USA > Texas > The history of the republic of Texas, from the discovery of the country to the present time; and the cause of her separation from the republic of Mexico > Part 23
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Various other writers, are next quoted, amongst the rest Humboldt, Clay, Marryatt, Ward; and Pike, none of whom have ever been in Texas, and yet General Pike states, that " Texas has one of the most delightful temperatures in the world."
With such idle assertions we find every page that has yet been written on Texas replete. Finally, I am sorry that Mr. Kennedy should have lent his pages to so many of the fabulous authors of the west; not forgetting Mr. Bonnell's description of a petrified forest, consisting of trees petrified half way from the root, while the upper part is in a perfect state of vegetation, throwing out its branches in all directions! To complete the history of the natural curiosities of Texas, Mr. Kennedy men- tions a wonderful tooth ; this tooth I have seen ; its weight is about eighteen pounds, but as travel- lers are allowed to exaggerate, he has set it down at fifty ; and as Mr. Kennedy's doubts are still un- resolved as to the origin of this tooth, I, as a traveller may venture to say, that it dropped from the jaw of the " Jerusalem pony," with which so many men were slain at the battle of San Jacinto, and other glorious fields, recorded in Texan history. and not in remoter times, as it may appear to the
* This is taken from Mr. Egerton's Report. See Kennedy. vol. i. page 76.
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FOSSILS AND DILUVIAL FORMATIONS.
incautious readers of Mr. Kennedy's history of the young republic.
However, the big tooth question is one easily solved. The probability is, that the immense quadrupeds, whose remains are daily being disco- vered in America, are antediluvian, and are in all probability still to be found living both in America, Africa, and Asia, and will some day be discovered, as " the tapir of Sumatra has recently been by the English settlers in that country, together with a gigantic flower, which appears at first sight as if it had dropped from another world." Therefore it is by no means improbable that elephants and masto- dontes will be yet discovered in America, three- fourths of which still remain to be explored.
The tooth I saw in Texas, is evidently a species of the genus discovered in Ohio, which is said to be sixteen and a half inches in circumference, with a humerus twenty-five inches round the condyles : this, with several other fragments of tusks, fossil movales of the rhinoceros, all resemble the diluvial formation discovered on the banks of the Irawaddy, 20° to 21° north latitude, and which are deemed to be the remains of a world before man was called into existence.
But the discovery of these fossils in America, where they can scarcely be deemed extraneous, is by no means so surprising as the discovery of the remains of the mastodon, elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, hyæna, tiger, beaver, and tapir, such as
Y 2
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SUPERFICIAL CONFIGURATION
described by the ancient writers near Florence, these animals being really extraneous in Europe.
The superficial configuration of Texas presents the following irregularities : level, undulating, hilly, and mountainous, each varying in fertility accord- ing to its elevation above the sea, whose waters have gradually been driven back from their original confines, (the hilly range,) by the descent of the alluvial surface soil of the mountains, which has been brought down by the waters produced by the action of the sun on the snow that covers their summits. These alluvial deposits were left for a while to form the surface soil of the hills, but have been again carried onward in their course to the undulating section, by the periodical rains of the tropics, which extend as far as this region, and the constant action of the innumerable rivers that in- tersect this portion, and which have finally deposited their alluvial treasures in such rapid succession as to complete a singular conquest of the deep, leaving a rich and level tract of country between its original and present shores, varying from thirty to eighty miles in breadth, as a splendid specimen of the great power and mighty revolutions of nature. So complete has been the success of the natural agencies employed here, as in almost every other part of the globe, to give to Texas the ordinary physical features of other countries, that little remains in its configuration for the traveller to dilate upon. The mountains exhibit a bare, rocky,
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OF TEXAS.
and broken surface of limestone ; the hills a sur- face strata of sand, and rock-sand of the remotest formation, intermixed with marine deposits, and stiff and unfriable marls, interspersed with tracts of alluvial soil. The undulating, varying but little in its formation from the latter, however, assumes a more fertile aspect, owing to its nearer proximity to the level of the sea. The fertility of this region in- creases as it approaches, and is finally lost in the gross vegetation, which covers the surface of the level and less elevated plains of the alluvial district. Having only given my reader an idea of the physical aspect of Texas, it is necessary now to give a more minute description of the sub and surface strata.
