knew nothing of it,
only that there had been a city and a fort, and the church within the fort; the Americans had taken it, and, so far as they
could, had destroyed all. Would I look at the fort? If I
would excuse him, he would take me through the room where
he lived. He drew aside a curtain from an arched door, and we
entered what had been a chapel, with a door at the opposite
side leading upon the parade of the fort.
"This," he said, "is my little room; I could get no other.
The Mexicans they live like chickens-the men and girls all
sleep together in the same room. I could not live with them, so
I came here. They are very kind, but so poor; but they tell
me when they shall have finished sowing their seed they will
give me help. They will clean and repair the church; they will
build me a house in the parade ground.  Then I shall get some
old woman to cook for me. Now, I am sorry I can offer you
no refreshment. When I am hungry I must go to one of their
houses, and eat what they have prepared for themselves; but I
can offer you a very good cigar if you will be so good as to accept it." 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
Tile place was cheerless enough.  It may be fancied that a
(i.n damp vault-like room after being for years desolate and exposed, with open doors, to the weather, would not be a picture
of cheerful comfort.  It was lighted only by a round window,
high up the wall.   The furniture consisted of a table, half a
dozen open trunks, a heap of some hundreds of well-bound books,
over which the mould was beginning to creep, a few scattered
garments, a pallet on the floor, and one chair. This he offered
me, and, seating himself upon the table, continued to smoke and
talk.
The Mexicans, he said, certainly once owned all the land about
here.   Now it was all held by Americans, and no Mexican had
received any pay for it.  He did not know, but his people said
it really belonged to them. They told him they were not well
treated by the Americans. The Americans thought the Mexi cans to be bad people. The Mexicans thought the same of the
Americans. The Americans, they said, cheated them in every
business. They were not allowed to get wood for their fences
where they had always got it.  They were too poor and too
ignorant to do anything towards insisting upon their rights.
The Americans, he heard, talk very hard about the Mexicans, as
if they had no business in the neighborhood; but he was sure
the treaty declared they should have the rights of citizens, and
continue to hold their property.   I said I hoped he would be
able to help them to secure just treatment. No, his duty was
not to mingle in their temporal concerns, but he hoped to do
them moral benefit. They were in an unhappy condition. They
had no ambition, no desire to improve themselves. If they could
have leisure to play cards, and could own a small piece of land
for corn, and a cabin, and some oxen for their carts, they did not
12
265 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
look for anything better. But they were kind to one another,
friendly and cheerful, much more so than the Americans. He
had just been sent here by the bishop, to see if he could do anything for them; but it looked very bad; the people had no
money; they were very poor, and it was all complete ruin. The
bishop hoped they might make here a seminary, by-and-by.
He came here the year before, and, after an examination, made a
claim to the church, which the corporation allowed. But the
parade-ground, the other ruins, he was obliged to purchase. For
the country around, so far as he could inform himself, it was unusually healthy, and its beauty and fertility I could see for mysel~f. If I were looking for a residence, he would strongly advise
me to settle here. Thanking him for his politeness, I rode away,
with his good wishes for my journey. The contrast of the ruin
and the good cur6 with the Texan shop and shop-keeper across
the river was strong.
We saw, not far from Goliad, a novel sort of fencing, of squares
of turf piled into a handsome wall.  The Irishman who was at
work upon it, said he had made many such here, and that they
had proved strong and firm. Another Irishman rode with us,
who was from Refugio, where a colony of Irishmen settled in the
early days.   The settlement, he said, had not increased very
rapidly, but all were comfortable there, and doing well. They
owned no negroes, as they were not very safe property therethey could run too easily across the Rio Grande. At Corpus,
people who had negroes were obliged to treat them very carefully,
almost as if they were the masters, for fear they would run.
This man appeared to be a horse-dealer. After trying to buy
our mule at one quarter his value, he learned that we were on our
way to San Antonio, and that we were willing to exchange the
1016 6 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
mare, who was now much worn down, for an animal more adapted
to rough travel and short fare. He offered us his own horse,
recommending him in most captivating terms, and informing us
that he had sold a great many finer horses than the mare in San
Antonio for $30, and that the market there was particularly well
stocked at present.  "We were in San Antonio three weeks ago,"
said I, "and were offered $125 for her."   The mention of this
fact seemed, as it were, to stun him, and, turning to the weather,
after a short conversation, he rode away.
The soil of this neighborhood was sandy. We found it, at
two points, two miles apart, to be two and a half feet deep,
mainly composed of black vegetable mould, with fine sand closely
intermixed. The sub-soil was a whitish clay. At the surface
of the sub-soil was a sprinkling of flinty pebbles. The grass was
thin, and now in separate shoots, like a crop of young oats.
A STAMPEDE OF THREE.
The following day we campe. at night many miles from any
house, near a bog, which furnished the only water we could find
at sunset.   The country was a mesquit prairie, the grass very
fine, and the trees in scattered clumps at long intervals. After
supper we wrote a while, by the light of a candle, a luxury we
took good care to have always with us, then, after seeing that all
was quiet without, and the fire in a good state of preservation,
we lay down and drew the blankets over us. We had barely
fallen into a soft doze, when we heard the sound of hoofs, and
in a moment a troop of horses dashed, at frightful speed, past
the tent. The thundering sound shook the very ground under
us. We sprung to our feet simultaneously, seizing our pistols,
which were always put within reach at night, and jumped to the
267 
26S   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
door, saying, "those Mexicans have stampeded our horses!"  A
glance was sufficient.  Every horse was gone!  We searched for
any signs of life around the tent, but all was still, save the dog,
who was growling and uttering an occasional excited yelp. Far
off the sound of galloping hoofs was dying away in the distance.
What was to be done? Here we were in the centre of a big
prairie, with an excellent tent, and three or four hundred pounds
of baggage on our hands. The loss of all our animals would
be serious at any time. Here it was a perfect predicament. We
had been repeatedly cautioned against horse-thieves about here,
and, just before night, had met two scowling, ill-dressed Mexicans
upon the road. We had remarked them particularly, as the only
really wicked-looking Mexicans we had seen. We both instantly
referred our mishap to them.   Well, nothing was to be gained
by waiting, at all events. We examined the stakes where we
had left the horses; they were pulled; the ropes, then, had not
been cut. At the moment, a sudden clattering gave us a new
start.   A great flock of geese rose noisily from the bog.   The
Mexicans were at once acquitted. Fanny, who had been nearest,
had been undoubtedly frightened by them, as they settled down
to feed. The others had followed her motions, and terrified her
anew, until the joint alarm culminated in that terror of travelers
on the prairies-a stampede. After a little reflection, we stationed
Jude at the door of the tent, extinguished the light of the fire,
and started with the rifle, in the line of the last sound. It soon
struck the road tracks at an acute angle, and these the runawavs
would undoubtedly follow. All was now perfectly still. There
was a pale moon, just setting.   We walked briskly for a mile,
then, groping by the light of a candle-end, found the trail of the
mule, going at full gallop. After another mile, we examined 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
again, he was still going at the same fiery speed. Shortly after,
we lost the trail, and were unable to discover, by the flickering
light, where it left the road.   Further search was postponed.
We anticipated some difficulty in finding the camp again, as the
night was now very dark, and the dim outlines of the clumps of
mesquit were so similar. But Jude's ringing bark, as we came
within hearing of her quick ear, guided us back.
The start we had had, and the image of the two Mexicans
lurking about, was not enough to prevent our sleeping as usual,
but added a singular fury to our dreams. We were each engaged
all night in hand-to-hand conflicts with Mexican marauding
bands of ten times our numbers, or fighting our way with the
recovered animals, from the city of Mexico to the coast. Once,
I was captured by the mad rabble, who were leading me in tri   umph to the sacrificial block, in the temple, when the mule broke
away from the tall Indian who was leading him, and laying out
on all sides, opened a stampede-track for himself through the
mass, through which, jumping suddenly on the mare, I darted
away like the wind, leaping over jacals, and cactus-fences, not
without some deep scratches.
When daylight came, we carefully scanned the horizon; but not
an animal was in sight.
After getting a substantial breakfast, it was agreed that one
, of us should remain to guard the tent, while the other went
on the almost hopeless search.   The wind blew strongly from the
north, in which direction the horses had gone.    Taking another
look about us, we discovered something in motion far to the
eastward.   With the glass we were fortunate enough to make
out three horses, slowly walking before the wind.   One of them
seemed to bear some resemblance to Fanny.   A shbrt walk set
269 
270   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
tied the matter, and in an hour our estrays were in camp again.
Their run had luckily been directly to windward, and, following
their instincts, after coming to a pause, they turned tail to the
wind, and walked slowly to leeward, stopping here and there to
crop the grass.   Had the wind been from any other quarter, or
had they been a few minutes earlier in passing within our range
of vision, we should have infallibly lost them. They would
have fallen into the hands of some happy Mexican, or have joined some wild prairie herd.
THE SAN ANTONIO RIVER COUNTRY-MEXICAN PLANTATIONS.
The remainder of the route to San Antonio lay through a
country very similar to that over which we were now passing,
with occasional belts of post-oak, and, now and then, a piece of
broad river bottom. It is an undulating surface of very rich but
light soil, covered with close, fine, mesquit grass, and checkered,
pleasantly, with clumps of mesquit, and other shrubs and trees.
Much of it is still uninhabited prairie.   We  passed but one
American settlement-the little town of Helena, which had been
just built.
About five miles above, upon the west bank, a sort of religious colony of Silesian Poles has been established since our
return. One or two hundred arrived on the ground in February,
1855, seven hundred more in the autumn. and some five hundred
additional in 1856.   The site was chosen by their ghostly father,
who accompanied them, without discrimination, and the spot has
proved so unhealthy as to induce a desertion of about one-half
the survivors, who have made a settlement in the eastern upper
corner of Medina County.
We saw some large herds in the finest condition, and it seemed
ip 
A TRIP TO THE COAST.
to us the richest grazing district for cattle or sheep we had yet
traversed.   As we got nearer San Antonio, we passed a greater
number of Mexican ranches than we had before seen.   Two of
them we had occasion to enter. One was a double cabin, in
American style. A man in red sash and drawers lay upon the
bed, which was almost the only piece of furniture, tossing and
playing with a child.   We inquired if we could purchase any
meat. He referred us to his wife, who was in the garden behind. Passing through, we found the lady, who took down for
us about two yards of meat, from several hundred which were
drying  on  a  clothes-line.   It was  cut  in  strips  an inch
thick, and was quite hard and dark-colored.   Paying at the rate
of a dime a yard, we carried it to camp, but found it so tough
and so fa tainted as to be quite useless.   We handed it over to
Jude, who, less fastidious with travel, readily disposed of the
whole.
The other house was a respectable stuccoed building, belonging to a man of some education, speaking English, and giving
employment to some twenty or thirty Mexican laborers. The
ground about the door was neatly swept, and in the yard stood a
Jersey wagon.   The lady was well dressed, but coolly occupied
in a very peculiar search for unconsidered trifles, in theglossy
hair of her daughter of twelve, who sat eit chemnise before her;
an occupation which was not at all interrupted by our approach.
We succeeded in procuring a chicken and a few eggs.   Not far
firom the house were a number of cabins for laborers.   Such
groups of cabins we also saw once or twice where the occupants
were their own employers, and worked together for sociality.
The greater part of the houses were very poor. All were engaged in corn-planting (5th and 10th of March). Some Mexi
271 
272    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
cans here are large landholders and stock-owners. A few of
them even own slaves, of which we saw two near the crossing of
the Calaveras. They were working indiscriminately with hired
Mexicans.    Near the  house  were a gin-house and cottonpress, and twenty or thirty small bales of cotton. The Mexican
slaveholders are said to treat their slaves very cruelly, though
allowing them at the same time many foolish privileges, which
increase their capacities, but render them discontented.   The
utensils upon these farms were, as usual, very rude: the plough,
a sort of long wooden plug, dragged through the soil, having an
effect much like that of a subsoil plough. The furrows were not
turned over at all, but were regular and straight. The fences
were invariably of crooked stakes, of various kinds of wood,
planted closely in a line, and bound by withes near the tops.
These small landholders are almost certain to disappear before
the first American settlers who approach.   A quarrel is immediate, and the weaker is pushed off the log. But throughout the
South the same occurs-the small whites are everywhere crowded
upon and elbowed out before the large planters. 
CHAP. V.
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
FINDING no company for any long route in Mexico, we abandoned the idea, and set out on the first of April for a short ride
across the frontier, by ourselves. The danger to be apprehended
was slight, and confined to the four days we should be compelled
to pass on the road through the desert, between the westernmost settlements and the Rio Grande. Here we might lose our
scalps, should we chance to be seen by any stray band of Comanches, who came down occasionally in foraying parties, from
the upper plains, much as inland farmers come on a pleasuretrip now and then, for a change of diet, to the seaside. But if a
mail-rider was satisfied to take the chances once a week for $400
a year, we might well afford to do the same once in a lifetime,
for the pleasure of the thing.
The mare being much worn down, we took with us only the
mule and little Nack-leaving behind the tent and pack, and
trusting to the kind skies for shelter from rain.
TRAINS.
Not far from the edge of the town, on our road, were encamped several trains. One was loading government stores for
the frontier posts, the others awaiting herds of cattle which they
were to convey to California. This is customary with the de      12* 
274   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
parting trains, as with ships which drop down the bay with the
tide, and anchor until the final arrangements are made for going
to sea.
A California cattle-train, we afterwards saw, consisted of four
hundred head of oxen, generally in fine, moderately fat condition.
There were twenty-five men to guard and drive them. Only a
few of these, old frontier men and drovers, who had before been
over the road, and could act as guides, were paid wages. The
remainder were young men who wished to emigrate to California,
and who were glad to have their expenses paid for their services
by the proprietors of the drove. They were all mounted on
mules, and supplied with the short government rifle and Colt's
repeaters. Two large wagons and a cart, loaded with stores,
cooking utensils, and ammunition, followed the herd; and another wagon  was in company,  belonging to a French family,
which was very comfortably fitted up for the six months' residence and conveyance of a woman and several children.
The driving of cattle to California from Texas, as long as the
market prices permit, is likely to be of increasing importance, as
the hazard of much loss is small, and the profits often large.
Four men for a hundred head, where the herd is a large one, is
considered a sufficient number. Five or six months are usually
spent on the road. If the market is overstocked, and prices unsatisfactory on the arrival of the herd in California, it costs but
a trifle, in wages to herdsmen, to keep the cattle at pasture,
where they fatten and improve in actual value. When importations have been checked, and the demand increases, the herd can
again be brought into market. The cattle were costing here,
this year, not more than $14 a head, while those driven out last
year brought $100 a head in California. A Texan drover, we 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
D,ere informed, the previous year made $100,000 by purchasing
sheep in Mexico at $1 a head, and selling them in California at
$20 a head.  The exportation of sheep from Mexico is, at present, by law, contraband.
THE WEATHER AND THE ROAD.
The year was now  well advanced;  summer  clothing  was
already sported in San Antonio, and the markets were abundantly supplied with vegetables from the new-made gardens.
The earlier trees were in full leaf, and with the new coloring and
the new shadows, the town and environs took on an unfamiliar
tone of gay adornment. The coyness of the early season was
over; nature had now entered with warm delight upon the
honeymoon of the year, and was lavish at once of all her spring
charms. A very Linnmus might have been caught in the bewildering beauty, and have forgotten his dry ardor for classifying the
quivering petals. If we had enjoyed any day's travel before, we
enjoyed these with a tenfold'zest.   The April weather  contributed.  There were some frigid changes yet, too sudden to
be agreeable, and now and then a hot dampness pervaded the
atmosphere, like the sirocco, which caused a great mental and
muscular depression.  But the ordinary temperature was Italian,
and, of itself, delicious.*
We rode before evening to the Meclina, twenty-five miles. Imagine, for the country, a rolling sheet of the finest grass, sprinkled
thick with bright, many-hued flowers, with here and there a liveoak, and an occasional patch of mesquit trees, which might be
* Among the flowering shrubs, we noticed particularly a gay relation of the
currant family, and a purplish cluster, with a perfume of grapes, which hung
from a dense, glossy, laurel-leaved evergreen, near the San Pedro spring.
275 
276   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
pictured as old neglected peach-orchards.  The surface undulates,
and the road leads over much elevated ground, offering very extended views.  Northward, the hills, a part of the long range
which stretches from the Colorado to beyond the Nueces, swell
gradually higher, until they end in a blue and mountainous line,
sharply cutting the cool northern horizon. In the south, they
slope gently downwards, into the lap of the Medina. Beyond,
they again rise gently, covered at last with a soft, hazy forest,
across which the view faints away into the sky, flushed at sundown by the red smoke of an invisible burning prairie.
The country is almost unoccupied. There are one or two
little settlements of Mexicans and Germans along the road,
owners of the few cattle that luxuriate in this superb pasture.
Their houses are jacals, of sticks and mud, with a thick projecting thatch. The roof of one of them was stretched over a gallery, surrounding the whole house with a very picturesque and
comfortable effect.
The Medina is the very ideal of purity. The road crosses
upon white limestone rocks, which give a peculiar brilliancy to
its emerald waters.   It runs knee deep, and twenty or thirty
yards wide, with a rapid descent.
CASTROVILLE.
Upon its bank  stands Castroville-a village containing  a
colony of Alsatians, who are proud here to call themselves Germans, but who speak French, or a mixture of French and
German. The cottages are scattered prettily, and there are two
churches-the whole aspect being as far from Texan as possible.
It might sit for the portrait of one of the poorer villages of the
upper Rhone valley. Perhaps the most remarkable thing is the 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  277
hotel, by M. Tard6, a two-story house, with double galleries,
and the best inn we saw in the state. How delighted and aston  ished many a traveler must have been, on arriving from the
plains at this first village, to find not only his dreams of white
bread, sweetmeats and potatoes realized, but napkins, silver forks,
and radishes, French servants, French neatness, French furni ture, delicious French beds, and the Courrier des Ltats Unis; and
more, the lively and entertaining bourgeoise.
Castroville was founded by Mr. Henry Castro, a gentleman of
Portuguese origin, still resident in the town, under a colony contract with the Republic, which passed the legislature the 15th
of February, 1842. The enterprise seems to have been under
the special patronage of the Roman Church. Every colonist
was a Catholic, and the first concern was the founding of the
church edifice, the corner-stone of which was laid ten days after
their arrival, with imposing ceremonies, by Bishop Odin of Gal veston. By the contract with the colonists, each person was to
receive a town lot, and a piece of outlying land, as a farm. By
the contract with the state, two thousand persons were to be introduced within two years. An extension of two years was
granted in January, 1845. Mr. Castro was to receive a quantity of land equal to one-half the whole taken by the colonists, to be located in alternate sections, with the state's reserve.
Seven hundred persons came first in seven ships. Assembling
at San Antonio, the advance party started, in a body, for the
Medina, on the 1st of September, 1844. One board building
was carried in carts, and in it were housed the temporary provisioins. The settlers built themselves huts of boughs and leaves,
then set to work to make adobes for the construction of more 
278   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
permanent dwellings. Besides their bacon and meal, paid hunters provided abundant supplies of game, and within a fortnight
a common garden, a church, and civil officers, chosen by ballot,
were in being, and the colony was fully inaugurated.*
After struggling with some difficulties, it is now a decided success. The village itself contains about six hundred inhabitants,
and the farms of the neighborhood several hundred more.
FRONTIER COLONIES.
Leaving it, we ascended a high hill, and rode for fifteen miles
through a more elevated and broken country, whose beauty is
greatly increased by frequent groves of live-oak, elm, and hackberry. I have never seen more charming landscapes than some
of the openings here presented. In the elements of turf and
foliage, and their disposition, no English park-scenery could surpass them.
Beyond Castroville, there are two small villages, settlements
of German colonists, mostly from the west bank of the Rhine;
one, Quihi, upon the Quihi creek, a branch of the Seco; the
other, Dhanis, upon the Seco itself. A third, Vandenbiurg, has
been lately deserted by most of its inhabitants, after they had
built themselves houses and brought a considerable quantity of
land into cultivation, because the creek on which they depended
for water was found to fail in summer. One of those who remainedl attempted to dig a well. He reached a depth of one
hundred and thirty-five feet, and then finding no water, gave it
up. A few days afterwards, water was observed to have collected
in the bottom, and the well gradually filled until it now stands
"Le Texas en 1845: Coloniie Franqaise."  8vo. pp. 20.  Anvers, 1845. 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  279
constant within fifteen feet of the surface of the ground, enabling
him and a neighbor or two to keep their farms.
We stopped a night at Quihi.  It is a scattering village, of
ten or twelve habitations, one of them a substantial stone farm house, the others very picturesque, high-gabled, thatch-roofed,
dormer-windowed, whitewashed cottages, usually artistically
placed in the shade of large dark live-oaks. The people seem
tq have been very successful in their venture, to judge by various
little improvements they are making and the comforts they have
accumulated. We were domiciled in a cottage of a family from
Hanover, who came here three years ago. Last year they culti vated over fifty acres of corn, the produce of which they had
sold to the Government at a dollar a bushel; they had fifteen
cows, four mares, and fifty hogs. They had also a large kitchen
garden, in which was growing a greater quantity and variety of
vegetables than I have  seen in any  planter's garden, with
two exceptions, at the South. Their cottage they had built with
their own hands entirely; it was small and composed of very
simple and inexpensive materials, but was provided with more
conveniences of living in comfort than many wealthy slaveholders' habitations. A number of loads of stone had already
been carted together, and laid in a square pile near at hand,
with the intention of building a better house.  "My son and
I can build it when we have no other work to do, so it will cost us
nothing," said the old peasant. I could not see that the climate
was to be accused of having in any degree paralyzed his ambition or his strength. The family had enjoyed excellent health, as
had, by their report, all their neighbors.
The road beyond follows a low ridge which skirts the foot of
the mountains, at a distance of two or three miles. The live. 
280   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
oaks become more stunted and rare, and the mesquit begins to
predominate. Dhanis, which is distant some twenty-five miles
from Castroville, presents, certainly, a most singular spectacle,
upon the verge of the great American wilderness.  It is like-one
of the smallest and meanest of European peasant hamlets.
There are about twenty cottages and hovels, all built in much
the same style, the walls being made of poles and logs placed
together vertically, and made tight with clay mortar, the floors
of beaten earth, the windows without glass, the roofs built so as
to overhang the four sides, and deeply shade them, and covered
with thatch of fine brown grass, laid in a peculiar manner, the
ridge-line and apexes being ornamented with knots, tufts, crosses
or weathercocks. There is an odd little church, and the people
are rigid Catholics, the priest instructing the children.
We spent the night at one of the cottages, and, though we
slept on the floor, we were delighted with the table, which was
spread with venison, wheat-bread, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and
crisp salad. The bill was less than half that we had usually
paid in Eastern Texas for bacon and mouldy corn-bread.
This was a second colony of Mr. Castro, established in 1846,
but he here appears to have done little else than point out the
spot aud assign the lands to the colonists.
During their first year, they told us, they suffered great hardships, the people being all very poor, and having no means of
purchasing food except by the proceeds of their labor. Fortunately, there was then a military station in the vicinity, and the
quartermaster gave them some employment in collecting forage.
They arrived too late to plant corn to advantage, and not having had time to make sufficient fences, the deer eat the most of
what did grow. The second year their crop was destroyed by a 
A  T R I P O V E R  T H E  FR ON T I E R.   281
nail-storm. They lived on game and weeds, for the most part,
during two years. Rattlesnakes were then common about the
settlement, and were regularly hunted for as game. In some of
the families, where there were many small children whose parents
were unable to leave them to labor for wages, they formed a
chief article of subsistence.  Since their second year they had
been remarkably prosperous iu all respects. On their arrival
here it was believed that the richest of the colonists was not
worth twenty dollars; now the average wealth of each was esti mated at eight hundred dollars. It consists mainly in cattle.
They have been every year somewhat annoyed by Indians. The
colonists had enjoyed better health than in Germany, doubtless,
because, since their first struggles, they have obtained a better
supply of wholesome food. Notwithstanding the mean appear ance of most of their dwellings, the people evidently lived in
greater luxury than most of the slaveholding Texans. Cows
were milked, I observed, at every house, night and morning;
and a variety of vegetables was cultivated in their gardens.
The women of the settlement, by the absolute necessity of
out-door work, had been rendered, it seemed to us, very coarse
and masculine in character. All the ordinary labors of men, such
as digging and herding cattle, were performed by them. We
saw one of them lasso a wild-looking mustang on the prairie,
and, vaulting upon his back, canter away in search of her cows,
without saddle or bridle. The condition of the children must be
yet, for many years, barbarous and deplorable.
ORGANIZED EMIGRATION.
This is the last of the organized colonies of Texas that we had
.ccasion to examine. We were strongly impressed with the 
Q52   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
actual results of these enterprises. Not one of them could be
pronounced a failure, in spite of the most bungling and cruel
mismanagement, and the severest reverses in execution. In the
hands of men of sound sense and ability, backed by completely
adequate capital, there is every reason, from their present condition, to believe that the general plan would have been found not
only remunerative to every party concerned, but would have
ranked as, in the highest degree, a beneficent acquisition of experience, inaugurating almost a new era for humanity. I am convinced that some similar plan is destined to be adopted for
settling, at the least cost, and in the best manner, the vast territorial regions that still are awaiting the pioneer's fences, and
that, by its instrumentality, emigration may be elevated, from a
barbarizing scramble, to a civilized and worthy institution. For
the trial, Texas yet offers the fairest and most attractive field in
the Republic. She is accessible with the greatest ease and the
least expense, from the crowded centres of the world, and has
every natural quality that can attract population in greater measure than her northern rivals.
The excited experience in emigration of the present year in
Kansas, has served, at least, to show what might be realized, in calm
times, by the power of organization and capital. From almost
every state, emigrants have gone with associated numbers and
means; but the operations of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid
Society have been especially well known.   Whatever the opinion
held of its actuating impulse, there can be no doubt that the plan
of a similar but general institution has long been forming in the
mind of every humane man, who has felt pity and disgust for tile
miseries bred by the want of some such system applied to foreign
emigration. 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
Hlad, in this case, the capital been ample, and no political oh
structions intervened, the economical success would have been
secure and incontrovertible.   Even under the present difficult
conditions, it has transferred to the new country many hundreds
of families, at a saving to them and a profit to the society; and
has put directly at their command, conveniences impossible, for
many years, to the isolated settler.
New England villages have appeared upon the wild prairies in
a single fortnight; and, had all parties retained their good-humor
and kept the peace, without foreign interference, Kansas would
now have been covered with farms, plantations, and thriving
towns; and a young state have grown into vigorous being.
Under the existing regime of laisser aller, the Silesian peasant
starts, on vague rumor, from the Polish frontier, for the cheap
and wonderful West. He lugs with him his hereditary loom and
his wooden plough, to be split, in Wisconsin, into fuel for his
kettle. He leaves his senses all along the road, and pays his
passage three times over, in the gauntlet of wolfish sharpers who
beset his path.   He hunts rattlesnakes for food, and lets his
children grow to savages, while he subdues his field; and then,
perhaps, discovers that he has spent all for a worthless title.
Were a good mercantile system applied to the transaction, he
might pay for an improved farm with the mere sum saved to his
traveling purse, and be furnished, from the first, from the profits
of the agent, not only with temporary subsistence, but with pastor, doctor, school, newspaper, and saw-mill.
There is no philanthropic enterprise that promises half so
thankful a return as this, or that presses, more peremptorily, for
consideration and action.   We  are not worthy of the times we
live in, if we cannot devise, qnd put into smooth-working prac
283 
284   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
tical operation, some beneficent and thorough system of organized
emigration.
BORDER SETTLERS.
For some fifteen miles, the country continued of a similar
character to that through which we had before passed. Beyond
here the mesquit trees became thicker and more bushy, the liveoaks gradually ceased to appear at all, and we saw that we were
approaching the great chaparral desert of the Rio Grande valley.
We passed two or three houses near the Rio Frio, lonely settlements of Americans, who cultivate corn for sale at Fort Inge.
At one of these houses I stopped to make an inquiry, and found
it left in charge of a little black boy of ten years, who could give
me no other information than that everybody was away, that he
hadn't lived long with these people, and that he didn't know who
his father was; he had been sold away a long time ago. As I
left the house the child ran after me and called out, "Massa, does
you know how long it be to Kis'mas?"-" Oh, a long time yet.
What do you want to know for?"-" Coss I'se on'y hired to
IKis'mas; I'll get away den, go back whar I belong."
The road winds along the spurs of the mountains which bound
the great " staked plains."   They are very rugged, descending
precipitously from the level of the elevated table-land.   For
many miles there is but one practicable pass, the Cauon Uvalde,
from which flows the Sabinal, a small branch of the Frio. It is
through this and the Bandera Pass, between the head-waters of
the Medina and the Guadalupe, that the roving bands of Indians
,ome on their predatory expeditions from the plains.
VICTOR CONSIDERANT AND HIS COMMUNITY.
At the head of the Sabinal are a number of non-slaveholding 
A TRIP OVE R THE FRONTIER.  2S5
farmers, from northern states, engaged in sheep and cattle-rais ing, settled together upon a rich and sheltered tract of pasture.
To the same place, if I am correctly informed, VICTOR CONSIDE RANT has brought the remnant of his communist colony. His
first position was a very ill-chosen one, upon Trinity river, in
Dallas county, amid a population of planters, who looked with
extreme coldness and jealousy upon such an incursion as that of
a thousand French "agrarians," all foreigners, and, per force,
free-labor men. The experiment appears to have been a brief
one. The colony, which arrived in the winter of 1854-5, was
already, at the end of one season, shattered and dispersed. A
few remained upon the domain of the association, with some
separate organization; a few were faithful to Considerant, and
have followed him to this new and more hopeful position, while
the great body scattered, to try their own fortunes, over the
state. The more intimate reasons and cicumstances of the failure are not yet public.*
FORT INGE.
At night we reached Fort Inge, the military outpost of the
]istrict. It is situated near the head of the Leona, and adjacent
o a singular conical rocky hill, said to be the only evidence of
olcanic action within a large area around. The force stationed
ere was a part of two or three companies of mounted rifles,
uder command of Major Simonson.   As is usually the case
ith our nominal Indian forts, there were no structures for deunse, the only thing suggesting them being a stockade of mesait trunks, surrounding the stables, which were open thatched
eds. There were, perhaps, a dozen buildings, of various sizes,
I An application for the incorporation of M. Considerant's colony has failed
the state Senate, at the extra sev.on of 1856. 
286    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
as officers' quarters, barracks, bakery, hospital, guard-room, and
others. These were scattered along the border of a convenient
parade-ground, pleasantly shaded by hackberries and elms. Behind runs the Leona-a  large  brook  of clear water.   The
buildings were all very rough and temporary, some of the officers' lodgings being mere jacals of sticks and mud. But all were
white-washedcl, and neatly kept, by taste and discipline.
We camped not far away, but were hardly established when
we received a visit from two officers, who, with open hospitality,
invited us to the mess-table, and the room of an absent lieutenant. We found our hosts gentlemen of spirit and education,
upholding in social bearing the reputation which the officers of
our army have always maintained-preserving on the rough and
lazy border the cultivation belonging to a more brilliant position. The evening and the table were jovial, but not too free,
and many a good story was ready to while the hours smoothly
away. Though the force present was very small-a large detachment being absent on a "scout"-all the ceremonies of a
large command were, as is usual, rigidly observed; five sentinels
were posted and relieved, and the form of guard-mounting was
gone through with as much exactness as if a commander-in-chief
were looking on. The men and their sergeant in uniform, are
inspected by the officer of the day in full dress, and the major in
fatigue. At Fort Duncan, a more important post, which we
visited a few days later, a fine band played upon a terrace at
the close of evening, and a bevy of fashionably-dressed ladies
addled a strange feature to the remote scene.
THE MAILS.
The United States mail train for El -Paso and Santa Fe was 
A TRIP OVE R THE FRONTIER.  2S7
camped near the fort, on the third night of its outward passage.
The train consists of two heavy wagons, and an ambulance for
passengers, who are carried through to E1 Paso, seven hundred
miles, for one hundred dollars, and found.  "Passengers," the
contractors advertise, "are allowed forty pounds of baggage, and
not required to stand guard." There are four mules to each
vehicle, and one spare mule for each team is led.
The train is attended by a mounted guard of six men, armed
with Sharp's rifles and Colt's repeaters. Their pay is forty dol lars a month. A man is lost on nearly every trip out and back,
but usually through his own indiscretion. After passing Fort
Inge, there is no change of team for more than five hundred
miles. The train usually camps from ten o'clock at night till
four in the morning. At eight o'clock, a stop of an hour or more
is made, to graze the mules, and for breakfast. Another halt is
made between three o'clock and sunset. The average distance
accomplished in a day is over fifty miles.   No  government
officer or functionary goes with the mail. The commander was
an old Texan ranger captain, and the guard, we understood, was
composed of old rangers. They had, however, so much the appearance of drunken ruffians, that we felt no disposition to join
the party.
The mail between San Antonio and Eagle Pass "changed
horses" at the post also, in the afternoon.  The mail-carrier is
mounted, and the mail is carried on a pack-mule.   The contractor is paid eighty dollars a month, and hires a young man to
carry it once a week each way, so that he has but one day's rest
a week-for thirty dollars. The labor is severe, and the danger,
in the long run, great. A mail-rider, running in a similar man-er to another post, had just been murdered.  The mail leaves 
28S   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
the Leona usually at four in the afternoon. About midnight,
the rider informed us, he quits the road, and searches for a secluded place, where he shall be hidden by bushes. Having chosen
the spot, he unpacks his mule, and lariating his animals, makes
a pillow of the mail-bags, and sleeps till he wakes from his first
nap-usually after sunrise.  Before night he is able to reach
Eagle Pass. The distance between the posts is sixty miles.
AN INDIAN CAMP.
We accompanied, on the following day, an ambulance excursion to visit an Indian camp at the head of the Leona, three
miles north of the fort. It was the first time I had had the opportunity of coming in contact with the native savage unalloyed,
and my curiosity was on the alert. The camp was of a portion
of the tribe of Lipans, with a few Tonkaways, and Mescalerosnumbering, perhaps, in all, one hundred. They had been recently brought in from the plains by the Indian agent, according
to a treaty by which they were to receive a certain pension in
clothing and food, for keeping quiet, and for substituting the use
of the plough for that of the scalping-knife.
The approach to the camp was at least satisfactorily picturesque; a group of wigwams, bright blankets, and camp-fires were
scattered through the shady grove round the spring, suggesting
a pleasant sketch of the natural socialism of the uncontaminated
man. But this was the last of the picturesque, or of anything
fanciful or agreeable. I will impart in confidence to the reader,
ta,t the tamed sort of Indians he has seen and carelessly despised at Saratoga and Niagara, Eastport and Montreal, are by
no means as degenerate sons of the forest as I used to think.
They are every bit as real, and ten times as good and decent as 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  28
this noble savage of the plains.   Here, at least, was nothing but
the most miserable squalor, foul obscenity, and disgnsting  brut   ishness, if there be excepted the occasional evidence of a sly and
impish keenness.   We  could not find even one man of dignity;
the universal expression towards us was either a silly leer or a
stupid indifference.
But to write down sensations and reflections in a paragraph of
my own would be flat burglary, when I have all the time by me
the quenching summary in Househol(d Tfords:
"To come to the point at once, I beg to say thliat I have not the least be  lief in the Noble Savage.  I consider him a prodigious nuisance and an
enormous superstition.  His calling rum fire-water and me a pale-face,
wholly fail to reconcile me to him.  I call him a savage, and I call a sav  age a something highly desirable to be civilized off the face of the earth.
I think a mere gent (which I take to be the lowest form of civilization)
better than a howling, whistling, clucking, stamping, jumping, tearing
savage.  It is all one to me whether he stick a fish-bone through his
visage, or bits of trees through the lobes of his ears, or birds' feathers in
his hair; whether he flatten his head between two boards, or spread his
nose over the breadth of his face, or drag his lower lip down by great
weights, or blacken his teeth, or knock them out, or paint one cheek red
and the other blue, or tattoo himself, or oil himself, or rub his body
with fat, or crimp it with knives. Yielding to whichsoever of these
agreeable eccentricities he is a savage-cruel, false, thievish, murderous;
addicted more or less to grease, entrails, and beastly customs; a wild
animal with the questionable gift of boasting; a conceited, tiresome,
blood-thirsty, monotonous humbug."
Not far from the camp was a solitary house, belonging to Mr.
Black, an American who had engaged in cultivating corn here
for sale at the fort.   It must  be an extreme idiosyncrasy or a
strong instinct of profit, that would induce a man to settle among
such unreliable neighbors. His house was now overrun with a
swarm of these vagabonds, who, two weeks later, were loose
13 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
again upon the settlements, scalping, kidnapping, and throatcutting.
We spent an hour or two in the camp, visiting almost every hut.
These were simply slight tents of poles and skins, of larger or
smaller size. In each were a few rude utensils, scattered over a
heap of skins and filthy blankets. The faces of both sexes were
hideously streaked with paint, the features very coarse, nose
large, and cheek-bones particularly prominent. The faces of the
boys and girls were a pleasant relief, containing some possibilities,
though after all but a slight mitigation of the parental traits.
All were eager for a dime, and went through any amount of degrading nonsense to secure it. A few half-starved Mexican horses
were staked outside the camp. The chief, " Castro," was absent
with some of the "braves" on a visit to "Chiquito," the chief
of another branch of the tribe now encamped in the Canon
Uvalde.
A RIDE WITH OUR RED BROTHERS.
On our return trip we had the distinguished honor of making
a personal acquaintance with this hero, under somewhat dubious
circumstances. We were riding over the ridge between Quihi and
Castroville, some seven miles from the latter place, when, hearing
a noise behind, we looked around, and discovered a squad of
armed Indians close upon us, and coming up at a quick trot.
There was but a moment for consultation. We well knew that
no armed Indians ought to be found where these were, but whether these were a friendly exception we could not tell.  If
they were on a maraud they could riot have fallen on a prettier
prize than the mule and horse we rode, the guns and Colts we
carried, and the comely scalps we wore. Should we fight, should
we run, or should we keep about our business, and trust to cir
290 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  291
cumstances?   The odds were against us in any one of these
proceedings, and we naturally fell into the last while awaiting
decision.
We were so far within the extreme settlements that we
had laid aside all precaution, and our Colts had been put in
our saddle-bags to relieve us of the weight. We had only time
to get them out and buckle them to the waist, and to whisper
hurriedly, " Don't let them separate us, at any rate," when they
came up-the evident chief upon a mule close on our right, a
second on our left, a third insisting upon a place between us.
This last we resisted, but a sort of leer from the old chief appa rently ordered him to persist. There was nothing for it but to
yield the point, as we had, per force, assumed the friendly view
of things. The troop had adapted themselves to our pace, and
we now presented the odd spectacle of a platoon of three Indians
and two white men, filling the road, followed by a similar platoon
of Indians. In fact, we were prisoners under escort.
I looked towards the chief who rode by my side, and, assuming
as much native dignity as I could command, nodded. He returned the nod with a grunt, which I was unable to translate. For a
few minutes more not a word was said. Every one of the squad
was devouring, with his eyes, our accoutrements and our animals.
Not a screw on the rifle nor a buckle on the bridles seemed to
escape a close scrutiny. There were many grunts of satisfaction
which yielded us equivocal pleasure. We returned their compliment, by eying, with equal curiosity, their faces, dresses, and
arms.
The silence becoming somewhat awkward, I broke it with a
venture, that might either do me credit or betray a total inexpe,ienuce. 
292   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
" Lipanos?"
"Si."-Grunt.-Pause.-" Americanos?"
"Si."-Pause.
"To Sanl Antonio?"
"Yes."
"Where from?"
"San Fernando."
"Ho!"-With a look at his companions.-" Indians in San
Fernando?"
"Yes. Many."
" What kind?"
"Lipans, Mescaleros, Kickapoos, Comanches, Tonkaways,
Seminoles.-All drunk.-All fools."
This seemed to excite a great hilarity in the chief. He wished
me to say it again and again, repeating, "so they were all drunk,
were they," and making his friends enjoy it with a sort of sparkling chuckle.
I had evidently succeeded in winning his esteem; for he now
entered upon a general conversation on the various merits of
whisky, corn, horses, and Germans.
Any apprehensions of sudden violence were now allayed, particularly on our discovering that one of the riders behind was a
young female.
I inquired if this girl were the chief's squaw.  "Yes," he said,
with a scowl, intended to forbid any further investigation. I
asked if he were the chief of the tribe.  "Yes."  "Castro or
Chiquito?"-I had remembered the names since our excursion to
the camp.  "Castro," said he, with a sneer, that indicated no
particular respect for his royal brother   He was going to San
Antonio, he told us, to have an audience of the Indian agent, in 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  293
which he was to submit, on the part of his tribe, the proposition
that the Lipans should make a series of journeys into Mexico for
the purpose of stealing horses and mules, and bringing them to
the Americans. This he seemed to think was a grand, novel
and philanthropic idea, which would undoubtedly commend
itself to every mind and bring eclat to himself and admiration
and respect to his nation.
Castro was dressed in a buckskin shirt, decorated profusely
with bead-work. Upon his bare head was a wreath of fresh oak
leaves. Hanging from the ears were heavy brass rings, and
across his face blazed a vermilion streak, including the edge of
the eyelids, whose motion had a horrid effect. The eyelashes
and eyebrows had, as usual, been pulled. His face was not
without some natural dignity and force, but the predominant
expression was wily and brutal.
The squaw was a girl of delicate features and slight proportions, showing signs of fatigue and hardship. She rode astride,
like the rest, dressed in a tolerably neat and pretty buckskin
cape, with fringed leggins. The horses of the party, though
probably the best belonging to the tribe, were small, worn, and
inferior. The mule on which the chief rode, was alone in tolerable working condition.
At Castroville, which we at length reached, not without some
relief, we shook off the infliction of our friends, resisting their
invitations to stop with them to fire up at the first grocery. We
afterwards came up with the party again, within a few miles of
San Antonio-every man on the verge of intoxication, Castro
himself begging for the personal loan of four bits, and denouncing us with maudlin ferocity for refusing so slight a favor to so
old a friend. 
294   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
The precise object of this expedition of the chief to San Antonio was left in mystery. It appeared afterward that our ride
with them had not been as little attended with danger as we
thought; and that this was probably a sort of final scouting trip
before the commencement of hostilities.
INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.
We had hesitated at the Medina, whether to go on to San An tonio or to turn up the valley, and pass the night at a sheep ranch upon the San Geronimo, belonging to Mr. Callaghan,
which we had been invited to visit. The slight inducement of
seeing our letters one day earlier, struck the balance. The following morning came news that the ranch had been visited during the night by Indians, who had killed a Mexican shepherd,
carried off a second boy, and shot at the third, who brought the
news. Later in the day, an express arrived from a settlement
ten miles nearer San Antonio, with intelligence of a similar outrage. The savages had appeared at the house of a settler named
Forrester, demanding something to eat. As the poor fellow was
entering the cabin to comply, he was shot from behind, and fell
dead on the threshold. Hiis wife sprang out at the other door,
and, looking back, saw two of her children struck down by
hatchets, and a third running to the bushes, the Indians in full
pursuit. She escaped unobserved to the nearest settlement. This
occurrence took place within sixteen miles of the town. An expedition in pursuit was made up, and Castro, who had shown
great excitement on hearing the news, offered his services as
trailer, affecting the greatest indignation at the deed, which he
declared must have been done by the Comanches. But the trail,
when found, had evident marks of Lipan origin. When this was 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  295
whispered, Castro became greatly disturbed, and in the night
disappeared with the horse belonging to the leader of the pursuing party. An express was sent back, with orders to detain the
remainder of Castro's men, who were encamped at the edge of
the town; but they were on the alert, and all escaped save one,
who was killed by a musket-ball.
Our own conversational ride had been the last polite intercourse with the tribe, and probably our scalps were only saved
to us by the hankering of the brutes for a parting draught of
whisky.  Open war at once broke out; the Lipans decamped to
the plains, and henceforth ranked as outlaws, to be shot down at
will.  Frontier murders became the order of the day, and for
more than two years, hardly a week elapsed without a visit to
some exposed settlement from a gang of Indians, who left their
arrows sticking in cows and sheep, drove off cattle and horses,
shot down whoever appeared least likely to resist, and carried
sleepless excitement and terror before them. They must have
taken more than a hundred lives by the most horrid means,
destroyed many thousands of dollars' worth of property, and,
indirectly, by putting an end to the progress of a whole district,
have affected landholders and the state to the amount of millions.
INDIAN TRIBES IN TEXAS.
It is extremely difficult to form a trustworthy estimate of the
number of Indian tribes. Those beyond civilized bounds are
continually upon the move, ignorant even of their own numbers,
and prone to make themselves formidable by exaggerated
statements. In 1853, there was thought, by the commissioner
of Indian affairs, to be within the limits of the state, a total of
20,000. This was probably, even then, a large reckoning, and 
296   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
the diminution has since been rapid.   At all points of contact
with the white race, they melt gradually away. At least onehalf of the Lipans have been exterminated by powder and ball,
in the open war of the last years. Many Comanches have perished in the same violent manner. On the other hand, the
Apaches have extended themselves in floating parties from the
neighboring Mexican states, toward the coast, making now frequent appearance upon  the E1  Paso road.   A  part of the
remaining Comanches have been brought to settle upon eighteen
leagues of land given by Texas to the United States for the purpose. This reservation lies within five miles of Fort Belknap,
upon the Clear Fork of the Brazos. There are fixed upon it
(July, 1856) 1,540 Indians, of various tribes, who have ploughed
and cultivated eight hundred acres of corn.  They have made
crops now for two seasons in succession, and profess to be gratified at the change in their mode of life. In Eastern Texas are
some 3,000 of the semi-civilized Creeks, Delawares, and Cherokees. In the north are some of the old Wichita and Waco tribes.
If these be estimated at 1,000, the Comanches at 3,000, and the
remnant of Lipans, Tonkaways, and Mescaleros at 1,000, and
4,000 be allowed for the wandering, little-known tribes of the
great plains, we have a total of about 12,000 living within the
bounds of Texas.
Nothing can be more lamentable than the condition of the
wandering tribes. They are permanently on the verge of starvation. Having been forced back, step by step, from the hunting-grounds and the fertile soil of Lower Texas to the bare and
arid plains, it is no wonder they are driven to violence and angry
depredations.  As to our policy towards them, we saw too little
either of it or of them to justify the expression of an opinion, 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  297
having any other foundation than common sense. The border  ers' idea, which looks upon them as blood-thirsty vermin, to be
exterminated without choice of means, was imperatively upper most in our minds while in their presence. A look into their
treacherous eyes was enough to set the teeth grinding and rouse
the self-preservative tigerhood of the animal man, latent since
we ran naked like the rest in the jungles. If my wife were in a
frontier settlement, I can conceive how I should hunt an Indian
and shout him down with all the eagerness and ten times the
malice with which I should follow the panther. Yet the power
of even a little education on these chaotic, malicious idiots and
lunatics can hardly be over-estimated.   How easily has the In dian element in Mexican nationality been developed into civilized
and productive cooperation. After the foundation of Frede ricksburg by the German settlers, the principal supplies of food
were obtained from the Indians, and the people were almost in
consternation when the forts were first established near, and the
Indians withdrew their supplies and their profitable barter. But
while whisky is sold at ten cents a quart, no general melioration of
the condition of the grown border savages can be expected; still
their young, like those of other animals, can be caught and
tamed. This is the excellent suggestion of Secretary McLelland
in his last report on our Indian policy. It has even been carried
out to a certain extent with gratifying results. The plan of " reservations" is a good one, but should be considered as only a
first step, and, where practicable, the reservation should, for obvious reasons, be entirely inclosed by old settlements. The
Comanches, for instance, at Fort Belknap, will be almost certain,
on some sudden suspicion, or from mere weariness, to make a
stampede to their old plains. Had they to run the gauntlet of
13* 
298   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
a hundred miles of villages, they would be delivered from temptation.* Once confined in small bodies, within rigid limits on
all sides, gradual restriction by other laws will be practicable.
The Maine law can be attempted, and a compulsory school law
be soon enforced. Some other future than extermination will
then, at least, be open.
But such governmental philanthropy is only in practice a jolly
job, in which, as usual, the least possible is done, and the utmost possible paid. The smaller the reliance on that the better,
and, meanwhile, might not a larger portion of the current of
religious contributions be turned with advantage into this nearer
channel? The Jesuit mission-farms are an example for us. Our
neighborly responsibility for these Lipans is certainly more close
than for those Feejees, and if the glory of converting them to
decency be less, the expense would certainly be in proportion.
FRONTIER DEFENSES.
The deliberate slowness of the national sword is as notorious
along the frontier as the good-natured blindness to official larcenies. Justice always comes lumbering one day behind the
rogue.  With the exception of the "mounted rifles," we have
no force that pretends to meet the Indian on his own ground.
Keeping a bull-dog to chase musquitoes would be no greater
nonsense than the stationing of six-pounders, bayonets, and dragoons for the pursuit of these red wolves. The vicinity of forts
is even more dangerous than the unprotected frontier, for the
* " On the 12th of June, 1856, a fight took place, on the Sabinal, between five
Americans and twenty-five Indians. During the affray, one of the Americans
received no less than five arrows in his body. This was undoubtedly a roving
band that had escaped fiom the Reservations."-San Antonio Peaper. 
A TRIP OVER THE  FRONTIER. 
fine horses and arms of the stolid regulars are an exciting at traction for the savages. Even the mounted rifles furnish them
some keen sport; for a few days before we were at Fort Inge,
the stable-yard, guarded by four sentinels, had been entered at
night, and half a dozen horses run off.  The  party was fired
upon by the guard, but the bold fellows got clear, leaving only
one horse and some drops of blood behind them. At Fort Dun can such depredations were frequent. A sergeant, who was
bringing in a load of hay, was pounced upon, within a mile of
the fort, and, before he could rally the muskets of his escort,
three mules were cut from the traces under his nose, and jerked
into the chaparral.
The news of the Forrester murder reached San Antonio about
nine in the morning. Two Germans hastily borrowed our pistols,
telling us what had occurred, and in ten minutes were in the
saddle on the plaza. The squad of mounted infantry, ordered to
join the volunteers, was ready six hours after.
In truth, the inefficiency of regular troops for Indian warfare
needs no evidence. Wherever posted, they are the standing butt
of the frontiersmen. They should be placed at work, in times of
peace, upon the fortifications that will be subject, in war, to regular attacks by disciplined battalions. The system of arming the
border-settlers, subjecting them to the call of one of their own
number, and paying them in the ratio of their activity and their
services, is the only rational one that meets the circumstances.
They are on the spot, and being the interested parties, are always
sleeplessly alert and versed in every trick of their wily enemties.
TFEXAS RANGERS.
A  sy)-stem nearly equivalent was that of ranging-companies
299 
300    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
adopted by the Texan Republic. These were so many organized
tribes of civilized white Indians, living in moving camps beyond
the border, always ready for the chase of the red-skin, at or without a moment's notice.   Their wild life and exciting combats
were as romantic and attractive to adventur'ous young men as any
crusade of old, and on their rolls may be read the names of many
men who would never be suspected now of rampant blood and
deviltry. From many road-talks, from Germans who had rangedI
in their ranks, and from our companion, B., we collected some
notes of their characteristics.
Any one, having obtained friom the government a commission
to form a ranging-company, advertised a rendezvous, where all
wishing to join should be on hand at a specified time, when they
were inspected by the enlisting officer. The men furnished their
own horses (American or large mustangs), saddles, pistols, and
knives-the state providing only rifles. The pay was $25 per
month.   The recruiting officer was only provisionally captain,
the corps, when organized for service, choosing its own leaders.
Rations of hard bread and pork, or, sometimes, fresh beef, flour,
rice, sugar, and coffee, were served out once in four days, with a
bushel of corn and hay for the horse. If sent on a separate scout
where rations could not be taken, they were drawn and sold on
their return, the party subsisting upon game.
They carried no tents, and seldom employed baggage-wagons.
Where they were to make a long camp, they usually built log
huts, otherwise, lay, rolled in their blankets, wherever they
pleased, within the lines of their sentinels.
B. told us that he had once been out six months from the settlements, with nothing to eat but game during that time. They
returned, at length, to a post, where a single load of corn and 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
bacon was found. It was divided and served out, each man's
ration consisting of about a pint of mouldy corn and a "right
smart chunk of bacon." Every man used it as he pleased. For
himself, he took his corn and broke ft as fine as he could between
two flat stones, and then, with some fat, tried from the bacon,
mixed a cake, which he baked, wrapped in green leaves, by a bed
of ashes and hot coals in a hole in the ground. He had never
eaten anything the memory of which was more delicious.
They dressed as they chose, generally in flannel shirts and felt
hats, sometimes in buckskin suits.
One of the gentlemen at Sisterdale described a company he saw
coming into San Antonio, after having been out six months.
They had only a few rags tied together and drawn rotund them
for decency. After parading the plaza they left their horses
with a guard, and all went into the stores.   In a few moments
were seen negroes coming out of every store with bundles of rags,
which they threw into the street, and presently appeared the
rangers, in fine cloth, stove-pipe hats, and all the etceteras.
