USA > Texas > Harris County > Houston > Texas and the Gulf of Mexico ; or, Yachting in the New World, volume 2 > Part 7
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My berth opened out of the state cabin, and as the only partition was a Venetian door, I could not avoid hearing all the con- versation that was carried on by my neigh-
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bours. Cards and drinking constituted no inconsiderable part of the pleasures of the evening, but with all the excitement of talk, tobacco chewing, and brandy, I never heard people more orderly and reasonable. Their talk as usual was of dollars : politics, in- deed, occasionally took their turn, but the subject ceased to become interesting, when the pockets of the company could no longer be affected by the turn of affairs. There was no private scandal, no wit, no literature, no small talk ; all was hard, dry, calculating business. I heard many shrewd hard-headed remarks ; the fate of their country was talked over as a matter of business, and one rather important looking gentleman made a stump speech on the expediency of Texas becom- ing a colony of Great Britain ! I do not know the orator's name, but General or Colonel he must have been. Military titles
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are taken and given here with as little cere- mony as the title of Count on the Continent : Mr. Houstoun sprang into a General at once.
There was a Baptist preacher on board, a thin, weary looking man, with a cast in his eye, which was very comical. He had fought for his country, and though now a man of peace, delighted in displaying his knowledge of military matters. He was going to Hous- ton to establish a school for young gentle- men, while his wife was to superintend the education of their sisters. This he said he was induced to do, that his boys might not mix with their inferiors; he could not bear, he added, that his sons should be ac- quainted with vulgar boys, which they were obliged to do at Galveston, but he did'nt like it, and now at his school, he could choose the boys ! Exclusiveness here !
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Where shall we look for a country where the real charitable feelings of equality ex- ist ? I may remark that my maid was obliged to wait till all these people had done their meals, because, I was told they did not like her to eat at the same table. - Strange in- consistency ! but one that sufficiently shews the futility of any attempt to introduce a perfect system of equality in any country. It exists in America but in name.
I shall not easily forget the night I passed on the Buffalo River; there was card play- ing going on in both cabins, and occasionally I heard a card put down with a smart slap, and then " I guess now, that's the way to do business," and from another " now sir I've made an operation I expect." In the ladies cabin, where a few favoured indivi- duals of the other sex had the good fortune to be admitted, it was " ah Miss Delia, I see
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the giraffe a'head, I do." And then a young gentleman played " Auld lang syne" with variations on the violin, followed by " The Boatie rows," sung with tremendous ap- plause by a young Scotchman with a fine bass voice, which would have been too much for Westminster Abbey.
At seven o'clock in the morning we ar- rived at the pretty town of Houston; it is built on high land, and the banks, which are covered with evergreens, rise abruptly from the river. There are plenty of inns at Houston, such as they are, and we took up our quarters at the " Houston House," a large shambling wooden building, kept by a Captain or Colonel Baldwin, one of the most civil, obliging people I ever saw. We had a sitting room which was weather proof, though to keep out the intense cold was impossible. It was said that our landlord
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was anxious to add to the comforts of his house, but he had a great many bad debts ; it was, he told us, a losing concern alto- gether ; more went out than came in, and only that morning, having asked a gentle- man to pay his bill, the reply was, " If you come to insult me again sir, by -- I'll shoot you sir." We went down to break- fast in the public room ; the food consisted of tough beef-steaks, each as large as a good sized dish, eggs hardly warmed through, and emptied over the meat, and squirrels ; each guest did not remain more than five minutes, and on his retiring, his place was immediately filled by another hungry tra- veller. I looked on in silent wonder at their extraordinary powers of mastication ; one old man in particular, in a green baize coat, outdid all the rest. I could not have believed any human being could have con-
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trived to stow away such a cargo of " dry goods " in so short a time.
The weather had by this time changed, and a cold sleety rain was falling. It was not promising weather for sport, but Mr. Houstoun was determined to try his luck, and the whole société of the place kindly offered to accompany him on his expedition. Off they all set, on raw boned high trotting horses, guns on their shoulders, and exhibit- ing every variety of strange costume. As to any sport they had, they might as well have remained at home ; the only event of the day being the breaking of our doctor's bridle, upon which his horse ran away, and he was thrown, happily, however, without receiving any injury. Houston, proud as the Texans are of it as a city, does not bear a close inspection ; there is but one brick house in it, and I could not quite make out
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what its inhabitants meant when they talked of it as a great city : - " the poetry of the coontry sir, is Houston ;" a very incompre- hensible panegyric certainly.