There is no region in the world that possesses more fertile land than Texas, and where nature has raised so many obstacles in the way of its general cultivation, and the development of its fertility.
Such is the physical construction of the prairies of Texas, like those of Louisiana, that they present nothing more than the ordinary aspect of swamps*
" The Americans of the south found the word "swamp" so obnoxious to their brethren of the north, and more especially to Europeans, that they merely, as a matter of expediency, called the " swamps " " prairies," which is certainly an improvement ; and every body must admit that the prairies of Texas are as fine as any in the world ; but what is to be done to remove the water with which they are covered ? that this cannot be done must also be admitted, for they arise from two distinct, great and uncontrollable natural causes.
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GEOLOGY OF TEXAS.
for two-thirds of the year ; and the timber which covers the " rich alluvions " on the river bottoms, is not to be removed without a considerable outlay of capital and labour. The latter will at all times be extremely expensive, and more or less difficult to obtain.
The surface soil throughout the explored por- tions of the country is composed of one-fourth lime, one-fourth sand, and one-half mar), white, black, and red; the quantity of the latter, being equal to both the other component parts, at once decides the colour of the soil, as it presents itself in different sections ; the whitish, or light soil, in the elevated tracts in the north-west, and for a considerable distance along the banks of the Colorado river ; the black throughout the prairies, and the red in the cane-prairies, woodlands, particularly along the banks of the Brazos, and in the elevated plains in the north.
This diversity in the surface soil, forms a strik- ing feature in the aspect of the country, and the whole strata being equally rich and well adapted to the cultivation of tropical staples, may in time render Texas famous for the variety of her product.
The sub-strata of the earth, however, is still more diversified, and may be described as follows : In the elevated sections, white marl, which, when exposed to the atmosphere, becomes as hard as marble ; the wood-lands and cane prairies, sand,
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GEOLOGY OF TEXAS.
and a stiff blueish clay, interlaid at intervals of three or four feet, to the depth of thirty, and finally resting on a substratum of rock sand; the prairies a black, greasy clay, interlaid at intervals of about ten feet with a very stiff blueish marl. The latter are the true characteristics of the substrata of what is called " the alluvial country," which ex- tends along the sea-coast, from the Sabine river to the Rio Grande, and to about eighty miles, on an average, towards the interior, whence the land begins to rise, and at once assumes the character here given to that portion of the country; and finally, the peculiar construction of the still more elevated soil, both sub and surface, present them- selves to view, as also described.
The physical construction of the atmosphere, and other natural causes, render the prairies in the lower parts of Texas, along the sea coast, worse than useless for two-thirds of the year ; and the prospective productiveness of the upper sections of the country, somewhat problematical. The rivers and water courses of Texas are remarkably numer- ous, occurring at almost every ten miles through- out the country ; but relying as they do on the rains of winter, spring, and autumn, and on solar influence in summer, for their waters, they afford but few facilities for navigation, assuming during the first-named seasons the character of impetuous torrents, overflowing their banks, frequently for- saking their old, and taking an entire fresh course
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328
RIVERS OF TEXAS.
during the general inundation; while in summer the largest rivers seldom exceed three feet in depth, and their tributaries become quite dry, so that in the latter season the traveller is obliged to carry a supply of water for himself and horse from river to river: whereas in winter, spring, and autumn, he meets an "unfordable torrent" at every ten miles.
The streams east of the Brazos river rise in the " immense levels in the north," stretching from east to west for two or three hundred miles; but these streams do not assume the ordinary character of rivers of the fourth magnitude, until they reach the southern confines of the levels, whence they are vastly augmented by the natural drainage of these plains, that are elevated considerably above the marshes, through which the eastern rivers of Texas flow.
The surface strata of the earth, in this section of the country, consist chiefly of red clay, as I have already described, and a substratum of rock sand, from which issue the clearest waters. They, how- ever, in the earliest stage of their meanderings through the swamps, lose their native purity, and borrowing from the vast variety of the strata of the marshes much gross and earthy matter, they assume a variety of colours, and towards the latter part of their career become almost pestilential.