Once, while in Mexico, a regiment was in so sorry a plight, that
an order was given from head-quarters for supplying it with
clothing. A suit of dragoon's uniform was served out for each
man; but, disliking the appearance of uniform, they sold or
gambled all away, only the officers keeping their new rig. Dissatisfied at the novel plumage of their officers, they managed to
steal every suit, and returned it, with the gold lace and ornaments-blackened.
Men and officers were on terms of perfect equality, calling each
other by their Christian or nick-names.   Their time, when not
in actual service, was spent in hunting, riding, and playing cards.
The only duty was for four (out of seventy) to stand guard.
301 
302   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Men were often absent, without leave, three or four days, without
being reprimanded. They fought, when engaged, quite independently, the only order from the commander usually beings-" All
ready, boys? Go ahead."
Their principal occupation has always been Indian fighting,
but two or three regiments of them were employed, during the
Mexican war, with great advantage, mainly as scouts, pioneers,
and foragers.   At Monterey, they stormed a battery on foot,
leaving their horses and rifles, and fighting with only bowie-knife
and Colt. After the city was taken they were prepared to enjoy
themselves, but when they had caused much annoyance by their
riot, a few regiments of volunteers were ordered to clear the town
of the Texas Rangers.
The commanding-officer of one of the regiments, after their
arrival on the Rio Grande, early in the Mexican war, called his
men together, and addressed them as follows:
"I've got an order, boys, to parade the regiment to-morrow
morning, at ten o'clock, to be reviewed by General Taylor.   I
don't know what the devil we ought to do about it, but I reckon
we'd better all draw up in a line, and when he comes give him
three cheers."   Accordingly, when  the General appeared, the
order was given-" Three cheers for General Taylor."   The
cheers were given, every man waving his hat, after which he tossed
it into the air, or sent it scaling over the General's head, and,
drawing his revolver, fired five rounds, in a random feu-de-joie,
whooping, hallooing, yelling, and making whatever independent
demonstrations of respect and welcome he saw fit.
During the later years, one-half of some of these companies
was composed of Germans, who were not required to understand
English, beyond the words of the general orders.  We  were 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
shown, at Sisterdale, an arrow, which had pierced one of them
near by, who was stationed as guard over some horses at pasture.
He had solaced himself with a newspaper, and the Comanches,
creeping up, had driven the noiseless bolt through its folds and
the body of the careless ranger.
A CAPITAL SCOUT.
We were fortunate enough to procure at Fort Inge a good
guide for the Rio Grande. He was recommended to us by the
officers as an excellent scout, and a very reliable man; and so
we found him. He was also neat, quiet, and orderly; goodnatured without being obtrusive, and communicative without
being garrulous and tiresome-a combination of good qualities
we found in no other frontiersman.   He  could assume  the
Mexican manner and tongue so perfectly that the Mexicans would
not believe that he had not been born in their country. He
could also speak several Indian languages, and could use the
signs of various other tribes. His notions of Indian character
commended themselves to my judgment in an unusual degree.
Though he despised and hated the savages as frontiersmen always do, and loved to find any decent and manly pretext for
killing them, he gave them credit for some perceptive character,
which made them a little more worthy of respect.
"Why do people who write books," he asked, " always make
Indians talk in that hifalutin way they do? Indians don't talk
so, and when folks talk that way to them they don't understand
it.  They don't like it neither.  I went up with Lieutenant,
when he tried to make a treaty with the Northern Apaches. He
had been talking up in the clouds, all nonsense, for half an
hour, and I was trying to translate it just as foolish as he said
303 
304   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
it. An old Indian jumped up and stopped me-' What does
your chief talk to us in this way for? We an't babies, we are
fighting men; if he has got anything to tell us we will hear it,
but we didn't come here to be amused, we came to be made
drunk, and to get some blankets and tobacco.'"
He was born in London, but came when a child to Ohio,
where he was educated.  He, at first, said that he remembered
nothing at all of England, but afterwards asked  "Aren't there little flowers that grow along by the fences in
England that they call cups?"
"Buttercups-yes."
"And another little flower in the fences that smells very
nice-haws, is it?-and another in the grass-"
"Primroses," I suggested.
"Ah, yes, that's it-cups and primroses.  I thought it was in
England; there wan't no such in Ohio. I can remember going
out with my mother into the country and picking them. That's
the only thing I can remember in England."
He came to Mexico with the volunteers, and when his regiment was paid off, joined the Texas Rangers. After having
acquired the Mexican dialect he was placed in the spy company.
Once, while engaged in a reconnoissance, they were intercepted
by a very strong party of the enemy. It was agreed that they
should charge pell-mell through their columns, every man to
look out for himself. He got through with his life, and escaped
pursuit, but received a blow which had left him since nearly
powerless in his right arm. After the close of the war he had
earned his living as a scout for Government, and as guide and
interpreter to people doing business in Mexico. In his wanderderings, in this capacity, he once nearly reached the Gulf of 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.   305
California.  He had been taken prisoner by the Comanches, and
moved about with them, as their slave, for a month before he
succeeded in making his escape.
A man so trustworthy and competent in his business, and yet
so modest, is rarely found. His name is John Woodland, and
any one who has occasion for his services may probably obtain
them for two dollars a day, by applying to him at Fort Inge.
AN ESCORT.
Fortunately also for us, there arrived at the fort, the night
before we left, two officers en route to their posts on the Rio
Grande. They were provided with an ambulance, or large Jersey wagon, drawn by six mules and an escort of two mounted
riflemen. We joined company, and, with their driver and servant, our whole party, for the two days' ride, to Fort Duncan,
numbered nine.
BEYOND SETTLEMENTS.
Before noon, although a hearty mess-table breakfast had been
eaten too late to permit us yet an appetite for dinner, Woodland
advised us to halt, as we arrived at the last point for a long distance at which we could get good water, shade, and grazing.
We had, of course, brought no corn, having left our pack behind
us. There were rations for the Government horses in the ambulance, and the officers, with their escort, had gone on without
stopping.  As we lounged on the ground-our horses roped out
to graze near us-I asked the scout if he did not smoke.
",No," said he; "I noticed that men who used tobacco, when
they had to go far away from the settlements, very often got out
of it, and it made them very uncomfortable, so I quit using it
altogether; I never use liquor either, except in the way of 
306   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
politeness or for medicine, so I never have to carry any with me,
and it's so much weight saved."
After we had eaten our "snack," I took a nap. When I awoke,
Woodland remarked  "A couple of fellows got killed here last year?
"How?"
" They had been eating their dinner, and afterwards they went
to sleep, I reckon, and some Indians crept up and shot them.
They were scalped, and everything they had taken away. We
buried them just over there, back of you."
"Ah! you did?  Well, don't you think we might as well get
away from here now? We shall hardly overtake the escort
before dark."
"There's a hole, ten miles on from here, where there's water
generally at this time of year; I reckon, if they make a nooning at  gl, we shall find them there-if they don't, we can't
catch them before night.  But the horses have about filled themselves; so, if you are ready, we'll saddle up."
A LA BELLE tTOILE.
We did not overtake the soldiers till nine o'clock at night.
They were camped on the brow of a little gully, at the bottom
of which trickled a weak streamlet of fresh water. Good wood
was scarce, and their fires were already smouldering, though a pot
of coffee had been kept hot for us. They had finished their own
suppers, and the officers sat smoking over one pile of embers,
and the riflemen at another. The mules were eating their corn
at the tongue of the ambulance; the soldiers' horses were staked
out near their fire; and the soldiers themselves, wrapped in their
great loose overcoats, were frightening out of his wits, with 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.   307
Indian yarns, the officer's servant-a free Virginia negro. The
grass was very scanty, and our first care was to select the best
spots within gunshot of our fires to stake our own horses. We
had shot a couple of rabbits, and Woodland in a few minutes
dressed and cooked them a la Texas Ranger, which we presently
agreed with him was the only way in which a rabbit should ever
be cooked, when the requisite conveniences could lie obtained.
The process is thus: the rabbit being dressed, skewer it with a
shaft of green mesquit; rub salt over it generously; lay it
upon a bed of red embers for from a minute to a minute and a
half, according to your appetite; take it up; jerk off any flaky
parts, and eat them out of hand; then lay the other side upon
the embers, and leave it for from three-quarters of a minute to
a minute and a quarter, according to the eagerness of the company; take it up; tear the whole into as many parts as the
number of the company requires; serve immediately on sharpened mesqutit sticks.
After supper we replenished the fire, and brought our horses
closer; then took our saddles and blankets and laid down outside of them, on the edge of the bank-because, as the scout
observed, if we should have any visitors in the night, they would
be likely to steal up through the gully. The officers had already
retired to rest in the ambulance; the driver and servant were
snoring under it, and the gleams of the soldiers' pipes appeared
like revolving light-houses, one after another, from a little knoll
opposite to us, where they had taken their station as our picketguard. Each one of us had a revolver and a knife at his waist.
As we lay down, Woodland instructed us thus: "I've got a
habit when I go to sleep to take off my Colt always and stick it
under the fork of my saddle; then if it rains-'tisn't no matter 
308    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
how hard-there's no danger of it's getting wet, and I know just
where'tis. I always sleep with my head on my saddle, and if I
hear anything in the night I can slide my hand in and get it,
without making any rustling, quicker than I could take it out of
my belt. I suppose'twould be just as well if you did so. This
here grass is so poor, there wouldn't be any on'em round here
unless they came a purpose to run off travelers' horses, and we
are too strong for any common stealing gang. Such a lot of
mules, though, and them dragoon-horses would be mighty tempting, and if there is a good many of'em, they'll run some risk,
if they've seen us, to get'em. It's always just as well, anyhow,
to be ready, tho' I don't reckon there's any particular danger."
The night was truly gorgeous. The Germans have a saying
that the sky seems nearer in Texas than in Europe. The stars,
and especially the nebulae, do seem to shine more vividly, and to
give more light, and the firmament appears more effulgent than
in any part of the northern or southern hemisphere in which I
have been.  The air was nearly calm, but elastic, and of an
agreeable temperature. It is difficult to express the delicious
freshness of the gentle breeze that flows across your cheek, upon
such an open pillow. I slept little, but have seldom enjoyed a
more pleasant or refreshing night's rest. Daylight arrived without our having been disturbed by anything more formidable than
a mouse, or something like it, which found its way under my
blanket, and for a moment startled me by rubbing against my
throat.
SNAKES, INSECTS, AND GAME.
Before sunrise we had breakfasted, and were again in the saddle. Just after we had started, we met on the road, and killed, the
largest rattlesnake I have ever seen; it was only five and a half 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  309
feet long, but very thick, and carried thirteen rattles. When the
soldiers overtook us, they said they had just killed a larger one.
We saw several others, and their tracks crossing the road were
very frequent. Woodland told us that they disliked to go into
the wet grass, and it was for that reason we saw them so much
on the edge of the dry road, while the dew stood on the leaves in
the morning.   In grassy land, at this time of day, they were
generally hanging in bushes; this we also observed. On this
account he always chose the heaviest grass to spread his blanket
on for the night.   He had several times been told that rattle snakes had crept within the blanket of persons in the same camp
with himself-it was supposed to enjoy the warmth of their
bodies-but he had never been an eye-witness of it, nor
had he ever heard of a man's having been bitten on these occasions.
These were almost the first venomous snakes we had seen.
But the torpid season was now over, and from this time forth
they were so common as hardly to excite an exclamation,
especially here, beyond the settlements, where they were tenfold numerous.   Among them, the rattlesnake stands at the
head; but as it cannot strike without coiling, and will not coil
without rattling, it is, in reality, less dangerous than some
others. In the settled parts of Texas it is common, but scarcely
more so than in all the southern and western states. Its rattle
is a piercing noise, like that of an August grasshopper, and cannot be mistaken. We had testimony in Eastern Texas of the
power of charming said to reside in these reptiles, from Mr. Strather, on the Sabine, who had seen, while hunting in Alabama,
"a well-marked case."  Coming from a little swamp, he heard a
bird, upon a tree-trunk before him, in an unusual flutter; and, 
310    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
stopping to examine the cause, saw a huge rattlesnake coiled,
with open mouth, at the foot of the tree, towards which the bird,
in convulsions of fright, slowly descended. Keeping perfect
quiet, he saw it gradually come within reach of the jaws, when it
was seized with a jerk, and slowly swallowed.
I share, with many of mankind, a peculiar dread of serpentsand when on our return across this wilderness my horse stepped
in the road close upon a huge specimen of this species, who
struck, but fortunately did not wound him, I almost fell faint
from the saddle. The Texan settlers seemed to care very little
anywhere for snakes; and, indeed, they are perfectly right in
ignoring them, as fatal accidents are so extremely rare. The
physicians in San Antonio corroborated the general declaration
on this point. We saw one patient who had been struck by a
water-snake, in collecting "tula," for thatch, from the river edge.
He was in a fair way, after three weeks' treatment, to lose an
arm by erysipelatous sloughing and necrosis of the bones of the
fore-arm, but no danger to life was apprehended. From what
we could learn, more than one-half the accidents were followed
by no consequences whatever, and a very small percentage, only,
proved fatal. The immediate remedies were, for the profession,
ammonia; for the people, whisky. A medical man from Illinois
told us of a patient to whom he was called, "a lady, who was
going out barefoot to milk, and was struck in the ankle, while
letting down the bars," who instantly returned to the house and
drank a pint of whisky. He contented himself with awaiting the
result, and found the antidote real.
The principal venomous snakes of Texas, besides the rattlesnake, are the land and water moccasins, cotton-heads, coachwhips, and copper-heads. We saw none of these, however, in a 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.   311.
six months' journey, with the exception of the moccasins, so that
they must be comparatively rare, and little to be dreaded. With
the moccasins we became very familiar, in traversing the coast
region of the eastern part of the state, one or two of the black
water-moccasins showing themselves ill every pool we entered.
even twenty times a day. My acquaintance with the land variety
originated a week or two before this, in returning from the mountains. I was creeping up to get within shot of a deer (a useless
labor, I need not confess), when I suddenly dropped my eyes
upon one of these creatures, about five feet before me, and in my
direct path. I drew back aghast, for he did look like a devil incarnate, to be sure. He lay coiled, with a short, thick black
body, a huge head, a wide-open, flame-colored mouth, long fangs,
and a forked tongue, dancing about in ecstasy of malice. It was
a moment or two before I recovered my discretion, which, I acquiesced, in such a case, was the better part of valor. The day
before, one of the Sisterdale gentlemen had described these creatures to me, while bathing, and had recommended me to be careful in entering the water.
He had seen a calf, on putting his nose to the creek to drink,
struck by one of these moccasins. His head immediately swelled
to an enormous size, and convulsive movements followed, which
terminated in death, in less than ten minutes.*
The variety of harmless snakes is considerable, but the only
* Bartlett (Narrative ii., 342) mentions the death of a horse, from the bite of
a rattlesnake, three days before.
From the Staats Zeituitg, San Antonio, 7th July, 1856:-"  Ir. Gessler was
yesterday bitten by a moccasin-snake, while bathing in the Salado. He had
shot the snake and cut him in two, when the forward part suddenly jumped
towards him, and struck his leg, as mentioned above. Gessler at once rode into
town and put himself in charge of a physician. The wound was cupped, and
hitherto no consequences have followed." 
312    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
one with which we became familiar was the egg-snake, before
mentioned.
As to the peculiar venomous insects of Texas, we saw not one
of the family out of scientific collections. The tarantula was
described as simply a very rare huge black spider, whose bite
is poisonous, in different degrees, to different individuals.
The scorpion is a minute flattened, crawling lobster, perhaps
half an inch long.   Its sting is painful, but not dangerous,
occasioning a suffering like that of the hornet. The most formidable insect is the centipede, whose crawl is said to be poisonous, when interrupted, leaving upon the body or limb it is traversing an intensely-painful inflamed track.   Prostration and
great nervous agitation follow.   For all these, ammonia, if
instantly applied, is considered an antidote. Should it not be at
hand or be unsuccessful, the after symptoms are treated according
to their nature, without empirical remedies.
Near the Nueces, we saw the first specimen of the "horned
frog." This singular creature is apparently a sort of lizard, of
the size, and of somewhat the shape, of an ordinary toad, of a yellowish color, having four hard horns sloping backwards upon its
head, and a series of imbricated horny scales covering the spine.
It has sharp claws, and does not leap, but runs, with great
rapidity, along the ground upon its four feet. Its eyes are gentle,
its movements active, and its whole expression is not repulsive.
It is not rare in this part of the state, as we saw four or five upon
this trip, three of which we captured. One of them made his
escape; the other two were inclosed in a little paste-board box,
and sent by mail from San Antonio to New York. They survived the trip, and came out in good spirits and flesh from their
narrow quarters. The box chanced to arrive before the letter of 
A  TRIP O V E R  T H E  F R O N T I E R.    313
introduction, and when it was found to contain, in lieu of jewels,
certain eccentric tropical reptiles, there was some explosive con sternation.  It was at length opened by the aid of tongs, and
after the letter announcing the innocent nature of the visitors,
they became household pets. After a month or two of in-doors,
they began to lose flesh, when they were lariated by a cotton
twine attached to the leg, and left to their own resources in the
grass, where they soon recovered their corpulence. One of them
escaped, and was recaptured a long time after, in high condition,
by the mowers in a field a half mile away, but subsequently broke
bonds again, and has not since been heard from.  The other was
presented to a scientific friend.
Game is abundant in this region.  We saw probably fifty deer
during the forenoon, and rabbits, hares (mule-rabbits), and quails,
almost momentarily.   WVe also saw one small herd of antelope
and one wolf.  A bird, which we had seen twice before —at San
Antonio and near I)hanis-about the size of our robin, with a
long forked tail, like a pair of paper shears half opened, was here
frequent along the road-(muscicapaforficata.?).  We  had heard
it called the tailor-bird; but Woodland said it was known among
the rangers as the bird of paradise. If it belong to this particular district, it must have been so denominated in irony; for a more
dreary country, of equal extent, I never saw.
THE COUNTRY.-NIGGER HUNTING.
The surface is rolling, like the prairie country, but the soil is
generally gravelly, arid, and sterile, and everywhere covered with
the same dwarf forest of prickly shrubs.
In riding sixty miles, we encountered but two men; they were on
the road, mounted and armed, and met us with the abrupt inquiry:
14 
314    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
"Seen any niggers?"
(We, unitedly,)" No."
This was all our conversation.  "Nigger-hunting-poor business," some one observed, as we separated, and they were
directly lost in the bushes.  "Poor business," I repeated, inquiringly.  "Yes; it's more trouble to get the money, after you've
jugged'em, than it's worth."
The nearer we approached the great river which now forms the
admirable boundary line between the states and Mexico, the
more dreary, desolate, dry, and barren became the scene; the
more dwarfed and thorny the vegetation-only the cactus more
hideously large. Within six miles of the Rio Grande the surface
of the ground surges higher, forming rugged hills, easy of ascent
on one side, but precipitous on the other.
FORT DUNCAN.
As we ride round the foot of one of these abrupt declivities,
there is a sudden flash of light from the tin roofs of a cluster of
military store-houses. The American ensign floats over them,
and, through the openings of the bright green foliage of a mesquit grove, by which they are surrounded, we soon perceive rows
and blocks of white tents, and brown thatched sheds and cabins,
and a broad flat surface of green turf, with here and there a blue
dot, and a twinkling musket; directly we hear the notes of a
bugle. There is a fork in the road, and the ambulance takes the
road to the military post. It is Fort Duncan-badly placed, in a
military point of view, being commanded from the hills in the rear,
but in other respects admirably situated upon a broad and elevated
plateau, on the bank of the Rio Grande. On the opposite bank we
'(,e the wretched-looking Mexican town of Piedlias zregras, and 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
beyond it another dreary, hilly desert. Nearer, to the right, over
the top of a low hill, are some roofs, towards which we are
guided, with somewhat pleasant, though indefinite anticipations,
derived from a rose-colored little book, describing a residence
here, by a lady, who has since obtained the reputation of a diplo matist: "EAGLE PASS; by Cora Montg,,omery."  She was a bride,
and her husband, General Cazneau, was engaged in a promising
land-speculation, at the time she made her observations. Per haps, if we had known this, we should have been a little less disap pointed, than I must confess we were, when we reached the place.
EAGLE PASS.
First, as we rode up the hill, there were half a dozen tottering
shanties, mere confused piles of poles, brush-wood, and rushes,
with hides hung over the apertures for doors; broken cart-wheels,
yokes, and other rubbish lay about them; fowls had their nests
in the loose thatch, and swine were sleeping in holes they had
rooted out on  the shady sides.   A single woman's garment,
long since dry, hung fluttering upon a hide-rope, but no other
sign of a human being appeared. Then there were two or three
adobe houses, looking like long, two-story sepulchres, but which
Woodland said were stores; and then, as we rode over the brow
of the hill, and there appeared only a few low huts beyond, and
still no living man, I asked our guide where was the town. This
was it, he said. And where were the people? He supposed
they were all gone to sleep, after dinner.  "Hallo!" he shouted,
pulling up before the open door of a large mud-walled cabin,
within which, standing upon an earth floor, we could see a handsome billiard-table.  "Hallo!"   A  good-natured looking man
came yawning to the door. "Why! where are all the people
gone to, here?"
315 
316    A JO URN E Y THROUGH TEXAS.
"To the berrin'-reckon."
"Buryin'? who's dead?"
"Ole Barrels."
"When did ie go?"
"Last night."
"What killed him?"
"Whisky."
"Well, I reckoned that was it."
Adjoining the billiard-house is another hut, with a yard inclosed by a stake-fence. The good-natured man-who has a
fixed smile on his face-unlocks a gate in the fence, and we ride
in, and fasten our horses to a tree, which has chains with padlocks, so they can be locked to it, and then take our saddles into
the hut.
"See any niggers?"
"No."
"Two  got across last night, and one took.   You  goin'
across?"
" Yes."
" To-night?"
N No."
"These gentlemen want a bed-there's one in t'other room;
I don't want it."
"Where do you sleep?"
"Out here on the ground. I don't like the bed,'count of
fleas."
The room into which we have taken our saddles and bag,s is
a bar-room; the other contains a bed, upon a strong New York
made bedstead, such as we see at our most fashionable hotels, a
stove, a barrel of whisky, a box of candles, some sacks of cof 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  317
fee, a trunk, a pack-saddle, a pair of boots, with spurs on, a
revolver, a dirk-knife, and a Journal of Comnmerce. Here we are
left while Woodland goes out to see if he cannot get a dinner
cooked for us.
"Eagle Pass is not so large a place as I had supposed," I
observe to the barkeeper; "I thought there was considerable
business done here."
"There is considerable for a place of its size."
"Why, there are no people living here except at the Fort,
are there?"
"Yes, there's about twenty-five white folks, I believe.  It
don't cost much to set a man up in business here: three men
will build a doby house in three days, roof and all; then all
you need to be set up in business is a few boards to make a
counter and some shelves, and some fancy bottles to put on
the shelves, and red paint and gilt paper to set it off, a box
of tobacco, and a single demijohn of good whisky, for them
that's a judge of it, to start with, and a barrel of rot-gut to
keep'em going when they get tight and for common customers. A barrel of raw whisky goes a long way with these
soldiers. A man can make a right good start for a fortune with
it."
"Do you own this establishment?"
"Me!  No, I'm only'tendin' bar for the man that owns it.
He's gone off for a day or two."
"What do all the people live by, here?"
"Selling liquor and gambling.  There's nine groceries and
five gamblin' saloons."
"But who is there for them to deal with?"
"Soldiers, of course." 
318   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
"But are there not several merchants here who do a respectable business?"
"Oh, yes, there's two or three smuggles considerable goods
over into Mexico."
"Do the Mexicans come across here to trade?"
"Any of them that ever gets any money comes here to spend
it."
We were taken to dine at a small hovel, on the floor of which
our dinner was being cooked, the smoke escaping by the doorway through which we entered. We had a good dinner, of roast
kid, eggs scrambled with sausage meat, and vegetables, which
was very neatly served by a pretty, saddened, lady-like, darkcolored woman, who spoke to us in English perfectly, but addressed her children in Spanish. I asked Woodland, while she
had stepped out for a moment, if she were a Mexican.
"Oh, no, she's a mulatto, and was born in Louisiana.   Colonel      is her father; he gave her her freedom.  Mr.,
one of the merchants here, lives with her. These are his children, I suppose, though they are rather dark for quadroons.
She keeps a kind of a boarding-house for the clerks here, and
she's the best cook on the Rio Grande."
After we had dined, and fed and watered our horses, Woodland said there would be no use in our crossing the river yet,
for at this time of day the Mexican commandant would be
asleep, and would not be disturbed for us; he would, therefore,
go to the funeral, if we did not want him. We occupied the
time in writing. When he returned, he said it had been the
most respectable funeral he ever saw on the Rio Grande.
"Was there a sermon preached?" I asked, thinking the chaplain of the post probably officiated. 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.   319
"Oh, no, there ain't no parson here; there weren't no ceremonies, but they had a coffin fixed up for him; first time I ever
saw a coffin out in this country."
PIEDRAS NEGRAS.
At five o'clock, we proceeded to cross the river, in order to
call on the commandant. The Rio Grande here is a rapid tur bid stream, not fordable with safety by a stranger at ordinary
stages of the water.  On the United States side is a "bottom,"
or sand-bar, three or four hundred yards wide, which is covered in
freshets; on the Mexican side there is an abrupt high bank, shelving and sandy, forty or fifty feet high, with a narrow beach below
it. A Mexican ferried -us across in a skiff-several of which were
waiting for passengers-for a dime apiece.   On the beach were
nearly twenty women and girls washing clothes. One man,
dressed in a red shirt and blue trowsers, reclined in the shade
of a broad-brimmed, stiff, black hat, on a blanket, spread upon the
ground, smoking a cigarito. His eye turned sleepily towards
us as we passed up the bank, but he did not address us. Woodland said he was a Mexican corporal, and was then standing
guard over the landing.
The town is regularly laid out, with streets crossing at right
angles, and is compactly built.   I cannot say much for the
style of the houses.   Those we first passed were made by digging into the bank, as if for a cellar, with one end open upon
the road, covering the top first with brush-wood and rushes, and
then with sand or clay to the depth of a foot or more, and closing in the front by poles set upright, closely together, the in
terstices made tight with clay. They had no windows, and a
hide hung over the doorway. Most of the houses are made of 
320   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
poles and mud, with thatched roofs; but in the principal business streets, as well as in the aristocratic quarter, there are
several adobe houses, of one story.   It seemed we had  not
waited long enough, for in the open doors we frequently saw
men and women lying asleep on the floor or in beds, and it was
lot till we had passed several blocks that we approached any
one in the streets. Five men wrapped in serapes sat upon the
ground, at a corner, smoking. They looked at us as we came
up, but did not move out of our way, or in the slightest degree
alter the unpleasantly scrutinizing expression of their faces when
we stopped in their midst, until Woodland asked them in Spanish the way to the capitan's house. Instantly, like an opera
chorus, they all rose and saluted us gracefully and kindly, before
replying, which they then did, by directing us with an easy, dignified gesture.
In the rear of the town is a considerable square of open
ground-not but that there is limitless open ground in this direction, but this particular part of it is surrounded on three sides by
streets, and on two sides is built upon. It is, doubtless, destined
to be a grand plaza, when the town shall have quadrupled its
present population. It is now pastured by goats and swine, and
has no imposing effect, except at one end, where are two edifices
of adobes, of noticeable magnitude. In front of one of them is
a strong wooden frame-work, sustaining three small bells; in
front of the other is a singular piece of artillery. It consists of
an old old-fashioned sulky, an ammunition-chest placed upon the
springs in place of a seat, and, bolted to the lid of the chest, the
muzzles elevated by the depression of the shafts, a large, iron,
double-barreled blunderbuss.   The first of the two edifices is
the church; the latter the town-hall, and residence of Sr. Don 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  321
*** **a'  **** **** **** **** **** ******, acting alcalde of the
loyal town of Piedras Negras, and captain commanding the local
forces of the Republic of Mexico.
AN ALCALDE.
After knocking several times at the door, it was unbolted, and
a dark-complexioned, thin young man, with an anxious, troubled,
and ill-natured expression, as if he suffered under a continual
conviction of the entire depravity of the human race, and was
always prepared for treachery, opened it sufficiently to examine
us and confer with us. The captain was not yet wakened from
his siesta, but after a lengthened parley he permitted us to enter,
observing all the time a cautiously non-committal formality and
politeness. The room into which we were admitted was some
thirty feet long, fifteen broad, and as many high, the ceiling being
formed by the fiat ridge-and-furrow roof itself. The floor was
of hard-trodden earth.   The  adobe walls were whitewashed,
and broken only by three doors; one, the entrance from the
street, another opposite, opening into a rear court, and a third,
at one end, leading to another apartment. Two sides of the
room and the end opposite the door were furnished with a plank
bench, behind which a piece of printed calico was tacked to the
wall; at the end of the room, the bench was covered with redstuff, and some mats were laid before it. We here seated ourselves, and waited for the capitan.
At length he came-white-haired, wrinkled, keen, but kindeyed, thin, tall; wearing no coat; a vest, nearly worn out, and
very much too small; a dirty shirt, comfortably thrown open at
the neck; quiet, self-possessed, gentlemanly and good-natured
in his manner, and with a soft and winning voice.
14' 
322   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
We told him, that being about to make a short trip into
Mexico, we had called on him to pay our respects, and at the
same time offered him an informal passport, we had obtained of
the Mexican consul at New York. He called the young man
who had received us at the door, and asked him to read the passport, and then told us he was glad we had taken this precaution,
for such was the state of the country, he should otherwise have
been under the painful necessity to deny us permission to travel
in it. He then inquired by what route we had come from New
York; and on our mentioning Nachitoches, in Louisiana, he
asked, with interest, how that town now appeared, and what was
its present population. Thirty years ago, he informed us, he was
a lieutenant in the Spanish garrison there.
After half an hour's conversation, Woodland being our interpreter, he conducted us into the adjoining room. It was less
than half the size of the first, and had a projecting window, not
glazed, but strongly barred. Six beds, with patch-work coverlids,
more or less highly ornamented, were set around the sides of the
room, which also contained several packing-boxes, doing duty as
wardrobes, and a table with writing materials.
Following his example, we reclined upon the beds, while his
clerk made a lengthened examination of us, and recorded our
age, birth-place, residence, occupation or profession, state (married or single), religion, our purpose in visiting Mexico, the route
we proposed to follow, our proposed destination, the time we
expected to spend in the country, a minute description of our
persons, etc., to a copy of which we were requested to append
our signatures. The original was then given to us, on payment
of the very moderate fee of twelve-and-a-half cents; and we were
told that one copy of it would be retained in the capitan's official 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.  323
bureau (vwhich appeared to be a small box, distinctly labeled,
"COLGATE'S PEARL STARCH-NEW  YORK "), and that the other
would be sent to the city of Mexico. Woodland told us, that a
few weeks before, he had called with a gentleman who had been
obliged to pay three dollars apiece for the passport of every
man in his company.
RUNAWAY SLAVES IN MEXICO.
Returning through the town, we found the awakened people
lounging outside their doors, chatting cheerfully, laughing, and
singing a great deal, nearly all smoking, and the softer portion
affectionately searching under each other's long, luxuriant, and
glossy, but coarse, black hair, for-something which they were
constantly finding, and dispatching with their thumb-nails.
Very few persons were moving in the streets, or engaged in any
kind of labor-for this searching exercise comes under the head
of sport, I suppose. As we turned a corner near the bank, we
came suddenly upon two negroes, as they were crossing the street.
One of them was startled, and looking ashamed and confounded,
turned hesitatingly back and walked away from us; whereat some
Mexican children laughed, and the other negro, looking at us,
grinned impudently-expressing plainly enough-" I am not
afraid of you." He touched his hat, however, when I nodded to
him, and then, putting his hands in his pockets, as if he hadn't
meant to, stepped up on one of the sand-bank caverns, whistling.
Thither, wishing to have some conversation with him, I followed.
He very civilly informed me, in answer to inquiries, that he
was born in Virginia, and had been brought South by a trader
and sold to a gentleman who had brought him to Texas, from
whom he had run away four or five years ago.  He would like 
324   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
right well to see old Virginia again, that he would-if he could
be free.  He was a mechanic, and could earn a dollar very easily,
by his trade, every day. He could speak Spanish fluently, and
had traveled extensively in Mexico, sometimes on his own business, and sometimes as a servant or muleteer. Once he had been
beyond Durango, or nearly to the Pacific; and, northward, to
Chihuahua, and he professed to be competent, as a guide, to any
part of Northern Mexico.   He had joined the Catholic True
Church, he said, and he was very well satisfied with the country.
Runaways were constantly arriving here; two had got over, as
I had previously been informed, the night before. He could not
guess how many came in a year, but he could count forty, that
he had known of, in the last three months. At other points, further down the river, a great many more came than here.   He
supposed a good many got lost and starved to death, or were
killed on the way, between the settlements and the river. Most
of them brought with them money, which they had earned and
hoarded for the purpose, or some small articles which they had
stolen from their masters. They had never been used to taking
care of themselves, and when they first got here they were so
excited with being free, and with being made so much of by these
Mexican women, that they spent all they brought very soon;
generally they gave it all away to the women, and in a short
time they had nothing to live upon, and, not knowing the language
of the country, they wouldn't find any work to do, and often they
were very poor and miserable.  But, after they had learned tlle
language, which did not generally take them long, if they chose
to be industrious, they could live very comfortably.   Wages
were low, but they had all they earned for their own, and a man's
'iving, did not cost him much here.  Colored men, who were in 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.   325
dustrious and saving, always did well; they could make money
faster than Mexicans themselves could, because they had more sense.
The Mexican Government was very just to them, they could
always have their rights as fully protected as if they were Mexi cans born. He mentioned to me several negroes whom he had
seen, in different parts of the country, who had acquired wealth,
and positions of honor. Some of them had connected themselves,
by marriage, with rich old Spanish families, who thought as much
of themselves as the best white people in Virginia. In fact, a
colored man, if he could behave himself decently, had rather an
advantage over a white American, he thought.   The people
generally liked them better. These Texas folks were too rough to
suit them.
I believe these statements to have been pretty nearly true; he
had no object, that I could discover, to exaggerate the facts either
way, and showed no feeling except a little resentment towards
the women, who probably wheedled him out of his earnings.
They were confirmed, also, in all essential particulars, by every
foreigner I saw, who had lived or traveled in this part of Mexico,
as well as by Mexicans themselves, with whom I was able to
converse on the subject. It is repeated as a standing joke-I
suppose I have heard it fifty times in the Texas taverns, and
always to the great amusement of the company-that a nigger in
Mexico is just as good as a white man, and if you don't treat him
civilly he will have you hauled up and fined by an alcalde. The
poor yellow-faced, priest-ridden heathen, actually hold, in earnest,
the ideas on this subject put forth in that good old joke of our
fathers-the Declaration of American Independence.
The runaways are generally reported to be very poor and
miserable, which, it is natural to suppose, they must be.  Yet 
326    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
there is something a little strange about this. It is those that
remain near the frontier that suffer most; they who have got far
into the interior are said to be almost invariably doing passably
well. A gang of runaways, who are not generally able to speak
Spanish, have settled together within a few days' walk of Eagle
Pass, and I have heard them spoken of as being in a more destitute and wretched condition than any others. Let any one of
them present himself at Eagle Pass, and he would be greedily
snatched up by the first American that he would meet, and restored, at once, to his old comfortable, careless life. The escape
from the wretchedness of freedom is certainly much easier to the
negro in Mexico than has been his previous flight from slavery,
yet I did not hear of a single case of his availing himself of this
advantage. If it ever occur, it must be as one to a thousand of
those going the other way.
Dr. Stillman (Letters to the Cr?ayon, 1856) notices having seen
at Fort Inge a powerful and manly-looking mulatto, in the
hands of a returning party of last year's filibustering expedition, who had been three times brought from beyond the Rio
Grande. Once, when seized, his cries awoke his Mexican neighbors, and the captor had to run for it.  Once, after having been
captured, and when the claim to him had been sold for fifty dollars, he escaped with a horse and a six-shooter. Once, again,
he escaped from the field where his temporary holder had set
him at work on the Leona. In revenge for this carelessness, a
suit was then pending for these temporary services.
The impulse must be a strong one, the tyranny extremely
cruel, the irksomeness of slavery keenly irritating, or the longing for liberty lnuch greater than is usually attributed to the
African race, which induces a slave to attempt an escape to Mexi 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
co. The masters take care, when negroes are brought into
Western Texas, that they are informed (certainly never with any
reservation, and sometimes, as I have had personal evidence,
with amusing extravagance) of the dangers and difficulties to be
encountered by a runaway.
There is a permanent reward offered by the state for their
recovery, and a considerable number of men make a business of
hunting them. Most of the frontier rangers are ready at any
time to make a couple of hundred dollars, by taking them up, if
they come in their way. If so taken, they are severely punished,
though if they return voluntarily they are commonly pardoned.
If they escape immediate capture by dogs or men, there is then
the great dry desert country to be crossed, with the danger of
falling in with savages, or of being attacked by panthers or
wolves, or of being bitten or stung by the numerous reptiles that
abound in it; of drowning miserably at the last of the fords; in
winter, of freezing in a norther, and, at all seasons, of famishing
in the wilderness from the want of means to procure food.
Brave negro! say I. He faces all that is terrible to man for
the chance of liberty, from hunger and thirst to every nasty
form of four-footed and two-footed devil. I fear I should myself suffer the last servile indignities before setting foot in such
a net of concentrated torture. I pity the man whose sympathies
would not warm to a dog under these odds. How can they be
held back from the slave who is driven to assert his claim to
manhood?
GERMANS AND RUNAWAYS.
The fugitive fears to make a fire lest it should draw attention
to his lurking-place.  During the day, he ascends a tree or hides
silent in a thicket. At night he often follows the roads upon
327 
328   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
any horse he can lay his hands upon, regardless of ownership.
Negro cabins he generally approaches with confidence, and in
the hovels of the Mexicans, while he is in the settled country,
he often obtains food and shelter. Any man who harbors a
negro in Texas is liable to fine and long imprisonment.
Most of the Germans, I presume, would refuse to take in a
negro whom they knew to be running away.  Once, however, I
happened to learn that a poor, ignorant, Roman Catholic emigrant, happening fo find a half-starved fugitive, when looking
after his cattle, melted in compassion, took pains to prevail upon
him to come to his cabin, bound up his wounds, clothed him,
gave him food aid whisky, and set himn rejoicing on his way
again.
I could not but take off my cap in involuntary respect for the
man when told of this, knowing he would be shamefully punished, legally or illegally, if he were even suspected of such a
thing, by his American neighbors.
"That German must be a Judas who would do aught to hinder a man who was fleeing toward liberty!" was the reply of
my informant.
But a runaway slave is a lawless and, usually, a very mischievous and desperate man, and with a knowledge of the small
chance of his eventual escape, and the dangers of all kinds
which beset his flight, I have always heard the Germans, even
those who most detested slavery, speak of a negro's running
away with pain and regret. The slaveholders, who have the
least acquaintance with Germans, knowing their sympathy with
the slaves, are very much afraid to have them settle near their
plantations; but, as far as I can judge, their apprehensions are
without good foundation. A German was brutally treated by a 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.   329
company of ruffians, while we were in Texas, from a suspicion,
which afterwards failed to be sustained in a slaveholder's court
of justice, that he had incited a negro to escape. I did not hear
a single well-defined charge of this kind, though it was repeat edly vaguely made against the Germans in general. On the
other hand, to the credit of the Germans, I must say, I heard
of only one of them ever having claimed a reward for returning
a runaway.
There are a few Jew-Germans in Texas, and, in Texas, the
Jews, as everywhere else, speculate in everything-in popular
sympathies, prejudices, and bigotries, in politics, in slavery.
Some of them own slaves, others sell them on commission, and
others have captured and returned fugitives. Judging by several anecdotes I heard of them, they do not appear to have made
as much by it as by most of their operations.
A MAIL BEHIND TIME.
A little fellow was pointed out to me, who, a few years ago,
was the mail-carrier between San Antonio and Eagle Pass, and
who met with two or three amusing adventures in attempting to
arrest and bring in fugitives. Once, in coming from Eagle Pass
in the night, he saw upon the road before him two negroesrunaways, of course. He was driving a sulky, and they probably mistook it for a Mexican cart until it was close upon them,
and it was too late to dodge into the chaparral.   He presented
his revolver, when both stopped, rather than take the chance of
a shot. Ordering them to come back to the road, and to stand
at some distance apart, with their backs towards each other, he
took a piece of rope, which he carrried for the purpose, and got
down from the sulky, with the intention of pinioning them. 
330    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Going behind one of them, he laid the revolver upon the ground,
that his hands might be free to lash his captive's elbows behind
him. He had no sooner done so, than the negro turned and
grappled him, while the other ran up, and, snatching the revolver,
put the muzzle to his head. He begged them to spare his life;
they threw him upon the ground, bound him with his own rope,
jumped into the sulky, and drove off rapidly towards Mexico.
Another Jew is said to have sold himself at a particularly cheap
rate. He was returning from Mexico, with the proceeds ofa jewelry
peddling excursion in Spanish dollars. On the banks of a stream,
he observed the foot-prints of a man, and upon further examination
saw where he had put on a pair of heavy, much-worn shoes. The
trail was firesh, and evidently that of a fugitive by night, as the
tracks kept on in a direct course, not turning out for puddles, or
picking the smoothest of the road. It was yet early in the day,
and the runaway was probably lying not far distant. He proposed to his companion to hunt for him; if they should catch
him, they could drive him along before them to San Antonio,
and get a hundred dollars apiece, very easily. His companion,
however, having no inclination to engage in this sort of sport,
plead urgent business as a reason for declining, and continued
on his way. The Jew determined to run his own hazard, and
secure the whole reward. The trail soon left the road, and he
followed it cautiously, to an overgrown gully, where lie found his
fugitive, overcome with sleep. The poor wretch yielded without
a word, only begging for something to eat. But the Jew was
too wise not to keep the muscular advantage he had over a
negro faint and sick with hunger, and tying his hands behind
him, drove him before him to the road. The prostration of the
poor fellow was so extreme, however, that the task of driving 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
him in to settlements would be tedious; and, after a short distance, the Jew mounted his feeble prize behind him, joining his
ankles firmly together by a handkerchief, beneath the mule's belly
For a time, all went well-the Jew vigilant and merry, revolver
in hand. But there came the Nueces to cross; the mule would
drink; the bridle goes loose; the spark of liberty suddenly kindles, and headlong, over the mule's head, goes Jew, revolver, and
all, floundering under the feet of the frightened animal. Up the
bank goes a stampede of mule and crouching runaway, securely
tied together, the bags of dollars and provision not even left to
the dripping speculator. The Jew is the only one of the party
that has ever again been heard from.
PLANS OF SLAVEHOLDERS.
The loss and annoyan ce from this running of slaves to Mexico
has been so great, in Central and Western Texas, as to lead to
many propositions having in view the means of an effectual stop
to its continuance.  Several conventions and public meetings
have been held, to devise and carry out such measures.  Among
other plans, it is proposed that a body of one hundred rangers
be organized, to be equipped at the expense of those interested,
and stationed upon the Rio Grande, for the purpose of awing or
catching the runaways.
Another plan put forward in the newspapers is, "that the
slaveholders west of the Colorado organize a mutual insurance
company, each one paying a per cent. upon each negro he may
own, for the purpose of raising a fund, and that the company
offer a standing reward for each slave caught, of a sufficient
amount ($500 has been proposed) to induce men to incur the
fatigue and risk attending the pursuit of fugitives." The editor
331 
332   A JOURNEY THROUGH T'EXAS.
of the San Antonio Ledger remarks: "If such a plan is adopted,
the number of escapes will certainly decrease. The reward that
is generally offered, over and above what is allowed by law, is
but a poor inducement for men to ride several days and nights
in pursuit of fugitives, risking their lives, and ruining their
horses. But if there is a certainty of recovering one-half the
price of each negro caught, the inducement would be sufficient to
insure the arrest of fugitives, if within the limits of possibility.
And if negroes are once assured that their chance is almost hopeless, and that they will be pursued to the very limits of the state,
and even beyond, if such a thing can be done, they will be less apt
to attempt escaping. And in case fuigitives are killed in attempting resistance, the reward should be the same. This plan, if
adopted, will do much toward preventing the escape of fugitive
slaves. One thing is certain, unless soLmething be done to arrest
the escape of slaves, this class of property will become valueless
in Western Texas.   As yet, but few of those escaping have
been caught."
In the same paper is the following item of local news: " On
last Thursday night, two of Major Dashiell's negroes got into a
dispute, when one seized a large cedar club, with which he killed
the other instantly. HIe then left. The next night he returned,
took one of the Major's best horses, and started for Mexico. At
Dunn's rancho, a Mexican attempted to arrest the fugitive, when
he drew a knife and made at the Mexican, who shot him. This
is the third negro Major Dashiell has lost in a short time-one
running away, and two killed."
The plan of mutual insurance is certainly that which would
commend itself to adoption, in similar circumstances, in other
parts of the world; but, such is the reluctance of a southern-born 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
man to be taxed, for a mutual benefit, that it will probably never
get in operation.  He instinctively prefers to gamble with his
own risks, and would find a life not worth living which was sur  rounded with recuperative checks and deprived of exciting possi  bilities.
The actual pursuit of slaves over the frontier, mentioned above,
is, of course, not legally possible, with our present treaty obliga tions. The scheme of separating the Rio Grande states from the
Mexican Republic, and erecting them into the " Republic of the
Sierra Madre," by American aid, given under the promise of the
immediate passage of a law for the rendition of slaves, has been,
therefore, a favorite one with the slave-proprietors of the south west. A Texas paper lately told its readers, in so many words,
that they had "acted like fools" in not having assisted a certain
neighboring factionist when he attempted, a few years since, a
revolution of this sort. Isolated foraying invasions (along the
border, with vague intentions in this interest, have been frequent.
In 1855 a more deliberate plot was laid, and had any respectable
support, within Mexican boundaries, been found, the project might
have disclosed itself by a decisive trial. The company of rangers
under Callahan, which invaded Mexico at Eagle Pass, ostensibly
for the chastisement of Indians, was, in fact, upon a revolutionary
reconnaissance. The reception it met gave a quick quietus to the
scheme. The Mexicans rallied with the Indians-the party was
driven back, and obliged to bo content with a contemptible piece
of spiteful retaliation, the sacking and burning of this poor little
village of Piedras Negras.
Frontier irregularities of all kinds are of continual occurrence,
and must be winked at by the law, which has no force, in so
sparsely settled and distant a border region. Negroes have been
333 
334   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
many times kidnapped by armed parties from the American side,
and taken back to slavery. On the other hand, it is said, by the
author of "Eagle Pass," that peons are constantly forced back
to bondage in Mexico, and the chief object of her spirited descriptions was to call public attention to this latter wrong. We made
particular inquiries, at her point of observation, and were unable
to find any recent facts to sustain her charges. But one case of
the return of a peon could we hear of, in which the only force
used was that of personal remonstrance. No doubt injustice may
hate been done-but not all upon one side-and though I would
be the last to defend actual delinquencies like those attributed
to Mr. Webster, I can hardly subscribe to the necessity of putting
$100,000 at the disposal of the Secretary of War for the purpose
of deepening the channel of the Rio Grande, as a defense against
the rapacity of the Mexicans.
PEON LAW.
I have often been amused at the horror with which this Mexican Peon Law is viewed at the South. I have been asked, many
times, if I did not think it worse than negro slavery. But there
appears to be nothing in the spirit of the law which is essentially
unjust.   Its object was, probably, a good one, and it was no
more intended for the benefit of the capitalist than the laborer.
Its abuses are, no doubt, villainous, and because, as with slavery,
its abuses are almost sure to occur so constantly as to more than
compensate its advantages, it should be superseded by a more
enlightened (not merely a more just) system. There is one provision of the law, which is very apt to be forgotten by those who
use it, as a make-weig,ht in slavery defense, which, if insisted upon
by the peon debtor, would prevent the greater part of those evils 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.   335
which are said to arise from it. It is this: that the creditor shall
not, furnish the peon goods, to a greater amount in value than
onze half the wages put to his credit; beyond which the law allows
no indebtedness. A case had lately occurred at San Fernando,
in which a peon sued his master before the courts, and, making
him produce his books, proved, that his labor in the service of
his creditor, at the legally-fixedl rate of wages, would more than
pay his original debt, and for all the goods which the creditor had
the right to supply to him, and the creditor was actually obliged
to pay him the balance of wages due, by this rule.  True, it is a
very rare case that this provision is enforced, but the reason for
this is not the same that prevents the enforcement of laws to protect the slave, in our southern system, from gross cruelty-the
incompetency of the slave to testify-it is only the same as that
which makes slavery possible at all-the want of sufficient intel
ligence and manliness. Enlighten the slave and slavery will end
-enlighten the people and peonage will be almost harmless-in
no way more unjust or cruel than our old laws imprisoning for
debt.
RULES OF THE ROAD IN MEXICO.
At the conclusion of my conversation with the runaway negro,
he asked if I were going to San Fernando?
Woodland, who had drawn near, immediately answered for
me-" No"-and told me that a boat was waiting for us.  He
afterwards observed to me, "There are some people that think
they can't never tell a lie; such people won't do to travel in
Mexico. When that black fellow asked you if you was going
to San Fernando, if you'd told him you were, just as likely as
not he'd'a gone out with a gang of greasers on the road, and
hid in the bushes, and when we came up, popped us off before 
336    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
we could look round at them. I never let on to anybody which
way I am traveling in Mexico, and I never pay for anything with
gold. I never let a Mexican ride behind me on the road, and if
I am in a company where there are Mexicans and Americans
mixed, I always keep one American back of all the rest. If I
was going far in the country, I should always hire a Mexican
fellow to go with me, so I could dress mean, and make him do
all the business, so I would be thought to be his peon."
Yet Woodland was not, naturally, by any means, a suspicious
man. All travelers in Mexico soon learn to take such precautions against ambuscades and murderous surprises. They would
have you believe it impossible to estimate highly enough the
Mexican liability to treachery.
A CALIFORNIA WIDOW.
On the beach, a woman, with uncommonly delicate features
for a MIexican, but a very pitiable expression of pride and deep
sorrow, was walking to and fro with a young child, which was
dressed expensively in the American manner. As we passed
her, she asked us if we had come from California, and, when she
heard that we had not, walked on without another word or any
perceptible variation in the fixed sad resistance of her face. As
we rowed away from her, the scout murmured  "  don't see why a marriage by a Catholic priest shouldn't be
just as binding to a man as any other."
Neither, of course, did I, and I asked who did.
He supposed the fellow that was the father of that girl's child
did not think it was.
"She wouldn't have anything to do with him unless he'd
come over on to this side and marry her according to their 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
fashion, anld he *was so much in love with her he did it.  But,
pretty soon after they wnere married, he told her he'd got to  go
to California. She tried very hard to keep him here or to mnake
him take her with'him; but he made her believe he'd be back in
a year, and she had to let him go. He's been gone three years,
now, and I don't suppose she's ever heard a word from him-the
damn'd rascal!"
This energetic epithet, spoken in a guttural aside, was the
only "profanity" the scout was guilty of while in our company.
He habitually saved his breath by dispensing with such language
as characterizes the conversation of most frontiersmen, thereby
adding another advantage to those of being able to travel without tobacco or spirits.
BED COMPANIONS.
When we again reached our quarters, we found them occupied
by a crowd of drinking and brawling Irish soldiers. A little
before nine o'clock, however, they returned to the post-those
the least drunk supporting those the most so-and left us to
sleep in quietness.
Sharing in our friend, the barkeeper's, aversion to fleas, we de clined his ofler of a bed in the house, and for the greater security of our horses, made our arrangements to sleep near the tree
to which they were locked. The bed, we soon discovered, did
not contain all the fleas on the premises. There were other
creeping things also, desirous of paying their respects to the
strangers in the establishment. Ohce when I had been awakened
suddenly, and had risen with a shudder, on looking quickly
where my head had lain, I saw running off, with great agility, a
dark spider, nearly as large as a mouse. I struck quickly at
him, but he escaped into some rubbish, and saved his life. It
15
337 
338    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
looked enough like a tarantula, if it was not one, to gratify my
curiosity.
ACROSS THIE RIO GRANDE.
I was next aroused by the stirring reveille'of Fort Duncan,
and starting up, found that our horses had each eaten low into a
measure of corn.  Woodland had got up and fed them before
daylight, and then slipped between his blankets again to finish
his night's rest. We gave them short grooming, took a bath in
the river, got our breakfast, and, by sunrise, had started upon
our trip into Mexico. There are many quicksands, holes, and
eddies in the Rio Grande, which make it dangerous to ford.
Woodland declined to undertake it, and we employed a Mexican
to get our horses over, crossing ourselves in a skiff.  Notwithstanding this danger, I did not hear that any runaways had been
known to be drowned, although they must always cross at night,
and without any knowledge of the proper fording places.
The same sentinel that we had seen before when we landed,
smoking, and wrapped in his serape, lounged on the beach. As
we passed him, he turned his eyes upon us, and allowed the
smoke for a moment to overflow his face, while he inquired if we
were furnished with passports; then, trusting our affirmative  answer, he reinserted his cigarito, and slowly closed his eyes, as
an intimation that he did not wish to be disturbed by us any
further, and we proceeded up the bank.
