IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /> 1.0 ^1^ tSA itt lU g2.2 lAo H2.0 I.I ■It w u lg|||U.|i6 IMI 6" HiotogFaiJlic ^Sdmces Carporation 23 WBT MAIN STIHT WIUTn,N.Y. MSM (716)t7a-4S03 :<^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/iCIS/IH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Inttituta for Historical IMicroraproductions / Institut Canadian da microraproductions liiatoriquas *f? ^A4 m:\ Tachnical anil Bibliographic Notaa/Notaa taehniquat at itibiiograpliiquaa Tha inatituta Itaa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy avaiiabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction. or which may aignlficantly ehanga tha uaual mathod of filming, ara ehackad balow. D Coiourad covara/ Couvartura da coulaur I I Covara damagad/ D Couvartura andommagAa . 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Th( to Th poi of filr Ori be( thi ato oti fin slo or Th( shi Tin dm en« bei rigl 10X 14X lax 22X aix aox y 12X 16X aox MX WL S2X TiM eopy fllinad hw hM bMfi raproduMd thanks to tlw gMMroalty of: Library of tha Public Archivat of Canada L'axamplaira flim* fut raproduit gric* * ■• fl«n4rooit* da: La bibiiothiqua daa Archivat publiquas du Canada Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha boat quality poaalbia conaldaring tha condition and laglblllty of tha original copy and In kaaping with tha fliming contract spcsificatlona. Original coplao in printad papar oovara ara filmad baginning with tha front cover and anding on tha last paga with a printed or illuatratad impraa- slon. or tha back cover wlian appropriate. All other original coplea are filmed beginning on the first paga with a printed or illuatratad Impraa- aion, and ending on the ieet page with e printed or illuatratad impreeaton. Lea Imagoi suhrantea ont M reprodultes evec ie plus grond soin, compte tenu do Ie condition et de ie nettetA de I'exempleire film*, et en conformM avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. Lea aicempielrea originaux dont la couvarture an papier eat imprlmia sont fiimis en commenfsnt par la premier plat at en termlnant soit par la demMre pege qui comporte une empreinta dimpreeaion ou d'iiiustration, soit par la second plat, salon ie cas. Tous lee autres exempiairas origiifaux sont flimte en commenpant par la pramlAre paga qui comporte une empreinte d'impreeaion ou d'iiiustration et en terminant par hi darnlAre paga qui comporte une telle empreinte. The laat recorded freme on each microfiche shaH contain the aymboi — »> (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the eymboi ▼ (meaning "END"), whieliever appHae. Un daa symbolea suivants apparaltra sur ia damlAre imege de cheque microfiche, seion Ie ces: Ie symbde -^> signlfie "A 8UIVRE", Ie symbole ▼ signlfie "FIN". IMapa. piatea. charta, etc., may be filmed et different reduction ratloa. Thoae too large to be entirely included in one expoaura ara filmed beginning In the upper left hand comer, left to right end top to bottom, ee meny framee aa required. The following diegrems illustrete the method: Les certes, plenches, tebieaux, etc.. peuvent Atra flimto i das taux da rMuction diffirants. Lorsque Ie document eat trap grand pour Atra reprodult en un aaul ciichA. il eat film* i partir da I'engle supMeur geuche. de gauche A droite. et de haut an baa. en prenent ie nombre d'imegee nAceaaeire. Les diagrammes suivants mustrent ia mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ST. LOUIS' ISLE, OR TEXIANA, ^'c. S^c. ^ m t,t jV ^.. M KiilliBimdel .>< .Taliuii LiUiograpkers #f' ■■■iP S»i ST. LOUIS' ISLE, OR TEXIANA; WITH ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS MADE IH THE UNITED STATES AND IN CANADA. BY CHARLES HOOTON, AUTHOR OF "LAUNCELOT WIDOE," "COLIN CLINK," "BILBERRY THURLAND," ETC. ETC. ETC. AND OTH.rX ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON : PUBLISHED BY SIMMONDS AND WARD, 6, BARGE YARD, BUCKLERSBURY. 1847. ■ ., LONDON : PRINTED nv n. r. stevens, piiilpot lane, FENciiuncii street. DKDICATION. MISS GUILLELMINE JANE PRESCOTT, OF NEW ORLEANS, s THIS VOLUME 18 INSCRIBED, A8 A StlOIIT PROOF THAT THOUGH PABT KINDNESSES ARE TOO OFTEN AND TOO APT TO BK FORGOTTEN, THKRK IS NO RULE WITHOUT ITS EXCEPTION. ^ \y P R 1^] F A C i: . The following few chapters upon n oiuntry which I had the misfortune to visit in hope, and return from — not in despair, hut with *' hope deferred," were written in great part on a bed of sickness, and while supported on pillows. At such a time the mind is very indifferently prepared — nay, perhaps ought to be considered unfit for labour and exertion. But as at that period the conclusion appeared in medical eyes exceedingly doubtful, I determined, if possible, while there was yet time, in some shape or other to lay fny experiences