The Sabine river, the extreme eastern boundary of Texas, rises in latitude 33º north, and di-
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RIVERS OF TEXAS.
vides Texas from the United States. The waters of this stream, after meandering through a vast region of swamp, assume a greyish colour, and finally discharge themselves into Sabine Bay. The Sabine river varies in width from 40 to 100 yards, and is unnavigable, owing to the innumerable sand- bars, which commence at its mouth, and re-occur at short intervals throughout its course.
The Neches river rises about S0 miles north and 100 west of the source of the Sabine, from which it differs but little in width, depth, and other respects; its navigation being obstructed by similar impe- diments.
The Trinity or Trinidad river rises in the most elevated part of the "immense levels," lat. 30° 35' north, and after meandering through a great extent of thickly wooded country, discharges itself into Galveston Bay. The waters of the Trinity are of a blueish colour, and are, if any thing, more gross and earthy than the waters of the Sabine. It is, however, navigable, from its mouth, for nearly 300 miles; but its mouth is almost inaccessible, owing to the prevailing shallowness and sand bars of Galveston Bay ; yet its navigation is susceptible of great improvement. Its width varies from 100 to 250 yards, and its depth from three to forty feet, according to the season.
The San Jacinto River is an insignificant stream, famous only among the Texans for the successful
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RIVERS OF TEXAS.
surprise of the Mexican army under Santa Anna by General Houston.
Buffalo Bayou rises in the " immense levels," in about 31° 30' north. There is no motion visible in the waters of Bayou for nearly two-thirds of the year, which is supposed to render its banks most insalubrious. Its astonishing depth, from its mouth as high as the city of Houston, affords abundant facilities for steam navigation, which is now car- ried on by three companies ; and the constant passing of steam-boa's to and fro, by giving motion to its waters, will help to purify them. In its course it forms many acute angles, which renders its navi- gation very difficult, but not less beautiful and interesting. After a course of about 100 miles, it mingles its waters with those of the San Jacinto, and several other small streams that empty them- selves into Galveston Bay on the north.
The Brazos river rises in the Rocky Mountains iu the north-west : and after collecting the waters of many tributary streams from the same source, it keeps an easterly course for about 200 miles, when gradually inclining to the south, making innu- merable windings and acute angles, it empties itself into the Gulf of Mexico, after a course of about 800 miles. The waters of the Brazos, though ori- ginally as pure as the waters of every mountain stream, soon become impregnated with much earthy matter, and taking a reddish colour from the strata
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RIVERS OF TEXAS.
of the earth, that indicates the existence of a por- tion of oxyde of iron of the most recent formation, and which adds novelty and beauty to the land- scape, as seen from its margins ; but, notwithstand- ing that its banks are high and bold, it frequently overflows them, and so inundates the whole country around for many miles.
The Bernard, Cedar, Caney, Live Oak, and Big- boogy rivers, and Oyster Creek, are all perfectly dry during the summer, and being too narrow to afford any facilities for navigation at any other season, they do not require a minute description.
The Colorado river in Western Texas rises in lat. 32º north; pursuing a north-easterly course for upwards of 100 miles, it winds round the foot of the San Saba mountains, and thence takes a south-east course. Passing over a substratum of soft white marl, its waters assume a whitish hue, which they preserve throughout the remainder of their course, of 150 or 200 miles, when they dis- charge themselves into Matagorda Bay.
The Navidad, and other small rivulets that rise between the Colorado and the San Antonio rivers, together with the tributaries of the latter and Guadalupe river resemble the small streams of East- ern Texas, being totally dry during the summer.
The rivers Guadalupe and San Antonio are at all times very narrow, and particularly shallow in sum- mer, but more impetuous at other seasons than the streams of Eastern Texas of the same magnitude.
332
RIVERS OF TEXAS.
The river De la Nueces, with its tributaries, rises among the rocky mountains of Ganahuaca, and is very narrow but decp; keeping an. uninterrupted course from about north-west to south-east, it finally empties itself into the Nueces Bay. This river was formerly the western boundary of Texas, which separated it from the state of Coahuila ; but at the period of the declaration of the Independence of Texas, the Texans extended their western boundary to Rio Grande or Rio del Norte.
