erally seen returning to their shelter in the nearest wood; and at this time the planter who is in need of a fresh stock of venison, conceals himself with his deadly rifle, in the skirts of the wood, near the track where a herd are known to return to their nightly haunts, which is generally the same through the season, and here he is nearly as certain of his prey as a farmer in New England would be of obtaining a lamb from his own flock.

This

The buffalo is far more shy, and uniformly leaves his old haunts wherever the settlements approximate very near. animal may often be approached upon the prairie much nearer than deer; with a strong wind blowing from the herd, the hunter often comes within fifty yards without alarming them; showing that they rely principally upon their acute sense of smell, as a warning against danger; having the wind from their enemy they will fly his approach at the distance of four of five hundred yards.

The buffalo is easily domesticated. When taken young, and fed by the hand of man, no animal is more docile; and none fly the approach of man with stronger marks of fear and consternation, than the common black cattle in a wild state. The wild cattle of Texas are said to be numerous. They are occasionally seen in large herds by the hunter and the traveller beyond the frontier settlements, but almost always in the forests and thickets, seldom venturing into the open prairie, when in the neighborhood of the haunts of man. In the vast prairies of the north west, or upper Texas, they are still more numerous; several thousands are sometimes seen in a day's travel. They manifest less fear here, from being less exposed to encounter the sight of man. But it is but very seldom that the hunter can approach within gun shot of the wild cattle of Texas, and of all the species of game which roams these wilds, they are the most difficult to reach, and will probably survive all others. These animals have not strayed from the herds of the present inhabitants. It is believed that no instance has occurred where an animal has been lost in this manner from the domestic herds. Not so with the horse. It is by no means unusual for the inhabitants of the frontier to lose their horses by the seductive arts of the mustangs, and between these and the predatory tribes of savages who are the most arrant horse thieves, it is indeed difficult for the frontier settler to keep a horse.

The mustangs, or wild horses of Texas, are supposed to be far more numerous than the wild cattle. The traveller seldom penetrates far into the interior, without putting to flight a troop of these fine animals; sometimes he will see them flying in the confusion of an absolute route, but oftener making an orderly retreat, like well disciplined cavalry, under the direction of skilful

and experienced leaders. The wild horse, when taken young, is easily subdued, and rendered serviceable to man, but after reaching mature age it is scarcely within the art of man to break him for service. If he apparently yields, his vicious habits are sure to return, and his rider will find himself unhorsed and deserted at the moment of greatest need. The wild cattle and wild horses of Texas are most of them from a stock which have been wild for ages, originally abandoned, or lost through neglect, by the timid and indolent race of men who inhabited New Mexico.

In regard to the smaller kinds of quadrupeds, serpents, reptiles, and insects in Texas, they are not dissimilar from those found in the southern border of the United States. But owing to the absence of swamps and morasses, venomous serpents and noxious insects are less numerous.

Of the former, the large and small or prairie rattlesnake, and land and water moccasin, make the whole list. The subtle venom of the rattlesnake is well known, and unless an antidote is early applied, it often proves fatal. The bite of the moccasin is said to be equally dangerous. This on dit is perhaps questionable, yet we confess our scepticism would not carry us so far as to test the truth by an experiment; so much is certain, however, it may be encountered with much less hazard than the rattlesnake. If it is armed with a weapon as dangerous, it has less courage and skill in using it.

The centipede and the tarantula are the only venomous rep. tiles in Texas, and these are both found along the whole southern border of the United States. The latter is well known to be a large spider. Its bite has sometimes been pronounced incurable; yet well attested instances of death, caused by the bite of the tarantula, are very rare, not more numerous perhaps than from the sting of the common honey bee. The centipede is the scorpion, and the only scorpion of Texas. It is usually called the stinging scorpion, and northern travellers hearing it called by that name, are not aware that it is a reptile which is common in all parts of the United States below latitude thirty-two. Its sting is as easily cured as that of the hornet.*

To those who have not seen the centipede, a brief description of it will not be uninteresting. It is about an inch and a half in length. Its head the size of a full grown catterpillar, and tapering to a point at the tail, where it carries its sting;-to inflict a wound it throws its tail over its back. It moves quickly but not rapidly, even with its hundred feet. When it is held fast by pressing a stick upon its back, after repeated ef forts to avenge the affront by applying its sting to the wood, and perceiv ing them to be ineffectual, it will turn its sting upon itself, and almost instantly expire. While in this situation, it may be resuscitated by the application of a few drops of alcohol. The writer witnessed an experi

Of animals of the lizard kind, there is one species not common to the United States. It is called here the horned frog; its body bears some resemblance to the frog, but it is clearly of the lizard kind. It has protuberances projecting from the head, of · about a half an inch in length, in the shape of horns. The came. leon and various other species of small lizards, may be found every where in the forests.

The rivers and brooks are well stocked with fish, such as are common in the southern waters of the United States, and the bays and bayous along the coast are stored with oysters, large and well flavored, together with such other shell fish as are usually found in a southern latitude.