of Texas befoi ^ the world, and to the utmost of my ability persuade, through the influence of facts, any projecting Emigrants from following in the same fatal footsteps. This, I trust, will plead sufficiently for the desultory manner in which these recollections are put together, and for an occa- VIU PREFACE. sional looseness of style which, under circumstances of a more favourable nature, might be considered inexcusable. fl Six years have now elapsed since the date of the commence- ment of the events which this little volume records. Between then and now, circumstances of a political nature have taken place on the other side of the Atlantic which put an entirely new face upon the government of " the State of Texas." That the country must ultimately gain in consequence of the new position in which she has placed herself, cannot for a moment be doubted by any one familiar with her former weakness — her literal incapacity to help herself. Time, however — long time must pass away before these anticipated beneficial influ- ences can be perceptibly felt. The next generation or two hence may find some difierence between their own lives, and the recol- lected tale of the lives of their forefathers, the settlers of the present day ; but small hope can be reasonably entertained that for the existing generation, Texas, under her new form of government, can offer the slightest atom of additional tempta- tion to Northern Emigrants, to what was offered when the following pages were written. That these were few indeed, the reader will very shortly discover. Besides, whatever alteration the form of government may- have undergone, and however much for the individual benefit of the territory, it must be kept in mind that the climate has not changed along with it. There still remain the same sun, the same brick-burned earth — the same pestilent, swclturiiig of a more PREFACE. IX commence- Between liave taken m entirely as." That if the new a moment i^eakness — ever — long Icial influ- two hence the recol- lers of the tained that V form of al tempta- when the ndeed, the bayous, in which the fish that cannot escape get cooked (though not literally boiled) to death, as before. Hence none of the recent changes relative to this country, in any degree worthy of a moment's consideration, affect the integrity and value of the character herein given of it. The country is still the same, and the objections against it are as potent and incontrovertible as ever. - Of the few sketches which are interspersed through the volume, no more can be said than that they convey a just and accurate idea of the nature of the place in which they were made. Having little or no pretensions to artistical merit, they are offered simply as visible representations of facts stated in the letter-press. THE AUTHOR. Nottingham, Jan. 18tli, 18 }7. ment may lal benefit lima to has same sun, sweltmiug a Threi Bowii I t / I & u My 0' T ; ; ':..,.t.J •■ CONTENTS ST. LOUIS' ISLE, OR TEXIANA. CHAPTER I. PAOB Threatened Shipwreck — Arrival at Galveston— Description of the City — Assassinations— Gaming— Story of Mexican Thompson . . . . 1 CHAPTER n. , . Bowie-knife described— Colonel Bowie — UnhealthineH of the Country- Appearance of the People— Our Emigrant Band— Austin— Galves- ton Doctors— Story of Tom the Sailor — Southern Planters and their Annual Migprations— Slavery — Black and White Labour — Mexican Inroads— Unsafe Travelling — The Santa F6 Expedition — Story of M'Allister— Texas bankrupt and powerless— Public Hospital— Fail- ures of Intending Settlers . . . . . . . . 20 CHAPTER in. My own Location— Bayous— Gardening— Pig -shooting— Cat-killing — Texan Courtship— Scarcity of Women— Tht President and the Washerwoman— Weather and Climato .. .. ., ,.43 i I hH XII CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Romance and Reality— Cedar Bayou— Fate of L-'s Party—A BuU-dog devoured— Wild Cattle — A delirious Crew at Sea — Miserable Death of Henry J.— Music in Galveston— The Stafiordshire Curate's Son— The old Vintner— Story of poor Tom the Ship-boy . . . . 60 CHAPTER V. Conclusion of our whole Party's Adventures and Experiences — The Snake-hunter— The Professional Man— The Brothers S.— The Fa- mily Man — The Florist . . . . . . • . . . SO CHAPTER VI. Canvassing for an Election — Compliment to Commodore Moore — Point Bolivar — A Prairie Feast— Quarrelling — The Lady Mayoress— Po- verty of the Corporation . . . . . . . . . . 98 \ m ii CHAPTER VII. Boating Excursion to Edward's Point — Dr. W.'s House — Description of the Point — Arrival of Spaniards — Fishing for Terrapins — Alligator- gars — Redfish — Alligator-shooting — Line-fishing — The Red Bug — Incidents with Snakes— Slaughter-house Dogs, an Adventure- La- fitte, the Pirate's Mate — A Texan Duel — Frontier Murderers — Mock Indian Thieves — Tom the Slave .. .. .. ..112 CHAPTER Vin. An unexpected Meeting on the Prairie — ^I'he Story of Two Scotsmen — Amusing Anecdote of a " Tart " Specimen of a Squatter's Wife . . 