While waiting for our horses, my colored refugee friend, who
had talked so confidently of his own ability to support himself
comfortably, the day before, came out of a dram-shop, in which
were several bright MAlexical girls, and asked me if I would not
lend him quarter of a dollar. I inquired how it happened he
should he in needl, if it was so easy for him to earn his living 
A TRIP OVER THE  FRONTIE R.
here. He explained that it was merely a temporary accident;
if I would loan it to him he would be able to pay me to-mor row.  He was well-dressed, and showed no indication of intem perate habits, and I think that he spoke the truth.  Probably
he meant to treat the girls in the shop. As I had spoken good naturedly to him, and he had given me some information, the
old siave habit of expecting a gratuity-a "drink-money" returned to him; but, being somewhat modified by the pride of
a freeman, he requested it in the formn of a loan, rather than beg
it servilely, though he, doubtless, had no idea that I should see
him again, to ask payment. I happened not to have any silver
money with me, and did not give it to him; but he continued in
conversation with me, without showing any disappointment. The
man was "unfit for freedom," as the saying is, evidently enough
(and where is the man who does not sometimes make a bad use
of freedom, even under the Maine law, I would like to know?),
but I was satisfied, by his manner, that his character had been
greatly im)proved by liberty.  Even the miserable sort of liberty
possessed by a laboring man in Mexico is, probably, more
favorable to the development of manliness, than that nominal
liberty meanly doled in most of our northern states to the
African race.
THE COUNTRY AND THIE ROADS.-MILITARY COLONIES.
As soon as we liad ridden well out of town, Woodland left the
traveled road, and led us across a range of trackless, bleak, rugged and barren hills. After we had toiled over them for several
miles, we descended upon a nearly level chaparral plain, and
soon afterwards again struck into the road, which had been carried a roundabout way through the hills, so as to be practicable
339 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
for wheels. Although the road was commonly used only by
horsemen and a few Mexicancarts; unlike any Texan road, it
was ]aid out three rods wide, cleared of bushes, stumps, and
stones, and made moderately smooth, like a speculator's street
through a farm.  Here was the first striking evidence that we
had passed from the dominions of a democratic to those of a
centralized government. Two years ago, here was only a carttrack, such as private individuals had made, almost by chance,
in carrying goods between San Fernando and Piedras Negras;
but then the governor of Coahuila determined to make a tour in
this part of the state, and orders were sent forward to the alcaldes
of the towns in his intended route to make smooth the roads,
and otherwise prepare the way for his coming. Here, therefore,
were thirty miles or more of a road across a perfect wilderness,
without one single resident upon it, almost entirely constructed
for the personal convenience of a provincial magistrate.
The towns in this part of Mexico were all originally established by colonies under the military protection of the government, and being laid out on nearly the same model, have the
same general characteristics. The town proper is divided by
streets, thirty or forty feet wide, into square blocks.  These
blocks have been divided into building-lots of a certain size, and
distributed to the colonists, to be occupied for residences.  To
each colonist is also given another tract of land for tillage, in the
outer part of the town. The towns are always placed at such a
point that water for irrigation can be obtained, and the necessary
canals for this purpose are made at public expense, and so carried that the water can be distributed over all the allotments
when required. Acequias are also made throughout the town,
so that water for domestic purposes, and for irrigating the
340 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
kitchen-gardens, is brought conveniently near every man's house.
Usually these town acequias pass through the centre of each
block. Though the right of property in these allotments has
since been variously disturbed by trade, the same divisional
boundaries and general arrangements continue. With the excep tion of a few very large private estates-the laborers on which
all live together, in a central, fortification-like village-there is
no agriculture carried on in the district, except within a circle of
a mile or two of these towns. This arises from the fact that the
towns have been placed in the centre of the best tracts of land,
from the advantages to be obtained by combination for the construction of the necessary works for irrigation, for security
against attacks of Indians, and from the very gregarious and
social character of the people.
Between these towns, which are from twenty to fifty or more
miles apart, and the irrigated land in their immediate vicinity, the
whole of the country we saw in a ride of a hundred miles-except
the rugged hills which wall in the Rio Grande-is an uninhabited,
dreary, desolate plain, sometimes as barren and bare as Sahara,
but generally thickly covered with the same thorny chaparral
described on the American side of the Rio Grande. The surface
of the ground is not quite a dead level,'but the slopes are imperceptible, except afar off, and they often rise and fall at the same
inappreciable inclination for miles without a curve.   The landscape is the most monotonous and uninteresting that I have ever
seen. The only variety is occasioned by' openings" among the
bushes, seldom exceeding a few rods in breadth, and in the alternate predominance of one sort of thorny shrub over anothernow, for half a mile, there will be none higher than your knee,
again a taller kind prevails, and you scarcely see over the tops,
341 
342    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
on horseback. The usual soil is a whitish clay with drifts of
gravel and pebbles, and, more rarely, a thin, dark, vegetable
mould.
During our day's ride of thirty miles, until we approached San
Fernando, we saw no house, no inclosed or cultivated land, and
but one herd of cattle or horses. We followed an old acequia for
many miles, and saw, near it, the appearance of once-cultivated
fields, through which we could trace, by the brighter green of the
grass, the course of the minor distributing ditches.   Not the
slightest remains of houses, or barns, or orchards, or fences could
I find, nor was I able to learn, though I afterwards made inquiry
of the Mexicans living nearest to the place, when, or by whom
they had been constructed, or why, or how long since they had
been given up. I was told that a dry aqueduct, or main acequia,
passed near here, which a United States officer had followed for
sixty miles and found to have been constructed with remarkable
engineering skill.  It is not, I presume, necessary to carry conjectures, as to the day of these irrigators, back of the Spanish
Conquest: probably there have been, at some time, mission-farms
here, like those of San Antonio.
These "old fields," as a Carolinian would familiarly call them,
gave additional melancholy to the cheerless expanse. During
the ride we met but one man. This was a Mexican, who was
mounted on a serviceable little horse, and rode with us for several miles.   He  was extremely polite, but seemed excessively
stupid or ignorant, and at length dropped behind, as if he could
not keep up. Perhaps he was a little afraid of us. He had a
broad deer-skin belt at his waist, lined with cartridges, and supporting a horse-pistol, and, fastened to his sadddle, with the
stock at his horse's tail and the muzzle at his head, was a very 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER. It.
long musket, in a case of blue cotton stuff. The barrel lay under
his knee as he rode.  He was dressed in a blue jacket and black
leather trowsers, slashed down the leg; with a thick row of brass
buttons, and open from the knee, so as to let the white underclothes flow loosely out.  He wore on his head a tall, varnished,
broad-brimmed, peaked black hat.
SAN FERNANDO.
A dark mass of lofty trees at length rose refreshingly above
the distant horizon, and Woodland, pointing to it, said, "there's
San Fernando." A town is always marked here by a grove of
fine trees: whether these groves were the original inducements
which fixed the site of the towns, I do not know.  Several weary
miles were passed before we could distinguish houses among the
trees, and we were within one mile of them before we met the
first evidence of human life. This was a forsaken sugar plantation with an adobe house, set close upon our road. A small,
rude, wooden cane mill stood behind it.  A  quarter of a mile
further, and the road was lined with well-cultivated fields of
maize, sugar-cane, and sweet potatoes, divided into fields of not
often more than three acres, by stake fences, and surrounded and
crossed by acequias.  Men and boys were industriously engaged
in hoeing the crops, and in conducting the water between the(Irills in which they were planted.
There were no more farm-houses outside of the town, and the
houses in the outskirts were but little scattered. Except one or
two of the low thatch-roofed; stake-walled jacals, they were all
built of sun-dried bricks, one story in height, with flat, cemented
roofs, surrounded by a parapet eighteen inches high.  They were
of the simplest oblong, rectangular form, in fact, much like a
;)'43 
344    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
brick-kiln set lengthways upon the street, with a single door in
front, sometimes with a window or two, and sometimes with none.
There were irrigated gardens and small orchards of peach, and
apple, and fig-trees about them, and often they were shaded by
lofty forest trees-pecan, walnut, beech, cottonwood, and cypress,
emarkably large and beautiful. As soon as we got among these
trees we noticed an unusual number of birds: it would seem that
they were attracted, by their height and beauty, to leave the
wilderness of shrubs (where, doubtless, also, they are exposed to
snakes and other sly enemies), and wvere not much annoyed by
the amiable Mexicans; they were, indeed, as I afterwards ascertained, more tame and confident than field-birds usually are in
our country.
As we came among the houses, considerable curiosity was
shown by the people to see us-children, who had been lounging or
playing outside the doors, often calling to the people in the houses
to come and look at a los Amer?icanos" (though Mexican writers
say we arrogate that title to ourselves). The women were dressed
loosely, and rather scantily, but not untidily; numbers of them
were sitting at their doors, sewing, or engaged in that other
friendly occupation to which I have before alluded. They looked
at us modestly and good-naturedclly as we passed, often giving us
a gracious smile if we turned our faces toward them. At one
house the inmates were kneeling near the door, and seemed to
be engaged in prayer. Very few men were to be seen, but many
girls and boys, the latter, when not more than two years old, generally stark naked.  When we reached the principal street, we found
upon the corner a company of Indians, on horseback and on foot,
around the door of a shop where Woodland had hoped to obtain
lodgings for us, for there was no public-house in the town, 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
"Aescalero-Lipan-Tonkaway!"  he  muttered,  scowling
anxiously as we approached them; "I know that fellow; I've
seen him on the Leona. What are they here for?"
We halted while he rode among the group, and conversed
with a Mexican a moment. When he came out, he said  "They won't take us in here.  I don't know what we shall
do. Do you see that old fellow with the squaw-that's a Comanche. I wonder what he's here for? Some of Wildcat's deviltry, I expect."
As we rode on past the Indians, they turned to look at us,
speaking loudly to one another, and laughing, and some of the
younger ones beckoning to us to stop, and shouting, "Hi!
hi!"
"Don't mind them  ride on, ride on!" whispered Woodland,
"they are looking at your rifle."
The houses in this main street were, generally, of a superior
character, many of them being built of stone, and most of them
plastered over and whitewashed. Some were ornamented with
bright colored stripes about the doors and windows, and with
stenciled leaves and rosettes. The doors, window-cages, and
roof-spouts were much carved, often with representations in
relief, facetiously rude, of course, of men and angels, and
birds and beasts. There was only a single house in the town
more than one story in height, but the parapet of many of those
on this street was fifteen to twenty feet above the ground, their
apartments having correspondingly lofty ceilings.
Stopping next at the store of a French merchant, we were
directed to a house where we might probably obtain lodgings.
While I remained a moment behind the rest of the party, in conversation with the Frenchman, who was anxious to learn what was last
15*
345 
346    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
doing at the opera in New Orleans, and what progress the Cuban
filibusters had made, an Indian caine up, and tried to take my
Sharp's rifle.  I drew it away from him, and he, addressing me
angrily, took hold of my arm, and tried to pull it towards him.
"Keep it away from him, keep it away!" cried the French
man.
I spurred my horse, and, with my free hand, disengaged myself from him, laughing, and cantering off. He followed me for
a few rods, yelling and gesticulating violently. The Indians all
seemed to know the "Sharp "' by sight, and to have a great desire
to handle it. One of them told Woodland that he knew it had
miraculous power to kill Indians.
My companions had arrived at the house pointed out, and the
proprietor, a quizzical, bald-headed, pug-nosed, fat, waddling,
little man, had summoned his family to the door to look at us,
and say whether they would receive us. They immediately concluded to do so, with evident pleasure. We dismounted, and
stood holding our horses.
"Well, come in," said our host.
"Thank you," thought I, "but what is to become of our
horses?"
He understood me, and took my horse by the head, bowing
to the door again. So, leaving Woodland to look to the horses,
I walked in. Outside, the house appeared a mere plain, dead
wall of adobes, having, except the single door of entrance, no
other openings than the spout-holes of the roof. Within, was
a single room, about forty feet long and fifteen broad, the floor
of hard-trodden earth, and the ceiling some sixteen feet above
it, of bamboo, laid with cement, on small, crooked, unhewn
rafters. As there were no windows, and but two small, low 
A  T  I P O VE R  T II E  I,'[O  TIE I   i 3.
doors, there was a great depth of gloom overhead. At one end,
upon the whitewashed wall, hung a large old painting, the sub ject imperceptible except to the eye of faith; a crucifix over it;
a small painting of a mermaid-like martyr, with long, draggling,
unsinged hair, rising, head and shoulders, out from a sea of fire;
and several coarse woodcuts of saints and friars. Near this, on
a narrow shelf, was a blunderbuss, a horse-pistol, and a thin
p)rayer-book, the only literature in the house. At this end of
the room were three broad beds, with elaborately worked cover lids, used in the day as lounges. Two large chests, containing
finery and valuables, stood next the beds, then a sort of settle,
or high-backed bench, against the wall, wide enough to be used
for a bed; then a broad, low table, used for a dining table when
any one dined inl the house, also as a bedstead for two at night.
A little box or crib, in which a baby lay sucking its fists, swung
near the floor by a hide rope from the ceiling.  A tall, comely,
Madonna-like woman was kneeling on one of the beds, in the
act of putting on a dress which lay before her. Pausing at my
entrance, she meets my eye, when it turns curious in that direction, unabashed, and  with an indolent welcome.   Three other
women, the eldest-the  seiora-a  dumpy little person, with
soft, half-closed eyes, and a large mouth continually smiling.
Troops of children, quite too numerous to mention, among
whom it is hardly gentlemanly to include a digrified girl, doubtfuLlly young, very dark-colored, but with beautiful liquid eyes,
sweetly shaded by long, curving, black lashes.
I might have seen all I have described at one end of the house,
before, somewhat to my consternation, I found that the senor was
leading my horse in at the door.  The horse followed him readily
enough, no doubt thinking it a stable, and feeling fully as much
347 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
at home as I did. However, he was not to be quartered in the
dwelling exactly. Near the end opposite to that I have described,
was a back door; out of this, presently, they went, our host and
the pony, the others following. This end of the house had no
other furniture than a cupboard and a few forms, on which were
calabashes and earthen pots. A saddle or two, also, hung here,
and some fowls were picking about.   The door opened upon a
house-court and garden, which was inclosed by high and strong
palisades.   Woodland examined it, and was apparently somewhat relieved as he did so.   "This will do," he said, "better
than I expected; some of them Indians wouldn't be at all backward about taking these horses if we gave'em a chance-that
old Comanche devil squeezed his eye at this mule-he don't see
such in Mexico very often."
Saddles and bridles were taken off and carried into the house,
and we divested ourselves of our Colts and belt-knives, which
were immediately deposited in one of the big chests in the house.
A fanega of maize was then sent for to feed the horses, who,
meantime, were rolling on the smooth ground of the court-yard,
and drinking from the acequia which divided it from the garden.
In this court-yard were several walnut and fig-trees, under which
our horses were fastened; also, a high, dome-formed oven, made
of adobes, one of which is to be seen behind every Mexican
house, though I.nowhere saw one in use, except for a chickencoop or dog-kennel. Various vegetables were growing in the
garden, but more maize than all else.
Hearing a continual slap, slap, slap, in the next yard, I looked
between the stakes to see what made the sound. A woman, with
her back toward me, was kneeling upon the ground, under a figtree close to the fence, rubbing the mzatate, and a pretty girl of
348 
A TRIP O VER THE FRON TIER.
fifteen was kneeling before her, clapping her hands, or rather
slapping a tortilla between them. She stopped a moment to look
at me, and, dropping her arms, her chemise-the only garment
she wore-fell loosely off her shoulders, disclosing a beautiful
little bust; she tossed back the thick, dark locks from her face,
then, smiling frankly and cordially, in return to my smile, began
to clap her hands again, bending so as still to look at me and let
me see her face under the arch of her uplifted elbow. Woodland
interrupted the pretty study by asking for our landlady what we
would have for dinner.  "Some meat, cooked Mexican fashion,
tortillas and frijoles, and anything else she likes, so it be Mexican
-whatever she would get for her husband if he was uncommonly
hungry, and she wanted him to be uncommonly good-natured
after it."
A fire was made upon the ground in a corner of the yard near
the door of the house, one woman went to hashing a haunch of
kid, another sliced some onions, leeks, and red peppers, getting
a caution from Woodland about these things, to which she replied,
with a laugh-" the Americans are not Mexicans;" the matron
brought a calabash of soaked maize, rubbed it, with great labor,
on the matate to a paste, which the handsome lady, who had
returned from church, and was now dressed like the rest, in a
loose, low-necked, sleeveless garment of white, fell to slapping
into thin round cakes, displaying much grace and dexterity.
A dish of the small brown beans, which constitute, next to
maize, and with red pepper (chile colorado), the principal food
of the people of Mexico, was also brought to be warmed up for
us. When boiled for twelve hours or more, then dried in a saucepan with their sauce of butter and pepper, these Mexican
beans, as we had found in Texas, are excellent to the taste
349 
350    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
and a very wholesome and nourishing, ald extremely cheap
food.
The tortillas having been cooked upon a flat piece of iron held
over the fire, we sat down to dinner, at a low table, the family
standing good-humoredly around to watch our American proceedings.  Our first difficulty was the absence of fork or spoon, but
we soon learned from Woodland the secret of twisting a tortilla
into a substitute, and disposed of a hearty meal. The whole we
found excellent after our Texan experiences. The tortillas are
decidedly superior to the southern corn "pone."   The removal of
the hull from the meal by lye, changes the character of the dish,
and though really less cooked than the baked bread, it has the taste
and the digestion of something more ready for the stomach. The
constant and severe labor of the women of the family during all
our stay was the manufacture of this bread.
Dinner over, we sauntered through the town. The houses
were of a better class than most of those in San Antonio. Lowroofed and without windows, they give a silent, Sunday air to the
town.  The place had a comfortable look, and the people had
the characteristics of a slow, kind, light-hearted and contented
peasantry.  As strangers, we were much observed, but with a
polite, hospitable sort of curiosity. The implements and carts
were of the real unimproved Mexican stamp.
The principal movement was given to the streets by the Indians, who were, in numbers, riding helter-skelter about, knocking down black-birds with arrows, having trials of skill at carthubs, lying about in all postures of real or affected drunkenness,
lounging in and out of every house, and carrying themselves
everywhere with such an air as indicated they were masters of
the town. In fact, their tone was unendurable on any other 
A TRIP OVE R THE FRONTIER.
supposition. They entered every door, fell on every neck, patted
the women on the cheek, helped themselves to whatever suited
their fancy, and distributed their scowls or grunts of pleasure
according to their sensations.  The inhabitants seemed to be
quite used to this state of things, which to us was astonishing
to the last degree.
While we were standing in the door of our French acquaint ance, one of the rascals rode up, and, slapping him upon the
back, demanded whisky.
" None."
"Tobacco?"
"None.
' Colors, for daubing the face?"
" None."
"Friend?"
"Yes."
He then repeated the same list, with the same replies. Then
fixing his eye upon the Frenchman, he gazed steadily in his face
a few moments. The Frenchman not flinching, he slowly, and
without changing his look, drew an iron-barbed arrow from his
quiver, fixed it upon the bowstring, aimed the point at the merchant's breast, and pulled the bow up to the arrow-head. I expected to see it go through the body-a slip of the finger would
have sent it. The Frenchman stood quiet for a moment, but
suddenly, with a jerk of the arm, turned the arrow aside, then
reaching inside his door, brought out a double-barreled gun,
cocked it, and put the muzzle to the Indian's head. The Indian
made no effort to remove it, but grunted, and seemed particularly
relieved when the gun was taken down.   Taking, the Indian's
bow, the Frenchman, with a slight snap of the string, sent  an
351 
352     A JOURNEY THROUGH  TEXAS.
arrow across the street.  It stuck in a wooden door so fast as
to require the use of a hammer to extract it. The Indian
asked, with a nudge toward us, of what nation we were.
"Germans," said the Frenchman; then to us, "he would be
capable of doing you some harm if he knew you to be Americans."
The Indian gave a great shrug, and rode away.
A tall American, wrapped in a shabby cloak, was pointed out
to us as a deserter from the other side the Rio Grande. He
had arrived in exceedingly destitute circumstances, and had at
once commenced the practice of?mediciie.  Woodland, apropos,
had several good stories of old friends of his in the same business, he had come across in his various journeys in Mexico.
One of them, who had served in the ranks with himself, he
found in Saltillo lately.
"But, Jim," said he, "what do you do in real serious cases,
now-child-bed, for instance?"
"Oh, I pile in the calomel, and let'em slide," was the reply
of the Senor Medico. The poorer Mexicans seem to consider
us as a nation of seventh sons.
Returning to our house in the evening, we found our beds
made upon the ground in the court-yard, exposed to the bright
moon.  This was a precaution of Woodland's against Indian
horse-stealers. Our arms were brought out with great formality
and placed by our sides-a Colt and knife under each pillow.
These preparations for a pleasant night's rest were made for
us with perfect seriousness by our host, and, on our laughing at
the warlike appearance of our beds, he smilingly said, "It is but
a proper precaution." The air was delicious, and we slept well.
For breakfast, we demanded chocolate, expecting the pure 
A TRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.   353
native production. It came frothing in French fashion, and we
discovered had actually come from Paris, an importation of the
Frenchman's from New Orleans.  The town was even more crowd ed with Indians than the day befobre, and we found it difficult to
avoid collision with them, so disgusting and extreme was their
familiarity. They seemed to regard us with a skulking malice,
and we resolved to withdraw from their neighborhood as soon as
possible.  During the day, we made some efforts to talk with intelligent people, but could find no one who was commnunicable.
Even those living in easy circumstances were surprisingly uninstructed. They seemed to dislike to approach the topic of annexation; but gave us to understand that they did not so much
fear a change of allegiance as the loss of their property, by the
private rapacity of bullying Americans, referring us to what had
taken place in Texas.
The alcalde, with all the affable dignity of him at Piedras
Negras, gave us visas for our passports, and a welcome to the
country.  His dwelling, the most imposing of the town, was
upon the grand plaza, opposite the church, which had once been
a considerable structure, but was now in extreme dilapidation,
partly occupied, as were all the tall trees of the town, by flocks
of daws, or large long-tailed blackbirds, who filled the air with
an inconceivably strepitant chatter.
OUT OF MEXICO.
The following day, we rode southward, through the little
towns of Morelos and San Juan to Nava. The country was
flat, and, everywhere, away from the villages, covered with dense
chaparral. The towns, though varying in size, were upon the
same model as San Fernando, and the people of a precisely simui 
354    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
lar character. We dined, again, upon stewed kid, with a fat old
gentleman, who entertained us for half an hour with an
account of his running the American lines, with dispatches,
during the last war.   He  affected deafness, and the sentries,
considering it too absurd to believe that such a slow, waddling
old customer could be bent on any mischief, allowed him to
pass.
We saw no Indians beyond San Fernando. At Nava we were
hospitably received in the best house of the town, a stuccoed
mansion of much pretension. Behind were two courts, reached
through a porte coche'7e, the first small and surrounded by outhouses, the second large and walled, having the stables, and a
supply of running water for animals. The ladies were beaming
but vague. The host, Seinor Don Tomas Cantu, appeared to be
a land proprietor, and had interest in our descriptions of American agriculture. He told us that much of the land of the
neighborhood had been gradually worn out by constant cropping,
and that new ditches were now in construction, through land
still to be cleared of bushes. Corn was planted, at one foot
apart, in drills three feet apart, and the usual production was
three hundred fold. As on the upper Rio Grande, nothing is
raised without irrigation.
We saw several large flocks of sheep, brought in to be folded.
They were of very inferior quality, and were held at fifty cents a
head. Before the late edict, prohibiting exportation, they were
worth seventy-five cents. They had here no horses for sale, but
farther back from the river were large stocks, whence herds were
constantly driven into Texas. They'vere sold at six dollars the
head. a mare with her colt counting as one, and one stallion being added without charge to every twenty head purchased. They 
A,rRIP OVER THE FRONTIER.
aie broken upon the road, the Mexican drivers receiving one dollar per day for this work.
As at San Fernando, the streets of Nava were shaded by
magnificent trees, some of the Pecans, now barely in open leaf,
reaching ninety feet in height. The cypresses were in full
foliage, the apples and quinces had dropped their blossoms, and
showed young fruit upon their branches (April 8).
The following day we rode through thirty miles of chaparral,
down a gentle slope, to Piedras Negras. After one lonely,
dewy, snaky, starlit camp in the desert, interrupted, after midnight, by a suspicious black or red nocturnal traveler, who
passed close by our lurking-place without discovering us, we
reached the Texan settlements, and, parting with our guide as
from a friend, returned by easy stages, without other incident
than our ride with Castro, to San Antonio.
The Mexican towns we had visited, were in no matter of life
different, upon this frontier, from those of Central Mexico. The
impression had been of a fixed stagnancy, amounting to a slow
national decay; the cause, a religious enslavement of the mind,
preventing education, communication, and growth, giving rise to
bigotry, hypocrisy, political and social tyranny, bad faith,
priestly spoliation, and, worst of all, utter degradation of labor.
355 
CHAP VI.
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
FOR the return route, we adopted a line that should lead us as
nearly as possible along the eastern shore toward New Orleans,
hoping to see something of the old-established herdsmnen of the
coast-prairies, and of the Creole life of Western Louisiana.
On the morning of the twenty-fourth of April, we looked back
for the last time, from the San Pedro spring, on the familiar roofs
of San Antonio. Having divested ourselves of our pack and of all
useless weight, we were prepared for more rapid travel, carrying
each a single blanket, to preserve the delightful nocturnal freedom of the prairie.  We had learned, like all who make the experience, to love the sweet breath of night and the company of
the stars. We took for variety the old and longer road to NeuBraunfels, which follows the Comal creek, and found it, though
almost disused, much more shaded and various than the direct
road across the open hills. As we approached within ten or fifteen miles of the town, small German farms appeared, and for the
remaining distance they lined the road upon both sides.
About four miles from San Antonio we passed the stock farm
of Mr. Ujhazy, late governor of Comorn.  We  stopped a few
moments to pay him our respects, and were very cordially received. He had but recently entered his new log-house, and was 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
hardly yet established.  His first settlement was made in Iowa,
whence, finding the climate too severe, he had moved by the
long inland route to Texas, driving his herd of valuable mares
through the friendly Indian country, and camping nightly with
ll1 his family, while on the journey. He had spent some time
in looking about the State, and finally purchased a large tract'of
land here, on which he was now making a new home. His wife
having died during his residence in Iowa, he lives secluded with
his faithful daughter, the very picture of a staunch, hale old
gentleman, who supports with quiet dignity what fortunes the
gods have decreed.   He finds the climate here not  to differ
greatly from that to which he was accustomed in Hungary, and
thinks it more salubrious than that of Iowa. He told us that
Kossuth still held near Corpus Christi a thousand acres of prairie,
presented him during his visit to this country.
FROM THE GUADALUPE TO THE BRAZOS.
From Braunfels to the Colorado our road lay over long gentle
swells, with an occasional creek of pure water and patch of shade.
The prairies were laughing with flowers in ravishing luxuriance,
whole acres of green being often entirely lost under their decoration of blue and purple.  Near Bastrop we entered a tedious
randy tract of post-oak, a camp which, under our single blankets, I remember as one of the chilliest. To Lagrange, a pleas-nt and busy village, the road keeps the pine-bearing sand,
arely descending into the Colorado bottoms, which are very
ertile, and well stocked with old plantations. This large island
,f lumber is very valuable and important to the western part of
hle State. It is sprinkled with saw-mills, driven by the numer,ius streamlets that drain it.  Several leagues near Bastrop
357 
358   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
are the property of the town, and yield a considerable revenue.
In crossing to the Brazos at San Felipe, we rode through a district occupied by German farmers of some means, and apparently
in thriving condition, for many of them were engaged ill enlarging
and decorating their houses. All cultivated cotton, and some
had very extensive fields of excellent promise.   We  saw  no
negroes among them. The night before (April 28th) we had
noticed a slight hoar frost in the bottom, where we camped; but,
though some delicate weeds were wilted, the cotton-leaves showed
no signs of injury. The cotton plant had now a general resemblance to the young growth of the ruta-baga, before the rough
leaves are fully developed.  Corn was from two to four feet high
wherever early planted. Blackberries and mulberries were ripe,
and string-beans, peas, and new potatoes were upon the table
before we left San Antonio.
NORTHERN SETTLERS.
The soil throughout the district we were crossing, was admirably adapted for cotton-a rich, dark, sandy loam, with a rolling surface, beautifully broken by clusters and irregular groves
of trees.
On  the ridge between  the Colorado  and the Brazos,  we
traversed for ten miles another poor sandy tract, covered with
post-oak. Approaching the Brazos, we came upon twelve miles
of high, open prairies, which gradually descended toward the
river bottom.
Here we spent a night in the house of a settler from Maine, in
whose family we found unusual comforts. He had moved here
because he was threatened with consumption; but since his set 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
tlement had had none of nis old symptoms, unless after some
unusual exertion. He had found the summers very long, but on
the whole he thought less oppressive, because the heat was less con centrated and intense, than those of Maine. He was dissatisfied
with his position here, and intended to move westward.
The only salable production of his farm was corn, which in a
good year produced forty to sixty bushels per acre; but the last
year, owing to a two months' drought, he had made but ten
bushels.
Sheep were not kept here.  He had known one flock of fifty,
which perished of neglect in winter. Cattle were very profitable.
Beef cattle were now worth $15, and working oxen from $50 to
$75 the yoke.
He sneered at his planting neighbors for living without comfort, saying that all the money they got went to buy "more nigger help."  He employed himself four free laborers-two English
and two Germans.   There were many Germans in his neighborIlhood, all small farmers or farm-laborers; he thought two hundred might be mustered at two hours' notice, at his house.  When
first arriving they were very poor, and hired themselves to labor
at such wages as they could get. As soon as they could, they
acquired farms of their own, living very poorly until they had a
good herd of cattle; then better, as to their table, than any
American. He knew but two Mexicans in the country-one of
whom had lately taken a German wife, having established himself upon a farm of his own.
At the house of another Northern man, who had lived in this
part of Texas many years, we found two negroes-a male and a
female-and seven white hired hands.   He was well convinced,
from his experience, that white men trained to labor could do
.359 
360    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
more work, the summer through, than negroes.  From June to
August he allowed his hands, both white and black, to knock off
work for three hours in the heat of the day. He believed he had
done more hard work during his first five years in the State
than any negro in Texas, and had never felt the worse for it.
At his house we were furnished with corn for our horses
which had come in bags from Ohio, by Galveston. He had paid
$1 50 per bushel for it, and thought it would be the last time he
should not raise corn enough for his own purposes. Many a
planter near him, he said, had allowed his corn to go to waste in
order to apply the time of his hands to picking cotton. One of
his neighbors had lost at least 1,000 bushels-now worth
$1,500-from mould, mice, hogs, and neglect.
The town of San Felipe, famous as the first American village
in Texas, we found composed of two stores and six dwellingsmaking progress only toward dilapidation.
The Brazos bottoms near by, are four or five miles wide.
They are of very great fertility, and the land commands high
prices. A gentleman from Alabama had recently purchased a
league (4,400 acres) for $40,000, and during the winter, with three
hundred negroes, had cleared and planted seven hundred acres.
The bottom is seldom reached by freshets, but was covered in
those of the years 1833, 1843, and 1852. We were landed
from the ferry near night, and, barely accomplishing the dark
and heavy miles of bottom by twilight, camped under a group
of huge oaks, at the edge of the great coast-prairie.
To Houston the road lay across a fiat surface, having a wet,
sandy or "craw-fish" soil, bearing a coarse, rushy grass, diversified by occasional belts of pine and black-jack.   We  had
reached the level prairie region of the coast, and in fact saw 
ALONG T TIlE, EASTERN COAST.
henceforth not one a)ppreciable elevation until we crossed the
Mississippi. Five miles from Houston we entered a pine forest,
which extends to the town.
HOUSTON.
Houston, at the head of the navigation of Buffalo Bayou,
has had for many years the advantage of being the point of
transhipment of a great part of the merchandise that enters
or leaves the State. It shows many agreeable signs of the wealth
accumulated, in homelike, retired residences, its large and good
hotel, its well-supplied shops, and its shaded streets. The prin cipal thoroughfare, opening from the steamboat landing, is the
busiest we saw in Texas. Near the bayou are extensive cotton sheds, and huge exposed piles of bales.* The bayou itself is
hardly larger than an ordinary canal, and steamboats would be
unable to turn, were it not for a deep creek opposite the levee,
up which they can push their stems. There are several neat
churches, a theatre (within the walls of a steam saw-mill), and a
most remarkable number of showy bar-rooms and gambling
saloons.  A poster announced that the "cock-pit is open every
night, and on Saturday night five fights will come off for a stake
of $100."
A curious feature of the town is the appearance of small cisterns of tar, in which long-handled dippers are floating, at the
edge of the sidewalk, at the front of each store. This is for the
use of the swarming wagoners.
Houston (pronounced Hewston) has the reputation of being
an unhealthy residence. The country around it is low and flat,
* The receipts of cotton for the year ending Sept. 1,1856, were 45,557 bales,
or about one-half the receipts of Galveston.
i 6
361 
362    A JOUIR.NEY THROUGH TEXAS.
and generally covered by pines. It is settled by small farmers, many of whom are Germans, owning a few cattle, and drawing a meagre subsistence from the thin soil. A large number of
unfortunate emigrants, who arrive with exhausted purses, remain
in the town at labor, or purchase a little patclt or cabin in the
vicinity. The greater part of the small tradesmen and mechanics
of the town are German,
In the bayou bottoms near by, we noticed many magnolias,
now in full glory of bloom, perfuming delicately the whole atmosphere. We sketched one which stood one hundred and ten
feet high, in perfect symmetry of development, superbly-dark and
lustrous in foliage, and studded from top to lowest branch with
hundreds of great delicious white flowers.
A CAPTURED RUNAWAY.
Sitting, one morning of our stay, upon the gallery of the
hotel, we witnessed a revolting scene. A tall, jet black negro
came up, leading by a rope a downcast mulatto, whose hands
were lashed by a cord to his waist, and whose face was horribly
cut, and dripping with blood.   The wounded  man crouched
and leaned for support against one of the columns of the
gallery.
"What's the matter with that boy?" asked a smoking lounger.
"I run a fork into his face," answered the negro.
"What are his hands tied for?"
"He's a runaway, sir."
"Did you catch him?"
"Yes, sir.  He was hiding in the hay-loft, and when I went
up to throw some hay to the horses, I pushed the fork down into
the mow and it struck something hard. I didn't know what it 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
was, and I pushed hard, and gave it a turn, and then he hollered,
and I took it out.
"What do you bring him here, for?"
"Come for the key of the jail, sir, to lock him up."
"What!" said another, "one darkey catch another darkey?
Don't believe that story."
"Oh yes, Mass'r, I tell for true. He was down in our hay loft, and so you see when I stab him, I have to catch him."
"Why, he's hurt bad, isn't he?"
"Yes, he says I pushed through the bones."
"Whose nigger is he?"
"He says he belong to MIass'r Frost, sir, on the Brazos."
The key was soon brought, and the negro led the mulatto away
to jail. He seemed sick and faint, and walked away limping
and crouching, as if he had received other injuries than those on
his face.   The bystanders remarked that the  negro  had not
probably told the whole story.
We afterwards happened to see a gentleman on horseback,
and smoking, leading by a long rope through the deep mud, out
into the country, the poor mulatto, still limping and crouching,
his hands manacled, and his arms pinioned.
There is a prominent slave-mart in town, which held a large
lot of likely-looking negroes, waiting purchasers. In the windows of shops, and on the doors and columns of the hotel, were
many written advertisements headed, "A likely negro girl for
sale."   "Two  negroes for sale."   "Twenty  negro boys for
sale," etc.
THE LOW PRAIRIES.
Wre were unable to procure at Houston, any definite information with regard to our proposed route. The known roads thence,
363 
3G4   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
are those that branch northward and westward from their levee,
and so thoroughlv within lines of business does local knowledge
lie, that the eastern shore is completely terra incognita.   The
roads east were said to be bad after heavy rains, but the season
had been dry and we determined to follow the direct and distinct road, laid down upon our map.
Now that I am in a position to give preliminary information,
however, there is no reason why the reader should enter this
region as ignorant as we did.
Our route took us by Harrisburg and San Jacinto to Liberty,
upon the Trinity; thence by Beaumont to the Sabine at Turner's ferry; thence by the Big Woods and Lake Charles to Opelousas, the old capital of St. Landry Parish, at the western head
of the intricate navigation from New Orleans.
This large district, extending from the Trinity river to the
bayous of the Mississippi, has, throughout, the same general
characteristics, the principal of which are, lowness, flatness, and
wetness.  The  soil is variable, but is in.greater part a loose,
sandy loam, covered with coarse grasses, forming level prairies,
which are everywhere broken by belts of pine forests, usually
bordering creeks and bayous, but often standing in islands. The
surface is but very slightly elevated above the sea; I suppose,
upon an average, less than ten feet. It is, consequently, imperfectly drained, and in a wet season a large proportion is literally
covered with water, as in crossing it, even in a dry time, we were
obliged to wade through many miles of marshy pools. The
river-bottoms, still lower than the general level, are subject to
constant overflow by tide-water, and what with the fallen timber, the dense undergrowth, the mire-quags, the abrupt gullies,
the patches of rotten or floating corduroy, and three or four feet 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
of dirty salt-water, the roads through them are not such as one
would choose for a morning ride. The country is sparsely set tled, containing less than one inhabitant to the square mile, one
in four being a slave.
The people are herdsmen, cultivating no other crop than corn,
and of that, not enough to supply their own bread demand.
The greater part are of Louisiana origin. They live in isolated
cabins, hold little intercourse with one another, and almost none
with the outside world. Steamboats land their coffee and salt
on the Sabine and Trinity, at irregular intervals, but no wheeled
vehicles traverse the region. In two weeks' ride we met with but
one specimen, the "mud-cart" of a grocery-peddler, whose wheels
were broad blocks sawn  from  a  log.   No  other road  is
known than the one by which cattle are driven to the New Orleans market, and this one so imperfectly, that we added probably fifty stray miles to our distance, by following indistinct paths
and erroneous information. As hogs do not flourish upon the
grass or beneath the pines, the table is relieved by the substitute
of:erked, and, sometimes, fresh beef, and in the best houses we
found biscuit, of wheat-flour and lard, a common comfort. In
fact, the cuisine is modified even in Texas, by a soupqon of
Frenchiness, and in Louisiana, as we approached the confines of
civilization, we obtained, now and then, a supper that made our
mouths water with Creole sauces.    A  traveler, other than a
beef-speculator, was a thing unknown, and our object was usually an incomprehensible mystery. Hardly once did we see a
newspaper or a book, other than an almanac or a franked
patent-office report.
The many pools, through which the usual track took us, were
swarming with venomous water-snakes, four or five black mocca
365 
866   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
sins often lifting at once their devilish heads above the dirty surface, and wriggling about our horses' heels. Beyond the Sabine,
alligator holes are an additional excitement, the unsuspicious traveler suddenly sinking through the treacherous surface, and
sometimes falling a victim, horse and all, to the hideous jaws of
the reptile, while overwhelmed by the engulfing mire in which
he lurks.
Upon the whole, this is not the spot in which I should prefer
to come to light, burn, and expire; in fact, if the nether regions,
as was suggested by the dream-gentleman of Natchitoches, be
"a boggy country," the avernal entrance might, I should think,
with good probabilities, be looked for in this region. With these
general notions, the reader may, if he please, save himself the
following particulars.
TO THE TRINITY.
Leaving Houston, we followed a well-marked road, as far as a
bayou, beyond which we entered a settlement of half-a-dozen
houses, that, to our surprise, proved to be the town of Harrisburg, a rival (at some distance) of Houston.   It is the star ingpoint of the only railroad yet completed in Texas, extending to
Richmond on the Brazos, and has a depth of water in the bayou
sufficient for a larger class of boats from Galveston. Houston,
however, having ten or fifteen years, and odd millions of dollars,
the start, will not be easily overridden. * Taking a road here, by
direction, which, after-two miles, only ran " iup a tree," we were
obliged to return for more precise information.
At noon, we were ferried over a small bayou by a shining
black bundle of rags, and instructed by her as follows
"Yer see dem two tall pine in de timber ober dar cross dle parara, yaridar.  Yer go right straight da, and da yer'll see de trail 
ALON G THE EASTERN COAS T.
somewar. Dat ar go to Lynchburg.  Lor! I'se nebber been dadon'no wedder's ary house or no-don'no wedder's ary deep
byoo or no-reckon yer can go, been so dry."
Two miles across the grass we found the pines and a trail,
which continually broke into cattle-paths, but, by following the
general course, we duly reached San Jacinto, a city somewhat
smaller than Harrisburg, laid out upon the edge of the old battle-field.
Upon the opposite shore of the river lies the "town of Lynchburg," which has been recommended, by  a commission, for a
national naval depot.  It consists, at present, of one house and
out-buildings. Within this house is the city post-office, where,
when we mailed a letter, we received, for the first time in six
months, a cent in change.  A Texan, who was standing by, demanded to see it, saying that he had never known before that
there existed such a coin; he had supposed it as imaginary as
the mill. The South has no copper currency, the fraction of a
dime being considered too minute for attention. There is a certain vague and agreeable largeness in this, but the contrast of
her working and lounging class with the penny-papered and
penny-lettered corresponding class in the copper-circulating
States is not so pleasing.
A FIRST-CLASS TEXAS GRAZIER.
A  ride of thirty-five miles took us to the Trinity.   On the
way we spent a night at one of the largest stock-farms of the
district. Its management will afford a better idea of the local
system of stock-raising than any subsequently examined.
The residence was large but rude, and no  more  descriptive
adjectives could be applied to our style of welcome on arrival.
367 
369   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
We rode up at evening, at the same moment with a cavalcade of
young men, partly of the family, partly invited neighbors.   We
were permitted without much auxiliary explanation, and with
some indirect jeers, to follow the example of the rest and turn
our horses, after stripping them, into a fenced pasture, almost
the only one we saw in Texas, where five or six fathoms of rope
are the usual substitute for stable and paddock.   The young
men then proceeded to lasso and slaughter a bullock for supper,
while we were suffered to wander about like strange cats and
familiarize ourselves with the premises. The ground adjacent to
the house was nearly all fenced and divided into large and small
pens, pleasantly shaded by groves of oak. Among the inclosures were a good garden and a large field planted in corn and
sweet-potatoes.
The process of obtaining milk for the table was somewhat
singular. In a small pen are kept a number of calves, whose
mothers come in morning and evening to give them suck.   The
lady of the house lets down the bars, holding a little piggin, a
bucket, and a short rope, and accompanied by a smnall boy. The
cows enter eagerly, and the calves at once commence drawing
their respective rations.   The lady then throws a lasso over the
horns of one of the cows, the boy attaching the other end of the
rope to the neck of the calf, whose lips are drawn beyond reach
of the udder.   The lady then takes its place and milks into the
piggin, held closely by one hand. After about a pint is drawn,
the tantalized calf is allowed to squirm back to his natural place,
and when the milk is emptied into the bucket outside the fence,
the bosom of another happy family is invaded. Thus, in about
half an hour, a dozen cows were milked and the pail filled.
The supper was of fresh beef, corn bread, and coffee. On a 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
side-table stood a decanter of whisky, out of which all, men and
boys, had a pull on entering.  Our host, we found, was original  ly a Kentuckian, now many years settled here.   He was a man
of intelligence, and after supper had leisure for some civil con versation with us upon the gallery.   His sons and their friends
were silly, rude, illiterate, and stupid, as, perhaps, might be ex pected from their isolation.
The year's increase of their herd was now five hundred head.
This was the season for the annual gathering and branding of the
calves.  They had been returning from "a drive," when we came
up, but one so small as to be of no account. When a regular
drive is made, a dozen neighbors, from twenty miles or more
about, assemble at a place agreed upon, each man bringing two
or three extra horses. These are driven before the company, and
form the nucleus of the cattle-herd collected.   They first drive
the outer part of the circuit, within which their cattle are supposed to range, the radiuts of which is here about forty miles.
All cattle having their marks, and all calves following their cows,
are herded and driven to pens which have been prepared, in this
case to the number of ten, at different points upon the circuit.
They are absent from two to three weeks upon this first drive,
usually contriving to arrive by night at a pen in which the stock
are inclosed, otherwise guarding them in the open prairie. When
the vicinity of a house is reached, the cattle are divided, each
man's driven into a separate pen, the calves are branded and all
turned loose again.
The law allows no property in a weaned calf unbranded, and
any one finding such, places his own brand upon them, or slaughters them for his personal use. Dishonest people often take advantage of this, by splitting the tongues of calves to prevent
16,'
369 
370  A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
their sucking, and branding them as if found weaned.   This
charge we heard especially made at Houston, against the poor
Germans of the neighborhood.   Here the complaint was, that
calves were sometimes stolen and killed, when straying into the
swamps, by vagabonds, who did not dare kill them upon open
prairie. When cattle are sold, the new brand is placed above
the old one, and such double brand is prima-facie evidence of a
transfer.   A  drive usually consisted of 600 cattle, as large a
number as it is convenient to manage. It may be conceived
that the labor of gathering and confining in pens so many wild
cattle, many of which see no human face in a twelvemonth, is
not slight.   In fact, a drive calls out all a man's energy, adroitness, perseverance, and horsemanship.
Except during the driving season, there was very little to do.
Once every month or two they rode through the range, driving
in the cattle that were ranging wide. In spite of rogues and accidents of all sorts, the increase was very rapid. Cows are never
sold, except as part of a "stock," so that the herd enlarges in
compound ratio.
Among the drawbacks are insects and bogs.   In a dry and
cold winter, when the feed is exceedingly poor, the cattle seek
the low grounds near the mouths of bayous or on the sea-shore,
where the old grass is more rank and less eaten, and sometimes
perish in considerable numbers in the mire. At the end of summer, flies become a very severe annoyance, driving the cattle
almost mad with pain and loss of blood.  "Ticks," too, sometimes make very bad wounds, clustering together, and filling themselves with blood, until they drop, like bunches of grapes, from
the neck, leaving flayed ulcers, in which blow-flies lay their eggs.
This takes place frequently in the ears of horses, producing a 
A,LONG THE EASTERN COAST.
cicatrix, which gives a singular twist to the ear, horses lhaving
which are termed "goched."   " Out" cattle are less liable to be
troubled by these insects than the "gentled," probably because
they frequent timber less, remaining in the open prairies. Calves
occasionally suffer so much as to dlie. We were told, upon the
Sabine, that horses sometimes succumbed to attacks of insects, in
hauling cotton through the bad roads of the bottom. For cat tle, nothing is done, but horses are sometimes driven in, and
smeared with sulphur ointment, which gives a temporary relief.
The herdsman's salesoare of steers, which are sent to market
at four years old.  The beef is considered better at five years,
buit the profit to the herdsman less. In early summer, after the
cattle are in good condition with the spring pasture, drovers
mlake their appearance for the purchase.  A contract is made, by
which, at a price agreed upon, the herdsman shall deliver a cer tain number of beeves, in marketable order, at a point where it
will be convenient to add them to the drove for New Orleans.
The range is then scoured, and the requisite number obtained,
including all steers found that have escaped the previous years.
The price of steers was now $15 to $18; that of " stock-cattle," $6; that of working oxen, $50 to $75 per yoke.
No pains were here taken to improve the breed.  Some cows
had been brought to this region from the States, but did not do
well.  Their calves, however, became acclimated, and were much
superior to the common prairie stock.
Attempts to introduce sheep had always failed. Our host had
purchased a flock of fifty, which was now reduced, by attacks of
wolves and other accidents-all resulting, as he confessed, from
lazy neglect-to eighteen. He owned a considerable herd of
horses, American and Spanish mares, from which he supplied
37 11 
372   A JOURNEY THROU(GH 1'iXAS.
himself with the large number required in stock driving. The
colts were usually caught for the first time, and broken at four
years old. The process is a summary one.
Two colts which had been brought in, for the first time, during the day's drive, were taken from the pen after supper, and
introduced to the saddle and bridle as follows. A lasso was first
thrown over the neck, the colt hauled to a tree-excited and resisting with all his power-and closely blindfolded. A bridle,
without bit, was buckled ton, a blanket and saddle strapped to
his back. The blind was then removedland the rope slackened.
Thle colt is frantic at the indignity, rears, bounds, kicks,  and
rolls, until every muscle trembles.   If he  lies down, he  is
whipped up until thoroughly fatigued. He is then hauled in
again, blinded, led out upon the open prairie, and mounted by
the best young man that volunteers. The saddle is Spanish, and
has attached to the pommel a strong wooden bar, rolled in
sheepskin, extending across the thighs of the rider, almost bolting him to the animal. The blind is now removed, and then
comes a scene.
WThat muscle and wit the colt has in him are put to the test
against the tenacity of the rider. Every antic conceivable is
played, and when these are exhausted without avail, the pair fly
off at a mad gallop, urged on from behind by a horseman with a
whip, and led, if possible, by a second towards the safe open
country. The pluck and wind of the colt are soon known; and
after an hour, more or less, of absence, he comes walking back,
peaceable and dejected.
The only accident feared, is a sudden halt and somerset, on
the part of the colt, which very rarely happens. The proprietor had once been crushed and stunned in this way.   He was 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
found upon the prairie sitting upon the neck of the colt, looking
stupidly about.  When asked what he was doing, he replied,
"' holding the horse down."   He  was able to remount and ride
home, but could never remember what had occurred after leaving
the others at a gallop.   His eldest son had been seriously
injured the year before in the same manner.
The horses, like the cattle, were of a mixed and inferior
stock. They are mostly undersized, shaggy, vicious, narrow in
chest, and low in haunch, like the Mexican and mustang, but, by
hereditary education, tough and hardy. They are sold here at
from $25 to $40.
We were shown to a crowded loft to sleep, with an apology
for the absence of side-boarding under the roof, "it was so difficult to procure lumber." It had been previously mentioned that
there were three steam saw-mills within twelve miles. It was not
the ventilation, however, but the insatiate bugs, of which we
found reason to complain. We rose exhausted at daylight, and
were led, as usual, to the common wash-basin upon the gallery.
After our ablutions therein, and a sparing use of the one common
napkin, we were incidentally informed that the family were recovering from an epidemic of purulent ophthalmia. After breakfast, a
child, suffering with the disease, was led out and administered, by
force, a dose, of which spirits of turpentine was a principal ingredient, with the promise of whisky and candy, both which it
immediately afterwards received.
Our course was pointed out to us across eight or ten miles
of grass, to the next timber, the trail being so obscured by
the intricate branches of cattle-paths, as to be of no guiding
value.
373 
374   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
LIBERTY COUNTY.
The Trinity bottoms, opposite Liberty, are about four miles
in width, filled with the most luxuriant and varied growth of
wood we had seen, amongst it the plmetto, the magnolia, in
bloom, and, in greatest number, immens6cotton-woods.
Liberty is a stunted hamlet, a short mile east of the river,
which is said to be permanently navigable to this point; but we
learned that, except two, which lay aground a few miles below,
no boats had made their appearance this year. In conversation,
we were informed that the country was retrograding rather than
improving-an old class of planters gradually disappearing, leaving their places to be occupied by graziers.   But the Trinity
bottoms, higher up, were being constantly settled-more negroes
having been taken there this season than ever before.
Upon the borders of the prairies about here are many Creole
French, who came in from Louisiana during the early days of
the Republic.   They were then in good  circumstances, but
have now fallen into poverty, owing chiefly, it is said, to injudicious speculations in land. A gentleman told us he had
often seen Galveston merchants leave the town with a gang of
ten or fifteen negroes, taken in satisfaction of debt from these
French planters. Prairie land has very little value; when a sale
is made, it is at about fifty cents an acre.   The  cheapness
of land  and  the facility of access from Galveston attract
many Germans here; but, it was said, that bilious diseases made
havoc among them-" they don't have no  shlowing to live
at all here."  Eden the Americans acknowledged a great deal of
" chills and fever," but seemed to think the Germans were served
about right for living without bacon, and eating trash, such as
"fresh fish and 7ipe cucumnbers!" 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
From the Trinity to the Neches the face of the country was
the same. It is as beautiful, perhaps, as an uncultivated flat can
be, the prairies being pleasantly broken by islands and large
masses of wood; pine and oak predominating, but cypresses, gums,
and magnolias appearing in the bayou bottoms, as the banks of the
sluggish brooks are here called. It is occupied by graziers, who
rarely raise corn enough to "bread them."  They cannot well be
nearer one another without the adoption of some different system
of living, and are generally squatters-partly because of the
vagueness of land-titles in the region, land, where it has any improved value, being often claimed under old Spanish grants. A
claim of forty leagues (nearly 275 square miles) had lately been
confirmed by the courts, and the occupied lands taken by a
stranger. The predominant soil is sandy, usually overcharged
with water, bearing a rank but very coarse grass, mixed with useless
weeds.  Though the heat was now sweltering at midday, we were
not much troubled with flies, and the traveling might be called
agreeable, but somewhat tame, no incident serving to mark the
level hours, more remarkable than that of "making" a distant
belt of timber, passing it, and leaving it behind. Our horses
grew tired of the monotony, and strained eye and ear continually
towards the distance, hoping at last to arrive somewhere, and
having, perhaps, an instinct that their incessant march was soon
to terminate.