Our dinner we had in private. The hotel was, as the landlord said, " in a fix," but our fare was not bad of its kind, there being " pork dodgers" and " dough doings," (corn bread) chicken fixings, and sausages. Ros- setta, a negress with rings on every finger, waited upon us, and a hideous creature she was : Jerry, too, the black porter, and a great thief, assisted. The tea was made in a huge kettle. We retired to rest fatigued enough. A piercing norther was blowing and whirling wildly round the fragile house, and forcing its way through the cracks and crannies, and putting out both fire and candle ; the cold also was more intense than anything I ever before experienced.
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The whole town was in a state of excite- ment, for the Mexicans, who had recently entered Bexar, and had marched off all its inhabitants as prisoners, were hourly expected. During the night there was a cry that they were at hand, but it proved only a false alarm. We were disturbed too in the course of the night by the importunities of an unfortunate man, who could not find a bed, and who kept knock- ing at all our doors, saying he was very cold and must come in. He was what the landlord called a " rowdy loafer ;" not a pleasant companion, as it is by these people, and by these alone (who are not Texans be it said) that gouging and bowie knifing are practised. Our ceiling was of canvass, and in the night we were obliged to " fix " an umbrella over the bed, while I watched the feet of a restless cat as she wandered over our
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heads ; her paws finding their way through the holes, which time had worn in our sail cloth covering.
The prairie, as I have said, was in a very bad state for travelling. Roads, it is well known, there were none, and " plumbing the track," namely, tracing the path of former travellers, is at all times difficult ; however, we were resolved to see some- thing of the country, and therefore hired a waggon for the purpose, drawn by two stout horses, and set off, in spite of wind and weather.
On leaving Houston, we ascended a hill so steep, as to seem almost impossible for a carriage, however light, to be drawn up it. Stumps of trees were left in the middle of the path, which lies through a thick forest. The trees are mostly evergreens, magnolia, bay, laurel, and cypress, and the forest
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itself has the appearance of an ornamental shrubbery on a gigantic scale. Notwith- standing the severe cold, the ground was beginning to be enamelled with flowers. There were violets, and a small flower like a jessamine, but growing close to the ground : there were both blue and white. I saw, also, various salvias, and many other plants and flowers, of which, not being a botanist, I can give no account. It was quite gladdening, after having been debarred so long a time from the sight of trees, to find oneself journeying through such woods as these. I began to think that the name of " Happy hunting-grounds" was not mis- applied. Texas signifies, in the Indian tongue, these endearing and happy sound- ing words ; and I believe that those parts of the republic, where the Indians still abide, are the most worthy of the appellation.
CHAPTER XI.
SCENERY OF THE PRAIRIE. FREE AND EASY MAN- NERS OF THE INNKEEPER'S SON. INDIANS OF THE LIPAN TRIBE. LETTER OF CONDOLENCE TO THE LI- PANS ON THE DEATH OF THEIR CHIEF.
In distant wilds, by human eye unseen She rears her flowers, and spreads her velvet green, Pure gurgling rills, the lovely desert trace, And waste their music on the savage race.
YOUNG.
Here to the houseless child of want The door is open still,
GOLDSMITH. THE birds here are many and various. Cardinals, blackbirds, with bright red wings, mocking-birds, and woodpeckers of every hue, are the most common. As you advance into the interior, the woods be- come less thick, and the country is more VOL. II. K
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open. It is, in fact, a prairie, slightly roll- ing, and diversified with frequent clumps of trees, so tastefully arranged by the hand of nature, that you could imagine yourself in a finely kept English park, where landscape gardeners and studiers of the picturesque had expended their utmost skill in beauti- fying the scenery. Where the clumps of trees are at a considerable distance from each other, I was strongly reminded of some parts of Windsor Forest. We saw great quantities of cattle grazing, and some sheep; these latter, I was told, are consi- dered very profitable stock; they sell at from three to four dollars each, and the following manner of preventing them from straying struck me as ingenious. In the month of March, the long prairie grass is set on fire. Where sheep are to graze, the fire is confined to small patches, and as
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they do not roam into the high grass, they keep eating down that which has been burnt, till the owner thinks it expedient to prepare another spot for them in a similar manner.