142 . CHAPTER IX. , ^. The Fallacy of " Over-population" exposed— True Sources of the Ano- maly— Catlin's dceisive Testimony against the Climate of Texas . . 155 CONTENTS. XIU GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. CHAPTER I. Entrance of the Mississippi — New Orleans — Character of the Inhabitants —Slaves— Yellow Fever— Flat Boats— Cotton Steamers— Thief Boats 161 CHAPTER II. The Markets— Fire Bells— Anecdotes— Sample of the Slave System in a Court of Justice— Trial of a Pirate— Florida Indians— New Or- leans Wives .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 172 CHAPTER i::. Passage from New Orleans to New York— Features in American Society — The Ladies . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 CHAPTER IV. Baneful Influence of the " Moral Philosophy " of " Poor Richard"— Literary Taste and Literature in the United States . , . . 192 tsmen — ife .. 142 CHAPTER V. Route from New York to Montreal— Saratoga— Bloody Pond— Ticonde- roga— Lake Champlain— Montreal— Emigrant Sheds— St. Lawrence —Quebec— Indian Summer— Conclusion .. .. ..197 lu ,.^t■ t. itM; %■' ILLUSTRATIONS. Portrait Facing the Title. Settlers' Houses on the Prairie Page 9 Scene on a Bayou . . 44 Galvestonfrom the Gulf Shore 69 General Hospital 122 Fever Burial-ground •• 112 ■m- / \ If Kill I* i: lil • \ ST. LOUIS' ISLE, CHAPTER I. How natural is the propensity in man to seek for El Dorados, ' j___ _r T? j__ 1 ii ™:ii .,». 1*:,. Happy where beasts of chase are not monopolised by the arm of aristocratic power — where Governments are as liberal as the air — where labour reaps its own results, and lastly, and above all else, where a man's back is not exactly either broken or very badly humped by too heavy a load of that most solid and dense of all known substances, commonly recog- nised under the name of taxation ! Poets, happy race ! have the faculty of manufacturing their own Paradises at home, without encountering sea-sickness nnd all the perils of the great deep before arriving at them. They can see happiness in the !and&>c/^pe of a murky London street, and, by an alchemy more abstruse and subtle than was that of Roger Bacon, convert a garret into a garden, a washhouse into a flower-pot, and the dirty dimity of a bedstead into the Tyrian purple drawn around some beautiful ideal Paphian queen. Ordinary people, however, are compelled, in tihe course of their search after a blissful seat on earth, to go mother and quite a different way to work. The dirty lanes of mere matter-of-fact must be gon ; through — the mire of pure animal misery must be trampled in, until both body and mind are almost brought to a stand-still ; &nd long and heavy must be the labour before the garden wilderness smiles as it ought to do, and Il'l s6 1^ '-■\ m » ST. LOUIS ISLE, enables the labourer therein to laugh outright as ho ought to do, from very joy at his changed couilition. To speak individually, from my very youth upwards I had n strong desire, one day or another, to squeeze myself through the gate of some one or other of these (next to heaven itself) most-to-be-desired places. It so happened, however, that up to the year of Grace 1840, I con- tented myself with thinking about it, and abiding my appointed time. At the latter end of l!)ecerabor of that eventful year, after having carefully weighed in the balance the respective merits of different para- disaical parts of the earth, including New Zealand, and Australia (the present prison, alas ! of my friend Richard Howitt), I finally made up my mind to go to Texas. The very nairo of Mexico, with its marvel- lous associations, — its Montezumas, its magnificent vegetation, its old renown in the romance of American history, — ever threw out attractions to my imagination. To add to them, the various books and pamphlets written upon that country, which happened to fall into my hands, con- tributed a golden store of almost unalloyed " sweet promise ;" while the political relations of the young Republic so exactly coincided with all my preconceived notions of Governmental purity and integrity, that it is no wonder the seal was at once and conclusively affixed to the bond of my determination to depart forthwith. Accordingly, after much delay and trouble, occasioned by the unprin- cipled conduct of the ship-brokers, we left the London Docks on the 28th of December, 1840, with twenty-one adult passengers, male and female, and eight or ten children. Although our voyage was not with- out its curious incident and interest, I shall not linger over its descrip- tion