The Rio Grande or Rio Bravo, formerly called Rio del Norte, is the western boundary of Texas, which separates Texas from Mexico; this is the largest river in Mexico, and rises in the Verde Mountains, in about 45º north latitude, sweeping along the base of the western chain of the Sierra Madre, watering in its course the confines of the vast plains known as the Bolson Mapimi and Parras ; collecting the waters of innumerable rivulets that flow from the lakes of Parras and Mapimi, it winds round the foot of the Sierra de Pilaros, thence keeping due east until it receives the waters of Puerco ; then running south into the Gulf of Mexico, after a course of 1600 miles. The waters of the Rio Grande are clear, light, and wholesome. It; navigation is seriously obstructed by a sand bar at its mouth.
The Arkansas river is the north-western boun- dary claimed by the Texans, and is supposed to rise in latitude 12º north. This river does not assume the character of a permanent stream until it reaches
333
BAYS AND LAKES.
35º north latitude, when all the rivulets that run through the intervening space, which is composed of a very loose sandy soil, seldom take the same course twice, being supplied at one season by the rains, and at another by the melting of- the snow on the mountains. The waters of both these seasons take the course best suited to convey them to the point whence the river may be said to have a fixed source, namely, in latitude 3Sº north.
The coast of Texas presents but few bays, and these are obstructed by sand banks and bars, while internally, they are both shallow and exposed.
Sabine Bay or Lake, on the extreme eastern point of the coast of Texas, is quite inaccessible, having innumerable sand, mud, and oyster banks, which commence some miles out at sea, and con- tinue to its mouth.
Galveston Bay * is the largest inlet on the coast, and is accessible, both on the east and west, for ships of light draught of water. It varies from ten to twenty-five miles in width, and is from thirty to thirty-five miles in length; but its navigation is obstructed by two sand bars which run from east to west. The first, " Red Fish Bar," occurs about
" The charts of Matagorda and Galveston Bays that have recently been published in England, are nothing more than drawings, no survey having as yet been made. Copies of the drawings from which those charts have been taken, were in my possession when in Texas.
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BAYS AND LAGUNAS.
twenty-two miles from its entrance, and the second, " Copler's Bar," about five miles higher up the bay.
Matagorda Bay is at present next in importance to Galveston Bay. It is about forty miles in length, and varies from five to nine miles in width. It is shallow within its entrance, " Passo Cavallo," sel- dom affording more than seven feet water in the deepest part of the channel.
Aransas Bay possesses many advantages over Galveston and Matagorda Bays. It is easier of access, having more water at its entrance, and being well sheltered within, and is, above all, the most healthy part of the coast.
Nueces Bay possesses all the advantages of Aransas Bay, and is, if any thing, more healthy. These bays have been almost overlooked by the 'Texans, up to the present time, but they will ulti- mately become places of some importance.
West of Nueces Bay there are several smaller ones, called Lagunas, formed by a long sand bank, named, " Isle de Padre," or Mustang Island. There are many inlets to these Lagunas, but they have not been sounded, and are generally believed to be very shallow; this portion of the coast is, in fact, but very imperfectly known.
All the bays and rivers of Texas are infested with alligators, serpents, water moccasins, lizards, frogs, toads, scorpions, gally nippers, tarantulas, ants, wasps, cantharides, horse-flies, and musqui-
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MOUNTAINS OF TEXAS.
toes; the latter swarm upon the boats passing to and fro, and soon throw the passengers into a sort of Mississippi commotion. Fish also abound in the waters of Texas ; such as cat fish, sheeps'-head, buffalo, red fish, mullet, eels, trout, perch, crabs, prawns, and oysters.
The mountains of Texas, from their contiguity to those of Mexico, are supposed to possess vast mi- neral riches; but there is nothing on record except an Indian tradition, to establish the fact of their existence. Many parties have been formed in Mexico, Texas, and the United States, to explore the San Saba Mountains in the north-west of Texas, but they have been either driven away or cut to pieces by the Comanches.
The San Saba Mountains are, strictly speaking, the only mountains in what is called " Texas Proper." They may, however, be styled the foot- stones of the Andes of Peru, which, after entering the states of Mexico and Puebla, divide themselves into two large chains, the western arm running due north, at the distance of about 100 leagues from the Pacific Ocean ; and the eastern one fol- lowing and keeping the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, at the same respective distance, until it reaches the state of Coahuila ; it is united by a ridge of smaller mountains to the rocky mountains which follow the Rio Grande, from north to south, and finally are lost in the table lands of Texas.
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MOUNTAINS AND MOUNDS.