SOUR LAKE.
Near the western limit of Jefferson county is the odd natural
phenomenon of a "fountain of lemonade."  The supply is abundant, and a barrack has been built for summer visitors, who frequent the spring for the relief of every variety of disease-a cure,
provided the use of the waters be sufficiently persevered in, be
375 
376   A JOURNEY THROUGHI TEXAS.
ing guaranteed by the proprietor. There are, certainly, attractions
in the cool shade, the gulf-breeze, the agreeable beverage, and
the limpid bath, that should draw a throng, were the spot made
accessible. There are two springs, of cold, clear, acid, slightly
astringent wvater, boiling with the outburst of an inflammable gas,
having a slight odor of sulphuretted hydrogen.  The overflow
forms a pond of an acre in extent, which gives to the locality its
name of "Sour Lake."  Upon the banks and bottom is a deposit
of sulphur. The approach to the rude bathing-houses is over a
boggy margin, sending up a strong bituminous odor, upon pools
in which rises a dense brown, transparent liquid, described as
having the properties of the Persian and Italian naphthas.
A BOTTOM BOGGLE.
At Beaumont we were told that the tide was up in the Neches
bottoms, and that we should find the road "pretty wet."  It was
not, however, intimated that we should meet with any great difficulty.  The aspect of things from the ferry-boat, therefore, a
little surprised us, the bank on which we were landed-some ten
feet in width being the only earth visible above the turbid
water.   Our directions were, to follow  up the course of the
stream for about a mile, as far as a certain "big tree," then to
bear to the right, and three miles would take us clear of the bottom.   At certain spots, where the logs of the corduroy had
floated away, we were cautioned to avoid the road, and pick a
way for ourselves, wherever we found best footing.
The forest was dense, and filled with all manner of vines and
rank undergrowth; the road was a vague opening, where obstructing trees had been felled, the stumps and rotten trunks remaining.
Across actual quags a track of logs and saplings had been laid, 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST. 
but long ago, now rotten and in broken patches. As far as
the eye could reach, muddy water, sent back by a south wind
from the gulf, extended over the vast flat before us, to a depth
of from two to six feet, as per immediate personal measurement.
We spurred in.
One foot:
Two feet, with hard bottom:
Belly-deep, hard bottom:
Shoulder-deep, soft bottom:
Shoulder-deep, with a sucking mire:
The same, with a network of roots, in which a part of the legs
are entangled, while the rest are plunging.
The same, with a middle ground of loose poles; a rotten log,
on which we rise dripping, to slip forward next moment, head
under, haunches in air. It is evident we have reached one of the
spots it would have been better to avoid.
The horses, reluctant and excited from the first, become furious and wild. At the next shoal-personal nastiness being
past consideration-we dismount, at knee-deep, to give them a
moment's rest, shifting the mule's saddle to the trembling
long-legged mare, and turning Mr. Brown loose, to follow as he
could.
After a breathing-spell we resume our splashed seats and the
line of wade.  Experience has taught us somnething, and we are
more shrewd in choice of footing, the slopes around large trees
being attractively high ground, until, by a stumble on a covered root, a knee is nearly crushed against a cypress trunk. Gullies now commence, cut by the rapid course of waters flowing off
before north winds, in which it is good luck to escape instant
drowning. Then quag again; the pony bogs; the mare, quiver
377 
37S   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
ing and  iiimanageable, jumps sidelong among loose corduroy;
and here are two riders standing waist-deep in mud and water
between two frantic, plunging-horses, fortunately not beneath
them.
Nack soon extricates himself, and joins the mule, looking on
terrified from behind.
Fanny, delirious, believes all her legs broken and strewn about
her, and falls, with a whining snort, upon her side. With incessant struggles she makes herself a mud bath, in which, with
blood-shot eyes, she furiously rotates, striking, now and then,
some stump, against which she rises only to fall upon the other
side, or upon her back, until her powers are exhausted, and her
head sinks beneath the surface. Mingled with our uppermost
sympathy are thoughts of the soaked note-books, and other contents of the saddle-bags, and of the.hundred dollars that drown
with her.  What of dense soil there was beneath her is now
stirred to porridge, and it is a dangerous exploit to approach.
But, withl joined hands, wve at length succeed in grappling her
bridle, and then in hauling her nostrils above water. She revives
only for a new tumult of dizzy pawing, before which we hastily
retreat. At a second pause her lariat is secured, and the saddle
cut adrift. For a half-hour the alternate resuscitation continues,
until we are able to drag the head of the poor beast, half strangled by the rope, as well as the mud and water, toward firmer
ground, where she recovers slowly her senses and her footing.
Any further attempts at crossing the somewhat "wet" Neches
bottoms are, of course, abandoned, and even the return to the
ferry is a serious sort of joke.  However, we congratulate ourselves that we are leaving, not entering the State, by this lower
read, as such a prolonged immersion, during a December sleet 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST. 
stoirm, might have had more serious consequences than the same
bedraggled soaking in May.   The ferry-man receives us and our
second payment of six dimes with a dry nod, that indicates that he
considers his advice to us, to try the bottoms, as a good investment,
for a man born no nearer Connecticut than the banks of Tennessee
river. After a day of scraping, rinsing, wringing out, and drying, at the very tolerable little village hotel, we make a new start,
toward a ferry six miles higher up the stream, where the passage
is effected without especial trouble.
Our horses being much jaded, we made, before leaving Beaumont, an exchange, by which Mr. Brown was left to the pleasant
business of guiding future travelers through the bottoms, and
Fanny to the quiet and restorative condition of a prairie brood
mare, while we acquired a fresh, lusty, good-natured American
stallion, who went satisfactorily through his task of a thousand
hot and dusty summer miles, among the hills and valleys that
lie between the Mississippi and the Atlantic slopes.
Alas, poor SNack!  The dear little brute was sold, a few days
later, for twenty-six dollars, and I hardly know what to regret
most, the necessary parting, the pitiful price, or the ruthless
stable-man's hands, into which he fell. A solemn promise
that he should have a month's vacation, and free range of a beautiful unfenced prairie, gave formal salvo to our conscience, but
affection still upbraids us for the mercenary separation from our
faithful companion. Flesh and blood were never made for cash
investments.
As for Judy, the terrier, the wet country had proved for her a
great relief.  Her ulcerated paws had been carefully covered
with moccasins, and, from the beginning of the marshy country,
daily improved, until she was able to accomplish the rare canine
379 
3SO0   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
feat of over two thousand miles of steady travel. A day's pause
was now to the tired creature a priceless boon, spent in a rest that
was no less than intense.  Selecting the quietest nook, she would
coil herself with great deliberation, and for hour after hour not
so much as move a muscle; immersed in a terrier's sleep, the tip
of an eyelid Per unlifted.  I shall not soon forget her appearance in the      es  bottom.   She was very averse-being anything but a water-dog-to enter at all; but seeing herself abandoned, as we waded away, jumped, with a yelp, into the water,
and swam for the nearest stump; and so followed, alternately
submerged in silence and mounted, with a series of dripping
howls, upon these rotten pedestals.
For ourselves, we had derived less physical advantage, from
our two thousand miles of active exposure, than we had buoyaitly anticipated. The abominable, diet, and the fatigue, sometimes relatively too severe, had served to null the fresh benefits
of pure air and stimulating travel. Lungs, oppressed at home,
played, perhaps, a little more freely; but the frame had not
absorbed the sanguine sturdiness that should enable it to resist
subtle tendencies, and get itself rudely superior to circumstances.
In this low district, the hot, soggy breath of the approaching
summer was extremely depressing; so much so, as to cause me
once a fall from the saddle in faint exhaustion. I retained consciousness enough to loose the lariat and wind it upon my arm;
but, as such loitering was not unfrequent, this was not observed,
and I lay half an hour alone, face to the ground, hardly breathing, and unable to speak.
But, to a pulmonary invalid, who can throw off cares, and
who has any recuperative elasticity in him, I can recommend 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
nothing more heartily than a winter's ride or sporting trip upon
the Texan prairies. For many a case of incipient phthisis, such
a course would be the nearest to specific. With money and
sufficient pains-taking, it is possible to command a wholesome
diet; with clothing and patience, the northers are easily endured.
I believe our experience of them to have been unusually severe;
but it is remarkable that, owing, perhaps, to some peculiar property of the air from the dry plains, we did not once take cold
in them, nor ever suffer anything worse than inconvenience. Six
months of leisurely prairie-life, along the pure mountain streams
of the West, would, for many a man, now hacking away at his
young tubercles in hot rooms, and a weary routine of business,
double not only the length but the enjoyable value of life, and
at no greater outlay than the sum of his medical bills.
OUT OF TEXAS.
Our road, as far as the Sabine, lay through a district of poorer
and more sandy soil, thickly wooded with pine, having small and
unfrequent wet prairies. Although rain was much needed for
-rops, we estimated that one-eighth of the surface was covered
by water in stagnant pools.  We passed, on both sides the
Saabine, many abandoned farms, and the country is but thinly
settled. We found it impossible to obtain information about
oads, and frequently went astray upon cattle-paths, once losing
wenty miles in a day's journey. The people were still herds.en, cultivating a little cotton upon river-banks, but ordinarily
,nly corn, with a patch of cane to furnish household sugar.  We
ried in vain to purchase corn for our horses, and were told that
folks didn't make corn enough to bread them, and if anybody
ad corn to give his horse, he carried it in his hat and went out
3si 
382    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
behind somewhere." The herds were in poor condition, and
must in winter be reduced to the verge of starvation. We saw
a few hogs, converted by hardship to figures so unnatural, that
we at first took them for goats.   Most of the people we met,
were old emigrants, from Southern Louisiana and Mississippi,
and more disposed to gayety and cheer than the Texan planters.
The houses showed a tendency to Louisiana forms, and the
table to a French style of serving the jerked beef, which is the
general dish of the country. The meat is dried in strips, over
smoky fires, and, if untainted and well prepared, is a tolerably
savory food. I hardly know whether to chronicle it as a border
barbarism, or a Creolism, that we were several times, in this
neighborhood, shown to a bed standing next to that occupied by
the host and his wife, sometimes with the screen of a shawl,
sometimes without.
We met with one specimen of the Virginia habit of "dipping,"
or snuff-chewing, in the person of a woman who was otherwise
neat and agreeable, and observed that a young lady, well-dressed,
and apparently engaged, while we were present, in reading, went
afterward to light her pipe at the kitchen fire, and had a smoke
behind the house.
The condition of the young men appeared to incline decidedly
to barbarism.  We stopped a night at a house in which a drover,
I)ibr ingig mules from Mexico, was staying; and, with the neighI)ors who had come to look at the drove, we were thirteen men
at table. When speaking with us, all were polite and respectful,
the women especially so; but among one another, their coarseness was incredible.   The master of the house, a well-known
gentleman of the county, came after supper upon the gallery
and commenced cursing furiously, because some one had taken 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
his pipe. Seeing us, he stopped, and after lighting the pipe said,
"Where are you from, gentlemen?"
"From Beaumont, sir, last."
"Been out West?"
Yes, sir."
"Traveling?"
"Yes, sir."
After pausing a moment to make up his mind  "Where do you live when you are at home, gentlemen, and
what's your business in this country?"
"We live in New York, and are traveling to see the country."
"How do you like it?"
"Just here we find it flat and wet."
"What's your name?"
"Olmsted."
"And what's this gentleman's name?"
"Olmsted."
"as it a Spanish name?"
"No, sir."
He then abruptly left us, and the young men entertained one
another with stories of fights and horse-trades, and with vulgar
obscenities.
Shortly he returned, saying
"Show you to bed now, gentlemen, if you wish?"
"We are ready, sir, if you will be good enough to get a light."
"A light?"
"Yes, sir."
"A light?"
"Yes, sir."
" Get a light?"
383 
3S4   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
"Yes, sir."
"Well, I'll get one."
On reaching the bed-room, which was in a building adjoining,
he stood awaiting our pleasure. Thanking him, I turned to
take the light,- but found his fingers were the candlestick. He
continued to hold it, and six young men, who had followed us,
stood grouped around while we undressed, placing our clothes
upon the floor. Judy advanced to lie down by them. One of
the young men started forward, and said  "I've got a right good knife."
"What?"
"I've got a right good knife, if you want it."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, only I've got a right good knife, and if you'd like
to kill that dog, I'll lend it to you."
'Please to tell me what you mean?"
"Oh, nothing."
Keep your dog quiet, or I'll kill her," I suppose was the interpretation.  When we had covered ourselves in bed, the host said  "I suppose you don't want the light no more?"
"No, sir;" and all bade us good-night, but, leaving the door
open, commenced feats of prolonged dancing, or stamping upon
the gallery, which were uproariously applauded. Then came more
obscenities and profanities, apropos to fandango frolics described
by the drovers. As we had barely got to sleep, several came to
occupy other beds in our room. They had been drinking freely,
and continued smoking in bed.
Upon the floor lay two boys of fourteen, who continued shouting and laughing after the others had at length become quiet.
Some one soon said to one of them 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST. 
"You had better stop your nioise; Frank says he'll be damn'd
if he don't come in and give you a hiding."
Frank was trying to sleep upon the gallery.
" By God," the boy cried, raising himself, and drawing a coat i
from under the pillow, "if he comes in here, I'll be damn'd if I
don't kill him. He dare not come in here. I would like to see
him come in here," drawing from his coat pocket a revolver, and
cocking it.  "By God, you may come in here now.  Come in
here, come in here! Do you hear that?" revolving the pistol
rapidly.  "God damn me, if I don't kill you, if you come near
the door."
This continued without remonstrance for some time, when he
lay down, asking his companion for a light for his pipe, and con tinuing the noisy conversation until we fell asleep.   The pre vious talk had been much of knife and pistol fights which had
taken place in the county. The same boy was obliging and
amiable next morning, assisting us to bring in and saddle the
horses at our departure.
One of the men here was a Yankee, who had lived so long
in the Slave States that he had added to his original ruralisms a
very complete collection of Southernisms, some of which were
of the richest we met with. He had been in the Texas Rangers, and, speaking of the West, said he had been up round the
head of the Guadalupe "heaps and cords of times," at the
same time giving us a very picturesque account of the county.
Speaking of wolves, he informed us that on the San Jacinto
there were "any dimensions of them."  Obstinacy, in his vocabulary, was represented by "damnation cussedness."   He  was
unable to conceive of us in any other light than as two peddlers who had mistaken their ground in coming here.
17
385
t 
386    A JOURNEY TItROUGH TEXAS.
At another house where we stopped (in which, by the way,
we eat our supper by the light of pine knots blazing in the chimney, with an apology for the absence of candles), we heard some
conversation upon a negro of the neighborhood, who had been
sold to a free negro, and who refused to live with him, saying he
wouldn't be a servant to a nigger. All agreed that he was right,
although the man was well known to be kind to his negroes, and
would always sell any of them who wished it. The slave had
been sold because he wouldn't mind.  "If I had a negro that
wouldn't mind," said the woman of the house, "I'd break his
head, or I'd sell him. I wouldn't have one about me." Her
own servant was standing behind her.  "I do think it would be
better if there wasn't any niggers in the world, they do behave
so bad, some of'em. They steal just like hogs."
We inquired about the free negroes of whom they were speaking, and were told the+. there were a number in the county, all
mulattoes, who had come from Louisiana. Some of them owned
many negroes, and large stocks. There were some white people,
good-for-nothing people, that married in with them, but they
couldn't live in Texas after it; all went over into Louisiana.
They knew of no law excluding free negroes from the State; if
there were any such law, no one here cared for it.
This county has been lately the scene of events, which prove
that it must have contained a much larger number of free
negroes and persons of mixed blood than we were informed on
the spot, in spite of the very severe statute forbidding their
introduction, which has been backed by additional legislative
penalties in 1856. Banded together, they have been able to
resist the power, not only of the legal authorities, but of a local
"Vigilance Committee," which gave them a certain number of 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
hours to leave the State, and a guerrilla of skirmishes and murders
has been carried on for many months, upon the banks of the
Sabine, with the revival of the old names of " Moderators and
Regulators," of the early Texans.
The feud appears to have commenced with the condemnation,
by a justice of the peace, of a free mulatto, named Samuel
Ashworth, to receive twenty-five lashes, on a charge of malicious
killing of his neighbor's hogs, and of impertinent talking. The
Ashworths were a rich mulatto family, settled in Texas in the
earliest days of the Republic, and exempted by special mention
from the operation of the law forbidding residence to free
negroes. They are now three and four generations removed
from black blood, and have had a reputation for great hospitality,
keeping open house for all who call.   The member of the fami ly who was condemned to the indignity of being publicly whip ped, rose upon his guard while in Me hands of the sheriff, and
escaped. In a few days after, he returned with a mulatto companion, and shot the man on whose testimony he was condemned. Upon this the Vigilance Committee was organized,
and the sheriff, who was suspected of connivance at the escape
of Ashworth, and all the Ashworth family with their relatives
and supporters, summoned to leave the county on pain of death.
On the other hand, all free men of color on the border, to the
number of one hundred and fifty, or more, joined with a few
whites and Spaniards, formed an organized band, and defied the
Committee, and then ensued a series of assassinations, burnings
of houses and saw-mills, and open fights. The Moderators, or
Committee-men, became strong enough to range the county, and
demand that every man, capable of bearing arms, should join
them, or quit the county on pain of death. This increased the
387 
3SS  A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
resistance and the bloody retaliation, and, at the last accounts
they were laying regular siege to the house of a family who had
refused to join them. Thirty families had been compelled to
leave the county, and murders were still occurring every week.
Among those killed were two strangers, traveling through the
county; also the deputy sheriff, and the sheriff himself, who was
found concealed under the floor of a lonely house, with a quantity of machinery for the issue of false money, and instantly shot:
the proprietor of the house, defending himself, revolver in hand,
fell pierced with many balls. The aid of the military power of
the State had been invoked by the legal authorities; but the
issue I have not seen in the newspapers.
CATTLE CROSSING AT THE SABINE.
We arrived, without serious difficulty from swamps, at the west
bank of the Sabine, but with soft splashing and floundering
enough to recall our wetting at the Neches, and render us extremely reluctant to enter the road across three miles of low
bottom on the other side. For my own part, so disagreeable a
sensation, in memory, was that of the sinking of a horse under
one, in soft mud under water, until his control over himself is
lost, that I would have been ready to embark in the first chicken
boat for New Orleans, rather than undertake a second wade like
that one. But there was no alternative.
There came to the ferry, at the same moment, a drove of
mules, and we were curious to see the operation of crossing
them. They were first herded in a high-fenced pen upon the
shore.   After we had crossed, the ferry-man returned in a small
skiff, and led into the water a horse accustomed to the work, who
was held by the bridle to swim behind the boat, as she receded 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST. 
from the shore. The mules were then driven on with loud
shouts and charges from behind, and the foremost being pushed
over the bank, on taking to the water, naturally, after a moment's
hesitation, followed the horse before them. Men are stationed
above and below, to frighten off any who attempt to turn back,
and others have the same duty on the opposite side. It is a
moment of anxiety; for, should the drove go up or down the
stream, or simply insist, through fright or obstinacy, in landing
above or below the wings of the pen in which they are received,
the greater part would be lost in the swamp forever.
We learned upon the other side, that it was practicable " to
take long ferriage," and avoid the bottom almost entirely, by
pulling the ferry-boat an hour or two up the stream, to a bluff
which the road touched.   But, although we were willing to pay
the regular. charge of four dollars, the ferryman, having an idle
turn, refused to gratify us, and we were forced to engage a pilot
to take us out by the saddle channel. Following him closely,
we were soon upon dry ground, without so much as bedraggled
skirts.  The pilot was also paid by the drover, whose mules came
behind without accident.
The drover considered the Neches bottoms to be in better condition than usual, at present.   He had crossed them twice within a year, when he was obliged to swim the horse he rode no
inconsiderable part of the way. Once he had horses which he
got over without loss.
The second time, he had cattle, and had engaged twelve extra
hands to assist him, at three dollars each. Nineteen of the cattle bogged, and he lost them; for, if these wild prairie cattle are
left behind or become separated from the drove, they can never
be driven. There is danger that they will drive the drivers.
389 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
THE DROVER'S STORY.
"I had a splendid pony that trip-a large, powerful pony I
called Crockett. When those nineteen beeves bogged, Crockett
bogged in behind them. There were two other men near me,
one of them on horseback and the other on foot, trying to
drive up the bogged cattle. Crockett was in clear up to his
withers. Of course, I got off. The mud was about knee-deep,
and the water was up to my breast. Among the beeves that
were bogged, there was one big old ox that got fiery mad, and
he struggled out and turned round and made at the man on the
horse, and that was right towards me.'For God's sake,' says I,
'turn off and get your horse tother side of the tree; if he comes
this way he'll kill me, or, if he don't, he'll kill Crockett, sure,' for
Crockett and I were both bogged, and couldn't get out of his
way. The man turned his horse and got him to one side; but
then he saw the man who was on foot. He was a Dutch fellow
named Christian-a great big man, six foot, and very fat and
heavy. He was very strong and active, though-a great deal
more than you'd think, to look at him-and a first-rate fellow.
"Well, when the ox took sight of Christian, he put after
him, and you ought to've seen them two!  I couldn't help laughing then, though I had nineteen beeves bogged down and my
best horse, and I was bogged in myself, and didn't know how soon
he'd turn at me. I couldn't help laughing, for all, to see them two
dig. Christian, he was working for his life, and the ox was fiery
mad and putting in with all his might; but they were both bellydeep in mud, and though they both laid down all they had in'erm,
they'd ha' made about as good time if they'd had all their legs
sawed off. Finally, he got to a tree, and hauled himself up before
the ox got to him, and then it struck off into the swamp."
390 
ALON)G TIlE EASTERN COAST.
"And what became of the rest?"
"Oh, we had to push on and leave'em there."
You go)t Crockett out, then?"
"Yes; let him rest awhile, and then he worked himself outa good horse almost always will."
"And what became of the cattle you left?"
"God knows.  They got off into the swamp, I suppose, after
awhile.   There's lots of beef cattle that stray off so from a
drove, and are never recovered."
"As nobody owns these cattle but the drover, and they are
all branded so nobody else will claim them, and he never comes
after them, I suppose they live out the natural life of beefcattle."
"I suppose so."
WESTERN LOUISIANA.
Soon after crossing the Sabine, we entered a "hummock," or
tract of more fertile, oak-bearing land, known as the Big Woods.
The soil is not rich, but produces cotton, in good seasons nearly
a bale to the acre, and the limited area is fully occupied. Upon
one plantation we found an intelligent emigrant from Mississippi,
who had just bought the place, having stopped on his way into
Texas, because the time drew near for the confinement of his
wife. Many farms are bought by emigrants, he said, from such
temporary considerations: a child is sick, or a horse exhausted;
they stop for a few weeks; but summer comes, and they conclude to put in a crop, and often never move again.
It was before reaching the Big Woods, that alligator-holes
were first pointed out to us, with a caution to avoid them.
They extend from an aperture, obliquely, under ground to a
391 
392    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
large cavern, the walls of which are puddled by the motions of
the animal; and, being partly filled with water, form a comfort able amphibious residence.  A horseman is liable, not only to
breaking through near the orifice, but to being precipitated into
the den itself, where he will find awaiting him, a disagreeable
mixture of mire and angry jaws.  In the deep water of the bot tons, we met with no snakes; but the pools were everywhere
alive with them. We saw a great variety of long-legged birds,
apparently on friendly terms with all the reptiles.
A day's journey took us through the Big Woods, and across
the Calcasieu to Lake Charles.  We were not prepared to find
the Calcasieu a superb and solemn river, two hundred and thirty
yards across and forty-five feet deep.  It is navigable for forty
miles, but at its mouth has a bar, on which is sometimes only
eighteen inches water, ordinarily thirty inches.   Schooners of
light draft ascend it, bringing supplies, and taking out the cotton
raised within its reach. Lake Charles is an insignificant village,
upon the bank of a pleasant, clear lakelet, several miles in extent.
From the Big Woods to Opelousas, there was no change in
the monotonous scenery.   Everywhere extended the immense
moist plain, bearing alternate tracts of grass and pine. Nearer
Opelousas, oak appears in groups with the pine, and the soil is
darker and more fertile. Here the land was mostly taken up,
partly by speculators, in view of the Opelousas Railway, then
commenced. But, in all the western portion of the district, the
land is still government property, and many of the people squatters. Sales are seldom made, but the estimated price of the
land is fifty cents an acre. It is of no value, except as range for
herds, and is as thickly settled as it can profitably be, for this
purpose. 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
Tile herds here are principally of horses, which are of the
kind known as "Creole ponies," descended from Norman and
Arabian blood, and more valuable than the Spanish stock of
Texas, being more intelligent, less vicious, and better formed;
hut so small as to be suitable only for the saddle.  They are
valued at from twenty to sixty dollars, the wilder and more
neglected herds being of inferior development.
Some of the timbered land, for a few years after clearing,
yields good crops of corn and sweet potatoes. Cotton is seldom
attempted, and sugar only for family use. Oats are sometimes
grown, but the yield is small, and seldom thrashed from the
straw. We noted one field of poor rye. So wet a region and
so warm a climate suggest rice, and, were the land sufficiently
fertile, it would, doubtless, become a staple production. It is
now only cultivated for home use, the bayou bottoms being rudely arranged for flowing the crop. But, without manure, no profitable return can be obtained from breaking the prairie, and the
only system of manuring in use is that of plowing up occasionally the cow-pens of the herdsmen.
The management of cattle is the same here as in Texas, the
laws slightly varying in respect to unbranded yearlings, which
are subjected to what is termed the "Congress brand," or mark
of the parish, and are sold at auction for the public benefit. But
in practice they are usually branded by the first comer, though
the penalty is severe. The price of beef cattle was twenty dollars;  of cows  about the  same;  that of "stock-cattle," ten
dollars. The numbers of the last are' roughly calculated, by
multiplying by three the total of calves branded in the year.
The road was now distinctly marked enough, but had frequent
and embarrassing forks, which occasioned us almost as much an      ] 7:
393 
394    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
noyance as the clouds of musquitoes which, east of the Sabine,
hovered continually about our horses and our heads. Notions
of distance we found incredibly vague. At Lake Charles we
were informed that the exact distance to Opelousas was ninetysix miles. After riding eight hours, we were told by a respectable gentleman that the distance firom his house was one hundred
.;ld twenty miles. The next evening the distance was forty
miles, and the following evening a gentleman who met us stated
first that it was "a good long way," next that it was " thirty
or forty miles, and damn'd long ones, too." About four miles
beyond him, we reached the twentieth mgile-post.
Across the bayous of any size, bridges had been constructed,
but so rudely built of logs that the traveler, where possible, left
them for a ford.
The people, after passing the frontier, changed in every prominent characteristic. French became the prevailing language, and
French the prevailing manners. The gruff Texan bidding, " Sit
up, stranger, take some fry!" became a matter of recollection,
of which "Monsieur, la soupe est servie," was the smooth substitute. The good-nature of the people was an incessant astonishment. If we inquired the way, a contented old gentleman
waddled out and showed us also his wife's house-pet, an immense white crane, his big crop of peaches, his old fig-tree,
thirty feet in diameter of shade, and to his wish  of "bon
voyage" added for each a bouquet of the jessamines we were
admiring. The homes were homes, not settlements on speculation; the house, sometimes of logs, it is true, but hereditary
logs, and more often of smooth lumber, with deep and spreading
galleries on all sides for the coolest comfort. For form, all ran
or tended to run to a peaked and many-chimneyed centre, with, 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
lihere and there, a siuggestion of a dormar window.  Not all were
provided with figs and jessamines, but each had some inclosure
betraying good intentions.
AMONG THE CREOLES.
The monotonous landscape did not invite to loitering, and we
passed but three nights in houses by the road.  The first was
that of an old Italian-French emigrant, known as "Old Man
Corse."  He had a name of his own, which he recalled for us,
but in forty years it had been lost and superseded by this de sig,nation, derived from his birth-place, the island of Corsica.
This mixture of nationalities in language must be breeding for
future antiquaries a good deal of amusing labor. Next day we
were recommended to stop at Jack Bacon's, and, although we
would have preferred to avoid an American's, did so rather
than go further, and found our Jack Bacon a Creole, named
Jacques Beguin. This is equal to Tuckapaw and Nakitosh,
the general pronunciation of Attakapas and Natehitoches.
The house of Old Man Corse stood in the shade of oaks, figs,
and cypresses, upon the bank of a little bayou, looking out
upon the broad prairie. It was large and comfortable, with wide
galleries and dormar windows, supported by a negro-hut and a
stable.  Ornamental axe-work and rude decorative joinery were
abundant. The roof was of large split shingles, much warped
in the sun.  As we entered and took seats by the fire, the room
reminded us, with its big fire-place, and old smoke-stained and
time-toned cypress beams and ceiling, and its rude but comfortable aspect, of the Acadian fireside:
In doors, warm by the wide-mouthed fire-place, idly the farmer
Sat in his elbow-chair, and watched how the flames and the smoke-wreaths
Struggled together, like foes in a burning city. Behind him
Nodling and mocking along the wall. with gestures fantastie,
395 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished away into darkness,
Faces, clumsily carved in oak, on the back of his arm-chair,
Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter plates on the dresser
Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of armies the sunshine."
The tall, elderly, busy housewife bustled about with preparations for supper, while we learned that they had been settled
here forty years, and had never had reason to regret their emigration. The old man had learned French, but no English. The
woman could speak some "American," as she properly termed
it.  Asking her about musquitoes, we  received a reply  in
French, that they were more abundant some years than others;
then, as no quantitative adjective of sufficient force occurred to
her, she added, "Three years ago, oh! heaps of musquitoes, sir,
]eaps!-worse as now."
She laid the table to the last item, and prepared everything
nicely, but called a negro girl to wait upon us. The girl stood
quiet behind us, the mistress helping us, and practically anticipating all our wants.
The supper was of venison, in ragout, with a sauce that savored of the south of France; there was a side-dish of hominy,
a jug of sweet milk, and wheat-bread in loaf-the first since
Houston.
In an evening smoke, upon the settle, we learned that there
were many Creoles about here, most of whom learned English,
and had their children taught English at the schools.   The
Americans would not take the trouble to learn French. They
often intermarried. A daughter of their own was the wife of an
American neighbor. We asked if they knew of a distinct people
here called Acadians.   Oh yes, they knew many settled in the
vicinity, descended from some nation that came here in the last
century. They had now no peculiarities. There were but few
396 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
free negroes just here, but at Opelousas and Niggerville there were
many, some of whom were rich and owned slaves, though a part
were unmixed black in color. They kept pretty much by themselves, not attempting to enter white society.
OLD VIRGINIA.
As we went to look at our horses, two negroes followed us to
the stable.
"Dat horse a Tennessee horse, Mass'r," said one.
"Yes, he was born in Tennessee."
"Born in Tennessee and raised by a Dutchman," said the
other, sotto voce, I suppose, quoting a song.
"Why, were you born in Tennessee?" I asked.
"No, sar, I was born in dis State.
"How comes it you speak English so much better than your
master?"
"0 Lord! my old mass'r, he don' speak it at all; my missus
she speak it better'n my mass'r do, but you see I war raised on
de parara, to der eastward, whar thar's heaps of'31ericans; so I
larned it good."
He spoke it with a slight accent, while the other, whom he
called Uncle Tom, I observed did not. I asked -Uncle Tom if
he was born in the State.
"; io, sar, I was born in Vargi?zny, in ole Varginny, mass'r.  I
was raised in      county [in the west].  I was twenty-two year
ole when I came away from thar, and I've been in this country
forty year come next Christmas."
"Then you are sixty years old."
"Yes, sar, amos' sixty. But I'd like to go back to Varginny.
Ho, ho! I'ould like to go back and live in ole Varginny, again."
397 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
"Why so? I thought niggers generally liked this country
best-I've teen told so-because it is so warm here."
"Ho, ho! it's mos' too warm here, sometime, and I can't work
at my trade here. Sometimes for three months I don' go in my
shop, on'y Sundays to work for mysef."
"W hat is your trade?"
"I'm a blacksmith, mass'r. I used to work at blacksmithing
all the time in ole Virginny, ironin' wagons and shoein' horses
for the folks that work in the mines. But here, can't get nothun to do. In this here sile, if you sharpen up a plough in the
spring o' the year, it'll last all summer, and horses don' want
shoeing once a year here on the parara. I've got a good mass'r
here, tho'; the ole man ain't hard on his niggers."
"Was your master hard in Virginia?"
"Well, I wos hired to different mass'rs, sar, thar, afore I wos
sole off. I was sole off to a sheriff's sale, mass'r; I wos sole for
fifteen hunerd an' fifty dollars; I fetched that on the block, cash,
I did, and the man as bought me he brung me down here, and
sole me for two thousand two hunerd dollars."
"That was a good price; a very high price in those days."
"Yes, sar, it was that-ho, ho, ho!  It was a man by the name
of, from Tennessee, what bought me.  He made a business
of goin' roun' and buyin' up people, and bringin''em down here,
speculatin' on'em.  Ho, ho! he did well that time.  But I'd'a'
liked it better, for all that, to have stayed in ole Varginny.'Tain't
the heat, tho' it's too hot here sometimes, but you know, sar, I wos
born and raised in Varginny, and seems like'twould be pleasanter
to live thar. It's kinder natural to people to hanker arter the
place they wos raised in.  Ho, ho! I'd like it a heap better, tho'
this ole man's a good mass'r; never had no better mass'r."
39S 
ALONG THE i EATERN COAST.
"I suppose you became a Catholic after you got here?"
" Yes, sar" (hesitatingly).
"I suppose all the people are Catholics here?"
" Here? Oh, no, sar; that was whar I wos first in this here
country; they wos all Catholics there."
"Well, they are all Catholics here, too-ain't they?"
Here, sar?  Here, sar?  Oh, no, sar!"
"Why, your master is not a Protestant, is he?"
After two deep groans, he replied in a whisper:
"Oh, sar, they don' have no meetin' o' no kind roun' here!"
"There are a good many free negroes in this country, ain't
there?"
" WVhat! here, sar?  Oh, no, sar; no such good luck as that
in this country."
"At Opelousas, I understood, there were a good many."
"Oh, but them wos born free, sar, under old Spain, sar."
"Yes, those I mean."
"Oh, yes, there's lots o' them; some of'em rich, and some of
'em-a good many of'em-goes to the penitentiary-you know
what that is. White folks goes to the penitenti'ry, too-ho.! ho!
-sometimes."
"I have understood many of them were quite rich."
Oh, yes, o' course they is; they started free, and hain't got
nobody to work for but theirselves; of course they gets rich.
Some of'em owns slaves-heaps of'em. That ar ain't right."
" Not right! why not?"
"Why, you don' think it's right for one nigger to own another
nigger! One nigger's no business to sarve another. It's bad
enough to have to sarve a white man without being paid for it,
without having to sarve a black man."
399 
4()00 A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
" Don't they treat their slaves well?"
"No, sar, they don't.  There ain't no nations so bad masters
to niggers as them free niggers, though there's some, I've heard,
wos very kind; but-I wouldn't sarve'em if they wos-no!Does you live in Tennessee, mass'r?"
"No-in New York."
"There's heaps of Quakers in New York, ain't there, mass'r?"
"No-not many."
"I've always heard there was."
"In Philadelphia there are a good many."
"Oh, yes! in Philadelphia, and in Winchester, and in New
Jarsey. I know-ho! ho! I've been in those countries, and
I've seen'em. I wos raised nigh by Winchester, and I've been
all about there. Used to iron wagons and shoe horses in that
country. Dar's a road from Winchester to Philadelphia-right
straight. Quakers all along. Right good people, dem Quakers
-ho! ho!-I know."
We slept in well-barred beds, and awoke long after sunrise.
As soon as we were stirring, black coffee was sent into us, and
at breakfast we had cafe au lait in immense bowls, in the style
of the cremneries of Paris. The woman remarked that our dog
had slept in their bed-room. They had taken our saddle-bags
and blankets with them for security, and Judy had insisted on
following them. "Dishonest black people might come here and
get into the room," explained the old man.   "Yes; and some
of our own people in the house might come to them. Such
things have happened here, and you never can trust any of them,"
said the woman, her own black girl behind her chair.
At Mr. Be6guin's (Bacon's) we stopped on a Saturday night;
and I was obliged to feed my own horse in the morning, the 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
negroes having all gone off before daylight. The proprietor was
a Creole farmer, owning a number of laborers, and living in comfort. The house was of the ordinary Southern double-cabined
style, the people speaking English, intelligent, lively and polite,
giving us good entertainment at the usual price. At a rude cornmill belonging to Mr. B6guin, we had noticed among the negroes
an Indian boy, in negro clothing, and about the house were two
other Indians-an old man and a young man; the first poorly
clad, the other gaily dressed in a showy printed calico frock, and
w-orked buckskin leggins, with beads and tinsel ornaments, a great
turban of Scotch shawl-stuff on his head.  It appeared they were
Choctaws, of whom a good many lived in the neighborhood.
The two were hired for farm labor at three bits (371 cents) a
day. The old man had a field of his own, in which stood handsome corn. Some of them were industrious, but none were
steady at work-often refusing to go on, or absenting themselves,
from freaks. I asked about the boy at the mill. He lived there
and did work, getting no wages, but "living there with the niggers." They seldom consort; our host knew but one case in
which a negro had an Indian wife.
At Lake Charles we had seen a troop of Alabamas, riding
through the town with baskets and dressed deer-skins for sale.
They were decked with feathers, and dressed more showily than
the Choctaws, but in calico: and over their heads, on horseback,
-curious progress of manners-all carried open black cotton
?mibrellas.
A " NATIVE DUTCH FRENCHMAN'S" FARM.
Our last night beyond hotels was spent in a house which we
reached at sundown of a Sunday afternoon. It proved to be a
431 
402   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
mere cottage, ill a style which has grown to be common along
our road. The walls are low, of timber and mud; the roof,
high, and sloping from a short ridge in all directions; and the
chimney of sticks and mud. The space is divided into one long
living-room, having a kitchen at one end and a bed-room at the
other. As we rode up, we found only a little boy, who answered
us in French. His mother was milking, and his father out in
the field.
We rode on to the fence of the field, which enclosed twenty
acres, planted in cotton, corn, and sweet potatoes, and waited
until the proprietor reached us and the end of his furrow. He
stopped before replying, to unhitch his horse, then gave consent
to our staying in his house, and we followed his lead to the
yard, where we unsaddled our horses. He was a tall, stalwart
man in figure, with a large, intellectual head, but as uninformed,
we afterwards discovered, as any European peasant; though he
wore, as it were, an ill-fitting dress of rude independence in
manner, such as characterizes the Western man.
The field was well cultivated, and showed the best corn we
had seen east of the Brazos. Three negro men and two women
were at work, and continued hoeing until sunset. They were
hired, it appeared, by the proprietor, at four bits (fifty cents) a
day. He was in the habit of making use of the Sundays of the
slaves of the neighborhood in this way, paying them sometimes
seventy-five cents a day.
On entering the house, we were met by two young boys, gentle and winning in manner, coming up of their own accord to
offer us their hands. They were immediately set to work by
their father at grinding corn, in the steel-mill, for supper. The
task seemed their usual one, yet very much too severe for their 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
strength, as they were slightly built, and not over ten years old.
Taking hold at opposite sides of the winch, they ground away,
outside the door, for more than an hour, constantly stopping to
take breath, and spurred on by the voice of the papa, if the
delay were long.
They spoke only French, though understanding questions in
Eng,lish. The man and his wife-an energetic but worn womanspoke French or English indifferently, even to one another, chlanging, often, in a single sentence.  He could not tell us which was
his mother tongue; he had always been as much accustomed to
the one as to the other. He said he was not a Frenchman, but a
native, American-born; but afterwards called himself a "DutchAmerican," a phrase he was unable to explain. He informed us
that there were many "Dutch-French" here, that is, people who
were Dutch, but who spoke French.
The room into which we were ushered, was actually without
an article of furniture. The floor was of boards, while those of
the other two rooms were of trodden clay. The mud-walls had
no other relief than the mantel, on which stood a Connecticut
clock, two small mirrors, three or four cheap cups and saucers,
and a paste brooch in the form of a cross, pinned upon paper, as
in a jeweler's shop.  Chairs were brought in from the kitchen,
having deer-hide seats, from which sprang forth an atrocious
number of fresh fleas.
We had two or three hours to wait for our late supper, and
thus more than ample time to converse with our host, who proceeded to twist and light a shuck cigar. He made, he said, a
little cotton, which he hauled ten miles to be ginned and baled.
For this service he paid seventy-five cents a hundred weight, in
which the cost of bagging was not included. The planter who baled
403 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
it, also sold it for him, sending it, with his own, to a factor in
New Orleans, by steamboat from Niggerville, just beyond Ope lousas.   Beside cotton, he sold every year some  beef cattle.
He had a good many cows, but didn't exactly know how many.
Corn, too, he sometimes sold, but only to neighbors, who had
not raised enough for themselves. It would not pay to haul it
to any market. The same applied to sweet-potatoes, which were
considered worth seventy-five cents a barrel.
The  "range"  was  much  poorer  than  formerly.   It was
crowded, and people would have to take their stock somewhere
else in four or five years more, or they would starve. He didn't
know what was going to become of poor folks, rich people were
taking up the public land so fast, induced by the proposed railroad to New Orleans.
More or less stock was always starved in winter. The worst
time for them was when a black gnat, called the "eye-breaker,"
comes out. This insect breeds in the low woodlands, and when
a freshet occurs in winter is driven out in swarms upon the prairies, attacking cattle terribly. They were worse than all manner
of musquitoes, flies, or other insects. Cattle would herd together then, and wander wildly about, not looking for the best
feed, and many would get killed. But this did not often
happen.
Horses and cattle had degenerated much within his recollection. No pains were taken to improve breeds. People, now-adays, had got proud, and when they had a fine colt would break
him for a carriage or riding-horse, leaving only the common,
scurvy sort to run with the mares. This was confirmed by our
observation, the horses about here being wretched in appearance,
and the grass short and coarse.
404 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
When we asked to wash before supper, a shallow cake-pan
was brought and set upon the window-seat, and a mere rag offered us for towel. Upon the supper-table, we found two washbowls, one filled with milk, the other with molasses.   We asked
for water, which was given us in one battered tin cup. The
dishes, besides the bacon and bread, were fried eggs and sweet
potatoes. The bowl of molasses stood in the centre of the
table, and we were pressed to partake of it, as the family did, by
dipping in it bits of bread. But how it was expected to be used
at breakfast, when we had bacon and potatoes, with spoons, but
no bread, I cannot imagine.
The night was warm, and musquitoes swarmed, but we had
with us a portable tent-shaped bar, which we hung over the feather bed, upon the floor, and rested soundly amid their mad
singing.
The distance to Opelousas, our Frenchman told us, was fifteen
miles by the road, though only ten miles in a direct line. We
found it lined with farms, whose division-fences the road always
followed, frequently changing its course in so doing at a right
angle. The country was very wet and unattractive. About five
miles from the town, begin plantations on an extensive scale,
upon better soil, and here were large gangs of negroes at work
upon cotton, with their hoes.
At the outskirts of the town, we waded the last pool, and
entered, with a good deal of satisfaction, the peaceful shaded
streets. Reaching the hotel, we were not so instantly struck
as perhaps we should have been, with the overwhelming advan
tages of civilization, which sat in the form of a landlord, slapping
with an agate-headed, pliable cane, her patent-leather boots,
poised, at easy height, upon one of the columns of the gallery.
405 
406  A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
We were suffered to take off our saddle-bags, and to wait until
waiting was no longer a pleasure, before civilization, wringing
his cane against the floor, but not removing his cigar, brought
his patent leathers to our vicinity.
After some conversation, intended as animated upon one side
and ineffably indifferent on the other, our horses obtained notice from that exquisitely vague eye, but a further introduction
was required before our persons became less than transparent,
for the boots walked away, and became again a subject of contemrnplation upon the column, leaving us, with our saddle-bags,
upon the steps. After inquiring of a bystander if this glossy
individual were the actual landlord, we attacked him in a tone
likely to produce either a revolver-shot or a room, but whose effect
was to obtain a removal of the cigar and a gentle survey, ending
in a call for a boy to show the gentlemen to number thirteen.
After an hour's delay, we procured water, and were about to
enjoy very necessary ablutions, when we observed that the door
of our  room was partly of uncurtained glass.   A  shirt was
pinned to this, and ceremonies were about beginning, when  a
step came down the passage, and a gentleman put his hand
through a broken pane, and lifted the obstruction, wishing, no
doubt, "to see what was going on so darn'd secret in number
thirteen."   He  drew  back  hastily,  and  entered  the  next
room, when I walked toward him hurriedly, in puris?zaturalibus.
But civilization vindicated itself a few days later, in the rapid
wheels and clean state-rooms of the " Alice W. Glaize."
Twenty-four hours took us through the alligator-bayous to
the Mississippi.   Here we separated,  one of us resuming the 
ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.
saddle-bags for a two or three months' trip across the mountains,
the other steaming on to New Orleans, where, twenty-four hours
later, a six months' flavor of bacon and corn was washed out in
the cheer of the St. Charles.
407 
CHAP. VII.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.
HISTORICAL AND ACTUAL POSITION.
vvHEN, in 1821, the government at Mexico lent an ear to the
plans of Moses Austin, they had not the shrewdness to detect in
his proposition to introduce upon their idle lands of Texas, three
hundred Catholic families from Louisiana,* the concealed point
of a wedge that was one day to sunder the Mexican Republic.
And when, the same year, the son of the Connecticut empresario staked upon the Brazos prairie the outlines of the first
American settlement in Texas, neither he nor the most sanguine
of the handful of pioneers, who joined in his venture, could have
foreseen the wonderful progress to follow on their little beginning.
These original colonists were not slow at calculating the value
of the rich acres their lucky eyes fell upon, nor in sending for
their relatives to come on and help take possession.   The first
advance was quiet, and after all due Spanish formality; and it
was not until a firm foothoold had been secured, that Americans
began to assert their natural rights as the smartest, to the biggest and fairest inheritance. It seems to have been understood
that the introduction of slaves was prohibited. They brought
* Yoakum, i., p. 211. 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.  409
thlem —)one the less —under an attested signature to a ninety  nine years' indenture.* As to Catholicism, not to jeopard their
titles or the legitimacy of their children, they were put, grinning,
in squads, through the farce of a Roman baptism and re-mar riage, by a rollicking vagabond father firom Ireland.
Excusing or ignoring a few little moral irregularities like
these, as stratagems likely to occur in the progress of any nation
before its destiny has become sufficiently manifest to warrant the
blunt use of force, we have no reason to be ashamed of the
sagacity and determination of our fellow-citizens who chose
Texas to build their homes in, nor of the manner in which they
bore themselves when, after they were in fair majority, they pre ferred English taxes and courts to Spanish.   They sturdily
subdued the lands, the savages, and when necessity was, the im pertinent Spaniards.
Every successive attempt at management of their political
landlords was bad; and at the last, had these been content to
live in democratic peace with their new tenants and neighbors,
their flag might at least have floated years longer over their
province.
We saw the land lying idle; we took it.  This to other iiations is all that we can say. Which one of them can cast the
first stone?
When the history is candidly re-read, the story that the whole
movement was the development of a deliberate and treacherous
plot for the conquest of Texas, appears a needless exaggeration
of influences that really played a secondary part. Plotting
there was, no doubt, and schemes little and big hung on the
" 4 Visit to Texas iiin J831."
Is 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
progress of circumstances.   Mr. Featherstonaiugh attests it, who
came upon Houston and other bold spirits, sitting up all night,
on the Arkansas border. But Texas bad long been coveted, and
various idle attempts at seizure had before been made.   The
event, when by a false step Americans were once invited to enter, was easily foreseen, and heroes of various sorts swarmed
around, to glut their ambition as civil and military chieftains,
and to get their names emblazoned upon the new map. The
class, whose property is invested in slaves, too, saw, clearly
enough, its interest in the issue, and resolutely helped it on; and
the South, as a section, was not blind to the prospect of so vast
a possible increase to its weight in the confederacy. But open
movement, under motives so palpable to all the world, cannot
be characterized as the workings of a plot, but rather as the first
strategetical movements for a free fight.
Austin was, I believe, no mischievous conspirator against
Spain, Mexico, or the interests of free labor, though, doubtless,
not unwilling to initiate events whose course would pass beyond
his responsibility and control. The colonists themselves went as
individuals-not as troops or emissaries-and with the single
motive, in most cases, of making more money  and having a
better time in Texas than they could have in the States.   The
movement was, first of all, agricultural; other influences, as the
fillibuster and slavery-extension spirit, were subordinate, and
only afterwards got the helm.  The land was fertile; that was
the kernel of the matter.
For a traveler who has lately ridden over the field, it is not
easy to express regret for the simple fact that the fates have
ordered such an addition to our national estate, though he may
believe it dearly purchased, if it serve to delay for a single year
410 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.  411
our ultimate riddance of the curse of slavery. Since an English
plough first broke the virgin sward of the sea-slope of Virginia,
Saxons have not entered on so magnificent a domain. Many
times, while making these notes, I have stopped to seek a superlative equal to some individual feature of the scenery to be
described, and one is more than ever wanting to apply to the
country as a whole. With a front on the highway of the world,
the high central deserts of the continent behind, a gentle slope
stretching between, of soil unmatched in any known equal area,
and a climate tempered for either work or balmy enjoyment,
Texas has an Arcadian preeminence of position among our
States, and an opulent future before her, that only wanton mismanagement can forfeit.
SURFACE AND STRUCTURE.
A summary review of her present condition will be best given
in regional divisions; but a few common characteristics must
first be considered.
An outline of the surface is easily conceived. For fifty miles
from the sea, extends throughout, a plain, with an imperceptible
slope upward from the sea-level.   Above comes an undulating
interval, rising into broken hills which terminate at the base of
the abrupt face of the great desert table-land. The level and
undulating regions are an alluvial deposit, from which the waters,
it is thought, have not long ago receded. Here and there, as
near Seguin, a drift of gravel, superficially deposited, may be
found; and, north of the high hills of the upper Guadalupe,
primitive rocks and boulders.   The hilly region is a vast line of
cretaceous formation, extending from the Rio Grande, northeast,
(through San Antonio  and Austin), to the Red River, corre 
4i2   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
sponding, in many respects, with the similar formation lying
parallel with the Atlantic sea-board. It yields everywhere an
excellent limestone for building purposes. Near the limit of the
table-lands, and following its general exterior line, is a belt of
gypsum of rare extent, lying between the Canadian and the Rio
Grande, and from fifty to one hundred miles in width. From it
a specimen of pure selenite was taken by Capt. Marcy, three feet
by four, and two inches in thickness, and perfectly transparent.
This bed of plaster may one day be of great agricultural value.
On Upper Red River, primitive rocks again appear, and a wide
deposit of red clay, giving its coloring mattter to this river. The
great plains, according to recent investigations, are themselves
deposits of clays in strata, and cretaceous marls.
Coal-beds are found at various points, especially well recognized upon the Rio Grande and at the Clear Fork of the Brazos.
Copper ores are abundant; and both copper and iron, it is believed, will be found within the limits of profitable working,
when their districts become more settled. Salt has been lately
brought to market from the Upper Colorado.
CLIMATE.
In point of climate, Texas claims, with, at least, as much justice as any other State, to be called the Italy of America. The
general average of temperature corresponds, and the skies are
equally clear and glowing. The peculiarities, over otherclimates,
of the latitude, are found in its unwavering summer sea-breeze
and its winter northers. The first is a delightful alleviation of
its summer heats, flowing in each day from the gulf, as the sun's
rays become oppressive, and extending remotely inland to the
firthest settlements, with the same trustworthy steadiness.  It 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.  413
continues through the evening, and is described as having so
great effect that, however oppressive the day may have been, the
nights are always cool enough to demand a blanket and yield
invigorating rest.   The range of thermometer in summer is uniformly high, though seldom reaching the extremes that occur
at the North.   A  new-comer  feels  principally in irritating
eruptions, that he has entered a semi-tropical atmosphere.
The northers prevail, during the winter months, in the western
parts of the State, where the sweep of the air down from the
great plains is unimpeded by forests. They alternate, at intervals
of a few days, with mild weather, and cause a great and sudden
change in the temperature, piercing to the bone, by their force
and penetrating chill, any one inadequately prepared to meet
them. There is some exhilarating quality, however, about them,
that tempers their malice, and with shelter, they are easily endurable.
No part of the State is, probably, entirely free from malaria,
the common bane of all our new countries. An unacclimated
person must expect to have his attack of " chills," or, if he be
imprudent in the situation of his residence, or in exposure, his
course of bilious fever. With unusual pains, such as the selection of a dry, breezy hill for the house, and a distant spot for the
breaking up of the soil, possibly both may be escaped. The
coast towns are visited, sometimes ravaged, by yellow fever
(always imported), and, during its season, must be avoided by
the traveler. Diseases of the lungs are generally reputed more
rare in Texas than in more northern States; but definite statistics are yet wanting. Liability to consumption is not to be
escaped by a mere residence, though its course, when established,
has, in many cases, been found to be alleviated and retarded. 