in this place, but proceed at once to relate in what manner we first touched upor ne Texan shore. About half- past six o'clock in the evening of the 25th of March, — many of the passengers being on deck for the benefit of the air, unsus- picious, and wrapped in the conscious security of having passed the great deep unharmed,— with the suddenness of a falling thunderbolt the ship struck upon the bottom. The shock made her shiver from head to stern, like a leaf in the wind, or a creature alive that has received its deathblow, and trembles nervously before it falls. For a moment or two every soul was dumb. The water heaved and swelled around us, I il m. OR TEXIANA. a and as the waves passed on and left the vessel tu sink again, crash wo came again upon the bottom, — and again, and again. And then fol- lowed shrieking of women and children, and weeping and praying, shouting and swearing, and hurrying half-unconsciously and desperately to and fro. Many of the sailors— men of courage and desperate daring on any or all other occasions — now seemed to lose ull confidcncn, and with the loss of confidence all power ; while the Captain (who hap- pened to be below when the vessel first struck) rushed instantly up tliu stairs, and in an agony of terror ran about the deck, crying, " The Lord preserve us !" — " God Almighty have mercy upon us !" and usiNg other expressions of a similar nature, but which of course carried little comfort to the already hopeless hearts of the females and the more timid of the stronger sex. Twilight was drawing on. That sun, half under the horizon, was gazed on tearfully by many wild eyes as the last sun they would ever see ; while the very soul seemed to sink at the dread consciousness that night and an undug and tombless grave were closing over us for ever. During this time, the ship was put upon many various tacks in order to try in what direction we could make our escape from the sbual. At length she again floated, and we steered direct from land and towards the open part of the Gulf of Mexico. So close upon the tropics, day and night are almost as distinct, and as abrupt in their distinctness, as dark and light painted close together on a board. There is little blend- ing of the two together, — almost nothing of that warm, dreamy, and angelic twilight which in more northern climates gives to romance one- half its' ideality, and to love one of its deepest fascinations. Darkness fell, and fear became more fearful than before. The deck was crowded with anxious but invisible faces, and all ears were strained to catch the tidings minute by minute communicated in a musical, melancholy tone by the seaman at the lead, as he sang out with each haul of the suund- ing-line, " Quarter less two !" — •' Deep two !" — •* Half-quarter two I" and the like. If we gained a quarter of a fathom, there arose beneath that dark canopy of sky a general and very heartfelt " Thank God for that !" in which even the old skipper himself was not too heroic to join. The pumps were tried, and, to our surprise as well as gratificutiun, found not to have more water than before. The old ship had clearly I h 4 RT. LOUIS ISLE, sprung no leak. About two o'clock in the morning, however, the man at the helm discovered for the first time that the vessel refused to obey her rudder, and declared his conviction that we had lost it when we struck, and had been sailing all night without one, — o ither, perhaps, it may be said, under the especial (;uidanpe of the stump thereof only. Within a short time afterwards, the anchor was dropped ; and cnrly after daylight on the following morning, what remained of the helm wns unshipped, when it was discovered that the post was snapped asunder, and the whole of the rudder part had been carried away. All hands on board (passengers included) were now busily employed in manufactur- ing a new helm out of three spars rough from the forest and a few old planks which luckily chanced to be on board. These were lashed together and nailed as well as circumstances and the rude nature of the materials would permit ; while, in order to give this poor substitute for a rudder the requisite ponderosity in the water, a quantity of broken flints, brought from Ramsgate by way of ballast, were inserted into the interstices between the boards on either side. When finished and shipped, it was calculated to last, with moderate weather, about three days at farthest ; while hard weather and a rough sea would, in all pro- bability, have carried it off in as many hours. To increase the delights of our situation, it was now discovered, on examination, that but fifty gallons of water remained, while there were above forty souls on board. The victuals also ran short, partly in consequence of the unusual length