At our inn, one night, the master's son, after setting our dinner on the table, coolly advanced his chair to the fire, observing it was cold, and added, " Well, Gen'ral now, where did you go to ; tell us now ; I guess you found it cold. You haven't fixed any game, any how." How surprised we should be in England at such familiarity as this ; but here, you see at once the absurdity of either showing or feeling annoyance, as it is evident they are so very far from intending incivility ; they are, moreover, so genuinely kind, that I, for one, felt in- clined to take every thing as it was meant - in good part. An Englishman certainly
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feels, when he pays for his room at an inn, that even the landlord has no right to enter it; but he must divest himself of these peculiarities here. In other respects, the resting-places for the night are as com- fortable as goodwill and hospitality can make them. It is often difficult to per- suade the worthy host to accept any remu- neration ; and we were told by an English- man, who had been in every part of the coun- try, that he had often known, when a tra- veller was not possessed of much ready cash, a good song, or a budget of news, in- vented or remembered, would be taken in payment for a night's lodging and an ample meal. Read this, rich men, who live in re- fined and populous cities ; eat the dinner which has cost you as much as would have nourished a score of hungry wanderers ; but when you have done, reflect on the
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humble lodging in the desert, where, out of little at least something is given.
About this time, I made acquaintance with an Indian of the Lipan tribe, who came with a rabbit to sell to me. Some of his tribe were in a camp at no great distance. I was alone when he entered, and he eyed me evidently with fear and suspicion. Poor people, they have no reason either to like or respect the whites; and I did not won- der at his suspicion, though I did at his alarm. He was about eighteen years old, very gypsy-looking, with an eye singularly wild and piercing. He was dressed like a hunter, with a leather pouch, cow's horn for powder, a knife, and a whistle. His clothing was scanty enough. It was a long time before he would approach me, and seemed to have a great dislike to allowing me to touch his accoutrements. He had
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his rabbit in his arms, and contrived to make me understand, by putting up his fingers, that he wanted two bits, about ten- pence, for it. Having paid him the money, I poured out a glass of sherry, which I of- fered him, but he refused it with a look of disgust, and again retreated to his corner. Knowing the fondness of an Indian for spi- rits, I concluded he was afraid it was poi- soned. I was right in my supposition, for immediately afterwards, on seeing me put my lips to the glass, he rushed to me, seized it from my hand, and drank it off. He was a good specimen of his kind, and I was very glad to have had this interview with him.
The tribe of Indians, to which my ac- quaintance belonged, is not one of any im- portance, and their numbers have been much weakened by their wars with the Co-
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manchees, of whom they are the hereditary enemies. It is much to be hoped that these wars with the Indians will be soon put a stop to in Texas. The " happy hunt- ing grounds," indeed, can never be what they once were, to these poor people ; yet peace, and freedom from oppression, they have a right to hope for, and General Houston, who interests himself much in their civilization and well being, has on every occasion proved himself their friend and protector. A meeting of the tribes was to be held shortly, at the Wacco village, on the Brazos, situated about two hundred miles above Washington, for the purpose of making treaties of alliance both be- tween the whites and among themselves. The President is to meet them there, and much was expected, both from his inti- mate knowledge of Indian habits and cha-
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racter, and from the respect in which he is held by the tribes. Some of his addresses to them are curious enough. I shall tran- scribe one of the latest, being a letter of condolence to the Lipans, on the death of their chief.
To the Chief of the Lipans.
Executive Department, Washington, March 26, 1843.
MY BROTHER,
My heart is sad ! - A dark cloud rests upon your nation. Grief has sounded in your camp. The voice of Flaco is silent. His words are not heard in council. The chief is no more ; his eyes are closed. His heart no longer leaps at the sight of the buffalo! The voices of your camp are no longer heard to cry, Flaco has returned from the chase! Your chiefs look down on the earth, and groan in trouble. The
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warriors weep - the loud voice of grief is heard from your women and children. The song of birds is silent. The ear of your people hears no pleasant sound. Sorrow whispers in the winds. The noise of the tempest passes : it is not heard : your hearts are heavy.