414   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
The soil is always open to the plow, and, if pressed, will not
refuse to yield its two crops within the twelvemonth. The long
interval between the ripening and the necessary replanting of
crops, gives the farmer or planter double advantage from his cultivating force. The plowing may be distributed over many
months, and one hand thus do the work of several, where all is
condensed into spring.
The season advances somewhat more rapidly than on the Atlantic. Corn and cotton are planted in February, and ripen at the
end of July. Wheat is cut in May. In San Antonio market, peas
and potatoes, blackberries and mulberries appear early in April,
apricots at the end of May, peaches at the end of June, and
grapes at the beginning of July. The first bale of cotton at
New Orleans, of the crop of 1855, was from Texas, and appeared
on the 15th of July.
The temperature of the earth, immediatelybelow the influence
of the seasons, is given at about 72~ F., as indicated by all
springs of considerable volume, at their outburst.
The highest range of the atmosphere which I have seen noted,
is 110~ F., by Mr. Parker, in Northern Texas: the lowest range
at Galveston is reported, by Hon. Ashbel Smith, to have occurred
in the winter of 1837-8, when the mercury stood for a few hours
at 12~ F.
SOURCES OF WEALTH.
The principal wealth of Texas, both of the State and of individual Texans, lies yet in land, the acres held for sale being still in
enormous proportion to those brought into use. The land-holders are the chief power in the State, and, did they form a compact and sensitive body, their influence would entirely outweigh
that of property in slaves. The cultivable area of the State is 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.
estimated at over a hundred millions of acres, about twenty
millions of which is called good cotton land, capable of producing, if all put in requisition, in a single year, more than three
times our whole actual cotton crop, or upwards of nine millions
of bales.
The pastures of the State are a still greater source of future
wealth, the production of beef and wool, if stimulated by the
means of communication with a steady market, being almost
incalculable. At present, it is simply one of the great interests
in the commonwealth; and the demand from New Orleans being
limited, and the connection with the great northern and European centres of consumption being hardly established,* the chief
source of profit is found in the very progress of the interest
within itself, the annual growth not keeping pace with the wants of
immigrant herdsmen, who desire to purchase their outfit of stocks.
Agriculture in Texas, with some exception among the
Germans, is yet almost as rude and wasteful as it is possible
to be. No rotation is ordinarily attempted: upon the same
field the same crop is repeated, until all the elements of
yield are exhausted, when a new area is taken for the same
process.  In fact, with cotton as the only export, and slaves as
the only labor, no better system will ever be adopted.  The
growth of wealth is in almost nothing else than slaves, and each
crop must go to be capitalized in more laborers. The demand
upon the soil being thus incessant, immediate return in quantity,
without reference to duration, becomes the measure of success,
and must remain so as long as virgin soils are at hand.
Within a year or two, Texas droves have not unfrequently been quoted in
the New York market reports.  They are driven to Illinois, where they are fatted, and forwarded by rail.
415 
,t16   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
The capabilities of the soil for a variety of crops, are, nc-.withstanding, very great.   In the course of years, wine and
tobacco will probably appear in the list of exports, with wheat,
which is now produced in certain districts in sufficient quantities
for a local supply. Maize, with an inconceivable shiftlessness, is
still an import of the State.
RAILROADS.
That Texas, with all these capabilities of production, lacks
only the means of cheap and steady transportation, to become
the richest and most attractive slave State in the Union, is the
very first and last reflection that forces itself upon a traveler.
For want of such facilities as have shot, like diverging rays of
light, from our Northern cities over our northwestern prairies,
its vast land-capital must remain locked up and comparatively
useless, in spite of its unrivaled capacities. It is, of course, the
simplest idea in the world, to mortgage a small part of the idle
land for the tenfold benefit of the remainder; and on this principle have been founded various schemes, which, had they to
encounter no Northern rivals in the world's market, would
surely have been successful long ago. But such an air of delinquency and pound-foolish repudiation, hangs over the young
financial character of Texas, that capital is extremely shy, and
flows into Northern enterprises at half the price and half the
security.
The railway system for the State, is simple and natural: a
net-work of parallel roads, at remunerating distances from one
another, running from the coast inland, and from the west
towvards the Mississippi. None of them have failed to lr, projected; but not one of them is yet completed. 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.  417
During our winter in Texas, the most profusely liberal offers,
under the most riveted State obligations, were made, to further
one main line of railway across the State, designed to be the
stem of the great Pacific road.   But the new obligations had
the old Texan odor of evaded contracts about them, and, though
adventurers buzzed about, not a capitalist appeared.
Charters, with handsome douceurs in land attached, have a
long time existed, for a number of railways.  And, during the
last session of the legislature, a union of all conflicting plans
was eflected, in passing a law loaning, in cash, $6,000 per mile to
all railways in actual construction.  The effect of this remains
to be seen; but a new impulse has at last been given to railway
enterprises, and the promise is good. But one road is yet in
operation, so far as I can learn, in Texas, at the end of 1856that from Harrisburg and Houston to Richmond, on the Brazos,
a distance of twenty-five miles.*
This road is intended to reach Austin. Two competing lines from the Gulf
at Galveston, northward, are in course of construction-the "Galveston, Houston, and Henderson," and the "Galveston and Red River."  The former has
some miles ready for traffic.
18* 
CHAP. VIII.
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
NEW STATES.
THE actual limits of the State of Texas include an area of
274,362 square miles-or a territory greater than the aggregate
areas of Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jer
sey, New York, and all New England.*  This immense region,
as is well known, is to be divided ere long into five States,
according to the terms of the Joint Resolution of Annexation.t
The boundaries of these new States are, of course, not yet
mapped, but in local acceptance they are clearly enough indicated. The vaguest tavern conversation assumes a natural
* Area of Texas, 274,362 miles; of France, 200,000 square miles; of England
and Wales, 57,955; of Virginia, 61,000; of New York, 46,000.
t "New States of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition
to the said State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may hereafter, by
the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be
entitled to admission under the provisions of the Federal Constitution; and
such States as may be formed out of that portion of said territory lying south of
thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, commonly known as the Missouri Compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union with or without
slavery, as the people of each State asking admission may desire. And in such
State or States as shall be formed out of said territory north of said Missouri
Compromise line, slavery, or involuntary servitude (except for crime), shall be
prohibited."  The limits of the State have been since so defined, that no part now
lies north of the Compromise line. 
Rt E G I O N A L  CH A R A C T E RI S T I C S.   419
antagonism and future division between Eastern and Western
Texas.  The limiting line is not drawn-the people of the East
assuming the Trinity as their western boundary, while those of
the West call all beyond the Colorado, Eastern Texas. This
leaves between the Trinity and the Colorado, Central Texas, a
convenient and probable disposition.
Northeastern Texas, or the region above the navigable heads
of the gulf rivers, and having its principal commercial relations
with Red River, is a fourth district, also distinct from the body
of the State. The line of the proposed Pacific railroad along the
thirty-second parallel, extending upon the map from the Brazos
to Shrieveport in Louisiana, may indicate its southern limit.
Northwestern  Texas  remains.   It will still be the largest
State of the Union, as its great plains are only adapted, so far
as known, for a sparse population of herdsmen and shepherds.
It would extend as far east, perhaps, as a line drawn north from
the Brazos at 32~, and as far south as a line drawn from the
same point to the mouth of the Pecos.
But political necessities, and local jealousies and rivalries will
control the limits as well as the time of erection of these five
States, and the outlines sketched can only indicate the crystallizing tendencies, and serve for purposes of description.*
NORTIIEASTERN TEXAS.
This portion of the State is that which, for the last three or
four years, has been most attractive to emigration. We learned,
We have been fortunate in the names of our new States.  Do  not let us
adm,it these as exceptions, with such names as Houston, Smith, Rusk-but
demand the euphonious aplellations found within their respective limits. Thus,
Caddonia, Sabina, Waco, Comanche; Angelina, Lanal:a, Panola; Matagorda,
Naivasota; Bexar, Atascosa, Uva-.de, Bandera; Estacada. 
420   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
very soon after entering Texas, to have a respect for it as re ceiving general conversational encomiums, and much regretted
that it was not in our power to examine it at our leisure. We
took pains, however, to preserve such data respecting it as we
considered trustworthy, and find them confirmed by an excellent
and definite report of Mr. Edward Smith, the commissioner of a
proposed English emigration, in 1849.
The region is characterized by its direct business relations,
through Red River, with the Mississippi; by its capabilities for
the agricultural productions of more northern States; and by
the active class of emigrants by which it has been settled. The
nearer districts have been peopled from Tennessee and Kentucky, and from the northernmost portions of the gulf States, by
farmers and small planters, who hold few field hands, and frequently only household servants, not disdaining to give their
personal labor to their lands.   Large plantations, with their
beggarly accompaniments of poor whites, are comparatively rare,
and the country feels the progressive life of its energetic citizens.
The eastern counties are covered with forest; in the central,
prairies alternate with wood; while in the western they predominate, although timber enough for agricultural purposes is
everywhere within reach.   The soil of the east is the red "RedRiver soil," sometimes gravelly, usually rich and productive. It
is upon this last that the best cotton is produced-that of Cass,
Harrison, and Bowie counties bearing a higher price in market
than that sent from other districts.
In the north, a rich, black soil is found, commencing in RedRiver county, and extending west and south into Dallas county.
In the intermediate country lies a gray, sandy soil, alternating
in the southeast with the red soil from Redl-River. 
R L G I O N A L CH A R A C T E RI S T I C S.
The prairies are stocked with a "wire-grass," described as
very nutritious, which, on the black soils, is found mingled with
the "calamus," a sort preferred by horses.   Neither is considered equal to the mesquit.
The whole region, but particularly the black calcareous soil
of the northwest, is found to be adapted to wheat, and on many
farms it is the principal crop.  Samples have been shown weighing upwards of seventy-two pounds to the bushel, and sixty-two
pounds is considered the miller's average.  It is said that the
demand of the whole State, were means of transportation provided, could be supplied from the country lying between Fort
Towson and the west fork of the Trinity. The crop is ready
for the reaper early in May, and new wheat may be placed in
market by the middle of the month.
The steady breeze, which prevails nearer the coast, is not
wanting, according to the best authorities, in this section, to
mitigate the unvarying heats of summer; and Mr. Smith reports
abundant testimony of the capabilities of whites for agricultural
labor. Thus, Mr. Peacock, near Dangerfield, the owner of several slaves left by his father, states that he works himself in the
field, and that cotton is cultivated by white labor with perfect
success.   A  brother-in-law of  Mr.  Peacock, who would not
employ slaves, produced more bales to the hand than any
planter  around  him.   Mr.  Houndsdell,  of Lamar  County
(whose wheat, yielding twenty bushels  to  the acre, weighs
sixty-seven pounds), knows from experience that a white man
can labor as well in cotton-growing, and do as much work in
general, as the black man. Dr. Garey, on Sulphur Prairie, says
that slavery is almost unknown there, and the settlers are far
more industrious than in the South, etc.
421 
422    A JOURNx Y THROUGH TEXAS.
The principal planting counties are the easterrmost-Harrison,
the oldest, having more than one quarter of the slaves found in
the twenty-eight counties of this part of the State.
The whole population of Northeastern Texas, in 1850, was
about 60,000-one quarter slaves.*  At the beginning of 1857,
it may be estimated at 135,000-twenty-two per cent. slaves.
Harrison, Cass, and Bowie counties, have together nearly onehalf.  These, with the three adjacent counties, and Lamar, Fannin, and part of Smith, have eight-tenths.  But two of the remaining twenty-one counties have as many as five hundred each.*
The increase of slaves, from 1850 to 1855, has been, in round
numbers, from 15,000 to 25,000, the principal part of which has
taken place in Smith, Cass, Upshur, Harrison, and Titus counties.
The unsettled parts of Northeastern Texas and the adjoining
regions, comprising the heads of all the Texan streams as far as
the Llano Estacado, have been explored by Capt. Marcy in his
various expeditions. They are described in his reports, and in a
pleasant volume of "Notes" by Mr. Parker, his companion upon
his last trip around the head of the Brazos. No large tracts of
land suitable for agricultural purposes, appear to lie beyond the
natural boundary of the Cross Timbers, though a part of the
surface affords good sheep and cattle range, and here and there
a single farm may be placed in a fertile creek-bottom.   The
Cross Timbers themselves are a curious phenomenon, being two
belts of timber (mostly post-oak and black-jack), extending in
ilearly parallel lines the whole distance from the Brazos to the
Canadian, having each a width of five to twenty-five miles. The
The figures are derived from the Census of 1850, and the Report of the
.t:ite Comptrollor far 1855. 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
water of the streams above them is frequently brackish, bitter,
and unsuitable for use, and the country, as the verge of the
great plains is approached, becomes desolate, and broken into
almost impassable ridges, offering no temptation for any second
visit, even of exploration, save by geologists.   As to climate,
the summer heats and accompanying droughts are extreme, the
thermometer for two months ranging from 1000 to 110~.
The Brazos has good lands in limited quantities, as high as
its Clear Fork, and upon the latter, not only excellent soil, but
valuable beds of coal. The Little Wichita and Upper Red River
have some fertile bottoms; but the only other region of agricultural value is found at the base of the Wichita mountains, of
which Capt. Marcy speaks with enthusiasm. This, however, will
not only be long remote from markets, but lies within the limits
of the Indian Territory. That large projection of Texan area,
from Red River northward to 36~ 30', appears to be nearly
worthless.
EASTERN TEXAS.
Particular observations in this part of Texas have been given
in describing our route, which lay twice across it. The grassed
fiats of the coast extend some fifty miles from the gulf. Above
this is a hooded region, having a western edging of small prairies along the Trinity, and an eastern of pine-bearing sand along
the Sabine.  It is considered to be less fertile, except in limited
spots, than the other sections of the State; and in certain portions
the lands of considerable districts have already been exhausted.
Judged by the increase of slaves, the northern and northwestern
counties are in a progressive condition, while the eastern central
are retrograding-the comptroller's report showing  all actual
decrease of inumbers.
423 
424   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Its population, in 1850 about 45,000, may be estimated, in
1857, at 70,000, of which thirty-six per cent. are slaves.
CENTRAL TEXAS.
Central Texas comprises the oldest American settlements, the
principal sugar-district, and some of the richest bottom-lands of
the State, as well as the two chief towns of Houston and Galveston.* The coast-prairies extend sixty or eighty miles inland,
but are far more fertile and valuable than those either of the
East or the West; being traversed by small streams, in whose
bottoms lie the productive fields of great plantations.   The
undulating region above, has the characteristics of - both the
wooded and the prairie districts; high pastures covering the
ridges between the streams, dense forests following their courses.
The prairie soil is lighter than the black soils of the west, and
easily exhausted;  but the low lands  are unsurpassed.   The
country is probably destined to the occupation of a mixed population of herdsmen and planters.   In the extreme north, the
undulations rise into broken, rocky hills, with narrow intervals
of level laud along the wooded valleys. Here a good bituminous coal is found.
' Galveston, the principal port of the State, stands near the eastern extremity
of one of the flat sand-islands of the gulf, some twelve miles from the main. Its
streets are regular, lined by buildings of wood; its business active, giving it a
rapid growth, its population being now about 10,000. Its remarkable points
are, its cotton warehouses, its direct foreign trade, its bare elevation above the
gulf, the depth of water on its bar-called ordinarily fourteen feet, but varying
with the wind-its good hotels, its beach-sand drive, its periodical devastation
by yellow fever, its bleak and piercing northers, and the bigoted devotion of its
inhabitants to African slavery as the social ideal. In the latter respect, it affects
to rival Charleston, its citizens having recently refused even to receive the exdlainations of their own representative, Mr. Sherwood, for one of his votes in
the State legislature, biurning him instantly at the moral stake. 
RRGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
SUGAR.
fihe sugar lands of Texas are estimated roughly to embrace
an area of more than seven millions of acres; sufficient, should
their capacities ever be developed, to supply three times the
whole amount now consumed in the United States. It is not
probable that one-tenth part will be put to use; but, should the
present import duty be maintained, and Cuba, with her irresistible tropical advantages, remain under foreign dominion, a steady
development of production will probably go on. The best lands
are quite equal to those of Louisiana, while the capital required
for new establishments is far less than there-lands bearing oneeighth the price, no levees, drains, or canals being required, and
fiuel, for the present, being at hand.
The principal stugar-growing counties are Brazoria and Matagorda, upon the coast, which, as long ago as 1850, indicated
their capacities  by sending to market over 5,000 hogsheads.
Within their limits are some of the richest soils in the world.
One cane-brake (the best indication) extends over a strip seventyfive miles in length, along the Caney, a little coast stream.
Oentral Texas is also the region whence comes the bulk of the
cotton exported by the State-the counties of Colorado and
Washington contributing nearly one-fifth to the total.
The population of the region in 1850-61,000-thirty-six per
cent. slaves-may be assumed to have doubled in six years, and
to be now about 122,000-thirty per cent. slaves.
WESTERN TEXAS.
Western Texas must be considered ii two parts-the settled
district lying between the Colorado and the Nueces, and the barren wastes bordering the Rio Grande.
425 
426   A JO URNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Of the genial portion I have already spoken with unfeigned
enthusiasm. For sunny beauty of scenery and luxuriance of
soil, it stands quite unsurpassed in my experience, and I believe
no region of equal extent in the world can show equal attractions.
It has certainly left such pictures in memory, as bring it first to
mind as a field for emigration, when any motive suggests a
change of my own residence.
Its surface has a general similarity to that of Central Texas.
Beyond the flat coast prairies, which extend some forty miles inland, commence gentle swells, continuing to the base of the
Guadalupe range of hills, 150 miles from the gulf.
Its superb pastures are the characteristic of the country. The
whole extent, except an occasional cedar-brake or patch of postoak, and away from the immediate banks of the streams, is covered with the finest and most nutritious grasses, supplying, even
in winter, sufficient sustenance for cattle, and in summer, a luxurious superabundance. Herds and flocks form, consequently, its
natural riches; and of these, where so little care is required,
it is almost impossible to over-estimate the productive capacity.
The streams which, in other parts of the State, are thick and
discolored with mud, flow here clear as crystal; and the soil,
which, as you advance from east to west, across the State, steadily improves in fertility, here culminates in a black calcareous
loam, which is universally distributed.
Its disadvantages are, the comparative scarcity of timber for
building and fencing, the reported greater liability to loss from
dry seasons, the distance from market, and, temporarily, the exposure to Indian marauds upon its frontier. The north winds,
too, which come in winter with fury, from the plains above, are 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
to be dreaded, though they are partly counterbalanced ly the
luxurious steadiness of the summer sea-breeze.
In respect of population, Western Texas is characterized by
the presence of a large foreign element.
The Mexicans  alone, obtained by annexation, number here
nearly twenty thousand.  Such particulars as we could gather
respecting their condition, have been already offered. Of those
who had property and intelligence, the greater number at once
withdrew from Texas; of the remainder, the stagnant life has
been little changed by the new laws and the new circ,imstances;
and, being regarded by the Americans as, socially, only a step
above the negroes, they have little or no influence within the
community, in which they possess, notwithstanding, an equal voice
in all questions open to suffrage. In these matters they are, to a
great degree, under the control of their church, though much less
absolutely so than in Mexico. They have been of value as
furnishing a temporary though ill-regulated supply of cheap
labor, already familiar with the details of local agriculture, and
especially adapted to its most profitable branch of stock-raising.
But as they have the reputation of naturally consorting with
negroes, and falling into an intercourse with them immediately
demoralizing and dangerous, they have done much to prevent the
approach toward the frontier, of agricultural capital. They make,
however, themselves docile and patient laborers, and, by dint of
education and suitable management, are not incapable of being
elevated into a class that shall occupy a valuable position in the
development of the resources of the region.
A singular offshoot of the great European current has poured,
almost coincidently with American occupation, a considerable
stream of German immigration into the same territory.  An
427 
428   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
account of its origin and course, and our observations among the
settlers thus introduced, have been given. Some details of their
actual numbers, character, and political position remain to be
added.
NUMBER AND POSITION OF THE GERMANS.
There are estimated to be, at the commencement of 1857,
35,000 Germans in Texas, of whom about 25,000 are
settled in the German and half-German counties of Western
Texas.*
The early emigration was of a somewhat humble and promiscuous description. While the great part was composed of
peasants and mechanics, who had no other reproach than that
of honest poverty, and a desire for improving their condition,
there were a certain number, as among the early settlers of Virginia, who were suffered to escape justice at home on condition
of becoming colonists; who were, in short, sentenced to Texas.
But whatever of reckless energy was thus disposed of, seems to
* In Comal, Gillespie, and Medina counties, nearly all the inhabitants are
Germans. In Victoria and Colorado counties they constitute about threefourths the population; in Calhoun, Bastrop, and Bexar (excluding San Antonio),
about one-half; in Fayette, Caldwell, Travis, and San Antonio city, about onethird, and in Hays about one-fourth. I have, from an intelligent source, the
following estimate by counties, with a larger footing. The census of 1850 is
thought to be of little value in respect of reports upon the nativities of Texans:
EASTERN TEXAs.-Galveston, 3,500; Houston, 3,00(Q; Harris Co., 1,000; scat                 tered, 1,000. Total, 8,500.
CENTRAL TEXAS.-Austin, 3,000; Washington, 1,000; Travis, 2,000; Colora                 do, 1,200; Bastrop, 1,100; Fayette, 1,000; Milam, 500;
other counties, 400. Total, 10,200 (part west of Colorado).
WESTERN TEXAS.-Comal, 3,500; Gillespie, 2,000; Bexar, 5,000; Medina,
1,500; Guadalupe, 1,500; Victoria, 1,500; Dewitt, 1,500;
Calhoun, 1,200; Karnes, 800; Caldwell, 400; Nueces,400;
Llano, 400; Hayes, 300; Kerr, 300; Gonzales, 300; Rio
Grande Cos., 1,100. Total, 21,700. Total in State
40,400. 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTIr 9.
hleave found for itself a natural and harmless vent among the
rough demands of frontier life. The result, at least, favors an
offer to every rogue of the chance to show himself the victim of
circumstances; for it is certainly remarkable with what success
the unpractical nation has joined issue with nature and the savages; and how here, where the comparison may every day be
made, even Americans acknowledge the Germans their equals as
pioneers.*
After the events of 1848, the emigration became of a more
valuable character, and included a large proportion of farmers
and persons in moderate circumstances, who sought a hopeful
future in the New World. With them came numbers of cultivated
and high-minded men, some distinctly refugees, others simply
compromised, in various degrees, by their democratic tendencies,
who found themselves exposed to disagreeable surveillance, or to
obstructions, through police management, in whatever honorable
career they wished to enter, while others merely followed, from
affection or curiosity, this current of their friends.
Few of this class have been able to bring with them any large
amount of property; and, with the German tendency to invest in
lands, they have chiefly lost the advantages belonging to even a
limited capital-in-hand in a new country.
I have described how wonderfully some of them are still able
to sustain their intellectual life and retain their refined taste, and,
more than all, with their antecedents, to be seemingly contented
* Our information upon this point may be incorrect. At all events, the nuniber of vagabonds was very small, as only cash subscribers were received by
the association. Single men were required to be in possession of $120, married
men of $240. This regulation excluded from Texas a pauper class, which has
since furnished thousands of vigorous and valuable laborers to the northwesterni States. Gesammelle Aktenstuecke des Vereins, p. 27.
429 
430   A JOURNEY THROIUGH TEXAS.'
and happy, while under the necessity of supporting life in the
most frugal manner by hard manual labor.
There is, as I have before intimated, something extremely
striking in the temporary incongruities and bizarre contrasts of
the backwoods life of these settlers. You are welcomed by a
figure in blue flannel shirt and pendant beard, quoting Tacitus,
having in one hand a long pipe, in the other a butcher's knife;
Madonnas upon Jog-walls; coffee in tin cups upon Dresden
saucers; barrels for seats, to hear a Beethoven's symphony on the
grand piano; "My wife made these pantaloons, and my stock ings grew in the field yonder;" a fowling-piece that cost $300,
and a saddle that cost $5; a book-case half filled with classics.
half with sweet potatoes.
But, as lands are subdued, and capital is amassed, these inconveniences will disappear, and pass into amusing traditions, while
the sterling education and high-toned character of the fathers
will be unconsciously transmitted to the social benefit of the
coming generation. The virtues I have ascribed to them as a
class are not, however, without the relief of faults, the most
prominent among which are a free-thinking and a devotion to
reason, carried, in their turn, to the verge of bigotry, and expanded to a certain rude license of manners and habits, consonant
with their wild prairies, but hardly with the fitness of things, and,
what in practical matters is even a worse error, an insane mutual
jealousy, and petty personal bickering, that prevents all prolonged and effective cooperation-an old German ail, which the
Atlantic has not sufficed to cleanse.
The poorer emigrants, who were able to purchase farms, have
made the happiest progress, meeting a steady market for their
productions, and a continuous appreciation in the value of their 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
improved lands. The mechanics and laborers, after the first dis tress, found more work awaiting them than their hands could
perform, and have constantly advanced to become themselves
employers, offering their old wages to the new-comers of each
successive emigration.
This is the source whence has been supplied the patient and
well-directed muscle, which is the first demand of a new country,
and which, had American, or even African armns been awaited,
Western Texas must have long wanted.
In social and political relations, the Germans do not occupy
the position to which their force and character should entitle
them. They mingle little with the Americans, except for the
necessary buying and selling. The manners and ideals of the
Texans and of the Germans are hopelessly divergent, and the
two races have made little acquaintance, observing one another
apart with unfeigned curiosity, often tempered with mutual contempt. The Americans have the prestige of preoccupation, of
accustomed dominance over Mexicans and slaves, of language,
capital, political power, and vociferous assumption. The Germans, quiet, and engrossed in their own business, by nature
law-abiding and patient, submit to be governed with little
murmuring.
A large proportion of the emigrants have remained apart, in German communities, and have contented themselves with the novel
opportunity of managing, after republican forms, their own liltle
public affairs. Others, by their scattered residence in isolated
positions, are excluded from any other than individual life. Such
as have settled in American neighborhoods or towns, feeling the
awkwardness of new-comers, and ignorant of the language, have
hitherto almost refrained from taking part in politics.
431 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
The intelligent portion as early as possible make themselves
citizens, and become voters; but until the recent agitation of the
idea of restricting the privileges of persons of foreign birth, there
has been, in fact, no topic of sufficient general interest to give
rise to parties among them, or to force them, as is the result of
this, into united action.
As to slavery, the mass living by themselves, where no slaves
are seen, and having no instinctive prejudice of color, feel simply
the natural repugnance for a system of forced labor, universal in
free society. Few of them concern themselves with the theoretical right or wrong of the institution, and while it does not
interfere with their own liberty or progress, are careless of its
existence.
But this mass is easily swayed by political management, and
if brought to any direct vote, examining every question only in
the light of personal interest, would move together against slaveowners as their natural enemies.
Among the Germans of the west we met not one slave-owner,
and there are not probably thirty among them all who have purchased slaves.* The whole capital of most of them lies in their
hands, and with these every black hand comes into tangible and
irritating competition.   With  the approach of the slave, too,
comes an implied degradation, attaching itself to all labor of the
hands.
The planter is by no means satisfied to find himself in the
* A gentleman of San Antonio, from his business relations with Germans
particularly well-informed in the matter, told me he knew, in all, of twelve German slave-proprietors in Texas.  Ten of these have unwillingly bought housemaids, to relieve their wives, who were unable to find German servants; one
gentleman owns four field-hands in Gillespie county; another about the same
number in Washington county-both old Texans of':36.
432 
REG1ONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
neighborhood of the German.   He is not only by education un congenial, as well as suspicious of danger to his property, already
somewhat precariously near the frontier, but finds, in his turn, a
direct competition of interests, which can be readily compre hended in figures.
The ordinary Texan wages for an able field-hand are $200.
The German laborer hires at $150, and clothes and insures him self. The planter for one hand must have paid $1,000. The
German with this sum can hire six hands. It is here the con tact galls.
But actual collision is comparatively rare. The German
shop-keepers and mechanics, in American towns, occupy, of ne cessity, an almost suspected position, and whatever their senti ments,  they carefully avoid all open  expression.*   In the
German settlements there is no direct occasion for thought on
the subject. It is only where the population mixes in equal
proportion-as in San Antonio-that ideas and interests clash,
and bitter feelings are stirred.
The great body of Germans being devoted exclusively to their
own material progress, there are, as might be expected, two rival
influences at work among them.  It is not to be believed that
*European democrats, who have suftered exile for their social
theories, would at once abandon them, and, by fraternizing with
an aristocracy of slave proprietors, belie here every principle for
which they had struggled at home. On the other hand, in every
community a certain number of hangers-on are sure, from mo
* Not, however, from any motives of direct interest, as might be surmised,
in business with planters. The empty cotton-wagons bring these their supplies
fro)m the coast direct, and they own their own slave-mechanics, avoiding Germans when possible.
lI
433 
434   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
tives of petty selfishness, to attach themselves to any dominant
party. The Americans have thus their allies among the Germans, who, with those who fear the agitation of any subject, but
especially this, as detrimental or inopportune, form the party of
eager subservience. In a slave state the opportunity does not
often arise for any public expression of an opinion upon slavery,
and for want of a practical question for discussion, neither of
these divisions has been able to show any great activity, except
of jealousy and acrimonious feeling.
Their existence and relative power are best illustrated by the
history of an attempt at the free discussion of slavery in the
columns of their German newspaper. Feeling themselves strong
enough in San Antonio to support a local journal, which should
be a means of intercommunication, of literary sustenance, and
of expression of their opinions, the leading Germans raised,
about four years since, by small joint subscriptions, a capital for
the purchase of a press and materials. A prominent exile, of
literary experience, was elected editor by general acclamation,
and the issue of a weekly commenced. In his prospectus, the
editor announced himself a radical democrat, and his determination to regard every political question from the point of view of
social progress.
Slavery could not of course be ignored, and, although the
position was delicate, the subject was diricused like others, as
often as its importance, under the circumstances, demanded. Its
economical variance with the interests of the German free laborers, and with the natural fature of the Western prairies, was now
and then dwelt upon; and on the main question of the essential
temporariness or permanence of slavery in America, involving, in
national politics, extens-ion and furtherance, or restriction and 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
localization, the ground natural to a democrat by principle, was
taken.    But the tone of the paper was rather literary and edu cational, and slavery had apparently no special prominence.
What was said on the subject, circulated only among Germans,
and, though distasteful to the Americans, was, for a long time,
l}ardly noticed by them.
The journal was a decided success, and, at the annual election, the
same editor was, with great unanimity, chosen by the stockholders
to continue its conductor. Meanwhile, the Germans feeling their
social influence too small upon the public opinion of a community of which they constituted by intelligence and numbers, at
least the equal half, undertook to assert themselves by some
combined action. In May, 1854, advantage was taken of the
concourse at their annual musical festival in San Antonio, to
hold a simultaneous political convention.   An extended "platform" was adopted and published, containing the condensed expression of their radical opinions. It had the disadvantage of
proposing no particular action, but of being put forth as a simple
manifesto of principles.
One of the resolutions discussed slavery, and declared it to
be an evil which should be eventually removed.*
* "Slavery is an evil whose ultimate removal is, according to Democratic
principles, indispensable; but as it affects only individual States, we demand:
That the Federal Government refrain from all interference in affairs of Slavery;
but that, when any single State shall resolve on the removal of this evil, the
aid of the government may be claimed.' (Die Sklaverei ist ein UebeI, dessen
endliche Beseitigung, den Grundsitzen der Demokratie gemiss, nothwendigist; da sic aber nur einzelne Staaten betrifft, so fordern wir; Dass die Bundesregierung sich aller Einmischung in Sachen der Sklaverci enthalte; dass
aber, wenn ein einzelner Staat die Beseitigunig dieses Uebels beschliesst,
alsdann zur Ausfiihrung dieses Beschlusses die Bundeshulfe in Anspruch
genommen werden kann.)
The following amendments were rejected:
"Slavery is according to our views a social evil, and possibly liable to conflict
435 
43(;   A JOURNE Y THROUGII T E XAS.
Tile novel attitude of the Germans was disagreeable to the
Americans, and this resolution, meddling with the question of
slave-property, particularly offensive. An excitement sprung up,
which for a month or more was kept within the limits of conversation, but broke out into newspaper clamor and open threats
of violence, when, by a series of articles from a German source,
it was discovered that the Germans were not unanimous in their
opinions.
In fact, the time was unpropitious for such a political demonstration.   " Americanism"  was  just beginning  to show  its
strength in the East, and to extend its lodges and its barbarizing
prejudices into Texas. This independent movement on the part
of foreigners, was a god-send to the new party. It gave it a
tangible point of attack, and what with the cry of " foreign interference in politics," and "abolitionism in Texas," a universal
howl from the American papers went up against the Germans.
The German newspaper had the brunt to bear.   It had published and defended the resolutions, and could not, like the convention, dissolve into silence.   The editor, reading in the State
Constitution the guarantee of his right to free speech, continued on his way, taking little notice of the outcry, answering
only in earnest, such arguments as were worth the pains.   He
soon, however, found that some of his subscribers were disposed
to flinch. Two parties were evidently forming among them.
with white labor. But this institution comes too little home to Germans, and is
too much connected with the interests of our American fellow-citizens, for us to
feel ourselves urged to take, in this question, initiatory-steps, or to act upon it
politically."
" Negro-Slavery is an evil, perilous to the duration of the Union. Its abolition
must be left to the individual States in which it exists.  We German-speaking
Texans, are not naturally in a position to initiate measures, but we wish the
Federal Government's patronage of the same dispensed with." 
REGIONAL  CHARACTERISTICS.
At his suggestion, a general meeting of the stockholders was
called, at which the course of the paper was sustained, but as a
measure of justice to the dissentients it was resolved to sell the
press, and allow the paper to stand upon its merits. The editor
now became proprietor, and for a time was well supported.   An
English department was added to his sheet, that Americans
might read his principles for themselves, not in garbled extracts
and translations with a purpose.   This aroused again the fury
of the American papers, which, as time passed, had somewhat
subsided.   A determined effort was made for the suppression of
the sheet.   Under threat of being denounced as secret abolitionists, the American merchants were induced to withdraw their
advertisements. The publication was then carried on at a loss.
Friends began to waver, and to condemn the editor's course as
"ultra," terminating one by one their subscriptions.   The editor
saw himself becoming a victim to his allegiance to principles, but,
for more than a year, sustained with dignity his supposed right
to free expression in Texas. His resources at length exhausted,
he surrendered to starvation, and became a second time an exile,
the press falling into the hands of the opposite party, who have
established a journal whose first principle is not to give offense
to slaveholders.
During this singular struggle, threats of the application of
Lynch law were incessant on the part of the Americans. The
American journals even advocated it, the "State Times" of Austin going so far as to indicate the mode of punishment, by
drowning. The locality was favorable, to the last degree, for
this mode of disposing of opposition. The respect for law is of
the weakest, and the tribe of border-idlers, always ready for an
excitement, has its very headquarters in San Antonio. In fact,
437 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
the danger was imminent, and only averted by the personal
pluck of the editor, and the determination on the part of the
Germans, without regard to party, to resist force by force, and
to stand by their countryman, bullet for bullet, in a collision of
races where the laws were on their side.
The editor has since become a resident of Boston. He has
some amusing details of the various means brought to bear upon
his obstinacy. While at work at his press one morning, he was
interrupted by a knock, which introduced a six-foot citizen of
the region, holding in his hand a heavy stick, and accompanied
by a friend.
"Are you the editor of this German newspaper?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
"You're an abolitionist, are you?"
"Yes, sir."
Then came a pause, after which the inquiry  "What do you mean by an abolitionist?"
The editor very briefly explained.
Another pause followed, after which the citizen announced
that he would consult with his friend a moment outside. He
shortly reentered, saying
"Well, sir, we've concluded that you are a God  damn'd
abolitionist, and that such a scoundrel as you are ought to be
thrashed out of the town."
" Very well, sir. Try it."
A third pause ensued, to terminate which, the editor opened
the door, whereupon the individuals walked out.
The same persons hovered about for some days, not coming,
however, nearer than the door-yard, and at length became such
a nuisance that he was forced to obtain the services of a friend,
438 
REGIO  NAL CHARACTERISTICS.
to explain in a quiet way his precise opinions; upon which they
made a bluff apology, and acknowledged him to be not so bad
a fellow, after all. Once, an offered blow produced a blow in
return, which was followed by a profuse discharge of apologies
from the floor, further explanations not being required. In fact,
a little muscle is not a bad adjunct to a martyr who is willing to
prolong his misery.
The obnoxious premises were several times reconnoitered by
armed gangs, once by a company sent, in order to help to end
the matter, from the east; but a larger force was always at once
found quietly awaiting the reconnoiterers, who thereupon retired.
The reputation of the city being at stake, and having nothing to
lose, the Americans were by no means unanimous in approving
extreme measures.
The "abolitionism" of the editor was, it is fair to say, of a
very mild type, confined to the belief-until lately universal at
the South-that slavery was an evil; he being by no means
ready to propose any practical measures for its removal. Nor
did any German with whom we conversed during our journey,
so far as I recollect, go beyond this not very treasonable idea
in actual politics. Any process of terminating slavery without
regard to the established tenures of slave proprietors, would
have an ex post facto nature, vitiating its benefits and making it
inadmissible. But that, for Western Texas, laws should discourage the further introduction of negroes, and offer inducements
for the application of capital to varied employments, requiring
educated laborers, they were not less decided. And in social
relations, they are sensitive to the overbearing propensities of
a proprietary who are accustomed to regard all neighbors out of
their own class as White Trash.
439 
140    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
I have been thus particular in describing the condition and
attitude of the Germans, as the position in which fortune has
placed them, in the very line of advance of slavery, is peculiar,
and so far as it bears upon the questions of the continued exten sion of cotton limits, the capacity of whites for independent
agriculture at the South, and the relative profit and vigor of
free and slave labor, is of national interest.
The presence of this incongruous foreign element of Mexicans
and Germans tends, as may be conceived, to hinder any rapid
and extensive settlement of Western Texas by planters. There
are other circumstances contributing to the same effect. The
proximity of the frontier, suggesting and making easy the escape
of slaves, is a chief difficulty. Then there are the border disquiets from Indians, who regard slaves as fair booty when placed
in their way. Besides which, the profit of cotton-planting far
from market, is small, the distance, for large emigrant trains,
fatiguing, and the long travel expensive.
So great, too, is the force of custom, that thousands of emigrants from the lower slave states, deliberately prefer an inferior
soil covered with forest, to any field prepared by nature for the
plow. They have never seen a good field free from the familiar
stumps and half-burnt trunks; and, shaking their heads, stop
with their hands and their axes to conquer their own space,
where the cabin shall be sheltered and secluded, as "at home."
Planters have hitherto consequently settled in masses, almost exclusively upon the Colorado and Lower Guadalupe
bottoms, leaving the great remaining western pasture regions
to their more natural occupation of herdsmen and small farmers.
The herdsmen have no use for slaves, which are only 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
adapted for working in gangs under constant supervision,
and cannot be trusted in an employment requiring isolation
and discretion.   And both herdsmen and farmers find in the
proximity and society of planters, a mutual incompatibility.
The result has been the formation of a social condition, differing from that of the rest of the State, which, if its development
be not interfered with, will, probably, assimilate in general
aspect to that of the western portions of the Atlantic slave
states, with such advantages as will accrue from a more fertile
soil and greater wealth.
It will only be by a forced and uneconomical change, that this
prairie soil can ever be devoted to large plantations and cotton as
their staple production.   Beef and  wool must, for a  long
time, yield a far more profitable return. Water, however, is
abundant, and an intelligent population is already on the spot,
perfectly adapted to become manufacturing, if capital be furnished
it. These considerations render it probable that Western Texas
will have ultimately a position similar to that of Western
Virginia and Georgia, when the planting interest will remain
subordinate to that of farmers and manufacturers.
The population of Western Texas, in 1850, was about 41,000,
of which 7,000 were slaves. It is now estimated at 93,000,
divided roughly-as, Americans, 30,000; Germans, 25,000;
negroes, 23,000;* Miexicans (excluding E1 Paso co.), 16,000.
THE MEXICAN BORDER.
That part of Western Texas lying near the Rio Grande, has a
character of its own. It is a region so sterile and valueless, as
I The principal increase in negroes has taken place in Gonzales, Guadalupe,
Caldwell, and Fayette cos. The number of actual slaveholders is about 700.
19*
441 
442   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
to be commonly reputed a desert, and, being incapable of settlement, serves as a barrier-separating the nationalities, and protecting from encroachment, at least temporarily, the retreating
race.
The extreme Texan settlements have reached the verge of this
waste region. A line drawn from the head of the San Saba
southward, to the upper waters of the Guadalupe, thence westward, along the mountain-range bordering the sterile plains,
to the head of the Leona at Fort Inge, thence along the course
of the Leona, the Frio, and the Nueces to the coast, will mark
the limits of valuable land, of probable agricultural occupation.
Along the coast lies a sandy tract, with salt lagoons and
small, brackish streams. This is the desert country, which
became familiar to our army on its way from Corpus to Point
Isabel, at the outbreak of the Mexican war in 1846. It merges
into the level coast prairies which, forty to sixty miles inland,
become undulating and covered with a growth of prickly shrubs,
upon a dry, barren, gravelly soil.  The same character, with
trifling variations, belongs to the whole region as far north as the
Pecos, where the sterility becomes so great, that even the
dwarfed shrubs disappear as the country rises into the great
plains.
The coast prairies have large districts of fertile soil, and, if
supplied with water, might be available as pastures for rough
cattle and sheep; but water is only to be found in gullies
and holes, where it is not only muddy and of bad quality, but
liable to disappear entirely during the heats of summer, when
even the grass withers and dries up.
Mr. Bartlett, who crossed along the northern edge of these
prairies in coming from the Rio Grande. at Ringgold-barracks, to 
REGIONAL CHARAC TERISTICS.
Corpus, describes the country as rising gently from the river for
five or six miles, and covered with prickly shrubs. Then for five
days, his way lay over slightly-rolling prairies, having clusters
of mesquit trees, prickly pear, and some stunted live-oak, until,
on the last day, the dead, bare level of the coast prairie was
reached, some forty miles from Corpus. About midway, a white
sand-hill-the Loma  Blanca-was  passed, near which was a
large tract of dry sand. The first settlements were a starved
ranch or two upon the Aguas Dulces, twenty miles from the
Nueces.
The valley of the Nueces contains much rich land, but
low-lying  and malarious.   The  river is navigable for small
steamboats for about forty miles. The bar of Corpus has about
six feet of water.
The grassed region below the chaparral wilderness, extending
to the coast, is the resort of immense herds of wild horses, as
well as of numbers of deer, antelope, and hares. The mustangs
are the degenerated progeny of Spanish estrays, now as wild and
fully naturalized as the deer themselves. They associate in incredible numbers, like the buffaloes, a single herd sometimes
covering a large tract, and, if frightened, rushing to and fro in
sweeping lines, with the irresistible force of an army. From
their numbers are recruited additions to the stocks of Texan
and Mexican herdsmen, and the business of entrapping them has
given rise to a class of men called "mustangers," composed of
runaway vagabonds, and outlaws of all nations, the legitimate
border-ruffians of Texas.   While their ostensible employment is
this of catching wild horses, they often add the practice of
highway robbery, and are, in fact, simply prairie pirates, seizing
any property that comes in their way, murdering travelers, and
44."3 
444   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
making descents upon trains and border villages.   Their opera tions of this sort are carried on under the guise of savages, and,
at the scene of a murder, some "'Indian sign," as an arrow-head
or a moccasin, is left to mislead justice.
The wild horses are easily collected, by means of long fences,
called "wings," diverging on either side from the mouth of a
"pen."  Having been driven within this, the mares of a herd are
caught with the lasso, and the stallions, which do not repay break ing, turned loose or wantonly shot.  Here and there a "ranch" is
established, forming a temporary home and retreat for the "mus tangers."   The  herds probably suffer extremely in the dry
season, and have been much injured during generations of exposure and hardship. They are narrow-chested, weak in haunches,
and of bad disposition, and are worth about one tenth the price
of improved stock, a herd tamed to be driven, selling, delivered
at the settlements, at $8 to $15 per head. Many stories are
told of the incurable viciousness of tamed mustangs. An old
animal which you have ridden daily for twenty years, will, when
his opportunity comes at last, suddenly jump upon you, and
stamp you in pieces, his vengeance all the hotter for delay.
No part of the immense remaining territory towards the
North, seems to possess the slightest value. It is a dry gravelly
desert, supporting only worthless shrubs. Such was distinctly
its character at the point where we crossed it, and from all the
definite description we could obtain from officers who had led
trains, or scouting parties, here and there over it, or Texans who
had traversed the various routes into Mexico, it nowhere offers
more attractive features.  Should it become desirable to plant
settlements within it, for reasons other than economical, probably a few spots might be selected, where a sufficiently good soil, 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.  445
with wood and water, exists for such a purpose, and it is also
true, that our acquaintance with it is but limited and somewhat
vague; for what one calls desert, another calls prairie, and what
to one is pure sand or clay, to another is a light or heavy soilthe impression depending much upon the soil the traveler has
been accustomed to cultivate, as well as especially upon the season in which his observation is made.
The climate, which, throughout West Texas, begins to approach
that of Mexico, has here become absolutely Mexican, and is
marked by an extreme dryness-rain so seldom falling during
the summer, that ordinary vegetation perishes for lack of moisture, leaving the soil to the occupation of such Bedouin tribes
of vegetation as have the necessary powers of endurance. There
are here a class of worthless shrubs, whose minute leaves spread
as little surface as possible to the dry air, and whose limbs are studded with the sharpest spines, as if to repel all animal life from seeking to share with their own roots this weak shade.   They stand
in clumps and patches, leaving intervals which may be traversed
with more or less difficulty.*
We saw this country in April, probably to the best advantage.
Our road lay across a series of elevations, between the beds of
insignificant brooks, tributaries of the Nueces. Several of these,
dry in later months, contained now running water, and in their
valleys, here and there, the gravelly soil was black, and grass was
abundant beneath the shrubs, while upon the barren surface of
the ridges, even the chaparral growth almost disappeared.   The
" bottoms" of two or three of these creeks were marked by a
thin belt of wood, as hack-berry and elm, and those of the
* The principal shrubs are mesquit, rosin-wood, or creosote plant, koeblerinia, and various species of yucca. 
A JOURNEY THROUGHI TEXAS.
Nueces and of Turkey creek, its principal branch on our route,
were well shaded by timber.  But even at this season, pasturage.
was the only use that suggested itself for these lands, and this
would be impracticable, where sheep would lose their whole
fleece in the labyrinths of thorns, and cattle stray instantly out
of sight, and beyond possible control.
There is, however, one circumstance which may ultimately
lead to important modifications in the fate of this region.  It is
the fact that a change has recently been gradually manifesting
itself in its meteorological conditions toward a steadily increas ing amount of moisture. By common Mexican report the commencement of this change is coincident with American occupation. It is certainly, if well attested, a remarkable scientific
phenomenon. In the settled districts of Western Texas, the evidence seems to have been so palpable as to have become a matter
of common allusion. New springs were repeatedly pointed out
to us; upon our route into the hills north of San Antonio, at
least three or four such were met with, and we were told of a
neighboring farm which, when purchased, had its only water
from the river, while since, first one, and, subsequently, four
perennial springs had broken out upon it, whose flow was steadily increasing.   Around the city, irrigation, which,  ten years
before, had been indispensable, was almost entirely disused, the
canals being suffered to fall out of repair, and all the farmers
who have settled the vicinity trust their crops to the skies alonie,
as in the East. Our guide to the Rio Grande attested the fact,
and observed that he had never before this trip found running
water in the bed of one of the creeks (I think the Chican) which
we crossed.
The volume of water in all the Texan rivers has been ob
446 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.  447
served to be increasing, and a number of streams, whose flow,
at intervals, has been subterranean, are said to fill their superficial beds. These facts connect themselves with an increased
growth of trees and grass upon the plains. Julius Froebel reports having seen, near the Pecos, an abundant young growth
of mesquit trees, beneath millions of old trunks which still
stand, though they have been dead no one knows how long,
while no intermediate growth exists, and among the present
chaparral large stumps are not unfrequently to be found, indicating a former forest. We ourselves noticed a similar young
growth of mesquit trees upon open prairies.
..
These phenomena are thought to be explained by the comparative rarity offites since Americans entered the country.  Hundreds
of miles, formerly burned over each year by Indians, now escape,
and the young seedlings, then destroyed, have had time, where
this has occurred, to become strong enough to resist prairie
flame. This growth retards evaporation as well as the instant
flowing off of rain water, so that freshets are fewer and streams
more steady, while the retained water furnishes vapor to the
summer atmosphere, for precipitation, upon slighter causes.
The theory connects itself with those upon the original formation of prairies, and must be left to the discussion of experts.*
NORTHWESTERN TEXAS.
Northwestern Texas has for its chief feature the Llano Es
* "Not a tree, not a blade of grass, is to be seen in its vicinity, yet, fifty years
ago, the whole district was covered with forests, which might have lasted for
centuries had not the improvident and wasteful spirit of the first adventurers
wantonly destroyed those treasures which to their descendants would have been
invaluable. Whole woods were burned in order to clear the ground, and the
larger timber required for the mines is now brought from a distance of twenty
two leagues."-WARD, at Catorce. 
448   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
tacado, or Staked Plain, an immense desolate, barren table-land,
stretching from the Canadian to the Pecos. It is a perfectly
level desert, more than two thousand feet above the sea, desti.
tute of water, bearing no tree, and, during a great part of the
year, only dried grass, supporting no permanent animal life, and
probably destined to be of little service to man. Its surface is
unbroken by a hill or any projection, but here and there yawn
canons, or horrid chasms, on the brink of which a traveler finds
himself without the slightest warning, looking down  a dizzy
abyss, a thousand feet in depth, and a thousand feet across.
This plain recalls the steppes, the pampas, and the great prairies of Hungary; but, owing to the almost total want of moisture, it has no similar value as a pasture.
From its eastern base, whose edges are as marked and abrupt
as the sides of its canons, flow the rivers which water Texas.
On the south, it descends less abruptly into lower table-lands or
barren elevated prairies, which subside irregularly into the region
of chaparral.
The Pecos forms a western boundary for these plains, but beyond it no characteristic change occurs.  It is itself a torrent
of muddy drippings, flowing between high banks, and watering
no arable soil. For hundreds of miles it furnishes the only
supply of water for travelers, and the two roads from San Antonio to E1 Paso are compelled to unite in following its tedious
course.
Between the Pecos and the Upper Rio Grande rises the rugged
* Upon the lower road, by Fort Inge, which is most frequented, a chain of
military outposts (Forts Davis, Lancaster, etc.) has been lately established for
the purpose of overawing the roving Indians of the plains, and checking their
forays upon the Texan settlements. By reports from them we may hope to
have  a better acquaintance with this region.  The distance to El Pao, hy this 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
chain of the Guadalupe mountains. Here vegetation and moisture are found again. forests of pine and oak appearing upon the
slopes.
PACIFIC RAILROAD.
It is across this forbidding country that it is proposed to build
our southern railroad toward the Pacific. In respect of cliimate it has a certain advantage over the more northern routes.
But impediments more formidable than winter snows are to be
met. A principal obstacle occurs at the outset, in the total want
of water upon the Staked Plains. Wood or coal might, if necessity demanded, be transported to suitable stations along the
road, but a local water supply seems to be indispensable. With
the design of removing, if possible, this preliminary objection, a
party of engineers have been for two years at work, under orders
of the Secretary of War, in ascertaining the practicability of boring artesian wells upon the plains. The results are interesting,
but, as yet, afford no practical solution of the difficulty. Upon
the parallel of thlirty-twvo degrees, and fifteen miles east of the
Pecos, a first tube was sunk in 1855.   Water was twice struck,
first at three hundred and sixty feet, subsequently at six hundred
and forty-one feet, but in neither case did it rise to within two
hundred and forty feet of the surface. In 1856, a point, five
miles further east, was chosen.   The same streams were reached,
and, at the depth of eight hundred and sixty feet a third, from
which water rose to within one hundred and ten feet of the surface.  The appropriation of forty thousand dollars being ex
road, is six hundred and seventy-five miles. It has been suggested that camels
were well adapted to purposes of transportation upon these dry plains, and a
ship-load has been lately procured by Government, and landed in good condition upon the Texas coast. At last accounts they were at pasture upon the
plantation of Major Howard, near San Antonio.
449 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
hausted, operations have been discontinued. Captain Pope, who
was in command, describes the geological formation as consist ing of alternate strata of indurated clays and cretaceous marls,
the latter, apparently, of fertilizing value. He also reports a
novel source of fuel in the roots of the mesquit, which are found
preserved beneath the soil, perfectly sound and hard, extending,
sometimes, to the incredible depth of seventy feet.