of our passage, but much more in consequence of the vessel having in the first instance been despatched from London upon such rigidly econo- mical principles, that she might more aptly have been regarded in the light of a sort of floating parish workhouse, than a vessel carrying such a number of human beings, and bound upon a voyage of rather preca- rious duration in point of time. This, indeed, is a point upon which emigrants (of the poorer classes especially), to any part of the world, generally find themselves most miserably misled and deceived. To find it out, however, only when in " blue water," is too late for the applica- tion of any remedy : patience and endurance are the most available virtues during the remainder of the passage. Perhaps on some future occasion I may give, for the especial benefit of the thousands of emi- grants who annually leave our shores, such an insight into the system OH TRXIANA. pursued by " pasacnger-brokcrs " in our sea-ports as cannot fail at Icnst to he highly useful to thum, even if it answer not tlio higher purpose of assisting in tlie correction of a deeply gross and infamous, though too little undeistoorl, abuse. Not ((> prolong the story of this our first misfortune, let it sufllcc the rt'O'lcr to be informed thnt after two other days' blind sailing in fog and mist, which rendered the sun invisible, so that no observation could bo taken, we unchored again on the night of Saturday, March 27th, in- tending to remain there until the return of daylight, and, perhaps, clearer weather, should enable us the better to ascertain our actual posi- tion. About midnight, however, the wind rose until it blew almost n hurricane, and the sea rolled in magnificent and lengthened billows, until our old ship pitched head and stern, as though about to dive end- ways into the sand below, and reeled from side to side so deeply as to threaten every instant to lie down like an exhausted and too-toil-worn a thing to struggle for liberty any longer. At the same time, her timbers trembled and shrieked with the prodigious strain upon them ; and she tugged madly at the chain cable by which her anchor held us to the place, as might some infuriated and unmanageable wild beast at the lashings that fix him to the ground. About half-past three, the morn- ing being pitch-dark, the cable snapped suddenly in two, and we drifted ropidly towards the land, and those formidable breakers which ever- lastingly dash with such impetuous violence upon the whole shelving coast of the Gulf of Mexico. In this second emergency, the pusilla- niminity of our Captain evinced itself in the same manner as before : he appeared half-bewildered, and as though he now finally gave us up for lost ; but, by the combined exertions of all on board, a second anchor was soon slipped, and the vessel was brought-to in about five fathoms water. When daylight at length broke, the sky seemed still almost as heavy and black as night ; and the " ground swell" — the result of the preceding storm — was absolutely fearful to look upon. Signals of dis- tress were now hoisted, but, owing to the fog which enveloped the land, were not seen until late in the day. About four o'clock p.m. the pilot- boat, which had long been seen approaching, reached us, and on the same night we anchored just outside that shifting sand-bar which renders the harbour of Galveston so difficult to enter — and, in the opinion of many G ST. LOUIS ISLE, (•'i. men much better qualified to judge correctly in this matter than my- self, will ever prevent this, the most favourable port on the whole Texan sea-board, from becoming a place of any really extensive mari- time commerce. This sand-bank, or " bar," proved to be the same upon which we had struck four days previously, our vessel at that time drawing only nine feet water. Statements have repeatedly been made, calculated to lead to much misconception on this subject, and to direct that spirit of enterprise towards Texas, and on the part of inexperienced and far-off individuals, which eventually resulted in partial, if not en- tire, disappointment and disaster. It has been said that in certain tides, sixteen feet of water are upon the bar : this may be the case occa- sionally ; but it is not upon occasional and comparatively rare chances of ingress and egress to and from a port that commerce by sea can beneficially be rendered dependent. One of the only two pilots in Galveston (Mr. G. S , formerly of Liverpool) has several times assured me, that, in general, no vessel can pass with safety that requires a greater depth of water than thirteen feet — that being the average sounding upon the bank. He also states, that the bar itself has changed its position nearly half a mile within the last three or four