A short notice of the government, civil division, and present population of Texas, with an extract from Morfit's report, exhibiting his estimate of the population in August, 1836, will close our geographical sketch.

The present government of Texas is a republic, or more properly a representative democracy, in which the powers confided to their representatives are specified, and defined by a written constitution, which in all its essential features is but a counterpart of the constitution of the United States. Texas, however, being but a single state, to the congress is necessarily entrusted the authority to legislate for all its internal as well as its external relations. The civil divisions are counties organized like those in the United States and towns, (not townships,) and cities.

In regard to the number of inhabitants, it should be remarked that the subjoined extract was evidently intended to sift very closely the estimates and the facts in support of them which had been submitted to the American agent, and on which his own were based. The increase since the date of this report, is prob ably not far from 15,000, principally by emigration from the United States.

"The population within that territory is said to have been 70,000; but from all that I can learn, it should be estimated at about 50,000, or less. The races consist of Anglo-American, Mexican natives, aborigines, and negroes. Of these, there are perhaps 30,000 Anglo-American settlers, distributed principally between the Nueces river and the Sabine, and on the Trinidad, Colorado, and Brazos rivers; about four or five thousand of the men of this population still remain at home, attending to their farms. There are 3,500 native Mexicans, of Spanish descent,

ment repeated several times, on one of these reptiles, thus expiring under its own sting, and as often restored to life by the application of a few drops of whiskey.

all interested in the cause of Texas. Of these, there are in the

neighborhood of

Nacogdoches,

In San Antonio de Bexar,

In Victoria,

San Patricco,

La Bahia,

The negroes are about 5,000 in number.

800 souls.

2,000,

120

50

500

The additional ter

ritory claimed by Texas since the declaration of independence on the 2d March, 1836, will increase her population at least 15,000, so that the state may be said at this time to contain 65,000 souls. Of this augmentation, there will be, in the village of Taos, about 1,500, in Santa Fe 2,500, in San Miguel, 1,000, and 2,000 in the other settlements. There are also 8,000 souls belonging to the families of Rancheros, or herdsmen, who will add to the products, but not to the physical force of the country. The Rancheros are several, and in some instances numerous herdsmen, congregated upon a large estate, called a hacienda, generally belonging to one proprietur. Some of the Rancheros are feudal, where the land and greater profits, with certain services, are claimed by the haciendado or proprietary; others are allodial, where the herdsmen are either owners in fee, or are lessees at a rent in money or in kind, without the rendition of any personal duties. The feudal tenures are confined to the district of Santa Fe and Coahuila, and not many even there. Some of the haciendos have herds of 100,000 horned cattle, and very few less than 10,000, exclusive of mules and horses. The Rancheros themselves, of the poorest grade, have never less than 200 head. This information is derived by inquiry of intelligent men, who have traversed all that region of country, and I advert to it in order to show the resources which the newly acquired portion of territory will bring in aid of the future operations of the state, if her independence is acknowledged.

As regards the population of emigrants from the United States, they are said to be not less than 50,000, being all those whom I have denominated Anglo-Americans. They have been coming to this country from the first grant to Moses Austin, in 1820, down to the present moment. Those who were here before the revolution were called settlers, because their objects were agriculture, trade, and commercial enterprises. Those who have come since the declaration of independence, are termed emigrants, and devote themselves in the first instance as volunteers, to secure the soil upon which they afterwards intend to fix their homes."

CHAPTER V.

History-general remarks-grant to Moses Austin, to plant a colony in Texas-bequeathed to his son Stephen F. Austin-arrival of the first colonists on the Brazos-their hardships-difficulties-expedition against the Carancahua Indians-federal constitution adopted in Mexico-Texas united to Coahuila-review of events to 1830-Bustamente's authority expelled from Texas-petition to become a separate state-presented by Austin-His arrest and imprisonment.

A HISTORY of Texas before 1821, when the colony of Stephen F. Austin was established there, can be little more than the history of the wandering tribes of savages who have probably roamed over its meadows and plains for countless ages; the few Spanish settlements within its limits, which were early planted, some of them in the beginning of the last century, can be deemed little better than sutlers surrounding the military posts which Spanish cupidity and jealousy led them to establish there, to shut out others from a country which they were eager to hold, although incapable of enjoying.

Nacogdoches was the only post of this kind within the limits of the territory in which settlements had been effected by American emigrants before the war. The San Antonio river, on which stands the town of the same name, being west of the utmost limit of any American settlement.

The contiguity of Nacogdoches to the United States, early drew some of the adventurous spirits who are ever curious to discover what lies hidden beyond the boundaries of their own country, to visit it, and explore the "region round about." Several had taken up their abode there, as early as the beginning of the present century. These had no little influence probably, in diffusing among the Spanish population, that love of liberty, and courage to seek it, which made them first and foremost to stake all in an effort to throw off the Spanish yoke. The disastrous

result of that effort, when their brethren in Mexico, instead of seconding their noble resolve, turned their arms against them, is well known, and the detail has often excited the sympathies of the reader. They were driven destitute from their homes, by an overwhelming force, and for years were houseless wanderers in a