Should further perseverance succeed in obtaining from this
source a permanent and sufficient supply of water, and engineering skill produce a practicable means of crossing the gigantic
canions Qf the plains, there are still the rugged precipices of the
Guadalupe mountains to be crossed before reaching the Rio
Grande. Nor is the country beyond, though feasible so far as
topographical considerations are concerned, better adapted to
the support of a costly thoroughfare. In the various journeys
through it, connected with his duties as boundary commissioner,
Mr. Bartlett became, probably, more familiar with it than any
other writer. The following is his appreciation of it:-" At
the head-waters of the Concho, therefore, begins that great
desert region, which, with no interruption save a limited valley,
or bottom-land, along the Rio Grande, and lesser ones near the
rivulets of San Pedro and Santa Cruz, extends over a district
embracing sixteen degrees of longitude, or about one thousand
miles, and is wholly unfit for agriculture. It is a desolate, barren waste, which can never be rendered useful to man or beast,
save for a public highway." Upon the Colorado desert, the
obstacle of the absence of water again occurs, and the ranges
of California mountains offer no trifling obstruction. There is a
terminal objection, too, which is by no means insignificant-that
the Pacific is reached, at last, at San Dieg,o, which is still five
450 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.  451
hundred miles from San Francisco, the commercial goal, and
that through an almost impassable country.
Whether more advantageous routes can be found further north,
it is not pertinent here to inquire; but, with these objections in
view, the idea of a railroad, as a commercially economical project, from Texas to the Pacific, may be safely pronounced chimerical. In a military point of view, it may become desirable,
and, if necessary, can be built; but the cost, both of construction and preservation, must first be counted.
THE RIO GRANDE.
The Rio Grande flows, for a great part of its course, in a valley so narrow as to be frequently a mere chasm, and receiving
few tributaries from the parched region through which it passes,
scarcely enlarges its volume' for a thousand miles above its mouth.
In the neighborhood of E1 Paso, its banks recede and leave a
limited tract of wooded bottom-lands, from a mile to two miles
in width and thirty or forty miles in length. In this district has
settled a population, almost entirely from the adjacent Mexican
territory, of about ten thousand.
From this point to the Pecos the river is bordered by rugged
hills, flanking its course sometimes with enormous precipices, the
bed of the stream being often so narrowed and obstructed, that
furious rapids are occasioned. The immediate vicinity of the
mouth of the Pecos, till now unexplored, has recently been visited by an expedition from the military posts upon the E1 Paso
road, against the remnant of the Lipan Indians, who had retreated
to its fastnesses. The region is described as almost impenetrable-*a wild chaos of rocky heights and gorges.*
The extermination of the old tribe of Lipans was nearly completed by this 
452  A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Below the Pecos, the Rio Grande enters the more open chap arral region; but, until the coast prairies are nearly reached, no
land of consequence occurs suitable for cultivation. Now and
then a narrow meadow is found, and a few short fertile valleys
lie upon affluent creeks. These are occupied frequently by old
ranches, upon which a little cotton, sugar, and maize are raised
by Mexicans. Irrigation is compulsory, no rain sometimes falling for many months. An officer, who had lately been stationed
a year or two at Laredo, told me that, at the end of July, no
green thing was to be found within a radius of thirty miles from
the town. In the neighborhood of Rio Grande city, and thence
to the gulf, considerable tracts of arable land border the river.
They have hitherto been little occupied by Americans-property
of any kind along the river being somewhat insecure, and slaves
particularly liable to be lost over the boundary. The necessity
of irrigation is a great obstacle, also, to our impatient countrymen.
The river is regularly navigable for small steamboats, as far
as Roma. Were there sufficient commercial inducement, it is
probable that a class of boats might be constructed to ascend as
high as the Pecos, the chief impediment, beside mere shifting
shoals, being the Kingsbiiry Rapids, near Presidio.   Through
these it is thought a channel might be opened at an expense of
one hundred thousand dollars.
The population along the east bank of the Lower Rio Grande
expedition. They were found in several squads, one after another of which
was surprised and nearly every man cut off. A very few escaped across the
Rio Grande. Greater security seems now to be within reach of the frontier
settlements, as, under date of Oct. 14, 1856, it is also stated that the remaining
Comanches of the plains have formally consented to come upon the reservation
upon the Upper Brazos. 
REGIONAL CHARACTERIBTICS.  453
may be estimated at from fifteen to twenty thousand, about half
of which is concentrated around the towns of Brownsville and
Rio Grande City. The region is the haunt of border outlaws
and Mexican refugees, whose presence keeps the frontier society
in a continual ferment of fillibusterism.
BEYOND THE RIO GRANDE.
The country adjacent to the Rio Grande, upon the Mexican
side, corresponds, in general character, very closely to that just
described.  The limits of the great chaparral wastes are even
further from the river, reaching the mountains of Chihuahua;
and the great region from E1 Paso to the boundaries of Tamaulipas is a barren solitude, scarce trodden by any other foot than
that of the Indian.   Near Camargo begins the first valuable
land, and the delta of the Rio Grande below extends itself wide
to the southward, merging into the malarious coast-levels. Here
is a soil well adapted to sugar and cotton; but the Mexican
occupants have as yet found their profit rather in herds and
flocks than in the plow.
Matamoros, the only town of consequence upon the river,
supports a population of about twenty thousand by its foreign
trade. The population of the villages above depend mainly
upon their little household manufactures of wool for a miserable
support.
Further inland is the rich and densely populated valley of
the Tigre, at whose head stand Monterey and Saltillo. The
interval from the Rio Grande is abandoned to hopeless chaparral.
FURTHER ANNEXATION.
There is a general opinion that portions of Mexico, adjoining 
454   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Texas, are, sooner or later, "destined" to be annexed to the
Union, to add to the number and power of the Slave States. An
examination of the character of the country in question serves
to materially diminish any such probabilities. If a line be drawn
from the mouth of the Rio Grande, due west (along the twenty sixth parallel) to the Pacific, the remaining territory of Mexico
will be divided nearly equally; but, in the northern half, though
fine pastures and valuable mines might be acquired, no cotton
lands are to be found. The only exceptions, of consequence, are
those described near the present boundary, and a few sunny valleys along the short, quick rivers of Sonora. The fertile lands
of our part of the continent, lying in tracts suitable for the
formation of states, are, in short, exhausted, and the prime motive for further extension, disregarding mere political influences,
is wanting.
There are other difficulties. We have not yet made the experiment, in our experience of annexations, of absorbing any notable
amount of resident foreign population. This territory contains
upwards of half a million of Mexicans.   The  character and
numbers of these people, and the physical peculiarities of their
occupied lands, are such as to render it improbable that slavery
call ever be extensively introduced. or naturalized among them.
No country could be selected better adapted to a fugitive and
clandestine life, and no people among whom it would be more
difficult to enforce the regulations vital to slavery.
The Mexican masses are vaguely considered as degenerate and
degraded Spaniards; it is, at least, equally correct to think of
them as improved and Christianized Indians. In their tastes
and social instincts, they approximate the African. The difference between them and the negro is smaller, and is less felt, I 
REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 455
believe, than that between the northern and southern European
races.   There are many Mexicans of mixed negro blood, who,
in Northern Mexico, bear less suspicion of inferiority than our
proletarian naturalized citizens. There are thousands in respectable social positions whose color and physiognomy would subject
them, in Texas, to be sold by the sheriff as negro-estrays who
cannot be allowed at large without detriment to the commonwealth.
There is, besides, between our Southern American and the Mexican, an unconquerable antagonism of character, which will prevent any condition of order where the two come together.  The
Mexicans, in our little intercourse with them, we found as different as possible from what all Texan reports would have led us to
expect. This was, probably, as much owing to our being able to
meet them in a considerate manner, and to their responsive regard, as to any difference in standards of judgment. People
commonly go into Mexico from Texas as if into a country in
revolt against them, and return to boast of the insolence with
which they have constantly treated the religious and social customs, and the personal self-respect of the inhabitants. This
arrogant disposition is not peculiar to the border c]ass, nor to the
old Texans. Nowhere is it better expressed, than in a book
written before the war, by a Virginian who claims to be a friend
of President Tyler, and who was appointed by him to a responsible office. The tone of condescension with which this gentleman patronizes people who are evidently much his superiors in
true refinement, education, wealth, and social dignity, is not
less absurd than the indignant impatience with which I have
heard a ruffian of the frontier describe the politeness, incomprehensible to him, of Mexican hospitality. 
456   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
The mingled Puritanism and brigandism, which distinguishes
the vulgar mind of the South, peculiarly unfits it to harmoniously
associate with the bigoted, childish, and passionate Mexicans.
They are considered to be heathen; not acknowledged as " white
folks." Inevitably they are dealt with insolently and unjustly.
They fear and hate the ascendant race, and involuntarily asso ciate and sympathize with the negroes.
Thus, wherever slavery in Texas has been carried in a whole sale way, into the neighborhood of Mexicans, it has been found
necessary to treat them as outlaws. Guaranteed, by the treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo, equal rights with all other citizens of the
United States and of Texas, the whole native population of
county after county has been driven, by the formal proceedings
of substantial planters,* from its homes, and forbidden, on pain
of no less punishment than instant death, to return to the vicinity of the plantations.
This is sufficient indication of the nature of the impediments
to any further advance of slavery in the southwest. Isolated
noisy attempts at conquest will, no doubt, be made by border adventurers, but any permanent establishment of slavery beyond
the Rio Grande is intrinsically improbable, unless the real
speculators can arrange to have the army of the United States
placed at their disposal. For this, it is true, precedent is not
* A  Southern paper, maintaining the conservative quality of slavery, lately
observed: "Public outrages have been committed at the South, mobs have
been raised, premises destroyed, persons outraged, and life taken, and all in the
name of slavery; but we have never known an instance in which slaveholders
themselves have been members of the mob. The actors have always been
lewd fellows, of the baser sort-panderers to position and wealth that they
could never aspire to, who thought that they might thus gain favor from slaveholders. But we have never known slaveholders who did not spurn and despise the truckling rowdies thus acting in their name."
A rare confession this, of the real internal relations of the people of the Soutlh. 
REGIONAL  CHARACTTERISTI(.':.   t57
wanting. The population of Tamaulipas and Newv Leon, first
to be encountered, is, however, a long-established one, and too
numerous for expulsion; it will have ready resort to malarious jungles, chaparral covers and mountain fastnesses; to perpetual incendiarism and guerrilla descents, nor will it be withheld
from resistance to usurpation and tyranny by reverence for the
name of Constitution and Law.
20  
NOTE UPON FARMI PROFITS,
THERE is room for discussion as to some of the items introduced into
the agricultural tables at page 205. These are simply given as condensing the results of our own inquiries, and must be taken with due
allowance for our prejudices and mistakes. The elements of such calculations are, of course, liable to modification by the market-prices and
circumstances of each year. The general conclusion, however, that
stock-raising is far more profitable to the individual and to the State,
in Western Texas, than cotton-planting, will hold good.
The estimate of the production of cotton to the acre or to the hand,
in the tables, may be considered low, when compared with the statements of planters, given in other parts of the volume. Seven bales to
the hand have been frequently noted. This may be set down, however,
as a "brag crop," or, as mentioned in the interest of land-holding.  The
same planter in writing to his creditors, or when rallied upon his extreme profits, will deny that in a series of years he can average over
three bales to the hand.
In a report to the government upon the cotton capacities of the
United States, Mr. Andrews makes four bales, of four hundred pounds, to
the hand, the basis of his calculations.   In conversation with intelligent and disinterested Texans, I have been assured that what with
floods, droughts, worms, and sickness of hands, an average of four bales
was more than could be depended upon. A recent elaborate article
upon the lands of Texas, in the " Austin State Gazette," gives six and
a quarter cents as the average net price of Texan cotton. These figures
all fall below those introduced in the tables.
A  slight difference is allowed for the greater cost of a home to the
farmer than to the planter. Probably, in practice this would be more
marked, the long-formed habits of the former compelling conformity to
a higher standard of comfort. 
460   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
The price set upon sheep is sufficient to cover their purchase in the
Ohio States, and the cost of their transit on foot. They can be purchased, already acclimated, at a slight advance. Sheep, yielding a fair
fleece, are every year sold in New York market at less than two dollars, and are quoted at from two and a half to four and a quarter dollars, at New Orleans, November 28, 1856. At the time of our visit to
Texas, Mexican sheep might be had at two dollars, delivered in any
western county.   They cannot now, I understand, be procured from
this source.
AN EMIGRANT'S PROSPECTS.
A farmer, on a small scale, arriving in Texas with one thousand
dollars, will expend it nearly as follows:
Land, 160 acres-$400.
Cabin and furniture-$150.
Tools, wagon and working cattle-$150.
Cows and pigs-$150.
Temporary subsistence-$150.
He will be able, after putting up his house, to plough and fence a field
of twenty acres during the first year. The returns will be about five
hundred bushels of corn, worth fifty cents (sometimes 25 cents, sometimes $1 25), and, perhaps, fifty dollars for butter and pork sold, making three hundred dollars. He will require two-thirds of this for improving the condition of his family, and will invest the remainder in the
purchase of sheep.
The second year will add ten acres to his field, and the production of
corn will be increased upon the land first ploughed, making his crop
worth four hundred and twenty-five dollars. Laying aside two hundred dollars for his family, and adding seventy-five for smaller sales,
he will have three hundred to invest in sheep, and will have now a flock
of seventy.
The third year will see his corn-field in complete cultivation, and
yieldin,, permanently, twelve hundred bushels of corn each year.  He
will be able to obtain two or three improved bucks, and to number, by
purchase and increase, a flock of one hundred and seventy-five sheep.
By an easy calculation, his course, if he retain his industry, and meet
with only ordinary losses, may thus be traced for ten years to the possession of a valuable farm, with herds and flocks which will insure him
a comfortable subsistence without other personal labor than supervision.
A laboring man, who has not one thousand dollars at command, will
probably find his account in first accumulating that sum by working 
NOTE UPON FARM PROFITS.
for others.  Wages in Texas are a trifle lower than in the Northwestern States, but higher than in the Atlantic States.
Cotton planting, by slave labor, with so small a capital as one thousand dollars, is impossible. A man owning only a negro worth that price
must sell him, and become a farmer. Should he invest the first profits
of his labor in negroes, a few figures will show that his progress must
be far less rapid than that of the corn and sheep-farmer.*
The parts of Texas best adapted to immigrant farmers, are Upper
Western and Upper Northeastern Texas. A small planter will choose
central Northeastern Texas, a large planter, the river-bottoms of Central Texas, where, with due regard to price of land, the access to market is most convenient.
The cost of passage from New York to Indianola is about thirty
dollars, and from the coast to Upper Texas, about fifteen dollars.
Freight from New York to San Antonio is usually from one to three
dollars per barrel, for light or heavy articles.
The settlement should be fixed, where possible, for early winter, when
exposure to sickness is smallest, and when time remains for the erection
of a cabin and the preparation of a field before planting-time.
Titles to land, it need hardly be advised, are to be closely scrutinized,
before money is paid for them, and none. should be accepted which will
not bear the thorough investigation of the best local lawyer within
reach.
* "A St. Augustine paper informs us of the results of one small planter of that
county, which is worth recording. On one acre, he raised and sold 450 gallons
of syrup at 50 cents, 4 bbls. sugar at 6 cents, and 3,000 canes at 2 cents each,
making a total of $433. Besides, he raised 150 bushels of corn, and 200 bushels
of sweet potatoes, worth $370, giving a full total of $800. His land was in the
piny woods, but he cow-penned it, which makes it the best soil for sugar-cane.
With a little industry hs family enjoyed all the milk and butter, eggs and
bacon they wanted, and this $800 was in his pocket at the end of the year, and
with the sum he bought a negro, and will this year go on at compound interest
upon the fruits of his small capital. What a lesson this is to lazy people who
stand about groceries, and get up an everlasting name for themselves, in our
towns, of loafers and trifling fellows. By a little well-directed labor, they might
thus secure a good reputation and a sterling reliance for their old age.  What
is done in Flornda can be done, and is done, in Texas."-Debow's Review.
461 
I 
A P P E N D I X.
HISTORICAL TABLE,
THE PRLNCIPAL DATA FROM YOAKUM'S HISTORY
1519. Cortes lands in Mexico.
1535. First Viceroy of New Spain.
1581. New Mexico explored.
1590. Mission of Topia.
1595. Monterey founded.
1685. Feb. 18th.-Lasalle lands in Texas, upon the western shore of Matagorda
Bay.
1686. Fort St. Louis established upon the Lavaca.
Spanish established at Monclova, in Coahuila.
1687. Lasalle killed, while exploring near the Neches River.
Fort St. Louis destroyed by Indians.
1689. April.-First Spanish expedition from Monclova, Under De Leon, into
Texas, against the French.
1690. Second expedition of De Leon. Mission of San Francisco established
upon the ruins of Fort St. Louis, and the Mission of San Juan Bautista
upon the Rio Grande, at Presidio.
1691. Several colonies attempted in Eastern Texas by Teran.
1693. Colonies all abandoned, and Texas left without Europeans.
1714. August.-French trading expedition under St. Denis reaches the Mission
of San Juan, upon the Rio Grande.
1715. Re-occupation by Spain.  Missions of San Antonio, Dolores, Adaes, and
Nacogdoches founded.
1716. Second French trading expedition of St. Denis to the Rio Grande.
1718. War between France and Spain.
1719. Spanish outposts in Eastern Texas driven in by French troops from Nat       chitoches, to San Antonio. Re-established by De Aguayo.
1721. French expedition to Matagorda Bay. Repulsed by Indians.
Mission of La Bahia established by De Aguayo. Additional missions
at San Antonio.
1726. Trade revived between French and Spanish settlements. 
464   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
1730. San Antonio town founded by immigrants from the Canaries.
1731 Mission of Concepcion founded.
1734. Sandoval Governor of Texas.
1740-50. Colonies languish.
744. Church of the Alamo founded.
1758. Massacre at Mission San Saba, by the Indians.
1762. Louisiana ceded to Spain.
1765. Europeans in Texas number about 750.
1778. Growth, by immigration, of Nacogdoches.
1794. Texan Missions declared secularized, by Don Pedro de Nava.
1795. Treaty with Spain confirming to Americans the right of navigation of the
Mississippi.
An American trade with Texas springs up.
1800. Nolan's trading expedition attacked and broken up by Spanish troops
upon the Brazos.
1801. Louisiana transferred to France.
1803. Louisiana purchased by the United States.
1805. Petty Spanish aggressions along the Sabine. U.S. frontier-posts strength
ened. Texan colonies reinforced.
1806. Neutral ground agreed upon between the Arroyo Honda and the Sabine
Pike's expedition to New Mexico.
First American actual settlers in Texas.
Population of Texas about 7,000.
1807. Burr's expedition.
1809. First revolutionary movements in Mexico.
1810. Revolt of Hidalgo.  He is defeated and executed the following year.
1811. Robberies by freebooters of the Neutral Ground.
1812. Expedition of McGee and Gutierres from Red River, for the conquest
and republicanization of Texas. Capture of La Bahia.
1813. March.-Battle of Rosalis.  Surrender of San Antonio.
August.-Battle of the Medina.  Rout of the Americans.  Annihilation
of the expedition.
1814. Dispersal of freebooters at Barrataria.
1816. Galveston island occupied by a republican expedition.  Aury declared
Governor of Texas and Galveston. Perry joins.
Mina's expedition against Florida. It fails. He joins the forces at Gal
veston. Great booty in goods and negroes from Spanish prizes. The
slaves taken are sold into Louisiana.
t817. Expeditionists sail from Galveston and capture Soto la.Marina. Rout
and death of Mina.  Retreat and death of Perry at La Bahia.
Occupation of Galveston by Lafitte. His followers number 1,000.
Temporary settlement by French refugees upon Trinity River.
1819. Feb. 22.-Treaty making the Sabine boundary between United States
and Spain.
Texas invaded from Natchez by a company under Long.
Provisional independent government established at Nacogdoches.
First printing-offlce at Nacogdoches. 
APPE N DIX. 
1819. Long solicits aid from Lafitte.  Appointed Republican  Govornor of
Galveston.  The expedition is routed by Spanish forces. Re-assembles
at Bolivar Point.
181 l  Feb. 24.-Pronunciamento of Iturbide, at Iguala.
.ug. 24.-Plan of Iguala. Regency of six. lturbide President.
Lafitte's establishment broken up by the United States.
Long goes by sea to West Texas, ant captures La Bahia. Is subse        quently made prisoner, and killed in the city of Mexico.
Moses Austin (native of Durham, Ct., a speculator in Virginia and Mis        souri mines) conceives the idea of establishing American settlements,
and visits Bexar, 1820.  Applies for permission to colonize 301) faui
lies. Is robbed and maltreated upon his return to the States, and dies
June 10, 1821. His application is granted, and his son, Stephen IF.
Austin, undertakes the enterprise. The colonists to be Louisianians,
of good character, Roman Catholics (or to agree to become so before en        tering), and to take oath of fidelity to the king and government of Spain.
Aug. 19.-The plan sanctioned in detail by the Governor of Texas. Aus        tin selects lands near the Brazos, and advertises in New Orleans for
colo,nists. In November, first expedition. A few American families
settle on the Brazos and Colorado.
1822. Austin proceeds to Mexico. He meets, at Mexico, H. Edwards and other
applicants.
Iturbide made Emperor.
1823. Jan. 4.-General colonization law promulgated. Its provisions as above,
but colonists may be other than Louisianians.
Sale or purchase of slaves prohibited; all born in the empire are to be         come free at 14.
Feb. 18.-Austin's grant specially confirmed.
Revolt of Santa Anna. Constituent Congress. Austin's grant re-con         firmed. Austin returns to his colony, which has rapidly grown.
1824. Second general colonization law enacted, providing for special laws by
the several states.
Federal Constitution proclaimed, 4th October
Texas united with Coahuila, to form a State of the confederacy.
1825. Saucedo appointed "Political Chief" of Texas.
Decree inviting colonists, who are bound to make oath to obey the Con          stitution, and observe the Catholic religion.
Grants to Robert Leftwich, for 200 families; to Hayden Edwards, for
80)0; to Austin, for 500 additional; to Green Dewitt, for 300; and to
Martin De Leon, for 150.
United States Minister instructed by Mr. Clay to purchase Texas if
practicable.
1826. Difficulties in H. Edwards's grant at Nacogdoches. His contract an
nulled by the Governor. His colonists resist. They style themselves
Fredonians,  and (Dec.  18) fortify themselves.   Saucedo marches
against them. Austin takes an adverse part. They are overpowered
The grant of Edwards made over to Burnet & Vehlin
20*
1 465 
466    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
1827. Colonies rapidly advance in population. Gonzales laid out. Third
grant of Austin for 100 families.
United States again offers to purchase Texas.
1828. Fourth grant to Austin, for 300 families.
1829. Power's grant, for 2010 families; McMullen & MeGloire's grant.
Expulsion of Spaniards from Mexico decreed, March.
Spanish descent at Tampico.
Unlimited powers conferred upon President Guerrero.
Slavery abolished in the Mexican Republic, by a decree of Guerrero.
Guerrero deposed, Dec. 23.
Bustamente usurps the Presidency. Guerrero shot.
Repeated offers on the part of United States for the purchase of Texas.
1830. April 6.-Decree suspending colony contracts, and forbidding further
settlement of Americans. Further introduction of slaves prohibited.
Custom-houses established at Nacogdoches, San Antonio, Copano, Ve         lasco, and Galveston.
Teran appointed Commandant-general of the Eastern States.
Martial law introduced by Bradbum, Mexican commander at Anahuac
(Galveston).
Americans now number 20,000. Mexican troops in Texas about 800.
1831. Immigration continues, and the new-comers defmand titles.
The State Land Commissioner arrested by Teran, and confined at Ana         huac. Petty military tyrannies. Americans become incensed.
Troops sent to enforce federal measures; to be paid from revenues col         lected at Texan ports.
Order closing all ports except Anahuac. Resisted by the Americans,
and rescinded under threats of immediate attack upon Anahuac.
Texas divided into two districts by State law, the "political chiefs" hav         ing separate jurisdiction.
1832. Travis and Munroe Edwards imprisoned by Bradburn for punishing a
soldier's outrage. Their release demanded. Two or three hundred
armed men appear, ready to invest Anahuac. Manifesto of adherence
to the constitution of 1824, detailing wrongs. Prisoners released, and
Bradburn removed by Piedras.
Revolt of Vera Cruz under Santa Anna. Resignation and flight of
Bustamente.
Texans "pronounce" for Santa Anna and the constitution of 1824, attack
and take the military fort at Velasco. A force from Matamoros arrives
under Mexia, with whom they fraternize. Resolutions expressive of
the sentiments of the colonists presented to Col. Mexia, at San F61ipe.
Col. Piedras holds out at Nacogdoches; attacked and defeated by Texans.
State colonization law modified excluding Americans.
Texans demand a separation from Coahuila; convention for drafting a
state constitution.
Sam Houston enters Texas.
1833. Santa Anna elected President.
Adjourned Texan convention prepared a constitution and a memorial to 
APPENDI-X.1X 
1833.    supreme govelmment.   Austin sent delegate to Mexico.   He writes
advising Texans to take matters into their own hands. He is arrested,
and suffers three months' imprisonment.
1834. Texas divided into three departments, having each a "political chief."
English language admitted by State law in public affairs. Free land
sales established, with provision that no one shall be molested for po        litical or religious opinions. Trial by jury introduced. Subsequent
disorganization of the state government by local quarrels. Conveni        tion called to consider the necessity for a provisional government.
The Texan memorial heard at Mexico.  Decisions unfavorable.  Austin
released, but detained. Report on Texas by Almonte. He estimates
the population at 21,000. (Probably 30,000.)
1835. State land bills passed in the interest of speculators.
Federal law by Santa Anna, disarming the population.
Gen. Cos ordered by Santa Anna to disperse the legislature at Monclova.
Legislature adjourns. The Governor retreats toward Bexar, but is
arrested.  State government dissolved.  First " Committee of Safety"
at Bastrop, May 17, upon Indian outrages. Troops at Anahuac attacked
and driven out by WV. B. Travis, the Texans declining to be taxed for
the support of a local standing army.
Cos declared Governor by Santa Anna. Public commotion. News of
near arrival of an army for "regulating matters" in Texas.  A war        party and a peace-party form.
June 22.-Meeting  and "address" of the war-party.  Militia of Brazos
district organized.  July 17. —Meeting at San Felipe; peace policy
prevails. Resolutions for resistance to Santa Anna on the Navidad.
Committee of Safety at Nacogdoches. Order given by the Mexican
commandant for sundry arrests of Texans, particularly of Zavala, by
Santa Anna. War spirit aroused. Resolutions of the people of San
Augustine, led by Houston, in favor of the Constitution of 1824, etc.,
and organizing the militia. Reinforcements of troops sent to Texas.
Austin returns, Sept. 1. Favors a general Consultation.
Santa Anna seizes the government.
War appears inevitable. Intelligence that Cos is approaching, to dis        arm the population, and drive out all colonists introduced since 1830.
Austin, as Chairman of Committee of Safety, declares war the only
resource, and advises volunteer companies.
Cos lands with 500 troops, and marches toward Bexar.   Order from the
commandant at Bexar for the surrender of a piece of artillery at Gonl        zales. Texans refuse compliance. A cavaliy force of 100 men sent to
enforce the order, attacked by Texans and driven off, Oct. 1.
Texan Revolution -begun.
State Legislatures abolished, and central power of Santa Anna confirmed.
Permanent Council of one from each committee of Safety established at
San F6lipe, RItoyall President. Austin takes command of the forces
gathering at Gonzales.  Resolved to drive the Mexicans out of Texas.
Goliad is surprised and taken, with military stores, Oct. 9.
467 
468    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
1835. Austin advances toward Bexar with 600 men.
People of the United States called on to assist. Troops sent from New
Orleans, 17th and 19th Oct.
Oct. 28.-The Mexican forces engage Austin's advance at the Mission
Concepcion, and are routed.
Printing-press and newspaper at San F61elipe.
Council at San F61elipe assumes the reins of government. It prepares an
address to the people of the United States, grants letters of reprisal,
and authorizes a loan.
Nov. 3.-Meeting of the ConsultatioiT, 55 in number; Branch T. Archer
President. Declares in favor of Constitution of 1824. Establishes a
Provisional Government of Governor and Council, and elects a Com        mander-in-chief. Adjourns to 1st March, 1836. Henry Smith elected
Governor; Houston, Commander-in-chief. Bexar besieged. Skirmish,
Nov. 26, known as the "Grass-fight."
Dec. 5th. —Bexar assaulted under Milam; 8th, enemy driven into the Alamo
9th, capitulation. Cos and his army withdraw beyond the Rio Grande
Unfortunate descent on Tampico, under Mexia, from New Orleans.
Regulararmydecreed; to be 1,120 strong, enlisted with bounty of 640 acres
Quarrels between the Governor and Council.
Dec. 17.-Demonstration upon Matamoros ordered.
Feeling strong in favor of Declaration of Independence. It is affirmed to
be premature by the Council.
Dec. 25.-Volunteers arrive to the number of 200, from Georgia and
Alabama.
30th.-Dr. Grant sets out, without orders, from Bexar, with 200 men, for
Matamoros.
1836. The Council invade the functions of the Governor; 11th Jan., they order
him to cease his functions.
Jan. 7.-Fannin appointed by the Council a,,ent for concentrating at Co
pano volunteers against Matamoros.
Jan. 17.-Houston orders the fortifications at Bexar to be demolished,
and the artillery to be brought away. Order disobeyed for want of
transportation. Travis dispatched with a small force to aid Bexar.
Loans of $250,000 procured in New Orleans.
Feb. 1.-Santa Anna sets out from Saltillo, with 6,000 men.
Urrea, with a smaller force, sent, via Matamoros, to San Patricio.
March 1.-The Convention meets by adjournment.
2.-It declares Texas an Independent Republic.
4.-Houston appointed Commander-in-chief.
6.-He sets out for the West.
" 16.-Constitution adopted, providing a President, and Congress of
two houses; introducing "common-law,"' and dividing Texas by coun
ties. David G. Burnet elected temporary President.
Santa Anna reaches San Antonio, Feb. 23.  The Alamo assaulted and
carried, March 6.  Its defenders mnssac(red.
Urirea, at San Patricio, Feb. 27, routs anid slaughlters the Texan force. 
APPENDIX.
Battle of the Coleta. Fannin, moving from Goliad to Victoria, is sur  rounded by Urrea's force, March 19. He capitulates. 26th.-Orders
from Santa Anna that the prisoners be shot. 27th.-Massacre of Goliad;
Fannin and 330 prisoners shot in cold blood.
Houston reaches Gonzales, March 11. News of fall of the Alamo. His
force, 374 men. He burns Gonzales, and falls back. 17th.-Encamps
on the Colorado with 600 men. 19th.-Resolved to remove the seat of
government to Harrisburg. Two-thirds of the militia called into ser  vice. Powder and arms seized. Houston again falls back, 26th.
Reaches the Brazos, 28th. Crosses the Brazos, April 13th.
Santa Anna leaves Bexar, March 31-arrives at San F61elipe, with the ad  vance, April 7-crosses the Brazos on the 12th, at Fort Bend, and
marches to Harrisburg, reaching it, with seven hundred men, on the
15th. Houston follows, and arrives at Harrisburg on the 18th-crosses
the bayou, 19th-and follows the Mexicans.
20th.-Advance continued-meets the scouts of the Mexicans returning
to Lynch's Ferry. Line of battle formed-skirmishes ensue. Caval ry reconnoissance under Sherman. Mexicans construct a breastwork.
21st, A. M.-Cos joins Santa Anna with reinforcements. Vince's Bridge
cut away by Houston, who resolves to give battle. 3 P. M.-Battle of
SAN JACINTO. Under a fire of artillery, Texans advance with the cry:
"Remember the Alamo," reserving their fire till within pistol-shot.
Mexicans give way at all points, and are massacred by the furious
Texans, who remain complete masters of the field. Texan Force,
783-SMexican, 1,600. Mexican loss-630 killed, 208 wounded, 730 pri  soners; camp-chest taken containing $12,000. Texan loss-8 killed,
25 wounded.
22d.-Santa Anna made prisoner. Signs an armistice, and orders the
retreat of his reserves.
14th May.-Treaty signed, at Velasco, by Santa-Anna-providing for
the withdrawal of Mexican troops. A private treaty binning Santa
Anna to acknowledge the independence of Texas. Houston goes to
New Orleans. Rusk takes command of the army. Filisola retreats
to the Rio Grande. Santa Anna embarks for Vera Cruz, but is
brought back.
April 20.-Commissioners sent to Washington, with instructions to pro
pose annexation.
15th July.-An army of four thousand Mexicans, under Urrea, assem  bles at Matamoros. Texan detachments sent to the Nueces. Santa
Anna requests the mediation of General Jackson. American troops
sent to Nacogdoches to overawe the neighboring Indians!
September 1.-Houston elected President. Constitution adopted, and an  nexation demanded by the people. Town of Houston founded.
October 1.-Congress meets.  Government organized in detail.
United States claims pressed upon Mexico. Minister demands his pass  ports. Mexican minister leaves Washington. Santa Anna sent by
Houston to Washington, whence he returns to Vera Cruz.
469 
470   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
1837. March.-Bustamente chosen President of Mexico.
March 2.-Independence of Texas recognized by the United States.
Political convulsions in Mexico. Texas peaceful. Immigration con         tinues. Port of Galveston grows up.
1838. Mexican war with France. Diplomatic relations of Mexico with the
United States resumed.   Mirabean B. Lamar elected President of
Texas. Quietness continues.
1839. Centralists prevail in Mexico.
Indians, incited by Mexico, disturb Texas.
Commercial relations established with England.   France recognizes
Texan Independence.
Austin founded, and made capital.
1840. Texas scrip reduced to fourteen cents on the dollar. Twelve newspapers
published in Texas. Mexican hostility diverted by intestine troubles
England, Holland, and Belgium acknowledge Texan independence.
1841. Great efforts to secure a loan in Europe. Mexico declines negotiations.
Yucatan declares independence, and makes a naval alliance with
Texas.  Skirmishes on the Rio Grande.  Santa Fe expedition of about
three hundred and twenty-five men, with the object of securing the
submission of New Mexico and opening trade.  After great suffering
on the plains, the party is divided, made prisoners by the Mexicans,
and marched, with atrocious cruelties, to Mexico city.
September.-Sam Houston elected President. Sixth Congress meets
The debt and paper issues of the Government extremely embarrass       ing. Houston recommends a temporary repudiation of all liabilities,
the issue of exchequer bills, and the negotiation of a loan. A Bel        gian loan not accepted by Congress; exchequer bills, redeemable in
specie, authorized.
October 6.-Santa Anna again displaces Bustamente.
1842. Mexican hostilities revived. Seven hundred troops enter Texas, take
San Antonio and Refugio, and immediately retire. San Antonio re       occupied by Texan forces. Invasion of Mexico proposed. Recruits
assemble at Corpus Christi. They are disorganized by poverty, and,
after repulsing a small Mexican attack, are disbanded. Mediation of
the United States rejected by Mexico.
September.-San Antonio again taken by one thousand two hundred
Mexicans under Woll. 13th.-Fight on the Salado, and repulse of the
Mexicans, who retreat on the 18th toward the Rio Grande. A Texan
force of seven hundred and fifty men assembles on the Medina, and
marches to Laredo; takes Guerrero, and returns to Bexar. Three hun       dred men remain, contrary to orders, upon the Rio Grande, attack
Mier, meet a Mexican force under Ampudia, and eventually surren      der. The prisoners are marched to Mexico. They rise on the guard,
11th February, 1843, and escape. Becoming bewildered in the moun      tains, they are recaptured, and decimated by order of Santa Anna.
Increased immigration.  Several colony contracts entered into-Peter's,
MAeroer's, ('C.';r's. Fisher & Miller's. 
APPENDIX.
1843. Irregular propositions for peace, by submission, from Santa Anna. Snivc        ly's expedition for the capture of a Mexican caravan to the United States.
Through the intervention of the English Charge at Mexico, Santa Anna
proposes an armistice. Accepted and proclaimed, June 15. Contin        ued negotiations through English channels. Strong efforts to hasten
annexation by the American Government.
1844. Secret message upon annexation by President Houston to Texan Con        gress. Commissioners dispatched to Washington with full proposi        tions. French and English Governments protest. Treaty of annexation
signed at Washington, 12th April, and sent to the Senate.  Parties
divide in the United States upon the question. The treaty rejected,
8th June. Armistice with Mexico terminates 18th June.
England and France renew endeavors to secure the complete independ        ence of Texas. Texas prosperous. Immigration continues to flow in.
Anson Jones elected President. Remaining Mier prisoners liberated.
War of the Regulators and Moderators of the Neutral Ground.
United States election results in the sanction of annexation and the suc        cess of Polk.
Herrera made President of Mexico; federalist and favors peace.
1845. March 1.-Joint resolution of annexation passed Congress, and signed
by President Tyler.
Peace offered by Herrera, through the agency of the French and Eng        lish, on condition of non-annexation. Armistice proclaimed 4th June.
Texan Congress, June 23, consents to annexation. The act of annexa        tion accepted, and State Constitution submitted by the Convention,
July 4, to the people, by whom it is ratified.
July 25th.-American army arrives at Corpus Christi, under General
Taylor.
1846. January 13.-Taylor ordered to advance to the Rio Grande. Hostilities
begin, April 24.   Battle of Palo Alto, May 8; of Resaca, 9th; of
Monterey, September 23. Santa Fe captured, August 24.
]847. Battle of Buena Vista, February 22.
Vera Cruz surrenders, March 29.
Mlexico surrenders, September 14.
J. Pinckney Henderson Governor of Texas to December 21.
George T. Wood Governor of Texas from December 21.
Population of Texas, by State census, 143,205.
1848. Peace signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, February22. Ratified at Quere
taro, May 30. Mexico evacuated, June 12.
1849. Z. Taylor elected President of the United States.
P. H. Bell Governor of Texas from December 21.
1850. Texas boundary-question settled by payment of ten million dollars by
the United States, and New Mexico made a territory, September 9.
1851. P. H. Bell re-elected governor.
1853. E. MI. Pease, governor.
1855. E. M. Pease re-elected governor
1856. Population of Texat,.1bout 425,000o
471 
472  A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
POPULATI ON.
Population of Texas (Europeans) in the year 1765, about 750
1"         "        "         "        1806,       7,000
1"         "    (Americans)  "         1830,      20,000
1"         "        "         "        1834,      30,000
STATE CENSUS OF 1847.
White males,..-..-. -      58,338
White females, -   -..-.. -    45,503
Total white,     -    -... --        -.   -  ]03,841
Free colored, -  -         -    -   -    -    -    -        304
Slaves,-         -    -    -.... —--   -   39,060
Population of State, -   -    -.   - -  143,205
U. S. CENSUS  OF  1850.
Whites,..- -          -.. —
Slaves,     --....-.-.
Free colored, --       --         -          -  -
Population of State, -.   --
Adults who cannot read and write, whites,    -
1"       "           "        free oolored,
-   154,034
-    58,161
397
-   212,592
-    10,525
*-. 58
-    10,583
-     17,620
61
-    17,681
-      7,747
Born in foreign countries, whites,     - 
1"          "            free colored,  -
Total
Number of slave-owners,
Total, 
APPENDIX.
POPULATION BY COUNTIES-1850.
Colored.      Total.
600       2,884
2'20      1.165
1,555       3,841
919       3,099
419       6,052
1,641       2,912
3,512       4,841
148         614
500       1;713
275       1,329
243        1.110
72       8,541
1,902       4,991
1,284       6,673
134       1,950
723        2,257
61        1,723
1         220
207       2,743
1 0        641
568       1,716
87 989
528       3,788
1,016       3,756
1,559       2,533
744       4,529
340       1,511
5       1,240
213         648
601        1,492
186       2,008
1,682       4,008
912       4,668
6,218      11,822
128         387
82       1.237
154       2,623
685       2,721
43        1,520
369         996
541       1,767
332       1,836
65       1,047
1,085       3,978
432       1,571
621       1,946
899        2,522
618__ 2,608
COUNTIES.
Anderson,.
Angelina,.                  
Austin,                                 2
Bastrop,                                2
Bexar,                                  5
Bowe,. 
Brazoria,                               1
Brazos,                                   4
Burleson,.
Caldwell,                                0
Calhoun,
Cameron, Starr, Webb,                        
Cass,.....
Cherokee,.                 
Collin,                                                       1
Colorado,                               1
Comal,....
Cook,.
Dallas,                                                       2
Denton,                                               1
De Witt,                                1
Ellis.....
Fannin,2
Fayette,                                2
Fort Bend,.
Galveston,                             3
Guadalupe,....
Gillespie,,,
Goliad,.4                       2
Gonzales,                                            6
Grayson,                               1
Grimes,....
Harris,                                 3
Harrison,....
Hays,. 
Henderson,.....
Hopkins,                                2
Houston,....
Hunt,..
Jackson,.
Jasper,..                               
Jefferson,.           1
Kaufman,.
Lamar,.                
Lavaca,                                 1
Leon,.
Liberty,.                 
Limestone,.
473
White.
2,284
945
2,286
21180
51633
1 271
1:329
466
11213
11054
867
81469
31089
5,38(.)
1,816
1 534
1:662
219
2,536
631
1,148
902
3'260
21740
974
3,785
1,171
1,235
435
891
1,822
2,326
3,756
5,604
239
1 155
2:469
2 036
1:477
627
1 226
1:504
982
2,893
1,139
1,325
1,623
1,990 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
POPULATION BY COUNTIES-1850.
POPULATION.
COUNTIES.
Colored.
Matagorda,                   
Iedina,                                      
Milan,                                              4.2
Montgomery,
Nacogdoches,
Navarro,                                     
Newton,                                      
Nueces,.  
Panola,                                      
Polk,.    *                                      8
Red River,                                   
Refugio,                                     
Robertson, 
Rusk,..                          61
Sabine,                                      
San Augustine,  
San Patricio,
Shelby,                                      
Smith,                                              7         42
Starr, see Cameron,
Tarrant,.  
Titus,                                                        3
Travis,.                                     
Tyler,                                              4 
Upshur,                                      
Van Zandt,                                              
Victoria,                                    
Walker,                                      
Washington,
Webb, see Cameron,
Wharton,. 
Williamson,
Total...........................154,034    58,558   212,592
POPULATION OF TOWNS-1850.
Galveston,...    4,177 (a)  Castroville,...   366
San Antonio,..    3,488 (a) Rusk,..   355
Houston,....    2,396      Richmond,...   323
Neu-Braunfels,..  1,298       Lavaca....'15 (c)
Marshall,.....   1,189      Palestine,.    212
Victoria,.....      806      Bonham,.....      211
Frederickburg,..   754       McKinney,...    192
Austin....                   629 (b)  Crocket,.......        150 (d)
Corpus Christi,..   533       Brenham......     - (e)
Nacogdoches,...   468          Natchitoches,... 1,261
Indianola,.         379      Shrieveport,. 1,728 (f)
(a) 1853, 7,000.  1856,10,000.           (d) 1853, 400.
(b) 1855, 3,200.                         (e) 1853 500.
(e) 1853, 1,000.                        (f 1853, 3,000.
I
474
White.
Total.
913
881
2,469
1,439
3,758
1,913
1,255
650
2,676
1,542
2,493
269
670
6,012
1,556
2,087
197
3,278
3,575
599
3,168
2,336
1,476
2,712
1,308
1,396
2,663
3,166
510
1,410
154,034
1,211
28
438
945
1,435
247
434
48
1,195
806
1,413
19
264
2,136
942
1,561
3
961
717
65
468
802
418
682
40
623
1,301
2,817
1,242
158
58,558
2,124
909
2 907
2:384
5 193
2:190
1,689
698
3,871
2,348
3,906
288
934
8,148
2,498
3,648
200
4,339
4,292
664
3,636
3,138
1,894
3,394
1,348
2,019
3,964
5,983
1,752
1,568
212,592
Total,. 
APPENDIX.
LAND AND PRODUCTIONS.
CENSUS OF 1850.
Ipn...   acres,   639,117
Unmrve a d....  "   10,759,220
CahVls.....$16,398,787
Vhinery..       $2,133,831
Hrl...   head,     87,767
NaC....  "       917,524
Sheep...  "      99,099
S eo. "   683,604
Vl   o..     $10,267,710
Wheat..      bush.,    41,729
Indian~r.     "    5,978,590
Oat....."      198,717
*obcc...     lbs., 66,897
*to.....bales of 400  "   57,596
ool....."  131,374
PesadBas....bush.,   179,337
IrisPot e..  "       93,548
Sweet~Po e..   "    1,332,955
Buttr...   lbs., 2,308,080
.ee,..    ".     94,619
Sa..   hhd. 1,000 lbs., 7,351
olse....    gall., 441,638
Beewaa e..    lbs., 380,682
VauorhadP s....     $12,505
Vau fMkt s....    $12,354
Vau  of...  $255,724
475
Improved Farm Land
Unimproved Farm Lan
Cash Value of Farms
Value of Implements at
Horses, Asses, and Mul
Neat Cattle
Sheep
Swine     ~
Value of Live Stock
Wheat ~
Indian Corn
Oats
Tobacco
Cotton
Wool
Peas and Beans
Irish Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Butter
Cheese
Sugar.....
Molasses
Beeswax and Honey
Value of Orchard Products
Value of Market Gardens
Value of Home Manufactures 
1,U4i
1,171
139
310
15
3,518
2,286
432
1,580
126
123
481
74
963
517
1,019
2,167
2,072
1,746
851
761
1,637
63
416
2,136
602
3,124
1,084
254
7,013
517
411
352
1,595
198
120
717
991
Caldwell                              
Coryell                              
Calhoun                               
Camineron* 
Cass. 
Cherokee                              
Collin. 
Colorado 
Conral                                           
Cook                                  
Dallas                                           
Denton                                
De Witt                               
Ellis.                        -
iFannin 
Freestone 
Fayette                               
Fort Bend.
Falls                                                   8
Galveston                                                   
G uadalupe                            
Gillespie                             
Goliad                                
Gonzales                              
Grayson                               
Grimes
Harris                                           
Hill.                                          
Harrison                              
Hays                                  
Henderson
Hopkins                               
Houston                               
Hunt                                  
Johnson                              
Jackson                               
Jasper
Jasper                            541        359        991        650
*' Incl.ding Starr and Webb.
I
~,1.1~)
519
28
144
2,91.2
1,778
3
9,480
20
100
1,000
708
4,517
2,473
2,869
633
9eo
4,517
16
4,455
13
5,170
7
157
23
1,450
24
19
580
650
vvv
274
234
53
1,902
1,283
134
723
61
1
207
10
568
77
528
1,016
1,554
714
333
5
213
601
186
1,680
905
6,213
128
81
154
673
41
339
541
122
109
1,573
1,083
1
4,771
10
44
547
374
1,194
2,465
182
1,271
5
2,282
11
4,581
'2
31
8
750
5
290
359 
APPENDIX.
1855.        1855.
Slaves.  Bales.
216            2
329          30
1,296      1,300
1,004       1,217
1,455       2,047
922         263
680 670
1,529       1,932
1,048 1,217
25
713
429           3
1,448  1,688
1,702  1,026
1,135            9
602        214
89         _
185         174
1,990       1,560
].,427      1,100
1,807        826
148        _
1.239       2,013
3,620       4,508
800        596
1,382        939
21         -
775         637
2,414       1,397
280         -
1,208        755
:260        122
2,068         611
752        331
1,784      1,760
125         179
850        401
2,758       1,852
4,399 6,246
354         290
1,798       4,187
757        _
105,974     105,111
Jefferson..
Kaufman.
Lamar...
Lavaca..
Leon.
Liberty..
Limestone
Matagorda.
IMeLennan..
Medina..
Milam..
Madison
Montgomery..
Nacogdoehes
Navarro
Newton..
Nueces.
Orange..
Panola...
Polk..
Red River..
Refugio..
Robinson
Rusk..
Sabine.. 
San Augustine.
San Patricio. 
Shelby..
Smith
Star, see Cameron
Tarrant..
Titus..
l'iinitv.
Travis..
Tyler..
Upshur..
Vani Zant..
Victoria..
W alker.
WVashington.
W ebb, see Cameron 
Wood..
WVharton..
\Villiamson
Sum total
Sum total..      58,161      58,072    105,974    105,111
I
I
I
I
477
1850.
Slaves.
1850.
Bales.
COUNTIES.
269
65
1,085
432
621
89)
618
1,208
28
436
945
1,404
') 4 6
426
4?
1,193
805
1,406
19
264
2,136
942
1,561
3
961
717
65
467
791
418
682
40
571
1,301
2,817
1,242
155
58,161
2
6
1,655
526
913
253
603
1,613
1,009
835
2
152
887
582
579
429
2,659
702
1,020
790
415
292
234
184
673
57
270
873
4,008
2,892
58,072 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
ASSESSED VALUES OF PROPERTY FOR TAXATION.*
LAND.                          NEGROES.
Years.     No. Acres       Value.    Value  No. as-    Value.    Valueof
assessed.        $       Acre,  sessed.         $       each, $.
1846 ----   31,967,480   17,776,101    55*  31,099    10,142,198    324
1847 -- - -    30,440,210  17,326,994    57   39,251    12,174,593      310
1848 —--   32,160,184   20,777,412    641  40,610   13,398,490    323
1849 —--   32,890,887  20,874,641    65   43,534    14,658,837          337
1850 ----   32,640,400  21,807,670    66X  49,197   17,776,500    361
1851 - - --   37,731,774  31,415,604    831  59,959    26,246,668    404
1852       - - - -   37,838,792  33,116,772    874  68,795   28,628,990    416
1853 - ---   39,175,858  39,256,612  1-00   78,713    35,946,473    456
1854 - ---   44,580,946  49,961,177  1-12   90,612   46,501,840    513
1855. —-   45,893,869  58,671,126  1-28  105,603   53,373,924    505
HoRSES AND CATTLE.              OTHER PROPERTY.
Years.         Number         Value.      Value per   Money at interest,
assessed.       $.         head. $.  goods in stores, etc.
1846  - - -         411,100      2,929,378       7-12           3,543,501
1847     - - -    448,971        3,392,784       7-12           4,668,134
1848. -        581,251      4,174,475       7-16           5,461,666
1849  - - -         631,649      4,419,015       7-00           5,847,516
1850  -   - -       750,352      5,222,270       7-00           6,675,175
1851  - -   -       901,794      6,638,115       7-35           8,639,797
1552  - - -       1,020,832      7,977,999       7-82          11.030,423
1853  - - -.  1,164,463    10,217,499            8-78          13,734,530
1854  - - - -  1,377,472    13,465,805           9-08          17,052,795
1855  - - -       1,615,609    16,936,423       10-48          20,539,978
TOTAL VALUE OF PROPERTY.
YEARs.              Aggregatetax-   Increase tax-   Increase
able property.   able property.   per cent.
1846    -    -    -    -       34,391,175
1847-    - -                   37,562,505        3,171,330         8
1848    --        -   -        43,812,537        6,250,032        16.
1849    -    - -               46,241,589        2,429,052         55
1850         -    -    -       51,814,615        5,573,026        121
1851  -    -    -    -         69,739,581       17,924,966        33i
1852    -    -    -    -       80,754,094                         162
1853 -    -   -    -           99,155,114                         23
1854    -    -    -   -       126,981,617                         28
1855 -    -    -    -         149,521,451                         17
COMIPARATIVE STATISTICS OF IOWA. —" Permission to settle in this State
was first granted to the whlite man on the 1st June, 1833.  The rapidity with
478 
APPENDIX.
PF COTTON AND SUGA
RS AND EXPORTS, ETC.
COTTON.
18490,.......................~.10O
*8*..... o
.......
.      *   *.   *        6, 7
.....  
SUGAR.-1850.
Sugar, hhds. Molasses,
COUNTIES PRODUCING  SUGAR.                  of1,000 lbs.  g olases,
of 1,000 lbs.       gallons.
Austin,..........60                                      4,195
Brazoria,..........4,811                                314,164
Fort Bend,.......100                                420
Houston,..........82                                        340
Liberty,.........115                                4,820
Matagorda,........1,394                                73,000
Rusk,..........101                                     1,090
Victoria,.........120                                    6,700
Wharton,......317                                   11,490
7,100         416,219
Sugar crop of 1852-3,.......
""  " 1854-5,... 
. 18556 (to Sept.),..
which the torrent of immigration poured into this " Western Paradise," ai the
earlier travelers in this locality designated it, may be inferred from the fact,
that the official returns of the territorial census, taken in May, 1838 gave her
a population ot 22,859; and that of the United States census, taken in 1840,
43,112; showing an average annual increase of over 44 per cent. Since that
time, she has bounded forward with an extraordinary rapidity, numbering, by
the census returns, taken June, 1850, within her borders, a population of
192,214; exhibiting an average annual increase for the decennial period, ending
in 1850, of over 44 per cent.!!!
' With the view of presenting at a glance the increase in the value of property,
we have referred to the assessment-rolls of this State, and we find that the total
value of all kinds of property, in the year 1852, was $38,427,376; and that of the
year 1849, was $18,496,151; showing an increase in the value of property, for
three years, of about twenty millions of dollars, or an increase of over 107 pax
cent.!!!"-De Bow's Revicew, iNov.,'53.
* Yoakum.                      t From Neill Brothers' Cottonl Circular, 1851.