years. . These facts, for as such they are given, are most admirably illustrated by the appearance of the Bay of Galveston itself. Sprinkled with wrecks of various appearances and sizes — all alike gloomy, however, in their looks and associations — it strikes the heart of a stranger us a sort of ocean-cemetery, a sea churchyard, in which broken masts and shat- tered timbers, half-buried in quicksands, seem to remain above the surface of the treacherous waters only to remind the living, like dead camels on a level desert, of the destruction that has gone before, and yet awaits many who may come after. It may not be improper, while on this subject, just to add, that a current produced by the rivers from the uplands which fall into the bay, runs through it to the sea, and forms the only safe track, like a narrow lane for a coach, down which ships reach the city. The remaining mass of water, at least three miles across from Galveston to Pelican Island opposite, is so shallow, that, under the influence of particular winds, combined perhaps with other causes, it may in certain places be tvaded across with safety ! Such, then, is the plain truth, as far as I could on TEXIANA. ascertain it, respecting the famous port of Galveston — the intended mart of all the rest of Texas, and the place from which all the, as yet, unproduced produce of the interior, the dreamed-of wealth of thousands of dreamed-of settlers, is to he exported to all parts of the civilised world. About noon, on the 29th of March, we landed in reality. From the sea, the appearance of Galveston is that of a fine city of great extent, built close upon the edge of the water ; but its glory vanishes gradually in proportion to the nearness of approach of the spectator, until on his arrival at the end of one of the long, rude, wood projections, called wharfs, which shoot out some quarter of a mile into the shallows of the bay, he finds nothing but a poor straggling collection of weather- boarded frame-houses, beautifully embellished with whitewash, (they may be mistaken for white marble from the Gulf,) and extending, without me.^surable depth, about the length of two miles of string. It presents in this respect a bold front to the enemy, but, like a bulwark made of brown pasteboard, has more appearance than power, and in the event of a war with the Mexicans, might, in the course of a few hours, be swept from the face of the earth by a brisk and determined cannonade of nothing more formidable than dried peas, instead of grape-shot, and bay-shells by way of bombs. As Galveston is at present (and, in all probability, for a very long time to come will continue to be) considered the head-quarters of modern Texas in population, in commercial importance, in thd^ civilisa- tion of its society, in religion, education, morals, and literature, I shall be rather more particular than otherwise might he deemed needful in its description touching all these matters ; trusting thereby to convey to the reader a more perfect/ac-simtVe of things of this kind in the new Republic, than all the laudatory pens of all preceding writers put tO' gether have yet attempted to give. When a man reads of a " city," he very naturally associates with that word the idea implied by it at home. He almost unconsciously jumps to the conclusion, that a city in a newly-founded country is, if not quite so elegant externally, yet pretty much the same sort of thing as a city in an old one. If he be told there is already a university established, his mind reverts to Cambridge and Oxford ; education 8 ST. LOUIS ISLE, assumes her most imposing aspect, and learning peeps out in cap and gown from her palace of books, surrounded by a splendid court of intel- lectuals, and raising up, as her roost solemn duty is, a train of graceless rascals, on whose heads the stamp of manhood is not yet fully impressedi but who are destined to become, each in his degree, the lights of our modern world. Should he be told of civilisation, — arts, sciences, and those numberless and nameless refinements which constitute, in his view, the stock>meaning of civilisation, instantly rise up to view, and mentally he beholds the strange phenomena of intellectual and moral power rising unsupported in the midst of a natural wilderness, on which even the hand of agriculture, the first task-master of physical labour, has not as yet left so much as its lightest impression. He is told of busy ports, and harbours dotted with the flags of all nations — of steamers plying up and down, and to and fro ; and at once, by the most easy and natural of all associations, he sees a floating forest of branchless and leafless pines, throwing their streamers abroad upon the air, over the bosom of some Thames or Mersey yet unknown to fame, and