The name of Flaco brought joy to all hearts. Joy was on every face! Your people were happy. Flaco is no longer seen in the fight: his voice is no longer heard in battle. The enemy no longer makes a path for his glory. His valour is no longer a guard for your people. The right arm of your nation is broken. Flaco was a friend to his white brothers : they will not forget him. They will remember the red warrior : his father will not be for- gotten. We will be kind to the Lipans. Grass shall not grow in the path between
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us. Let your wise men give the counsel of peace. Let your young men walk in the white path. The gray-headed men of your nation will teach wisdom. I will hold my red brothers by the hand.
Thy brother,
SAM. HOUSTON.
The landlord of the inn came in soon after the departure of the Indian, and " fixed the rabbit" for me, as he called it. This was merely putting it into a box, with holes in it. I kept the poor little animal some time, in memory of my wild acquaint- ance, but soon after we returned to the Dolphin he escaped, and I heard no more of him. We had some excellent wild tur- kies up the country ; which were much better than the tame. On the whole, we enjoyed our inland visit, which we ex-
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tended in various directions about Houston. In regard to the sport, or rather in the ab- sence of it, the gentlemen of the party were disappointed ; and we began to think that the quantity of game up the country, and the ease with which it was said to be procured, were rather overrated. The want of success, however, might, perhaps, be fairly attributed to the badness of the wea- ther.
CHAPTER XII.
DANGERS OF TRAVELLING IN THE PRAIRIE. LAST EVEN- ING AT HOUSTON. SEVERE FROST. RETURN FROM HOUSTON TO GALVESTON. THE OPOSSUM. POLITICAL CONFERENCES AND DISCUSSION ON THE SLAVE TRADE. SLAVE-OWNERS SUFFERERS BY ITS CONTINUANCE.
In a strange land Such things, however trivial, reach the heart, And thro' the heart the head, clearing away The narrow notions that grow up at home, And in their place grafting good-will to all ; At least I found it so.
ROGERS.
THE city of Houston was our head quarters during our stay up the country, and greatly did we regret that the state of the prairie, owing to the constant and heavy rains, prevented our travelling as far as Washing- ton, which city we had intended to have visited. The scarcity and indifference of the
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accommodations would not have deterred us from such an undertaking, but, in a country where roads do not exist, it is diffi- cult not to lose one's way. The danger is considerably increased when the trail of previous travellers is obliterated by the rains, for, plumbing the track, the Texan term for tracing a road, is, at all times, a slow and tedious operation. Between Houston and Washington there is a certain space of two miles, which, when we were in the country, was not traversed in less time than four hours, so deep was the mire.
The Brazos and Trinity bottoms are over- flowed for weeks together in the winter season, and, in the absence of causeways and bridges, are extremely difficult and even dangerous to pass. In process of time, there is no doubt that the banks will be- come raised, in a similar manner to those of
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the Mississippi, and the overflowings of the rivers will be checked. At present, the as- pect of the Prairie, during the winter sea- son, and the scenes which are occasionally acted there, are more amusing to a looker on, than agreeable to the parties concerned. Travellers are seen knee-deep in mud, and looking as though hopeless of rescue, and dying and dead cattle are interspersed among bales of cotton, which are in process of " hauling ;" altogether it requires a great spirit of enterprise to dare the dangers of the route. We may fairly suppose, that one of the first public works which the Texans will undertake, will be to establish a canal or railroad, between the Brazos river and Gal- veston Bay, in order to facilitate the transit of the cotton, which is now hauled across the country, from the Brazos to Houston.
Our inn at Houston, though comfor-
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table as Colonel Baldwin's extreme atten- tion could make it, was cold and cheerless enough, and we were not sorry, when the last evening arrived which we were to spend under its roof. We had our usual dinner of pork dodgers and a turkey fixed with sausages, varied with some dough doings, in the shape of puddings, the like of which I never saw before. Our surprise at their shape and consistency caused great delight to Rossetta, the negress in waiting, whose mouth distended to twice its usual dimensions with the violence of her merriment. Her laughter was contagious, and our last evening at the "Houston House " passed off in high glee.