479
50,000,
27,000
31,000t
4'b,000
64,000
85,000
107,906
80,737
116,078
1837,.....
1846, cotton shipped, bales,
1849-50,    11                                         11
1850-51,    11                                          11
1851-52,    11
1852-53,    11                                          11
1853-54,                      11                        11
1854-55,    11                                         11
1855-56,    11                                          11
11,023 hhds., of 1,000 lbs.
9,875 11                    11
7,513 11                    11 
80    A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
EXPORTS AND IMPORTS,
1854.
Exports to foreign countries,..........             $1,314,449
Imports,..............                231,423
Tonnage entered,..............             5,249
"    cleared,..............             9,708
"    owned in the State,....9,698
Steam tonnage owned in the State,......             2,815
Cotton exported to foreign countries, bales,.....        18,467
ADJOIN,INiG MEXICAN STATES.'
TAMAULIPAS.
Population 100,000; area 30,000 square miles
NUEVO LEON.
Population 133,000; area 16,000 square miles.
COAHUIL A.
Population 56,570; area 66,228 square miles.
CHIHUAHUA.
Population 147,000; area 100,000 square miles.
SONORA.
Population 147,000; area 123,000 square miles.
* From Liopincott's Gazetteer, 1855.
48 
APPENDIX. X.
VOTE OF TEXAS
1IN 1855.
sICONtGRESS.    LAND COM. 1855. PRESIDENT, 1C5'2.
DISTRICTS.
K. N.    Dem.   K. N.   Dem.    Whig.   De?m.
Hancock.   Bell.   Crosby.  Fields.   ecott.   Pierce.
Austin,...      230     372      160      436        7        22
Bastrop,..         305      394      216     458       94       243
Bell,...       150      329     111      320        26      157
Bexar,..         573    1,711     132    2,079      299       804
Bosque,...         43        9       27      29        t        t
Brazes,..          72       29       11       95        9       34
Brazoria,.            91      258      142      202       43      143
Burieson,..         124      262      99      249        19      103
Burnett,...       115      103       91      128               21
Caldwell,..         263     315       171     282        84     235
Calhoun,                 108      160     207        50       94      125
Cameron,..              *                 *     242             329
Colorado,.          108      229      232       92       30       92
Comal,..         13      337       32      308        6      112
Corryell,...     125      221      201      144       f        t
De Witt,..         85      248      212      128        0        0
Ellis,.          177      147      241     105-       43       90
E1 Paso,.            116     636      760         0       t        t
Falls,.   *           129       80      187       15       t        t
Fayette,.              308     504      395       311     165       341
Fort Bend,..        50      219      122      134       31       86
Freestone,..         247       27       75      331        8      138
Galveston,..       251      442      122      496      141      324
Gillespie,.             51      245       44      220        2       74
Goliad,...       126      103       31      201        0        0
Gonzales,..         411      399     449       334      120     209
Grimes,...       428      166      191      204       53      142
Guadalupe,.        255      331      268      307       68      154
Harris,...      274      542      352      446      195      468
Hays,...             83       60      103       53      21        55
Hidalgo,...          0        0        0        0       48      119
till,...         85  1 57    1 17           19       f        t9
Jackson,..       51      105      137       20       33           I
Johnson,..          64      182      182.55       t        f
Kanies,..          68      111       87       85       t        t
Lavaca,..         175      284      233      201       33       85
Leon,...       359    161 l       29      462       48      124
Limestone,..         236      127      298       36       38      176
Madison,...       117       43       26      123       f        t
Matagorda,.            10      205      216        6       30       74
MeLennan,..        178      180      231      106        5       45
Medina,..240 7                               235        2       4 
'tMilan,...      181      129      127      145       56       119
Montgomery,.         214      163      326       47       74       120
Navarra,..      310      189      466       30       89      220
Nueces,.               53      282      274       49       21 
Refugio,..            48       90       89       45       t        t
Robertson,..         211       341      58      178       53       95
San Patricio,..        4       51       53       14        0       3tl
Starr,..            8      306      169     137        68 7|;
NOTE.-Those marked tl.us * no returnls. Those marked t are new conl-i,.~.
21
481 
482   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
VOTE OF TEXAS IN 1855.
(Continued.)
CONGRESS.       LAND COM. 1855.| PRESIDENT, 1852
DISTRICTS!
I.            K. N.    Dem.    K. N.   Dem..   kVhig.    Dem.
Hancock.  Bell.    Crosby.  Fields.    Scott.   Pierce.
Tarrant,..      166       477       613        74       11        61
Travis,.           491       507       295      690       118'  370
Victoria,..      114!70       109       172        9        96
Walker,..           316       235       78       476        72       228
Washington,..      461       483       366      446       121       519
Webb,..          0       302      132       167        16      117
Wharton,..         31       106        70       69        17       59
Williamson,.        227       282       217      278        62      143
Total,..    9,496   14,379   10,389   12,522    2,824    7,561
MAlajority for Bell, 4,883; majority for Fields, 2,133; majority for Pierce, 4737.
II.           Evans.  Ward.
Anderson,..         536       380
Angelina,..        84       13
Bowie,..          39      218
Cass,..           409      408
Cherokee,..          685      904
Collin,..        342          246
Cooke,..           67      126
Dallas,...       205     341
Denton,..         120       112
Fannin,...        563      204
Grayson,..        442      260
Harrison,..      674       391
Henderson,.        219      102
Hopkins,..       387       295
Houston,..          197      339
Hunt,...        272      231
Jasper,.           78      175
Jefferson,.          0        0
Kitufnan,.              208      125
Lamar,.                 290      428      3
Libertv,.          160      131
Naeogdoches.      294      488
Newton,.                 77       81
Orange...                        0 0
Panola,..         77      404
Polk,.        164      195
Red River,               300      276       7
Rusk,...       837      883
Sabine,.             1. 55     68
Shelby,.                 228     314
~~o  I.lhs  l~l1e   lv  e   onis
NoTF..-Thosf marked iare new counties.
I
Pierce.
412
56
t
75
696
135
14
283
37
208
198
402
74
116
125
121
121
t
t
189
87
312
ill
39
0
157
233
590
81
106
Crosby.
676
93
16
420
797
536
181
348
207
565
565
67
264
184
292
360
242
0
168
363
75
642
116
0
181
130
279
862
197
258
Fields.
186
16
189
278
766
81
2
186
11
22
68
934
12
344
274
131
2
0
106
246
248
79
3
0
398
250
. 275
857
8
271
Scott.
150
28
t
30
248
58
5
122
0
68
58
283
23
29
46
19
30
t
t
57
40
79
16
23
0
75
86
242
13
19 
APPENDIX  I X
VOTE OF TEXAS IN 1855.-(Continued.)
DISTRICT I[.        Evans.  Ward.  Crosby.  Fields   Scott.  Pierce.
Smith,...       548      617      371       719        0         0
St. Augustine,.        122      200      146       160       29       158
Titus,...         430      286       641       46      100       240
Trinity,..        127       56       170       13        3       17
Tyler,...        94      247       310       57         5      52
Up,hur,..         340      504       310      438      137      361
Van Zandt,..       143       92       168         0        5       43
AVood,..        229      171.289        65       15       42
_p
Total,.             10,342   10,311   11,489    7,741    2,141    5,891
,Iajority for Evans, 31; mnajority for Crosby, 3,748; majority for Pierce, 3,759.
TOTAL VOTE OF STATE.-Crosby, 21,878; Fields, 20,263; Scott, 4,965; Pierce,
13,452.  Majority for Crosby, 1,615; majority for Pierce, 8,487.
1856.  No exact information has yet been received, from the largest part of
Texas, of the vote of the election of November, 1856. (Dec. 24th, 1856.)
TABLE OF' ELEVATIONS,
ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE OCEAN.
Feet
Trespalacios, corner of the stone warehouse,...      6
Galveston,..............      10
Lavaca,.........                     24
Guadalupe, at the mouth of Sandies,.'.'...   50
Houston,...............              60
Austin.................                       200
Columbus,...............             250
Gonzales,................           270
Cibolo,...............                         350
San Antonio,...............           635
Castroville,..............             767
Fort Inge,.............                                     845
Leona Mountain, near Fort Inge,...'...         950
Rio San Pedro, first crossing,......  859
last....   1,827
Table-lands of Texas,.......... 2,091
Howard's Spring..........            2,075
High table-land beyond,.....         3,008
Live Oak Creek,........                   2,338
Rio Pecos Valley..........    from 2,330 to 2,658
Rio Escondido, first crossing,........            2,660
Leon Spring............... 4,240
Limpia, first crossing,...........         3,950
Painted Camp,.......... 5,020
Highest point of the road to El Paso,  5....           5,765
Providence Creek,........5,492
Eagle Spring,..........         4,842
First point on the Rio Grande,........ 3,700
El Paso,............. 3,750
Mouth of Little Wichita,.............                           750
"  Big    ".......                                      9()0
Junction of the south and north forks of Red River,..1100
Head of the main or south fork of Red River,.       2,450
Llano Estacado (Staked Plain),..   from 2,300 to 2,500
483 
One day only,-                  -   100-                                       
L                         -west'inh mo-nillg,  -      - 73~
Bt'iromleter.-,-Ieaii for m-ionth, 27'8 7-1.
J.,,/y.-Calm 10 times at 7 A. MI.
'.. )0 " 2 P. 31.
0                   9" P. M.
IPrl-evailing wind, sontli, 1 to 3.
A?  i-.-Calm 12 timies att 7 A. iM.
Pr e      It  "i o       2P.  I.
"; "; 1   9 P..M.
Prevailing w ind,  soutlh, 1 to 3.
"r1r "e n           9 P. M.,  56Monthly mean, -   -   -   60*
Ba,roineter. —llean for month, "27'91-2
Prevailing wind, niorth.
December.
Ther. —Mean for mo., 7 A. 31., 440
"l      "        "2 P. M., 61'
"      "      "   9 P. M., 47~
Monthly mean, -    -   -   51~
Barometer.-Meanll for month, 27-9 1-7
Prevailinig wind, north.
WIND.-DIRECTION AND FORCE.
7 A.M. 2 P.Mi. 9 P.M1
48'    6'2~    4 30
32     65      45
41     61      55
59     75   61 
(63    59      33
/-3:2! 23
7 23   4?      35
S q.,9    48
51 70 59
14     54      41
:3 t   61      49
4 t    58     4:3
3 4     (2     -17
(14  6:  78    10
(ti7    43     36
23      48     45
42    50      50
54     70      69
68     79      33
21   - 
N 7A.3I      2.        2P..
}   0    S.W. 2
|  Ig. 1   ~S.S.WV. 3
0 S. 4
S. 3    N. 3
N. 5     N. 6
N. 4     N. 2
N. 1    N. 1
N.       S. 3
0    S.S.W. 2
N 2     N. 3
N. 1   S.S.W. 4
N. 1    N. 4
0    S.S.E. 1
2 S.      4
O      N. 4
N. 4     N. 2
N.N.E. 1 N..N.E: I
O  S. 1
S. 2    bS3.E. 2S
N.54 4
I
i
I
I
I
THERM)IO.METEIR.
9 P. M1.
S.S.W. 1
N.W. 1
S. 1
N. 6
N. 5
N. I
N. 1
0
N. 2
N. 2
S.S.W. 9
N. 2
S. 4
N. 5
N. I
S. 4
N. 6
1854 —Jan. 1
11 4
"     5
'.   8
"; 7
"   10
"1 I I
11 1 2
13
"   14
"   15
"   16
"   17
"   18
"   19
"   20
_i 
APPENDIX. 
SISTERDALE, GUADALUPE HIILLS.-1852.
Prevailing
Wind.
Still.
S.
N.WV.
S. Still.
..
W.
N.W.
S. Still.
Norther.
N.W
W. and S.
N.W.
S. Still.
S.
N.
N. Still.
Still.
11
11
V.
NV.
Highest
Thler.
68
68-4
71'9
62-8
63-2
61
61-4
72'9
78'8
60'1
56
32
38-5
45'7
57-4
64.7
65-8
33'4
36-5
51-1
54-5
50
45-3
51-1
66-6
63-6
69-4
Lowest
Ther.
2,6-8
30-9
Jan. 1  2 A.M.     26~~~~8    2 P.M.         68             StilL. 
30         24
34-3
38-3
23-9
34-3
28-6
38-7
47-3
27  7
24-1
10
20-7
28'2
26-4
54
23-4
14
18'3
20-3
20'1
36-5
41
43-7
33.5
27-5
27-8
Time.
2 A.MI.
6    "
7'"
7  "
7    "
7 "1
7 "1
6 "1
7    "
6    "
4    "
8 P. I.
7 A.AM.
7 "1
7    "
4 "~ -
8 P.M.
7 A.ill.
7 11
7 "1
7 "1
7    "
8    "
7 "1
6  "
7    "
7    "1 
"2                         7-                          
NORTHEASTERN TEXAS.
OBSERVATIONS OF MR. SM.IITH, IN 1849.
Ther.        Dat        e.
84          May 29
88            "  31
76         June  1
86           "   2
78           " "
86           "    3
70           "    4
8( 80        "    5
82           "    6
77           "    8
79           "   10
58!
486
Date.
Jan. 1
11 2
11 3
11 4
li 5
11 6
7
" 8
,, 9
" 10
,; 11
,i 12
1113
11 14
1115
1116
11 17
" 18
" jg
11 20
I- 21
11 22
.1 23
11 24
11 25
11 26
11 27
" 28
Time.
2 P.M.
2 11
,3 "
2 11
2 11
2 "
2 11
3 11
2 11
12 M.
3 P.M.
7 A.M.
2 P.M.
3 11
3 11
2 11
12 M.
1. P.M.
3 1;
3 1,
3 "
3 11
3 11
2 11
12'iNf.
I P.I)I.
2 "
1 2 11
Date.
May 22
11
11
I- 23
11
11 24
" 25
11
11
11 26
11 28
11 29
I Time.
12 M.
3-30 P.M.
10-30 11
2-30 11
7-30 11
3         11
8-15 A.' Nf.
12 NI.
4-45 P.M.
7-45 "
9 11
5-15 A.,Nl.
Time.
1.45 P.M.
3-45 11
2 11
9-30 A.1%1.
9 P.M.
2 11
3 11
7 A.M.
12-30 A.M.
7-30 I.
12 M.
Ther.
70
82
88
80
76
82
82
74
74
78
88 
"9   636A.   68               E.   R            7    do.     7'   Sb
6             30A. EI.
^; "I         1 P.M.       86    S.E. I
68    E.
I <  1 P.M.      86    S.E.
M'y 13  6 A.M.    69   N.W.  R M'y 16  430P.M.  64   NNE.
M'y 16   4-30P.MI.
7  30 do.
" 17   5 A.M.
"       7.45P.M.
18   4 30A.M.
"      3 45P.M. "      8-45 do.
19   5 A.   M.
"      6  "
2  12 M.
21           6         P.M.
25 2-45P..M.
7'30 "
"26   6'15A.M.
1-30P...M.
"      830 E "
"27  5'30A.TI
'~    6'15 "
"    Alidnight.
i'y13   6 A.Ml.
7  "
2    9P.M.
"14  6'30A.IM.
"     12 M.
"     10 P.M.
"15 5 A.M1.
" 3 P.MNI.
'9'     30 do.
"16   5 A.M.
M'y 22   6.15P.M.
"23  12 45A.6I.
"      7 P.M.
"24   6 A.M.
"     12-30P.M.
" 2 P.MA.
"      7'30P.IM.
"25   6-30A.M.
M y 28   7 A.M~~~~~~.I6.        Jn        ~(PM          0     N
3               70      "    R    "      12 M.        75      S.
122.11y.M.   861  N.E.     i "       730P.M.   65        "
I'
i
I
]
I
73'SEbyS'R|
64   NNE.
57- NNW
44~ N.
51    N.
40    N.E.
79    S.
70    S.E. R
60   E.S.E. It
59   N.N.E R
61   E.N.E
75    N.E.
86    S.
67i WNW
62   N.W. R
76     "
64    N.
61.  N.W.
66    N.
64     "
69   N.W.
65    "1
85      "
64   "1
57T  WNW
821   S.
69 2
66    S.E.
81     "
72     "
66    N.
713   N.E.
64      "
58    ",
62     N.
80      S.
74    ",
6.5  "
65    S.E.
,Y
I11
v
I
-
V
R
R 
APPENDIX
NORTHWVESTERN TEXAS.
OBSERVATIONS BY CAPT. MARCY, IN 1852, ON UPPER RED RIVER.
(Continued.)
Date.    Time.    Ther. Wind..T
___ _.   ______                                                      ___ 
June9   2'30A.MI.   49        S.
11-15"       83    N.E.
.   7'30P.M.   66           "
10   3 A.MI.      59      E.
1130 do.    78    S.E.
7-30P.MI.   79                "      
11   2'45A.M.   60        S.
12 M.          93       "
8 P.M       78                         97
"12   3 A.M.          69       "
11, 11,         85      "      77
:~     "   l 7-30P.M.   77  1
i Date.    Time.
iJin.13  5'30A.M.
..     2'30P.M.
7'30 do.
14   2'30A.M.
"       2-30P.M.
"         730" 
"151 330A.M.
" 12 M.
9 8   P. if.
16"    3 A.M1.
"! 43 1 3A)P M.
1" 17-30"
IJun.241   1 7P.M.
7 "
" 25   3 A.M.
"      " P.M.
"  7  "
"26    3 A.M.
"      11   "
7     P.M.
"27 3 A.M.
"      12 M.
7"      6 30P.M.
"28  3 A.M.
"     11 30 do.
"     10'30P.M.
"29   4 A.M.
"     12 M.
6 P.Al.
"30  4'30A.M.
"' 6 P.M.
,
24   3A~~~~~~~~   65   ENE~~~~~~~~
3 A.M. 
2 P.iM.l
9 "
12-30A.M.
12 M.
7 P.M.
1  30A.M     7
12 M.
8 P.M.
2-30A.M
12 M.
7'30P.M.
2'30A.M.
12 M.
7'30P.4.
1  A.M.I
11-30A.M.
7-7.30P.M.
I
I
I
I
487
9
Tller.
63
90
77
66
84
72
66
86
67
65
84
68
74
64
56
74
66
56
79
72
62
81
74
62
83
70
73
100
86
80
103
91
Wind.
S.
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
S %V by VV
S.W.
11
S.
E.N.E
11
NNE.
S.
I;
E.N E
S.S.E.
S.W.
WSW
,N.
11
N.N.E
11
S.W.
S.E.
W.
S.E.
S.
S. S.E -
W.
R
PI
R
uly 7
11
11
,,   8
11
11 9
11
11
11 10
11
11
11 11
11
" 12
11
73
92
82
77
93
83
77
91
74
62
94
86
73
99
82
74
95
831
S.
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11 
7-30P.M.  73  "                        M.      94
"0  2 A.M.       66    "           "      10'30P.M.   68
12 M.       82'  -S.S.        " 24   3 A.M.      68
"  7-30P.M.   71'    S.          "       1-30P. M.   88
"21  2'30A.M.   60    "  "                 930         76
' "     12 M.        82    "
Jul. 25   2:30A.M.   72     S.      Jul. 26   4 A.Ml.    62    S.E.
2 P.M.           75           R            2 P.3M.     85     E.   R
10               68    SE.                 930P. M.   72
Jul. 271  3 A.M.       65     E.       Jul. 27  4R30P.M.  84    S.
1-30P.M.   88    S.   R
NORTHWESTERN TEXAS.
EXTREMIE TEM3PERATURES NOTED BY MIR. PARIER, ON THE HEADS OF THE
BRAZOS, ]854.
. 1040
105'   9 A.M.
. 1060
1040
. 106~
1050
. 106'
August 6.
"  11.
"  12.
"  13.
"  19.
"  20.
"  26.
i
July 16.
':  20.
"   21.
"    22.
';  23
"   25.
"   26.
10(r
100~
102~
102~
102~
110~
106'
10 A.M. 
APPENDIX.
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF TEXAS.
PROVISIONS OF GENERAL INTEREST.
WE the people of the Republic of Texas, acknowledging with gratitude the
grace and beneficence of God, in permitting us to make a choice of our form of
Government, do, in accordance with the provisions of the joint Resolution for
annexing Texas to the United States, approved March first, one thousand eight
hundred and forty-five, ordain and establish this Constitution:
Article I.-Bill of Rights.
That the general, great, and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized and established, we declare that  SEC. 1. All political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments
are founded on their authority, and instituted for their benefit; and they have
at all times the unalienable right to alter, reform, or abolish their form of government in such manner as they may think expedient.
SEC. 2. All freemen, when they form a social compact, have equal rights;
and no man, or set of men, is entitled to exclusive separate public emoluments
or privileges but in consideration of public services.
Sxc. 3. No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office
or public trust in this State.
SEC. 4. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. No man shall be compelled to
attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry
against his consent; no human authority ought, in any case whatever, to control or interfere with the rights of conscience in matters of religion; and no
preference shall ever be given by law to any religious society or mode of worship. But it shall be the duty of the Legislature to pass such laws as (may)
shall be necessary to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable
enjoyment of their own mode of public worship.
SEC. 5. Every citizen shall be at liberty to speak, write, or publish his opinion
on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that privilege, and no law
shall have the right to control the liberty of speech or of the press.
SEC. 6. In prosecutions for the publication of papers investigating the official
conduct of officers or men in public capacity, or when the matter published is
proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence; and
in all indictments for libels, the jury shall have the right to determine the law
and the facts under the direction of the courts, as in other cases.
SEc. 7. The people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and possessions, from all unreasonable seizures or searches; and no warrant to search
any place or to seize any person or thing shall issue without describing them
as near as may be, nor without probable cause supported by oath and affirmation.
SEC. 8. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have a speedy public
*1.
489 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
trial by an mllpartial jury; he shall not be compelled to give evidence against
himself, he shall have the right of being heard by himself or counsel, or both,
shall be confronted with the witnesses against him, and shall have compulsory
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and no person shall be holden to
answer for any criminal charge, but on indictment or information, except in
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or offenses against the laws in regulat ing the militia.
SEC. 9. All prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or the presumption great; but this
provision shall not be construed so as to prohibit bail after indictment found
upon an examination of the evidence by a Judge of the Supreme or District
Court upon the return of the (a) writ of habeas corpus, returnable in the county
where the offense is committed.
Szc.10. The privileges of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended,
except when, in case of rebellion, or invasion, the public safety may require it.
Sec. 11. Excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed, nor
cruel, nor unusual punishment inflicted. All courts shall be open, and every
person, for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person, or reputation, shall
have remedy by due course of law.
Szc. 12. No person, for the same offense, shall be twice put in jeopardy of life
or limb, nor shall a person be again put upon trial for the same offense, after a
verdict of not guilty; and the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate.
SEC. 13. Every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear alms in the lawful defense of himself or the State.
SEc. 14. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, retroactive laws, or any law
impairing the obligations of contracts, shall be made, and no person's property
shall be taken or applied to public use without adequate compensation being
made, unless by the consent of such person.
SEC. 15. No person shall ever be imprisoned for debt.
SEc. 16. No citizen of the State shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, or
privileges, outlawed, exiled, or in any manner disfranchised, except by due
course of law of the land.
SEc. 17. The military shall, at all times, be subordinate to the civil authority.
SEc. 18. Perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius of a free
government, and shall never be allowed; nor shall the law of primogeniture or
entailments ever be in force in this State.
SEc. 19. The citizens shal have the right, in a peaceable manner, to assemble together for their common good, and to apply to those invested with the
power of Government, for the redress of grievances, or other purposes, by petition, address, or remonstrance
SEc. 20. No power of suspending laws in this State shall be exercised, except
by the Legislature or its authority.
SEc. 21. To guard against transgressions of the higher powers herein designated, we declare that everything in this Bill of Rights is excepted out of the
general powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate, and all laws
contrary thereto or the following provisions shall be void.
490 
APPENDIX.
Articles II -V.-Divisioo  of the Poweis, of Goveren?net, etc.
The departments are three-Executive, Legislative, and Judicial-organized
as is usual in the other States. To possess the right of suffrage, a person must
have attained the age of twenty-one years, have resided one year in the State,
and the last six months in his voting district-"Indians not taxed, Africans,
and descendants of Africans" are excepted. The sessions of the Legislature
are triennial. Members of the House of Representatives are elected for two
years; must be citizens, and have been two years inhabitants of the State, and
twenty-one years of age. Members of the Senate are chosen for four years;
must be citizens, three years inhabitant, and thirty years of age. The doors of
each house must be kept open, and neither may adjourmn without concurrencee
for more than three days. Members cannot be ministers of the Gospel or
priests. A census is to be taken every eight years from 1850.
The Governor holds office for two years, but is ineligible for more than
four years out of six. His qualifications are those of a Senator. He has the
power of reprieve and pardon, and of veto; but vetoed bills, repassed by a twothirds vote, become laws.
The Judicial department is organized into one Supreme Court, District
Courts, County Courts, and Justices' Courts.
Article VI.-Militia.
SEC. 2. Any person who has conscientious scruples to bear arms, shall not be
compelled to do so, but shall pay an equivalent for personal services.
SEc. 3. No licensed minister of the Gospel shall be required to perform military duty, work on roads, or serve on juries in this State.
The control of the militia is given to the Governor.
Article VII.-General Provisiocs.
All officers must take oath that they have not been concerned in any duel.
SEc. 2. Treason against this State shall consist only in levying war against
it, or in adhering to its enemies-giving them aid and comfort; and no person
shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the
same overt act, or his own confession in open court.
SEc. 10. The duration of no office may exceed four years.
SEC. 18. No divorce shall be granted by the Legislature.
SEc. 19. All property, both real and personal, of the wife, owned or claimed
by her before marriage, and that acquired afterwards by gift, devise, or descent, shall be her separate property; and laws shall be passed more clearly
defininig the rights of the wife in relation as well to her separate property as
that held in common with her husband. Laws shall also be passed providing
for the registration of the wife's separate property.
SEc. 22. Exempts homesteads from forced sale.
SEC. 32. Prohibits paper to circulate as money.
SEc. 35. No soldier in time of peace may be quartered upon any person
without his consent.
491 
A JOURNEr.Y  TI-HRItOUGI  TEXAS.
ilode of Amendin, tahe Coenstitutioit.
The Legislature, whenever two-thirds of each House shall deem it neces
sary, may propose amendments to this Constitution, which proposed amend
ments shall be duly published in the public prints of the State at least three
months before the next general election of the Representatives, for the consi
deration of the people; and it shall be the duty of the several returning offi
cers, at the next election, which shall thus be holden, to open a poll for, and
make a return to the Secrctary of the State of, the names of all those voting for
Representatives who have voted on such proposed amendments, and if, thereupon, it shall appear that a majority of all the citizens of this State, voting for
Representatives, have voted in favor of such proposed amendments, and twothirds of each House of the next Legislature shall, after such election, and
before another, ratify the same amendments by yeas and nays, they shall be
valid to all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution, provided that the
said proposed amendments shall, at each of the said sessions, have been read
on three several days in each House.
Article VIII.-Slaces.
S.Ec. 1. The Legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipa
tion of slaves, without the consent of their owners, nor without paying their
owners, previous to such emancipation, a full equivalent in money for the
slaves so emancipated; they shall have no power to prevent emigrants to the
State from bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws
of the United States, so long as any person of the same age or description
shall be continued in slavery by the laws of this State; provided that such
slaves be the bona fide property of such emigrants; provided, also, that
laws be passed to inhibit the introduction into this State of slaves who have
committed high crimes in States or Territories; they shall have the right to pass
laws to permit the owners of slaves to emancipate them, saving the rights of
creditors, and preventing them from becoming a public charge, they shall have
full power to pass laws which will oblige the owners of slaves to treat them
with humanity, to provide for their necessary food and clothing, to abstain from
all injuries to them extending to life or limb, and, in case of their neglect or
refusal to comply with the directions of such laws, to have such slave or slaves
taken from such owners and sold for the benefit of such owner or owners;
they may pass laws to prevent slaves from being brought into this State as
merchandise only.
SEC. 2. In the prosecution of slaves for crimes of a higher grade than petit
larceny, the Legislature shall have no power to deprive them of anl impartial
trial by a petit jury.
SEc. 3. Any person who shall maliciously dismember or deprive a slave of
life shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in case the like offense
had been committed upon a free white person, and on the like proof except
in case of insurrection of such slave.
492 
APPENDIX.
Article X.-Education.
SEc. 1. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of this State to make suitable provision for the support and maintenance
of Public Schools.
SEC. 2. The Legislature shall, as early as practicable, establish free schools
throughout the State, and shall furnish means for their support by taxation of
property; and it shall be the duty of the Legislature to set apart not less than
one-tenth part of the annual revenue of the State, derivable from taxation, as
a perpetual fund; which fund shall be appropriated to the support of free public schools, and no law shall ever be made diverting said funds to any other
use, and until such time as the Legislature shall provide for the establishment
of such schools in the several districts of the State, the fund thus created shall
remain as a charge against the State, passed to the credit of the free common
school fund.
This Constitution is dated at Austin, August 27, 1845, signed by Thomas J
Rusk, President.
493 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
TITLES OF LAND.
(From a letter of J. De Cordova to E. Smith.)
Spanish Titles.-Grants.-1. For services.  2. For ecclesiastical purposes.
[AexicaOC Titles.            1. From the Central Government.
a. Grants on certain conditions, erecting mills, etc.
b. Sales.
2. From the grants of the States of Coahuila and
Texas.
a. Grants on certain conditions.
b. Sales.*
c. Head-rights to actual settlers.
Texan Titles.               1. Grants to settlers.
a. Who arrived previous to Declaration of In                                dependence.
b. Who arrrived after the Declaration of Inde                                pendence, and before the year 1837.
c. Who arrived after 1st October, 1837, and be                               fore 1842.
2. Bounty claims.
a. For services in the army.
b. As pensions to those disabled.
c. For those who served in the battles of San Ja                               cinto and Bexar.
3. Land-scrip.
a. Issued for the support of the army.
b. Taken in redemption of the promissory notes
of the Republic.
COLONIES.
The principal colonies are as follows:-Burnet's, Vehlin's, Robertson's or
Nashville, De Witt's, Austin (four colonies), Powers and Hewitson's, Austin
and William's, Zavala's, McMullen and McGlone. All these were empresarios who are entitled to premium lands, provided they strictly complied with
their contracts.
BOUNTIES.
1. Emigrants who arrived (a.) before Declaration of Independence.  Married
men are entitled to one league and one labor; single men to one-third of a
league.
* Among these, a sale of forty ten-league grants to John T. Mason, which, with
others similar, w.as declared void by the Republic of Texas.
494 
API'ENDIX.
2. (b.) After Independence, and before 1837. Married men, if enrolled in the
army, are entitled to one league and one labor; if single men, to one-third of a
league, provided such enrollment was previous to August, 1836.
3. (c.) After 1st October, 1837, and before 1842-640 and 320 acres
Bounty claims, for services in the army, are for 320, 640,1,280, and 1,920
acres.
For those disabled, one league.
INDIAN COLONIZATION.
[From the Report of Commissioner Moneypenny to the Secretary of the Interior,
December, 1856.]
The policy of colonizing the Indians of Texas was commenced early in
February, 1855. The reservations for that purpose are in Young county, Texas,
one on the Brazos River, and one on the Clear Fork of the Brazos. The
Caddoes, Anadahhas, Tahuakleros, WVacos, and Tonkahwas, have been congregated at the former reserve, called the Brazos, and the Comanches at the
latter, called the Comanche reserve.
On the 18th of September last, there were nine hundred and forty-eight Indians
at the Brazos, and five hundred and fifty-sevenl at the Comanche reservation.
At the former, during the past year, there have been five hundred and forty
acres of land fenced in and cultivated, and at the latter two hundred acres. The
Indians have made considerable progress in building houses and making other
improvements, and have advanced in their moral and social condition. Whisky
has, by great vigilance on the part of the agents, and the military and State
authorities, been kept entirely away; and, in every point of view, the enterprise, in its present state and future prospects, is more encouraging than its
most sanguine friends had anticipated.
The forays and depredations occurring last spring, on the confines of Texas,
were not, it is said, to be traced to the indigenous tribes of that State, but were
committed entirely by Indians who had not any connection with the reserves.
The chastisement of some of these predatory bands, has happily been succeeded
by a period of unusual quiet and peace.
The flattering success in Texas gives promise that, by a similar policy, the
Southern Comanches, W,ichetaws, and other wandering bands, near the northern
frontier of that State, may be successfully colonized on the western end of the
Choctaw country, for which provision was made by the treaty of June 22, 18555
between the United States and the Choctaws and Chickasaws.
LIST OF WORKS AND AUTHORS.
Texas: its Geography, Natural History, and Topography. By William Ken    nedy, Esq. (British Consul at Galveston). 8vo. pp.118. New York: Ben   jamin & Young, 1844.
Texas: the Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic. By the same.
History of Texas.  ByDavid B. Edwards, Cincinnati: 1836.  12mo
495 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXA.'
History of the Revolution in Texas.  By C. Newell.  New Yo(rk: 1838.  12mo.
A Visit to Texas, with a sketch of the late war.  By Fiske.  New York: Van
Nostrand & Dwight, 1836.
A Journey through Northeastern Texas. By Edward Smith. London: 1849.
12mo.
Green's Journal of the Texan Expedition against Mier. New York: 1845.
8vo.
Texas.  By Mrs. Mary AustinHolley.  12mo.  Baltimore: 1833.
Eagle Pass. By Cora Montgomery. New York: G. P. Putnam. pp. 188.
Letters from Texas. By Wv. B. Dewees. Louisville: Morton & Griswold, 1852.
12mo., pp. 312.
Notes on Unexplored Texas.  By W. B. Parker.  Philadelphia: Hayes  &
Zell, 1855. 12mo., pp. 242.
TheSantaFe Expedition. ByG.W.Kendall. New York: Harper&Brothers,
1844. 2 vols., 12mo.
Rambles in Texas.
Personal Narrative. By John R. Bartlett, Commissioner for the Mexican
Boundary. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1854. 2 vols., 8vo.
Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. By Mrs. Houston. Philadelphia. 2 vols., 18mo.
Our Almy on the Rio Grande. By T. B. Thorpe. Philadelphia: 1848. 12mo.
A Stray Yankee in Texas. By Philip Paxton.
Wanderings in the Southwest.  In the New  York "Crayon," 1855-6.  By
J. D. B. Stillman.
Texas. By L. T. Pease (in Niles's Spanish Republics). Hartford: 1836.
Sam Houston and his Republic. By C. Edwards Lester. New York: Burgess,
Stringer & Co. 8vo., pp. 208.
Life of Gen. Sam Houston. New York: Redfield, 1855.
Notes from my Knapsack.  Putnam's Monthly, March, 1854.
A trip from Chihuahua to the Sierra Madre. The same, October, 1854.
History of Louisiana. By Gayarre.
Ward's MIexico in 1827. Appendix, Texas.  London.  2 vols., 8vo.
History of Texas from its discovery to the present time.  By Maillard.
Mexico in 1842. To which is added an account of Texas and Yucatan, and of
the Santa FeExpedition. New York: 1842. 18mo.
Texas and the Texans. By Henry Stewart Foote. 2 vols., 12mo. Philadel.
phia: 1841.
Notes on the Upper Rio Grande. By Bryan Tilden.
Featherstonaugh, Excursion Through the Slave States. New York: Harper &
Brothers.
The Fiscal History of Texas. By IW. M. Gouge. Philadelphia: J. P. Lippin    cott & Co.
Memoir of a Trip to Northern Mexico in 1846 and'47.  By A. Wislizenas.
Senate Doc., Washington, 1848.
Yoakum's History of Texas.  2 vols., 8vo.  New York: J. S. Redfield, 1856
496 
SCRAPS OF NEWSPAPER.
all about town.  Plows were perched to
roost on  the tops of houses.   Signs
changed their locations, and effigies of
good and  pious me n   were posted alo nge
the   streets.  This  yea r a ll was peaceabl e, orderly, and   qui et.
The  reason of this  difference    is obvious. This year the thoughts have been
directed in  a civil cha nnel by p ar ties
and  balls.  The Citizen s' Ball,  given
at the Nicholson House, on the 29th,
convened a n ar ra y o f beauty and lovelipcess seldom surpassed. The    rough
sex, when enjoying such so  ciety, forget the moods which would lead to
shameful excesses. But speaking of
the ball-the supper prepared by Mrs.
~::Beachboard gave perfect satisfaction,
the music was excellent, and everything
went off harmoniously. But alas, how
time flies when shuffled off by nimble
feet. The clock struck two, and all
were obliged to take note of time
"from its loss."'
THE party at Col. C's, on the
28th ultimo, passed-off to the delight of
every one present, we believe.  The
supper-table surpassed all things except
the beauty and charms of the ladies
around it. Arrangements had been
made for dancing, but no fiddler appeared, as was expected.  But the Col.
informed the boys that dancing had to
be done, and no mistake. So a chunk
of a fiddler was raked up from the sub urbs, who went to work, and kept up
that " same old tune" until a late hour.
DuRING the past week  a Mlormoi
missionary hasbeen holding, I(rtli il
Gonzales. At his last miieeting'f tlhicro,
:" To our patrons, who looked for
the prompt appearance of our paper
this week, with its usual quantity of
reading matter, we have to plead, as all
excuse, the absence of our printer, the
severe affliction of the publisher, and
the norther.  Our office is a very cold
one, and it was almost impossible to
work in it on Friday last.
7 Private parties are getting to be
quite common  in Bastrop, we understand.  Several very creditable candypullings are said to have come off durin  the Christmas week, at which we
had not the good fortune to be present.
We   notice these parties, for they are 
important to a good state of society in
any place.  Bastrop has for two years
past enjoyed no enviable reputation in
this respect, and yet Bastrop has more
material than any town of its size in
Texas.  The substantial and wealthy
citizens of a place-the merchants-the
church members, whose interest as well
as duty it is to improve society, should
wake up on this matter.  Let them give
such magnificent entertainments as was
given by MIr. and Mrs. C. K. Hall, on
the 3rd inst. Liberality is not lost upon
tile young; and the liberal, social, and
generous merchant will always succeed
best, other things being equal.
D' Z It is true that young people will
have amusements, and to this end they
will seek some kind of society. If the
advantages  of good association are denied them they often turn aside to evil
practices and bad examples. Christmas
week last year was one continual scene
of mischief and drunken uproariousness 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
he "pulled off his coat and rolled )up
his sleves " —which, alas! caused  a 
stampede of the lady part of his audi- 
ence.  Soon  after,  he  was  escorted 
around the town to the music of tin
horns, cow-bells, etc., and told to leave
ere the dews of night were kissed by
early dawn, and he did nothin' shorter.
-San Antonio Texan.
and a ge ntleciiii who visited the stable.
The hostler, who was considerably injured, but who, we are glad to learn, is
recovering, hailed the gentleman, and,
receiving no answer, made an attack
onl him, wounding him with a knife.
The assailed returned to the hotel, followed by the assailant, where he seized
a stick and knocked his adversary
down, breaking his ribs, and otherwise
injuring him.
AM ICABLY ADJUSTED.-We are grati fied to learn from the Jefferson Herald
of the 5th inst., that the pending diffi culty between Judge Grinstead, former
editor of the Herald, and W. 11. Par sons, of the Tyler Telegraph, has at last
been amicably adjusted.  The matter
was submitted to a Board of Honor, by
whose decision both parties agreed to
abide.  Grinstead selected Hon. W. B.
Ochiltree, Parsons selected Col. M. D.
Ector, and the referees selected Col. J.
C. Robertson.  The board agreed upion
the following terms of settlement: That
all remarks and reflections emanating
from either gentleman, tending in any
mannuer to impugn the character                  fo       r
courage, honesty, or integrity of the
other, and every remark of a personal
character, which has fallen from either
of the parlties  with regard to the o     ther,
be withdrawn.   This being agreed to
by the parties, it was determined by
the board that no further c-ause of difference existed between them, and tha                     t
they should meet and shake hands as
friends.  Ald thus ended a difficulty
which at one time threatened to end in
mortal combat.  We are truly glad that
this precedent for the settling of difficulties between editors has been established.  We are decidedly opposed to
the shooting mode of settling such dis          -
putes.  It                    is very apt to derange the
nervous system and destroy the appetite.
Western Texas.
AIR. EDITOt3:-Perhaps you have
come to the conclusion that I have for gotten both you and the Advocate,
trom my protracted silence; but, I can
assure you, that both have been and
still are the objects of my most tender
solicitude.  Afflictions and bad  wea ther caused me to be late getting to
my work, and have no regular plan of
my  circuit.  The work  being  very
large, and a great portion of the work
quite  newy it required much t ime to
form such an acquaintance with  the
country as   w    ould  enable one to write
understandingly.  My circuit now enm braces a portion of five counties, viz.:
Victoria, De Witt, Gonzales, Karnes,
and Goiad, and three towns, Clinton,
and Yorktown, in   De Witt, the  former
being the county-seat, and Helena in
Karnes, is the  county-sea t.   I halve
twenty-three appointments,  at soim  e
of which  I preach  two and  sometimnes
t hree ti      mes p er m onth, and if I  meet
my engagements, I must preach thirty
sermons this (April) month.  I have
been much afflicted by bad colds, and
on one occ asion r     eceived   an injury in
the right side by my horse, yet my
strength remains as firm as usual. I
have a most beautiful country through
which to travel, people  remarkably
kind, and generally anxious to hear
preaching.   I find in this country
many eho were once members of some
branch of the Christian church, who
emigrated without church letters, and
failed to make themselves known  as
lrof bssing Christians, until an accumu
THE great train for E1 Paso left San
Antonio on the 7th inst. The Western
Texans states that the train is composed
of one hundred and seventy wagons,
tand  two hunCdred anud  te n men,  bes ides
the escort. Capt. Arthur, lst infantry,
commands the escort.
A SERIOrs AFFAIR.-A fight occurred on last loniday night, at or near
the Thomas House, between a hostler
49S
SUDDEs DEATH.-A ne5ro wotnan,
the property of Mrs. Lydia. Cushney,
fell dead ol-i Wedne,3day morning last,
it is supposed from a disease of the
heart. 
APPENDIX.
lation of circumstances drove  them
into  a condition which made them
;.shamed to  acknowledge they had
ever been church members.  This, Mr.
Editor, is a great evil under the sunand I know of no better agent through
which to correct that evil than the
printiingpress.  Let all Christian editors sound the alarm, and warn all who
wish to emigrate.
sands of European paupers who swarm
the land, are more capable of self-government, more deeply imbued with the
spirit of republicanism, more compo
tent  to pereformn the duties which  the
Constitution and  laws of the    land
re quire at the hands of e ve ry citi zen,
than t hose  to the  manner bor n; either
these ignorant, vicious, besotted gfreas.
eols, who have swelled to such an uniprecedented extent the    majo rity of  tlB e
anti-American party in Bexar ountyf,
are  wrong,  or the   seventy thousall 
intellectual, educated, and refilled Vi'rginians, who supported the American
ticket at the late e lectio n in that State,
are in er ror.  Both can no t be right.
The worst passions and   the silliest
fears of the deluded horde of Mexican
peons, who populate to such a dangerous extent the county of Bexar, have
be en a ppea led  to by  a squad     of blackrobed villains, who exercise over the
minds of their m is er able  foll owers    a
de spotism more  absolute th an  that of
any Turkish nobleman over those who
people his seraglio.
Into the han ds o f these priests, fell ow-citize ns, th e  ball ot-b ox  has bee
placed in San Antonio.  Serpen   t-like
have they entered  into the jeacals of
their countryme n,  and the re   hissed
into th e ear s of th e in mate s  the mandates from which   a Mexican  ha s  no
appeal, and the consequence has been,
that oil election  day a  h orde of political
lepers have crawled to the ballot-box,
and there nullified the votes  of thlousands of  your  countrymen, who   had
weighed well the  principles in controversy. Great God! shall the  se thing ss
always  exist? Shall a race of  men,
many of whom, in knowledge of Ame rican institutions, are inferior to the
African-men who have proved them selves incapable of    self-governiment
under the most favorable auspicesmust  these men be permitted to wrest
from the   intelligent  American the    mo st
sacred and dearest rights which he pos sesses, at the bidding of a rotten
priesthood, and the scarcely less cor rupt demagogues who can be always
found ready to betray their country,
and surrender their birthright for less
than a mess of pottage.
We do not, so help us God, envy our
enemies the unholy alliatee by which
they have acquired victory in Bexar.
We  record the result more ill sorrowv
AR rESIA.N WELL.-Captain P. WV.
Humphreys  has a  subscription list
containin     g a numbe       r of names of  those
wishing to take shares in a joint-stock
company, for sinking an artesian well
in Austin. Those favorable to the project should take shares.
Lmia "We never                           played at Poker,
nor permitted our negroes to do so.State Gazette.
But, Major! will you have the face
to deny that you are not perfectly familiar with all the mysteries of the
games of Bluff and Brag?
R. D. CARI  & Co.-The advertisement of these gentlemen will be found
in to-day's paper.  They have on hand
a lot of children's clothing.  Notwithstanding Mr. Carr may not have found
any need for using these aforesaid garments for small folk, yet we can vouch
hie  show s           them to fond m amm as     with as
much gusto and sells them as cheap as
" a-y vXa" in Austin.
t'he    Electio         n  in Bexar.
The partial returns received firom
San Antonio, bv Wednesday evening's
mtail, presents to the mind of the true
American, and to every lover of his
country, reflections of fearful importateC.   We  (-are not to what party a
mall may be attached, he cannot be a
true patriot who fails to discover in the
result of the contest in Bexar and Comeal consequences of direful import.
He who argues that the unanimity
wvith which the German and Mexican
vote was cast againist the American
candidates is an evidence of the purity
of the principles of the anti-American
party, must also be prepared to reason
that the thousands and tells of thou
499 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
than in angel.   We  feel humiliated
when we reflect upon the materiel by
which the votes of so many true Americans have been rendered nugatory.
Protect the adopted; but teach them
to know.
We yield not our birth-right, to friend
or to foe!
LITTLE WIND Y.
INDIANS.-MAY-BE-SO.-We   have
been informed that on Monday night
last, a party of Indians (so supposed)
visited the farm-houses of several of our
citizens living on the San Antonio riv   er, some ten or fifteen miles above this
place, and drove off from eighty to one
hundred head of horses.  Thomas Lott,
Esq., Capt. Barton Peck, and Colonel
John A. Hodges were the sufferers.
This report may be true, but we don't
believe the Izdian story. We feel satis   fied that this stampede was made by the
wwhiles-or, as Jim Burk, an old ranger,
wiould say, if they were not white then,
they could be made so by taking them
to a water-hole, and use a little soap on
thenm.
, Several persons started immediately
in pursuit of these rascals, and we hope
will  soon overtake  them. - Goliad
Truce American, July 21, 1855.
Excitement   in Navarro  County
Texas.-A   ~lan Hung  and  Barba   iously Altitlated.-In the  Leon Pio  hneer of the 8th November,  1850, we
find a long and shocking account of the
progress of the excitement in Navarro
county, growing out of the supposed
theft of a couple of mulatto boys, be longing to Col. Elliot, of that county.
Two mnen in Col. Elliot's employment
were suspected, on the statement of a
negro.  One, named Elliot, was arrest ed  and a confession of guilt, impli cating himself and a mnan named Wells,
forced from him by tying a rope around
his neck and threatening to hang him.
The man afterward said the statement
was untrue, and made to save his life.
In his statement, the plan, he said, included the murder of Elliot. Aftergetting this confession, searchl was imiiediately made by various parties for
Wells, but without, it is said, succeed.
ing in arresting himn.   On Friday, the
27th ult., his body was found in C(hainber's creek, by some persons who were
engaged in building a bridge, and who
were huntillng oxen at the time, and
were attracted to the spot by a gang of
With this blustering host cometh, lead    ing the van,
Great JACK, the Big Gun of the For    cigner's clan;
Who, with all his stump thunder, the
echoes awoke,
Though alack! he but sitapped, with a
flash and a smoke!
For though, far and near, they have
scoured the plain,
Not a single Kniow-Nothing is found
to be slain.
500
[For the State Tiines. ]
Dowitifall ofthe Hocus-Poctis De.   niocracy of Travis County.
ll,eliold! the great Bombshells, in might
have come down
To organize things in our glorious
town,And to let us know that, in matters of
State
'Twill take tlteii- w-se-he-ds, to set
,overvthin — straigt;
For how shoufd we AmERICAq Men
See aught without light of tltel i- wits
and their pen?
Bat liark! what was that?-on a sud    den rings out,
From Travis' green hills, a victorious
sbout!
The 11 Americans" come!-in their
principles strong,
They hae fought a good fi,-,ht-they
have battled with wrongThey have won!-aild tile Bombsliel'.
with meteor light
Ilas burst! and gone down, in the
darkness of night!
Then on! ye brave sons of America's
soil!
With your forefathers, shrink not, for
freedom to toil!
Let W,,isilington's counsel forever be
dear,
Keet thetreins in your liaiids, and the
allo -box clear! 
APPENDIX.
buzzards.  When found, he was floating near the surface of the water, betw-een a forked limb, which had, to all
appearance, been placed over him for
the purpose of holding the body to the
bottom.   Around his neck was the
print of a rope.  His abdomen had
been ripped open, and his bowels torn
out, thus leaving but little doubt that
he was hanged, and afterwvard his body
thrown into the creek for concealmnent.
The body, from appearances, had been
in the creek but a short time, probably
fourteen or twenty hours. The parties,
or some of them, engaged in the search
for Wells, are suspected of the murder,
and their lives are threatened.  One
or two of them have gone to Corsicana
and demanded a trial, alleging their
inno cence.  Among the  nine per    sons
accused of this foul deed are some of
the m ost  r        espectable and prominent
men in the county of Navaero; and, as
our informant stated that they all stood
their trial before an examining court,
and were honorably acquitted, we shall
omit their names-considering that, if
innocent, it wvill be doing them injustice, and if guilty, it will not forward
the ends of justice. The barbarous and
shocking mutilation described in the
report of the jury, savors mc,:e of the
fiend than of man; and, unless upon
proof the most clear and convincing,
we cannot believe that men ofthe high
standing and honorable feeling that we
know some of the accused to be, could
have consented to such fiendish work,
much less, aided and abetted it.
up his arms o r   be  s hot. The boy hewr
his pistol, and told him to shoot, and
seemed careless of his life.  The Captain then sent his little son to the house
for his shot gun, and as the little fellow
approached with the gun, the negro
broke and ran towards a horse which
he had staked out, with a view to
mounting him and escaping.  The Captain discharged h     is fowling-piece at hiin
without erious efect, and, the boy still
running, he plumped him  i the back
with his six-shooter, and that was the
last of " Poor Old Edward." The Cap.
tain's experience with  the " Injins"
doubtless assisted him in this affair.Se;, in Mewrcury.
A LETTER to a commercial house in
Galveston, from a highly respectable
citizen of Crockett, dated  May  5th,
says: An impromptu fight in the woods,
near Alabama, between two families,
resulted in all three on one side being
shot-two dead.  The others (peaceable men hitherto) are unhurt.   The
name of the three  brothers shot is
Pool; that of the other party, a father
and sons, is Click.-N. C. Pic.
E? The value of negroes in this re.
gion of country may be judged of to
some extent,.by the rates at which a
lot hired in this city on the 26th ultimno.
A lot of nine negro men, one a rough
catrpenter, hired  at the  avera(ge  of
$280-92 each per year, the hire to be
paid at the expiration of every four
months, reaching  an  aggregate  of
$2,528-28 per annum for the nine negroes. —Texas State Gazette, Jan. 3
1853.
A NEGRO KILLED.-NVE understand
that a negro, the property of Mr. Geo.
Sm-ith, of this county, was killed by
Capt. Callaghan, at his place on the
Blanco, a few days ago. We learn that
Capt.  Callaghan  had been molested
several times, for two or three nights,
by persons attempting to break into his
house.  The noise he made in arising
scared them away, and each timae               he
found the negro man in question near
a woodpile.  This probably excited his
suspicion. In the miean time he learned
that the negro was armed.   He therefore ordered himn to give up his armsa six-shooter, and an unearthly, long
sharp steel blade.  The negro refused
to do so.  The Captain then drew his
six-shooter, and told him he must give
501
A IF-ree State out of Texas.
From various sources we have come
in possession of facts, which g to show
that the Germans, French, Swiss, Huii,arian,, and other foreigners, will, ere
0 g, make a strong demonstration to
fo a free State ot of Western Texas.
We have latel.y conversed with men
from that'part of the State, and they
unhot3itatiiigly aver that the foreigners
there to a man are opposed to slavery.
There are also men from the North
who are insidious leaders in the i-novemen t, and are urging the foi-eigner,- lo 
A JOURNEY THRO-UGtl TEXAS.
adopted citizens of Texas now numbers
at least twelve thousand.  In less than
ten years it will be increased to three
times that number, unless the naturalization laws are changed.   This in
crease will be in a much greater ratio
than that of the native-born vote. -San
Antonio Texan.