ex- alting, by their commerce, the humble and industrious pedlars of the newly-planted cities into merchants who ere long shall become like princes. Such and similar are the impressions almost invariably made upon home-bred renders and aspiring emigrants by the perusal of favourable commissioners' very impartial reports, the works of interested or hasty and incompetent parties, and the inspection of maps upon which cities, only just conceived by the parental surveyor, are laid down as fully grown, and over which it is quite as easy to travel four or five hundred miles by the aid of a scale and a pair of compasses, as it is to walk as many single miles along the nasty, dirty roads of the " Old Country," from one's own house to the next village. t It is not a little surprising, too, with what unexpected ease a man fells imaginary timber growing upon a map ; selects his bit of " happy land " upon the bend of some delightful river ; knocks up his log- house, or "shanty," as the case may be; puts to the rout whole bodies of hostile and obnoxious Indians ; kills his own buffalo and deer ; catches more than he can consume every time he goes fishing, (since fish, in places of this description, are generally of such a gener- out in cap and court of intel- in of graceless illy impressed* lights of our sciences, and stitute, in his to view, and lal and moral less, on which lysical labour, He is told of — of steamers the most easy of branchless the air, over ame, and ex- edlars of the become like y made upon jf favourable sted or hasty which cities, )wn as fully five hundred is to walk as d Country," ease a man t of " happy up his log- rout whole buffalo and oes fishing, ch a gener- fit ^1: I sW • »- OR TEXIANA. ons nature, that they positively volunteer into your net, whether you want them or not) ; and, in short, succeeds so admirably in the country of his adoption (sitting all the while by his fireside, with his pipe and pot of English ale), that, in the course of a very few years, he finds himself perfectly independent, and as happy as a little rural king. Mory surprising, however, than all this, is the reality — the fact against the fiction. It is usually a rather melancholy surprisal, too. The flourishing •' city," rising in importance, in commerce, and in wealth, he discovers, in the majority of cases, to be not half so large as many an Englsh village ; its houses being of the poorest and most temporary nature, and reared here and there, and anywhere, with no more apparent regularity than is displayed by a crop of mushrooms that have suddenly popped their heads up some dewy morning in the prolific area of a sheep-pasture. Its " University " is considerably less than a country pedagogue's common school, both in its means of edu* cation and the number of its students ; while the magnificeiit pile of building in which the mysteries of language and mathematics are carried on, is built in the finest style of log and weatherboard architecture — the columns that support it being rough, unwrought cedar stumps, and the groining of the arched roof, the bare rafters and laths upon which the shingles are nailed. The '* commercial importance " of which he had read, is found to consist principally in the mutual peddling and swindling carried on by the inhabitants amongst themselves and their country neighbours ; while the remaining portion is made up of indi- vidual or associated monopolies, whovse strength is obtained, and power perpetuated, by the employment of much greater capital than the hosts of new settlers commonly possess. Such, at least, is the reality in Galveston, as contrasted with the imaginary picture drawn at home by the intending emigrant from the delightful sketches made by those fanciful and highly-poetical gentlemen whose various works upon Texas are already before the public. The lorest of masts, bearing the flags of many nations, dwindles into a few straggling poles, bearing the " star- spangled " bunting of the States, the " lone star " of Texas itself, and, possibly once in the course of four or five months, the red flag of St. George of England, — all, however, looking as idle, as melancholy, and as lonely, as so many half-starved cormorants, watching, from their c » .': if «i'i! 1^ w >^:f i 10 ST. LOUIS ISLE, perch of stone, whom or what they can devour. The arrival or de- parture of a steamer from or to New Orleans creates a sensation in the place, and two or three hours of common hurry and bustle alon in the course of a few seconds, nearly all have dropped into their holes in the banks. The body of the largest docs not exceed three quarters of an inch square, while the large claw is two inches and a half long. They arc harmless, and not unwholesome, although never eaten ; their diminutive