We regretted very much that we were obliged to leave the country without being introduced to the President, but, we hope, on a future occasion, to thank him in per-
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son for the gratifying messages we received from him.
We were to leave Houston at eight o' clock in the morning ; an arrangement which gave me much satisfaction, as I should thus have an opportunity of seeing a considerable part of the country, which we had previously passed in the dark. The frost was very severe, and the inhabitants asserted that the weather was unusually cold for the season of the year. They have an adage which tells them, that no frost is ever known after the blossoming of the dog- wood. This season, however, was certainly an exception, for this pretty shrub was in full blossom, and yet the thermometer was four degrees below freezing point. The bayon is very narrow at Houston and ex- tremely winding ; some of the turns being so sharp that the steamer had great diffi-
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culty in getting round, and frequently touched the bank, both ahead and astern. Slow, however, as was our progress, I would have made it slower still,
" The muse of inspiration played
O'er every scene ; she walked the forest maze, And climbed the mountain ; every blooming spot Burned with her step, yet man regards it not."
There was a bright sun shining above us, and, notwithstanding the brisk cold air, I persisted in remaining on the hurricane deck. I was at last, however, warned of the danger of my position, by receiving a pretty smart blow from the branch of one of the trees which nearly met over the stream. There were beautiful shrubs growing close to the water's edge, and down the steep ac- clivities had trickled rills of water, though now frozen into icicles. The land was high, and interspersed with hill and valley on either bank; the nearer, however, we ap-
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proached to the sea, the flatter and less pleasing the country appears ; gradually be- coming marshy, and having an unhealthy appearance.
There are quite as many passengers on board as when we ascended the river, and I certainly had reason to dread the night and the noisy talk which followed. The voices of Americans are in general disa- greeable and pitched in a high tone : this is unpleasant enough in a man, but when such a voice proceeds from the mouth of a young and pretty woman, one really feels inclined to stop one's ears, and refuse to hear the voice of the charmer. As to the habitual nasal twang (which before I visited the country, I thought a fable, or at least an exaggeration of our fault-finding country- men), it certainly exists in great perfection, and I have been at some pains to discover
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the cause. The fact is, their mouths are so full of their favourite weed, that they can- not open them to speak without disagreeable consequences, and they are therefore obliged to employ their noses to perform the duty. But enough and too much has been said on this disagreeable subject, and I only men- tion it à propos of my sleepless nights, on my narrow shelf in the steamer. Breakfast on board; beef, and raw eggs after it, and the infallible egg noggy was drank both by ladies and gentlemen. Brandy is given à discretion and gratis ; nobody, however, ap- peared to commit any excess, or seemed the least the worse for it.
There was a very pretty American on board, who had been a bride only a fort- night; she was not nineteen years of age, and yet these were her second nuptials. Life is soon begun in this country, especially
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among the female portion of its inhabitants, and while yet a child in years, the young American starts into a " dreadful ansum girl " at once, and the consequence of this premature start is an early decay of youth and beauty.
I was tempted, after breakfast, into the la- dies' cabin, where I remained, because I was pleased and amused by what was going on. The wife of the captain, who had more of the milk of human kindness in her compo- sition, than would have softened a dozen hearts in our conventional world, took great pains to teach me the art of knitting, in which she was wonderfully skilled, and I, in return, answered her numerous questions about England. " Well I guess you've better thread than this in the old country." " Do tell now, isn't this pretty sugar ?" and then I told another lady (in return to some
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similar information) how many children I had left at home, and then she wondered how I could keep away from them, and re- peated the bon mots and accomplishments of her own nursery brood, till I began rather to repent of my temerity in venturing among such a loquacious society. "I tell you now ma'am, my little boy always hides when he's told to go to school, and I expect it's hard work to find him ; he's a smart boy is Washington Mirabeau, and that's a fact." At dinner we had pig and parsnips, and the meal was, as usual, dispatched in an incre- dibly short space of time. We were all much disappointed at an announcement, which was soon after made to us, that, owing to the severe norther, which had been blowing for the last two days, the water was too low on one of the banks in the river, to enable us to reach Galves-
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