The enchanted rock is a huge mass of lime-stone, rising abruptly from the centre of an inclined plane, to the height of 220 feet. Its surface is bare, except here and there, the head of the " ribes adoratum," a species of blackberry, is seen waving its head in the breeze. The original inhabitants are supposed to have had a temple on this rock; and to this day it is known among the various Indian tribes as " the enchanted rock." The Gaudalupe, Piedra Pinta, Ganhuaca del Sacremento, and Obscura, form the immense ridge of mountains which follow the castern bank of the Rio Grande, as already de- scribed by Humboldt.
Among the very many remarkable features of the revolutions of nature in Texas, there are to be seen two mounds, one near Nacogdoches, and the other a few miles from Columbia, on the Brazos. The former is elevated about eighty feet, and the latter from 150 to 200 above the level of the surrounding plains. These mounds are supposed, from the marine deposits found on their surface, from the base to their summits, to have been ori- ginally submarine, together with the whole region that now forms the lower country. They were, doubtless, nothing more originally than sand-banks, formed by the confluence of the waters of va- rious rivers with the Gulf of Mexico; and this supposition is materially strengthened by the know- ledge of the fact, that such formations are now in rapid progress, and that these must necessarily be
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GEOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY OF TEXAS.
elevated considerably above the elevation of all subsequent deposits, whether purely alluvial or marine.
The zoology of Texas consists of the wild horse, buffalo, deer, antelope, Mexican wild hog, cougar, a species of lion, leopards, panthers, leopard cats, wild cats, bears, wolves, grey squirrels, polecats, raccoons, beavers, and opossums. The feathered tribes of the woods and prairies are vultures, eagles, bald-headed eagles, hawks, pelicans, geese, ducks, wild turkeys, prairie hens, a species of partridge, pheasants, plo- vers, pigeons, doves, snipes, larks, black, blue, and red birds, a great variety of woodpeckers, mocking and humming birds.
The insects are as follows : grasshoppers, butter- flies, fire-flies, ants, spiders, tarantula,* horse-flics, buzzing-flies, red, black, and brown bugs, egg and wood ticks, musquitoes, and lastly, a prodigious family of fleas, whose industry (without offence to our own prodigies) is not surpassed by any in the world; by day they are intolerable, but at night (particularly in the inns) they are really alarming. Mrs. Holley, who must have been quite a bonne bouche to the " atmospheric animalcula" of her adopted country, says, page 145, "musquitoes are a great annoyance in the SWAMPS," [here she admits that there are such things as swamps in Texas]
This is the most venomous insect in the world ; when ex- panded, it measures from five to seven inches. The rattlesnake is harmless compared to the tarantula.
Z
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ENTOMOLOGY
" woods, and river-bottoms ; but on the uplands are not so numerous. In the former situations, no one would think of sleeping without a musquito-bar ; while, on the latter, they are often entirely super- fluous at all seasons." Here she might have added, that an Indian bar, to protect a man's scalp, would be an acquisition. " But there is," continues this lady, " a species of animalcule, called the red-bug, which is intolerably tormenting in the woods. GREAT NUMBERS of this insect will settle upon the skin, which they perforate, and commence sucking the blood until they are so filled that, from at first being imperceptible, they are at length PLAINLY visible, under the appearance of red specks upon the skin." Now Mrs. Holley indeed begins to speak feel- ingly and truly. The sensation that these insects cause may be entered on the calendar of human mise- ries, under the title of the Scoto-American fiddle. " The land-flies and ticks are also very annoying in their attentions," says Mrs. H. "The traveller is frequently blinded by the former getting into his eyes, and has his skin almost literally nipped to pieces by the latter. These ticks are furnished with a proboscis or trunk greatly disproportioned to the rest of the body, and so closely do they stick, and so industriously do they perform their part, that, in one night's time, if not carefully guarded against, they will spoil the beauty of the fairest face in crea- tion, beyond the redemption of all cosmetics, for days to come!"
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OF TEXAS.
These and the following graphic touches of Mrs. Holley, are true to the life :---
" The horse-fly, it is said, has frequently been known to kill horses" [leaving the traveller in the middle of a prairie, under a scorching sun, to walk.] " At any rate, it is a most malicious and trouble- some insect; the gad-fly is also a dreadful tormentor of cattle in summer."
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