MATAGORDA..-The people of Niatagorda county have held a meeting find
ordered every Mexican to leave the
county. To        strangers this no fed
wr on g, but we hold it to be plt
right  and hi- ghly necessa r o; gIrl
of  explanation should be given. In the
first placo, then,  ther e  are none but tMW ho
lower class or " Peon" Mexicans in the
county; secondly, they have  no fixed
domicile, but hang around the planitationis, taking the likeliest negro girls
for wives; and, thirdly, they often steal
horses, and these girls, too, and endeavor to run them to Mnexico. We should
rather have ainticipated all appeal to
Lynch law, than the mild course which
has been adopted.
whether they move or not, the foreigo-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I
Whtwil l bfour Teall pxcarties.a
A VOTER.-As an evidence of the ca Wthissatewl ofa exhanges s-N Olays
to this state of things?-Vew Orleasi  pacity of the Mexican population to
C)-eole.                               discriminate in matters of State im                                        portance, it may be mentioned that at
one of the polls held in this city, a
A Free State iit Texas I          greaser,  who  was  challenged, was
asked  incidentally  by  a bystander
Some may look upon such a thing as "who he voted foi, for Governor?~"
a free State of Western Texas, as im-    "Snhle           te reply?
probable, particularly at a time when    "Weo was        th        ereply.
such strenuous efforts are being made    W et    foiedtherMxian
"Sublett," rejoined the Mexican.
to carry slavery into Kansas, where        Who for Representative?"
slavery does not now exist by positive     Sub
law.  Yet there is a strong probability        ll   freemani
bombshell tuceman.
that such an event will occur within    Voters like that swelled the Anti.
the next ten years.   Our opinion    American majouty in Bexar.  Boast
based upon the fact that foreign mimi- of your triumphs, gentlemen Bombgration is greater than domestic by  shells
a t least to one; and  upon the
well-known  fact that foreign  immigrationi  is opposed to slavery, from    A    aRExE  FIGHT  IN TExAs.-T/e
principle, prejudice, and  education.  Palestine American gives the following
And there tirc many of the immigrants  extract from a letter, written at Biieiia
from the older States opposed to sla- Vista, Shelby County, Texas:
very, who quietly tolerate it so long as   ", Yesterday, in Buena Vista, William
it is aii institution of the State, but who  Therman, M. Wheeler, John Yarbor
will vote no slavery when the question  ough, and Bob McCoy, went to the
comes up whether Western Texas shall house of Sam. H. Cooper. for the pur
be a free or slave State.  This fact is pose of raising a row with Stephen S.
not generally known; if so, it is not  Runnels, who was at the time ill Coopduly considered.   The  vote of the  er's house; but Cooper was across the
502 
APPENDIX.
street, opposite the house, in the gr-ocery.  Runnels got up and walked out
in the piazza, when Therman drew a
five-shooter and fired at him.  Runnels
then returned the fire, without effect
upon either party.  John Yarborough
next shot Runnels from behind (which
t,shot killed him: he only lived three
hours). Runnels then shot Yarborough
in the thigh, and the next fire he shot
Wheeler,  breaking his arm;  during
which time Therman was beating Runnels over the head with a pistol.  Ruinels then drew another pistol, when
Therman r etreated, but not inll time to
save himself, for Ruinnels shot him just
above the hip. I heard, to-day, that
Thelima-n  was dead,  und I reckon it is
so.  During the fight, Cooper ran over
and exchalged  severLal shots  on the
side of RLnniels, and w ounded some of
the party.  Mrs. Cooper was  in the
fight, also, charginz around, and would,
doubtless, have done execution, had
not the parties retreated. Stephen Runnels fought like a soldier, to the last-he
never fell at all, but made all of the
opposite party retreat, after he was
mortally wounded.  I saw him die; he
bid me an affectionate farewell, and
was not heard to sigh or groan, because he was too manly. The Wheelers
and their company are now in search
of Sam Cooper, and they swear vengeance against him.  They are here today, drinking and swearing around."
We have neither time nor room for
comment on the above.
To The Public.
As some contemptible puppy or puppies have taken it upon themselves to
intimate that my absence in the battl e
of " Escondido"' was attributable to
motives of inter, I am forced, in justice
to myself, to say to all such, they are
liars, slanderers, cowards, and sons of
liars, and they would not dare to make
the charge in my presenlce.  I furthermore state, that at the time myself,
with Varnell and GCholson, turned back,
it was the general impression that we
were goilig to have no fight, as we
were told the Indians had left their
camp, and gone to the mountains.
Under these circumiistances, some of us
conclud       ed it would  be useless to b eat
about for weeks through,,'l Mexico to no
Calahan's Expe(dition, 1855.
Contenmplat-ed Servile Rising iln
Texas.
The Galveston OVUecs publishes the
follodving    lette r in re lation to the late
contemplated legro  insurrection in
Colorado county:
COLUMBUS, Colorado Co., Sept. 9,1856
The object of this communication is
to s tate  to  you all the fact s o f a ny i mportance connected with a recent intended insurrecti         on.
Our suspicions were aroused about
two weeks ago,  when  a mee ting of the
citizens of the  county wa s calledt  an d
a committee of investigation appointed
to ferret out the whole matter, and lay
the facts before the  people of  the coui
ty for their consideration. The conmmittee en tered upon thei r duties, and,
in a short time, they were in full pos
session of the facts of a well-organized
and systematized plan for the murder
of our entire white population, with,'the
exception of the young ladies, who were
to be taken captives, and made the
wives of the diabolical murderers of
their parents and friends. The  conimittee found in their possession a liumber of pistols, bowie-knives, guns, and
ammunition. Their passwords of organization were adopted, and their motto, " Leave not a shadow behind."
Last Saturday, the 6th inst., was the
time agreed upon for the execution of
their danming designs. At a late hour
at night, all were to mnake one  sinmultaneous, desperate effort, with from two
to ten apportioned to nearly every
house in the county, kill all the whites,
save the above exception, plunder their
homes, take their horses and arms, and
fight their wiy on to a " free State"
(Mexico).
503
purpose; 1, for one knew my busiiie,33
at home would suffer ver'y materially;
therefore, I turned back. 1, perhaps,
have honored the cowardly insinuator
too much by even this short notice of
his charge, and should have passed it
by with contemptuous silence, were it
not that there are those upon whose
friendship I place too high an estimate
not to disabuse their minds. I furthermore state, that if any of those biisybodies desire to test my courage at any
time, I will give them the amplest opportunity. Respectfully,
X.B.SANDERS 
A JOUTRNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
three more were hung last Friday, and
the Mexicans who were    i m plicat ed
were  ordered to leave the  country.
There  was no  proof again st   these last
beyond surmises. The band had a
deposit of arms and ammunition in the
bottom. They had quite a number of
guns, and a large lot of knives, manu factured by one of their number. It
was their intention to fight their way
to Mexico."
[From the True Issue, Sept. 5.]
We noticed last week the rumor that
a large llumixber of slaves. of Colorado
county, had combined and armed them selves for the purpose of fighting their
way into Mexico. Developments have
since been made of a much more seri ous nature than our information then
indicated.  It is ascertained that  a
secret combination had been formed,
embracing most of the negroes of the
county, for the purpose of not fleeing
to Mexico, but of murdering the inihabitants-men, women, and children
promiscuously. To carry out their
hellish purposes, they had organized
into companies of various sizes, had
adopted secret signis and passwords,
sworn never to divulge the plot under
the penalty of death, and had elected
captains and  subordinate officers to
command the respective companies.
They had provided  themselves with
some fire-arms and home-made bowieknives, and had appointed the time for
a simultaneous movement. Some two
hundred, we learn, have been severely
punished under the lash, and several
are now in jail awaiting the more serious punishment of death, which is to
be inflicted to-day. One of the principal instigators of the movement is a
free negro, or one who had been permitted to control his own time as a free
man.
Notwithstanding the intense excit(e  ment which moved every member of
ourl community, and  the  desperate
measures to which men are liable to be
led on by such impending danger to
which we have been exposed by our
indulgence and lenity to our slaves, we
must say the people acted with more
caution and deliberation than ever be fore characterized the action of any
people under similar circumstances.
More than two hundred negroes had
violated the law, the penalty of which
is death.  But, by unanimous consent,
the law was withheld, and their lives
spared, with the exception of three of
tile ringleaders, who were, on last Fri dav, the 5th inst., at 2 o'clock P. M.,
hulln, in compliance with the unani mous voice of the citizens of the couni ty.
Without exception, every Mexican in
the county was implicated. They were
arirested, and ordered to leave the coun ty within five days, and never again to
return, under the penalty of death.
'There is one, however, by the name of
1'iank, who is proven to be one of the
prime movers of the affair, that was
not arrested; but we hope that he may
yet be, and have meted out to him such
reward as his black deed demands.
We are satisfied that the lower class
(-f the Mexican population are incen(liariecs in any country where slaves are
held, and should be dealt with accordiiily. And, for the benefit of the Mexicall population, we would here state,
that a resolution was passed by the
unanimous voice of the county, forever
forbidding any Mexican from coming
within the limits of the county.
Peace, quiet, and good order are
again restored, and, by the watchful
care of our Vigilance Committee, a wellorganized patrol, and good discipline
among our planters, we are persuaded
that there will never again occur the
necessity of a communication of the
character of this.
Yours respectfully,
JOHN H. ROBSO', )
H. A. TAI U,~,     Co;. Conm.
J. H. HICKS.
The Galveston  Vetws,  of the 11th
nst., has also the following paragraph:
Ah We learn, from  the  Colutmnbian
Olanter, of the 9th, that two of the
legroes engaged in the insurrection at
Columbus  were whipped to death;
GALVESTON, Texas, July 10, 1856.
To tle Editor of the N.Y. Daily Times:
The inclosed I cut fiom one of our
city papers, and beg you to publish
with such comments  as you  deem
necessary.
In explanation, I must tell yout that
fir. Sherwood, a Southern man and
eminent lawyer, and, at the last session
of our Legislature, a member of thee
Houise from this city, had to resign b(e -
504 
APPENDIX.
fore his term expired, becalsne he had
I'le courage to assert, on the floor of the
hlouse, that it was his opinion that
" the Congress ofthe Unitedc States had
l/e Constitutional right to legislate on
the subject of Slavery in the Territories. "This is the only so-called AntiSla very sentiment Mr. Sherwood, himself a slaveholder, entertains.  I underli.ed some portions of the article I
ilnclose, and ask you, where lies the
dIifference, in regard to Freedom of
Speech and Press, between so-called
despotic Austria, and these Southern
RItepublican States of the great and
free (?) North American Republic?
Yours,         A SOUTHERNER.
Proceedings of a Public Meetin.;
in Gahvestotl, Texas.
[From the Galveston Newcs.]
At a meeting of the citizens of Galveston, convened to take into consideration the propriety of PERsrITTIN t
Lorenzo Sherwood to address the people in defense of his course in the last
Legislature, Col. Samuel L. Williams
was called to the chair, and Alfred F.
James appointed Secretary, when, after
explaining the object of the meeting, it
was
Resolved, That the following letter,
prepared and read by Mr. Ballinger, be
addressed to Mr. Sherwood, as embracihg the views and sentiments of this
meeting, in relation to his contemplated address:
GALVESTON, Monday, July 7,1856.
LORENZO SHERWOOD,  EsQ.-Sir:
At a public meeting of the citizens of
Galveston, convened this morning at
the Court House, in consequence of
your public notice that you would
make an address this evening, in defense of your course in the last Legislature, it was unanimously resolved to
notify you of the well-considered sentiments and resolute determination of the
people of Galveston, as follows:
fiat your right, in common with
every other citizen, toj ee opinion,.Iee
discussion, and the largest liberty of
self-defense, is fully recognized, and
will be respected. (?)
But there is one subject, connected
with your course in the Legislaturethat of Slavery-on  hich neither you,
nor any one entertaining you} views,
22
wvil1 be per-m?zitted to appear before the
commuteity, in a public mantne}r. That
your views on that subject are unsouind
a nd dangeros, is the fixed belief of
this communzty, caused by your owrn
speeches, writint, and acts.
We ale aware that, either actually
or selT.ingly, you wholly  misapprchended tihe real views of  the peo ple of
Texas, and suppose th at,  by explanatii.yon  acxd a ) ru  en t, a yon can  make youft
Anti-lary theories an      d plans ane p ffensive a nd acceptab l e.   How fr  this
should be attributed, on   your part, to
delusion, and how far to design, is nlot
fs f cterial. The Slavery subject is no t
one which is   o pe n to you be fore us.
Yon. are, therefo ere, explicitly and
pereo7Gptority not ified, that, in youispeech, youe?will?ot be permitted to
tourch,  il any wmanner, on the  subject of
Slavery, ot your  op znions  thereonl,
either  directly o r indire ctly, or by wiay
of explanation, or otherwise.   Under
the pre t e xt  o f the   personal?it, it of selfdefense, yo iu woill not     be tolerated in any
a ttempt to defend your  course  in the
Legislature on this subject, which was
an aggression on the rights, and an
outrage on the feelings, of the State of
Texas, and much more on those of the
people of Galveston, whom you misrepresented, than any other.
The entire subject of Slavery, in all
its connections, is forbidden ground,
which you shall not invade.
Your introduction of it in any manner, will be the prompt signal FoR CONSEQUENCES TO WIIICH WE NEED NOT
ALLUDE.
It has been asserted that you have
some supporters in this community
upon that subject. We trust not. But
if so, and if they have sufficient presumption to undertake to sustain you,
in any further discussion of this subject before the people, they will make
this evening the occasion for the definite
and final settlement of that issue, both
as to you and to them.
We trust, however, that you will
confine yourself to matters of legitimate
public interest and discussion, and will
not, hereafter, either in public or private, further abuse the patience of i
people with whom, on that question
you have no congeniality, and whom
you wholly misunderstand
This communication will be read to
the assembled public before you proceed
505 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
with your speech; and yost will clearly
understand, is not to be the subject of
any animadversion by You. 
'The  meeting  was  addressed  bd
Messrs. Wm. P. Ballinger, P. R. Edwards,  Hamilton Stuar t, Thomas M.
Joseph, B. C. Franklin, Samuel M. Williams, F. H. Merriman Oscar Farish,
M. B. BMenard, Noah John, and Joseph
J. ItendleIy.
Col. Samtuel M. Williams, Judge B.
C. Franklin, Wm.  P. Ballinger, Esq.,
Lanid Col. E. McLean, were aippointed a
committee to deliver to Mr. Sherwood a
copy of the letter addressed to him by
this meeting.
On motion of Hamilton Stuart, Esq.,
all those opposed to the action taken by
this meeting  were requested to withdrawe, whereupon Mlessrs. Joseph J.
Ifendley and Stephen Van Sickle retir-ed.
The m eeting   then          adjourned, to           meet
again this evening at the place appointed by Mr. Sherwood to deliver his
address.
lahan, by lavish displays of friendship
assisting him to cross the Rio Grande
and proffering to join his ranks, and
then joining the force that lay in ambush to  fall upon his front   and  heax and
massacre  his  whole command, their
town would not have   been de str oyed,
nor their property taken without renidering  a fair equ    ivalent.   They  even
carried off     his d ead, it is said, r dissection, in San Fernando.
Already  have      a           n umbe r of our citizens taken the field, prepared and determined to carry the war into the cnemy's country, if necessary. Captains
Callahan, HTenry, and Benton, and the
brave men of their commands, have set
an example worthy the emulation of all
who desire the peace and security of
the frontier. One hundred and eleven
men, most of whom were never in battle before, whipped a force of Indians
and Mexicans more than six times
greater than their own, upon their own
soil. To  arms, then, rexans, and
avenge your plundered, outraged, and
murdered countrymen! Drive back to
their vile dens the thieving, murdering
hordes that have been laying your
country  waste,  and  carrying your
wives and daughters into captivity.
Then to arms, Texans! Now is the
time for action!
[From the San Antonio lHerald, Oct-.
16, 1855.]
Relturn of Capt. Callahan's Expedi  tioit.-Piedras Neg-ras Burnmt.-The
Citizens taking up arms.
Captain  Callahan returned to our
city on Saturday last.  From him we
learn, that, after he had fallen back
upon the town of Piedras Negras, the
Mexicans stated to him the battle of
Escondido was brought on through mistake-that the object of his expedition
was not rightly understood.  He was
given to understand, that if he wished
to pursue and chastise the Indians, he
could do so unmolested.   This was
mierely to decoy him out of Piedras
'egrns, so that the Mexicans could
carry out their previous design of massacreig     c his comlmand.
*aie *i*           *     *    *    *prprycridit                   upanthi
Considerable fuss was made at Eag le
Pass about the burning of Piedras egras, and fears were entertained that
the Mexicans and Indians would retaliate upon that place.  The Mexicans
have themselves alone to blame for the
burning of their town.  Ilad they not
:-ced in bld  trith tovwards Capt. Cal
T          o the People of Texas.
At  a meeting o f the citizens   of Bexar
county, the undersigned were appointed a committee to appeal to you, to
take this matter into your own hands,
as the Federal and State governments
have been appealed to in vain. Your
fellow-citizens have been cruelly and
shamefully  murdered  almost  within
view of the capitol of your State, and
the lhead-quarters of the army of the
United  States. Your women  have
been violated, and your children carried into captivity.   Frontier settlemeiits have been broken up, and their
property carried into Mexico. Mexico
has violated the letter and spirit of our
treaties with her, by aiding and abetting the Indians in their robberies,
harboring them within her borders, and
fighting their battles when pursued to
their camps.  Texans, to lie rescue
and let no repose be taken until victory, complete and triumphant, shall be
506
SAMUEL M. WILLIA31S,
Chairmain.
A. F. JA.IIES, Secretary. 
APPENDIX.
ours.  On the Cibolo, near the mouth
of the Santa Clara, will be the point of
rendezvous, and the fifteenth day of
November is designated as the day
when the expedition will move.
Re spectfully
WM. E. JONES,
J. H. CALLAHAN,
J. A. WILCOX,
JNO. SUTHERLAND,
ASA MITCHELL,
S. A. MAVERICK.,
San Antonio, Oct. 16, 1855.
these lawless men. We would like to
have the protection of a company of
Rangers, but not such as these areworse than the red Indian himself.
They have stolen 52 valuable horses
within a few months, within  a circle
of 20 miles in diameter, have killed oui
cows and oxen, and occasionally taken
the lives of our citizens; but even these
we can better endure than the lawlessness of these men, who should be our
protectors.
"We would also respectfully request
that the citizens may be remunerated
for the losses sustained, and that mea
sares may be taken for our protection
in future fro m  such       outrages.
" We respectfully append an account
of damages.
" Dhanis, Dec. 11, 1854.'
[From the S. A. Sentinel.]
On the first page of this number we publish the circular of Captain
Callahan, who is now with a few men
at Piedras Negras, waiting for assistance.  Capt.  Callahan's  position  is
somewhat a peculiar one, and one out
of which more serious difficulties may
arise.  I g t      might  at  f irst b e suppose
that our men had violated the neutrality laws in following the Indians into
Mexico.. But at the present time there
is no government really in Mexico. She
has just emerged from a revolution form
of government, nor does she even recognize your particular man as being
really at the head of her governmental
affairs.
BOY OUT,
ABOUT  the 1st instant,  my -negro
boy, Charles, absconded, and has not
since been heard of.  Said boy is subject to attacks of "convulsions," and
was probably under the influence of
that disease when he went away.  My
chief object in issuing this notice is to
warn persons to be on their guard in
approaching hlim while in that conditlon, as he is then entirely unlmanageable and dangerous if force is attempted with him. I will give a
reasonable reward for information of
the whereabouts of said negro, but will
not ask any one to arrest him, as there
would be danger in the attempt to do
so.  Said nlegro is black, large, and very
stout, about 24 years of age, and has an
unusually fiat nose, particularly so just
between the eyes.
Information may be given at the office of Dr. A. J. Lott, or at the State
Gazette office.
GEORGE S. HUGHES.
Austin, January 4, 1854.
[From the Sa, MAntoito Zeitung.]
"To the Military Commnanzder of the
9th Military Departrment:
"Your memorialists would respectfully represent, that on Sunday, the
10th day of December,1854, Lieut. Jackson was in command of mounted volunteers, in the vicinity of Dhanis; that
during the night the property of the
citizens was destroyed; two hogs, the
property of John  Ney, were killed;
sign-boards,  windows,  shutters, and
other things was destroyed, and thus
destroyed the letter-box and the sign of
the post-office, scattering the contents
of the letter-box upon the prairie, besides firing their pistols at random in
the streets, to the great annoyance and
danger of the inhabitants.
"Lieutenant Jackson and some few
men  who  encamped with them, be hlyved like gentlemen; but, although
they possessed the authority, they had
not the power to control the conduc    t       of
$100 REWARD.
WVILL give the above reward 
for my boy BILL, who ranc
away on the 7th instant, fiom my
plantation in Walker County, if taken
up by any person west of the San Antonio River; fifty dilars, if taken up
west of the Brazos; and  twenty-five
dollars to any person taking him up
east of the Brazos River.  The above
507 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
reward will be paid on delivering said
boy into the hands of any jailer con veuient to where taken up, and who
can securely keep him until I can get
him.
BILL is what would  be called a
bright mulatto, of rather dull expres sion of countenance; his hair might be
called straight, and, when long, very
bushy. Was very long when he left
home   His age is about 28 years; his
height 5 feet 10 inches.
Took with him from home a doublebarrel shot-gun.                               B                       S                   ~VM. B. SCOTT.
Huntsville, April 14, 1855.
SEE the advertisement of W. B. Scott
for his runaway negro, Bill. The fellow
knocked down the overseer, and then
ran tothe house. got a gun, and put out
before the overseer could overhaul him.
Gen. Scott is anxious to recover the
boy, in order to punish his insubordination.
place to Lockhart, and he may attemp
to go up that way, andsabu then, by the way
of San Antonio, to Mexico. The above
reward will be given,  ivn f    l odged in jail,
o r         f or such information as will lead to
his  recover y.  DAVD  IRWIN,
per J OHN IRWIN.
Lavaca, Nov. 28th, 1853.
$100 REWARD.
ID AN AWAY, or stolen from the I
JL subscriber, near Milam, Sa-~
bine County, Texas, about the lst
of March last, a negro man named
Reuben. Said negro is about fortyfive years of age, stout, and well made,
inclined to be of a copper color, one or
two of his front teeth out, and stammers a little when talking, if bothered.
I will give fifty dollars to have the
negro secured in jail, so that I can get
him, and fifty dollars for the apprehension of the thief.
J. M. SPEIGHTS.
Nov. 5th, 1853.
TAKEN UP
AND  committed to the jall ota
ABexar County, Texas, on thel
13th day of March, 1854, a negro               mf
man,  calling himself MARTIN,  or
TOI.  He says he is a blacksmith, and
belongs to John Beal, Attakapas, on
Red River.  Said negro is about 48
years of age, 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high,
and head a little bald.  His back is
marked with the whip, and marks of
cupping on both temples and back of
the neck.  He  speaks Creole French
and broken English.  The owner of
said negro is hereby notified to come
forward, prove property, pay charges,
and take him away, or he will be dealt
with as the law directs.
W. B. KNOX, Sheriff B. C.
By L. SARGENT, Deputy.
$25 REWARD
ILL  be given for the appre     hension of my boy HENRY,~
who ran away from Port Lavacat                             a         e
about the loth inst. Henry is a blacksmith by trade, about 30 or 35 years of
arge, heavy set, and very black; is
very smart, and, when interrogated,
will tell a very plausible story.  He is
acqunaiited along the road from this
lack     s       for S ale.
rl~HE undersigned offers for sale a
1  number of the finest young Jacks in
the State, from one to two years of age,
of a large size and fine stock, sired by
the celebrated Black Hawk, purchased
of A. T. Nolance, Nashville, Tennessee.
The sire is eight years old, and also for
sale.
ttaving recently come to the country, and not being situated so as to
take care of said stock, he offers great
bargains, and invites those wishing to
purchase to call at his ranch, and ex
amine for themselves, near San Marcos.
E. NANCE
June 23d, 1855.
Negroes, Carriage, and Mules.
At the same time, I will sell for cash
in hand, two negro women, a fine Rockaway carriage, and two harness mules.
One of the  women about 40 years   old, a
good washer and irone,; the other about
25 years old, an excellent cook. Both
are stout and healthy, first rate cottonpickers, and good out-door hands.
WVM. P. MIILBY.
Ilnd'i,alola,t  Aug. 23, 1853.
508 
APPENDIX.
also, star ill her forehead, saddle-mar-ks
o  n her     righ t  s  ide,  and has  been flyblown   about the root of the tail; about
7 years old, very skittish, and not
easily caught.
CASPER STEUSSEY.
Two Hundred Dollars Reward.
UN AWAY or was stolen from             o
t the subscriber,  about the lstr                                    h
of Deceimber last, a negro man
named BOSTON, aged about 31 or 32
years, black  complexioned, about  5
feet 6 or 8 inches high, weighs about
150 lbs., has a delicate hand and foot
for a negro, and is by profession a
Iethodist preacher-says a great deal
about his religion. One hundred dollars reward will be paid for the delivery
of said negro to me, or two hundred
dollars for the negro and thief, if stolen,
with evidence sufficient to convict the
thief.
Any  information  concerning  said
negro will be thankfully received.
Address,
WV. FITZGERALD,
Columbus, Colorado Co., Texas.
$100 REWARD.
S TOP THE HORSE- THIEF!
s  TOLEN from the undersigned, living
al    in Austin, on the night of the 7th of
Aug., a cream-colored American horse,
5 years old, 16 hands high, white mane
and tail, with a blaze face, shod all
round, paces well, and has some white
spots about his breast and shoulders
from tick bites.  A Texas-rigged saddle, with hair girth, and a brass-plated
stiff-bit bridle, with new leather reins,
were taken with the horse.  I will give
the above reward for the apprehension
of the thief and recovery of the horse,
or twenty-five dollars for the recovery
of the horse.
$225"'REWARD.
TRAYED or stolen from me, about
SChristmas, 6 head of horses, viz.: 1
bay mare, 7 years old, with a sorrel
colt, and four three-year-old horses, two 
sorrels, one bay, and one dun, all branded on the left shoulder with my brand,
except the colt. I will give $25 for their
delivery to me, and will give $200 for
any information by which I may lay
hands upon the thief.
JAS. P. McKINNEY.
Onion Creelk, Travis Co., Mtay 3,1855.
CATTLE WANTED.
I HAVE  four leagues of
land on Los Pinttos Creek,
in Nueces County, fourteen
miles from San Patricio, of 
the finest grazing qualities, the mesquit grass  being knee high the year
round, one-half of which tract I am
willing to exchange for stock cattle, and
would be willing to make an arrangement with the purchaser to place an
equal number of cattle on the place, to
be placed in charge of a competent
American  family, and  the requisite
number of Mexican  vaqueros.
Those having large stocks of cattle,
would do w%ell to communicate with
me.
Address ie at   this place.
WM. Hf. HOUSTON.
City of Auistin,, May 31st, 1855.
Runaway.
-OMMITTED to jail in Bastrop Co.,
- on the 4th of August, 1855, by T. H.
Iays, J. P., a negro maI, who says
his name is Peter, aged  about fifty
years, dark complexion, 5 feet 8 or.)
inches high, and says he belongs to
Horatio Hearn, of Robinson County,
Texas. The owner is requested to come
forward, prove property, pay charges,
and take him away, or he wvill l)e dealt
with according to law-.
JOttN HEARN,
Sheriff B. C.
$10 REWARD.
TRAYED or stolen from the subk  scriber, one brown mare, about 14
hands high, branded with a Spanish
brand oni the left hind hip, and the letter D on the left shoulder.  She has a
long black tail, minane and legs black;
I. 0. of G. S. & D. of S.
C APITOL UNION LODGE,'\\\\\w/)
$  No. 16, of the Independent   x
Order of Good Samaritans andS
Daughters of Samaria, meets cevery
Monday evening, at 7 o'clock.
B. F. CARTER,
SEIBRON SNEED, W. C. G. S.
WY. R. S.
Austin, Dec. 23. 1854.
509
ERNST RAVEN. 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Certificate of John Swesey for half
leaigue of land, No. 41, issued in Harris
County. If not beard of within 90 days,
application will be made for duplicates
of the same.      J. W. ISBELL,
J         ul y 21, 1855.   Agent.
San Saba Land for Sale.
- HAVE  1~8')acres of Land on the
1  South   bank     of   the San Saba river,
granted to Elijah Gillman, and known
as survey No.'3,t, which I will sell for
$1 75 cents per acre.
Apply immediately to
JNO. T. HARCOURT.
La,-range, Texas, July 26,1855.
UNION HALL BAR-ROOX
EXCHANG(E.
To the Drinking Public.
THE  subscriber would say that for
1 their accommoodation he has fitted
up an establishment second to none
anywhere.  He  only solicits such  a
share of patronage as he may be
thought to be entitled to by those who
will give him a call.
BY TELEGRAPH!
Important Discovery.
r[HE reason why Lord Raglan has not
stormed Sevastopol, has been mainly
owing to the weak and enfeebled condition of the Allied Armies, caused by
their unparalleled sufferings in an inhospitable climate.  It has now been
clearly ascertained to have been produced by the absence of R OBELR  TSON'S TONIC B1' TERS.
Notice.
jHIS is to notify all persons that they
must not bathe in the Colorado river
anywhere in the vicinity of Swisher's or
Grumble's Ferry, after this date, under penalty of being taken before the
Hon. J. T. Cleveland, Mayor of the city
of Austin, and there undergoing a fine
of Ten Dollars for each and every such
offense committed againist the peace
and dignity of this city.
SAM'L C. TAYLOR,
Caity Mtarshal.
Austin, July 21, 1855.                                      C VS FR
Land for Sale.
640 acres, 90 miles north of Austin,
the road to Fort Croghan running 
obliquely through it, part of Gen. TrtLvis's headright, selected, located and
surveyed by H. L. Upshur, District
Surveyor, who will give particular description.  Equal parts mnesquit, prairie and post-oak timber-a noted spring
and camping-place near the road.
Apply to
HARALSON, FLOURNOY & RO BARDS.
Austin, July 18th, 1855.
C. V. SIIAFER.
Bastrop, Jtuly 16, 1853.
Ecole Primaire.
Franciaise et Anglaise.
tR. A. ROY, professc ur  a Mv. de franieaise, a l'hon- sli
neur d'annoncer aux pa- I.'..ED
rents qu'il vient de s'ajoi n- -,_   m
dre au maitre d'anglais qui fsertt attachl6
ii son 6cole d'une maniere permanente,
tous les soins seront donnids alus eilfants
qui lui seront confids.
CONDITIONS:
Pour la lere. classe, pour le fran  caise et  l'anglaise, payables
par tr6mestre et d'avance,    $24-00
2e. classe                        18-00
Francais seul         12'50
Anglais seul           12-50
Natchitoches, 3 Septcmbre, 1853.
Valuable Negroes at Public Auction!
ILL  be sold at public
*  auction, to the highest
bidder, without reserve, in
the town of Natchitochesl. on
Saturday, the 3d day of December next, 2 valuable N-Aegro men, viz.:
WILLIAM, aged about 32
OST.-Thedunce Caroline's headright third league land certificate,
No. 8, 2d class, issued by Board Land
Commissioners for Goliad County, on
the 9th day of August, 1838. If not
found within the time prescribed by
law, application will be made for a
duplicate.      ENOCH MOORE.
J. DOUGLASS BROwN, Agent.
July 21, 1855.
OST.-The  Discharge of  J. T.
Vhc eler, a Sergeant in Company
B, 1st Regiment Texas Army, under
Capt. R. Roman.  Also, the Headright
510 
APPENDIX. 
years, a first rate cotton-picker, good
axe-man, smart, sound in every particular, and fully guarantied.
SAM, aged about thirty years, fully
guarantied as to health and title. He
is inclined to take to the woods when
tightly pressed, and has not the resolution or moral firmness to resist the
temptation of appropriating to his own
use, when hungry, a sack of meal, or
other edible-the title to which might
be vested in another. lIe is smart and
active. a first rate cotton-picker and
axe-mail.
Teri-ms:
One-half cash, the other half payable
on the 1st of April. 1854-the purchaser
or purchasers to give notes with approved security, in solido, bearing interest at the rate of 8 per centum per
annum from maturity till paid, payable
to the order of the undersigned, auctioneer or bearer, with mortgage and
veoldor's privilege retained, further to
secure the payment of said notes.
The Negroes can be seen at the Saw
Mill of VW. L. Hains, above Campt6.
:.:  Will be sold also, at the same
time and place, 12             or 15 head  of Horned
Cattle.'T'he cattle will be sold for cash,
as they run in the woods.
D. H. B-OULLT,
Nov. 19, 1853.        Auctioneer.
All cotton consigned to parties storivp g at their press will be received on
the wharves and drayed to press without giving the parties any trouble, and
repairs estimated at the time of receiving  the e cotton, which will be sampled
by an experienced sampler.
The Weighing will always be
attended to by experienced weighers.
A Watchman will be in attendance day
and night to guard against fires and
other casualties.   The  following is
their
TARIFF OF CHARGES:
CONSIGNEES' CHARGES.
Drayage to press,  84c.  per bale.
Labor,    -           5      1
Stora        ge, - - 10     "
Weighing, -   -    8  "
Sampling             3   "
RTepairs-l     R ope, 10 each.
Patbch  e    s,        v-   - 15 
Heads,   -   -  30 "
Edges   -   -   - 50 "
Sides  -   -   *   50 "
VESSELS' CHARGES.
Compressing c o a stwrise,   -    8c.
Freight 25e. per bale; {c. freight
and  upwar ds,     -    3oc. dr. bl.
Compressing fore ign,    40    do.
Extra ropes, each,   -    8
Drayage to vess e l,       8ic pr bl.
NOTE. —No extra drayage charged on
bales that have burst ropes alongside
the  vessel, if  returned to pre ss  for repairs.
SHIPPERS' CHARGES.
Storage and labor per mo., 10c. pr bl
Classlng,   -' 5
Weighing,           -   -  8
Sampling,   -              3
Ship-marking,-    -   - 3"
Drayage to vessel,    -    8,  "
NOTE.-No labor or storage charged
on any cotton sent to press with orders
for comnpresinig and shipment.
L. E. HOOPER & CO.
Galveston, January, 17, 1854.
AVIS.
Michel Alnty et al. heirs, vs. Treciny
Delouches et al. heirs.  No. 4583.
Cour de District, Natchitoches.
ONFORMEMENT aun ordr6 do
C  l'hon. Cour d(e District dans et pour
la Paroisse des Natchitoches,rendu dulls
l'affatire ci-dessus mentionic pour un
partage entre les h6ritiers de la feue
Marie Ro-e Robin, ibnmme de Athalnase
NOTICE!
To Receivers and Shippers of Cotton.
rHE proprietors of the SHIPPER' S
C0 1TTON PRESS are now prepared to receive and store, under cover,
5,500 bales of cotton at one time. Their
Storage Shed and Press Building are
situated on the Strand, in the west end
of the city, and two blocks from any
other building, which  renders them           D
more secure firom fire. Their establishmelt and its appurtenances               cover an
entire block-say 261) feet by 300 feet.
The Storage  Shed extends the whole
width (260 feet) of the block to the
depth of 60 feet. This structure is of
the very best material.   The  Press
Building, wMhich  is 60 feet by 40 f   eet,   is
built of brick and roofed with tin, rendering it completely fire-proof.  The
Press MIachilnery is of Tyler's inventioni, 48-ilich cylinder,. All the other
machin-elery em-lploye(d is of the latest and
most improved 1)itotcitI, while the Press
Frame is one of thes best, if not the very
best, ever built.
511 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Lecour,  et les  heritiers d'Athaoase  de l'hypotheque retenus pour assurer le
Lecour, tous les deaux dcedads des  paiment des billets.  Chaque paiement
propriotos appartenaut aux successions  pour les terre et les esclaves sera divise
des dits ddcedds, en communauto et en en deux portions, pour  chacune de    propriotes separoes, il sera offert en venite  quelles les acheteurs donnerolt leurs
publique, a la derniere d emeure de la billets comme susdits.
dite defunte, dans la Paroisse de Natchi-               J. M. COMPERE,
toches, pros de Clouterville, Jeudi le   19 Nov., 1853.            Encanteur.
22 de Decembre, 1853, les propri6tes
ci-apres-d6crites appartenant aux suc   cessions des dits ddcedes, savoir: cer-;a]  Vt~ r    2ii
tain meubles consistant de meubles                                    il
meublans, ustensils, aratoires, botes a    Der  Unterzeichnete  benachrichtigt
cornes, chevaux, cochons, mais, etaussi  das Publikum von San Antonio und
une terre situe dans la Paroisse des  Umgegend, dasser.jetztvorbereitet ist,
Natchitoches, sur la rive gauche do la  allen Anforderungen  vorsprechender
Rivi6re, contenant environ deux cents  Gaste in Speisen und  Getra'nken best   cinquante arpents de superficie, otant moglichst zu entsprechen, und wiinscht
la meme ou residait la defunte, bornee  ferner die Aufmerksamkeit aller Freun   en haut par la terre d'Alphonse Sam-  de von Lustbarkeiten daraufzu lenken,
pit6, et par en bas par un autre mor-  dass jeden Sonntag
ceau de terre appartenant a la dite Ma-    HARMONLE- und TANZMUSIK und
rie Rose, avec toutes les bastisse et             SCHEIBENSCHIESSEN
ameliorations qui s'y trouvent.          aufseinem Platze am San Pedro-Spring
Un autre morceau de terre, achetee  stattfindeu.
par la decede Marie Rose de C. F. Be-                 WILLIAM  MULLER.
noist, contenant environ quatre-vingt    e    Der Unterzeichnete wird ferner
arpents de superficie, bornoe en halit  fur geeignete Ambulances Sorge tragen,
par la prec6dente, et en bas par la terre umn das besuchende Publikum dorthin
de Pierre Lacour, avec toutes les ba-  und zurick zu fahren, die Person zu
tisses et ameliorations dessus.          25 Cts.
Aussi, dix-sept esclaves, grands et                  EDUARD  BRADEN.
petits, plus particulierement decrits
dans i'in-ventaire pris par devant Chas.
Sers, Notaire Publique.  Les vices et         ii1                              
maladies de ces esclaves seront annon-          J                   t tf   n!
ces le jour de la vente, et ils seront             i   DV
vendos comme sujets aux maladies, et              MiSS.. DAVS
vices aunoneos.                          ein  Z,gliLg des J. O. O. F. Collegiate       Conditions de la Ve7zte:          Instituts in Rogersville, Tenn., und zu   Pour toutes sommes jnsqu'a vingt  letzt eiloe Lehrerin in demselben, hat
piastres comptant, pour toute sommes  soeben in der Presbyterian-Kircho in
au-dessus ce molltant, payable le pre- San Antonio eine Schule eroffnet, und
mier de Mai, 1854.  Pour les terres et  hofft durch ihre Schule Jedermaon zu les esclaves, le tiers payable le premier  frieden zu stellen.
de Mai, 1854, un tiers le premier de Mai,      L e h r- B e d i n g u n g e n:
1855, et uni tiers le premier do Mai,    FiirdieVorbereitungs-Classen
1856.  Les achetours au credit sus-dit             pr. Monat -   -    $3 00
donnerout leur billets cautionne6s a sat-    "         "hheren Classen  -  $4 00
isfaction et in solido, a l'ordre de l'offi-     Keine  weitcren  Forderungen
cier qui fera la vente ou porteur, avec  werden gemacht.
les inter6ts a raison de huit pour cent.
par an, de l'6che'ance jusqu'au pailement, et cautionnes par le privilege du    brrsirittte 2tierbittingen
vendeur, et hypotheque speciale retenus sur les objects vendus, pour les- wegen Lieferung von Einhundert und
quelles les billets sont donnas, et les fii fzig Cords guten gesunden, preisterres et les esclaves seront vendues su- wiurdigenM AUSKIT-HoLzES, jedes Cord
jettes a la clause de nonl alienation au   von 128 Fuss  Kubik-Inhalt, werden
prejudice du priv';6gc du vendeor et I entgegengoeommen bei der unterzeichi
512 
APPENDIX.
neten Office bis zum 20. d. M., Nachmittags 4 Uhr.  Das Holz soil 4 Fuss
lang geschnitten sein, in dem AlamoHofe  gehorig  aufgeschichtet,  und
saimmtlich zwischen dem 27. November
1854 und dem 31. Januar 1855 abgeliefert werden, und jedes Gebot muss
von wenigstens zwei guten Biirgen unterstiitzt sein.
Assist. Qu. Hrs. Office, San Antonio,
9. Novbr. 1854.
JAS. BELGER, Ass. Q. M.
Frank V. D. Stucken,
DEALER IN
DRY GOODS AND GROCERIES, &d.,
Fredericksburg, Texas,
empfiehlt seinen Freunden und dem
Publikum uiiberhaupt sein gut assortirtes Lager von DRY GOODS AND GROCERIES, &c., und versichert bei guter
und schleller Bedienung die billigsten
Preise.
American readers,  not only on account
o f its truthfulness, but also of th e kind
and broth erly feel ngs with  which he
treats      so delica te  a subject.
WVe believe it is not a premature inference to assume, that many influential and intelligent men, even among
he see  te Sthe slaveholders of the Southern States,
are  be ginning to balan ce th ese two  antagonistic economies, with clearer perceptions        of  their c omparative worth
and  work      ing.    W e    canno t believe it
possi ble that this  is not the case.  The
mighty en ergies  o f Fre e Labor,    its inventive cap aci ty and  inexhaustible
genius, have so filled ever y vista, and
lined every road and lane which they
have seen and traveled in their journeyings in  the Nor th ern States, that
the.y must have instituted t hese comparisons    bet ween  syste ms so  diametri -
cally opposi te  in their results.
The correctness of the inferences
drawn  by Mr. Burritt fro m ex nteriments
i n  English free lab or migh t be denied
because the aSout h of the Union is not
Englad   nd, and wha t i n the on e  country
is practicablea,  may, in th e o ther,  b e impossible.  Theef re fore, we joi n th e followin g  instan ces of prices of labor   here.
Now, a German or Irish farm-labore     r
cchslc be   hired, in Texas,    at   fr om $8 to
$18 per month, while a negr-o farm-labore r  cannot be h ired at less than  from
$20 to $202 pe r month   [in both  cases
boarding a nd   lodging        inclu ded].  A
Geramtn  or Irish maid-servant can be
hired at from $8 to $12 per month,
while a negro girl of inferior capacity
to fill  the s   ame place, cannot be got
under $15 to $20 per month. Is the
free labor so rlluch less worth than the
s   lave labor? By no means; everybodyt
admits the contrary. WVhy, thel, is it
that worse work, it done by a slave, is
better paid than good work done by
free labor?  There  can scarcely be
another cause of this strange state of
affairs, than that planters cannot have
at hand a ready and abundant supply
of white hands on whom they can rely
at times when a large force is needed
on their crop, while the slave is always
at hand, and can be made available at
all kinds of work.
If this is the state of things now, and
if free labor is really cheaper than that
of the slave. and only unavailable froin
its uncertain supply-ther-e is a reneedy
.Viei talbt Ictr sots
(gutes Gartenland) mit Steinhaus und
grosser Kuh- und Kalber-Pen, in der
Nahe des San Pedro, sind zu verkaufen.
Naiheres in der Office der San Antonio
Zeitung.
Free Labor and Slave Labor.
We clip an article bearing- the above
head from Elihu Burritt's " Citizen of
the World," and recommend it to ou        r
22*
513
COTTON-GIN.
Da wir in Castro'ville eine Miihle und
Cotton-Gin zu errichten beabsichtigen,
wozu bereits alle Anstaltei getroffen
sind, so dasF3 die Maschinen im Herb8te
dieses Jahres in Thlitigkeit treten k6nnen; so machen wir die Herren Farmer
You Castroville und Medina County
hierauf mit dem besonderen Bemerken
aufi-nerksam, dass wir BaumwollenSaat, den Bushel zu 35 Cents-unserem
Eilikaufs-Preis-vorriithig halten, und
an alle diejenigen ablassen wollen, welche sich auf Erzeugung von Baumwolle
dieses Jahr le en wollen.
Castroville und San Antonio, 20. Feb.
G. L. HAASS.
LAURENT QUINTLE. 
A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
Encourage white immigration so as to
get an ever fresh and abundant supply
(of white hands.  They can be had at
leasl 25 per cent. cheaper than slave
hniids, and their work will be much
better.
Eleceiones Municipales
de SAN ANTONIO.
La Democracia ha obtenido un nuevo
triunfo; su boleta entera ha salido de
la urna electoral, dando una otra evidencia de que principios prevalecen
entre nosotros sobre consideraciones y
amistades personales.  Los Know-Nothings, convencidos de su impotencia,
no han aun tratado presentar candidatos de su partido, contentos con fomentar en el Partido Democrata una
division de la cual se lizongeaban aprovecharse en la proxima eleccion de
Agosto.
Las elecciones pasaron muy quietamente.  Solo sentimos ver dos 6 tres
nloches antes una procesion de unos 30
pelados con violin y guitarro, gritando
por el candidato batide.  La opinion
ublica deberia hacer justicia de esas
acanales electorales, en que ningun
ciudadano honrado condescenderia en
figurar.
(Comtnieado.)
Pleito concluido.
Adelante Independientes!
Tam, taram, arma f diestra!
Apuntan; fuego; turrum...
Muchachos, la lancha es nuestra.
Asi aniunciaba el Funeral
Un pobre Maestro de Escuela,
Que avirtiria este anio entrante,
Muchachos, la lancha es nuestra.
Lo sabras, decia, Judio,
Hebreo, veras la muestra,
Requiescant in pace, Amen!
Muchachos, la lancha es nuestra.
Monopolistas de Beiar,
Vereis que es cosa mdigesta,
Meterse en esas honduras,
Muchachos, la lancha es nuestra.
i Oh! tanq7tam leones rugientes,
Latinorum es ma fiesta.
3[acti animi. camaradas,
Mluchachos, la lancha es nuestra.
Si: como " leones rugientes"
Tenemos boca abierta;
Pero asi vos quedareis,
Muchachos, la lancha es nuestra.
Que ya del Santo Miguel
Los Hu?rr-as formaln la Orquestra,
Con narc6ticos acentos,
MIichachos, la lancha es nuestra.
Que, el que a buen palo se arrima
Goza somnbra y duerme siesta:
Pero si se queda en llano...
Muclhachos, la lancha es nuestra.
Pues cuando el Juicioso calla,
Y el insensato hace gresca,
Son vehementes las seniales;
Muchachos, la lancha es nuestra.
.Requiescant in pace, dices?
Ved que leccion tan funesta
Para todo enitremetido,
Mluchachos, la laiicha es nuestra.
San Elizario, Diciembre 10, 1855.
Editores del Bejareno.
Seniores.  Un pobre viejo vecino d            e
esta, que pasa largo de los 60 afnos,      s    in
recurros ningunos y expuesto a la mendicidad, pas6 ha algunos dias a Mejico,
donde tiene toda su parentela, alli le
obsequiaron con  algunas  cositas d          e
carifno con que volvi6 a esta banda el
dia 8 del presente, con el contrabando
de un piloncillo, una libra de azucar,
tres libras de carne aces, dos alminudes
de orejon, un par de suelas, un pedazo
de cordovan, seis tablillas de chocolate
y tin sombrero de palma gruesa.  Al
pasar este infeliz por la Isleta (Tejas)
nno de los Oficiales de la aduana de los
E. U. le decomis6 los referidos initereses:
cosa muy extravagante a mi palecer,
Sefiores Editores, y que da lugar al refran que dice que "unos son los de la
1asma, y otros son los que car?gan? la
7ana."   En Mejico, puede cualquier
individuo pasar las provisiones necesarias do boca, sin pagar nada, y menos
se le quita nad; de eso.
514
Creyendo que tal aconteciinieiito es
digno de ser puesto en conocimiento
del publico, se les comunic6 para quo
le den un lugarcito en los columnas de
vuestro apreciable periodico.
Su affmo. amigo,      VERDAD. 
APPENDIX.
i Democratas extraviados!
Que habeis desertado en este.
i alaved  a   vuestras banderas!
Muchachos, la lancha es nuestra.
Nuevos Eftetos!
E. Jones y Ca.
PLAZA PRINCIPAL,
Han recibido y tienen continuamente
un surtido general y completo de mercancias de todas clases.  Su surtido de
EFECTOS  SECOS,  tanto corrientcs
como de lujo, es muy completo.  Lo de
QIJINCALLERIA es perfecto,  y no
puede ser igualado.
le Lo de L OZERIA, comprende  unt
variedad inmensa desde el plato comun
hasti la loza de China mas fina.
Tienen tambien Sombreros, Cachuchas, Botas y Zapatos.
Efectos de palo, de fierro en solido y
vaciado.  Especerias de  todas clases,
Vinos, Aguardientes y otros licores.
Se  llama la atencion de los compradores al surtido de VESTIDOS hechos
que  los susodichos quieren acabar y
venderan a precios muy bajos.
POR MAYOR Y MENOR.
Commerciantes foraneos harian bien
venir a verlos antes de tratar en otras
tiendas.
Mas el Pleito ya concluido,
1in damonos a                 la ley,
Y al enemigo vencido,
G~enerosidad con l1.
UN VIEJO.
E1 dia 6 de Enero, se celebrart la cerelonia religiosa del asicnto de la priiimera piedra de la nuieva Iglesia Catolica que quedara bajo la inivocacio
de N. Seiora del Alamo.
La  banda de los Rifleros, bajo la
habil direccion de nuestro amigo Don
Rafael Quintana, nos hace oir casi cada
noche su suave armonio, cambiando
nuestra pobre Plaza Militar, habitualmellte tan desierta, en un verdadero
Elisco.
Un periodico Abolicionista propone a
las Senfioras del Norte que no usennada
de los productos de los Estados que
tienen Esclavos.
Juez de Paz.
JOHN MALLOY, Juez de Paz en la
ciudad de San Antonio, Oficina la plaza
de Armas, cercado la Casa de Corte,
atendera con prontitud a todo negocio
oficial en la orbito de su empleo publico y se cncargara& de recaudar deudas,
&c.
L,a causa del pugilista Baker, que
fue uno de los que mataron a Bill Poole,
el afio pasado en Nueva York, causando
tantasensacion, se ha concluido, eljuri
no pudicndo convenir en el fallo.
La causa servira mucho para la
olicia de esa ciudad, pues el testimonio
a sacado a& luz los misterios de los
cabaretes y casas de alojamiento de la
clase de los bravos de Nueva York.
ORWI'TT & W'ULFF,
COMERCIANTES en  Abarrotes, Mercancias Secas, ropa hecha, quinicalleria, Licores y Viuos, tinenn un surtido
completo y superior de lo que conciern e
su linea y le ofrecen a precio bajo y al
contado.
ESCAPE MIILAGROSO.-Sabemos
que un nifio del Sr.W D. Skillman cayo,
algunos dias hace, del segundo piso de'
la Fonda Read, sin reoibir mas que con-Itusiones ligeras.
Daguerreotipo.
El Seaor MNcCARTHY tiene el honor
de anunciar al publico que sigue toiranido retratros dagucrreotipos.  Confia en que los retratos que hace altienen
rivales en la Union y siempre tien          e en
varios para satisfacer a los incredulos.
Oficina en la calle de Comercio.
CARRERAS!
Se correran carreras en la arena do
San Antonio el Viernes, dia 16 de Febrero de 1856-puesta 250 pesos. Distailcia, una milla-Entrada, el 20 por cien.
to de la puesta, cuyo irporte se reunira
a la puesta. Dos caballos a lo menios
correr/tn. Retractacion 50 pesos.
Los que querran presentar caballos
lo deberl'n hacer 6 lo mellos uiia semana
515 
516   A JOURNEY THROUGH TEXAS.
ante la carrera.-No se aceptaran sino
caballos criados en Texas. Pesos segun
las regulaciones de la arena de Nueva
Orleans, con reduccion de 20 libras.
La inferioridad del tamanio y fondo de
los caballos deTexas hacen precisa esta
reduccion.
Potros de dos y tres anfos, 66 librasde cuatro anos, 80 libras-caballos de
cinco antos 90 libras-de seis anos, 98
libras-de siete anos y por arriba, 104
libras-Reduccion de tres libras para
yeguas y caballos capones.
MARCELLUS FRENCH,  Tesoreros.
A. J. M. McCARTHY    T,
Don Felipc Garza,
"  Jos6 Maria Gonzales,
Cashniro Garcia,
r" ancisco  L. Morales,
" A    ngel T orres,
" Alberto Locur,
" Francisco Carrenio,
" Vicente Soza,
" Jesus Mesa,
Doias Ma. de   Jesus Troh inio,
Mademoiselle Carolin e Gruonenwals
Mr. A. Bosigues,
" Emile Raux,
" Odet -2
" Norville Moreau,
" Jean Raimond Lozes, 2,
Jean Baptiste Spettel,
" Adolphe Pingon,
" Louis Keller,
" Laroque Turgeau,
Reginald de Leon,
" Benoit Muller,
" Lecomte de Watine.
Sirvanse las personas que pidan estas
cartas, decir que han sido anunciadas.
E1 Administrador, J. BROwN.
CARTAS
En Espanol y Frances que quedan e            n
lZa ocina de Correos de San Antonio,
el dia1deEnerode1856.
Don Jos6 B. Da Camara, 3
" Antonio Peres,
" Eusebio Garcia,