size effectually protecting them from the ravenous appetites of the in- habitants. When, for the first time, we walked down the hot and sandy " Strand " (the principal street before alluded to), the name of " Van Winkle " upon the front of a store caught our eyes, and called up pleasant visions of Washington Irving's •* Rip ;" of mysterious, mute, and eternally-smoking Dutchmen ; of the famous Katskill Mountains ; and of the early times of settlement on Manhattan Island, when, per- haps, the New York of the present day was a sort of Galveston in this. And, at the moment, 1 wondered how long it might be before the first city of the " Lone Star " would become as great as is that of the many- starred banner which Washington and his colleagues have planted amongst the first and most permanent on earth. But nine months' experience and observation have since led me to the conclusion, that, to say the least of it, it will at least be a very long time indeed. The " stores " in Galveston are remarkable places — curious assem- blages of all manner of miscellaneous articles, in almost every depart- ment of human wants and occupations. Unlike the shops of Europe, in which one article, or, at most, perhaps some few of the same genus, constitute the staple commodity of the place, these stores inuch more nearly resemble a series of modern museums, the curiosities of which oil TEXIANA. 13 ly, are the amphibious act of their I the whole responding all appear- cts inhabit of it, and )m danger; >vement, a the course the banks, ich square, s harmless, lUtive size )f the in- tnd sandy '■ of " Van I called up ous, mute, ountains ; ■hen, per- on in this, e the first ;he mnny- e planted e months' iion, that, d. IS assem- y depart- Europe, fie genus, ich more of which iS are selected from almost every variety of manufacture upon the face of the globe. In one of these of any " mark and likelihood," you may be provided with house-brooms and hair-brushes, combs and rukcs, broad- cloth and baskets, wines, spirits and gu< vder, razors and Colt's six- chambered rifles, boots and bed-tickings, pottery of all kinds and ready- made pantaloons, fish-hooks and bacon, soap and soda, buckets, iron pots, washing-tubs, Yankee clocks, French silks, stoves, and an infinity of articles much more numerous and tedious to mention than all the un- mentionables of an auctioneer's catalogue. In short, with the two ex- ceptions of meat and fish, I believe everything that can be purchased is to be purchased at these medley repositories denominated stores. Throughout this immense variety, however, it may be necessary to state, that perhaps not a single article is produced by the Texan popu- lation itself, — all are imported. And as the storekeepers generally calculate upon a profit of ove hundred per cent, on the great majority of the goods in which they . ul, it may readily be inferred how rapidly the little money there is in the place becomes transferred from the pockets of the people at large to the pockets of the storekeepers. The latter have a practice amongst them of supplying the planters of the interior with a year's outfit of all kinds of necessaries, upon the pledge and security of their coming crops, — a system which keeps them long out of their money, and occasionally leads to losses of no incon- siderable extent. Accommodation of this description is also almost universally afforded by the shipping merchants of the Southern slave- holding States to the cotton-growers of that country, — a course which in many instances has pledged the latter two or three crops deep, and materially assisted, in conjunction with an atrociouUy bad banking system, to produce that stagnation and commercial distress, the com- plaints of which have latterly been so loud from those districts of America. In connexion with the stores, it may be opportune to mention, that the market in Galveston is held every day, Sunday included ; that day, indeed, being tho best in the week for abundance and variety. It con- sists principally of meat and fish of various kinds, with now and then a few vegetables. These are but seldom seen, being very scarce and dear ; a cabbage, about the size of a blacksmith's fist, readily bringing H ST. LOUIS ISLE, ■■"SRi. i% as much ns eightoenpence or two shillings English. Tho market is opened with the earliest peep of daylight, and may be considered well orer by six o'clock in the morning. The meat is killed during the preceding nighti and brought to the stalls in a state that may properly be termed yet warm with life. Even with this necessary though disa- greeable haste, unless it be cooked almost immediately, it will, during the hottest weather, turn green and putrify before mid-duy. At any time, to purchase more than is needful for the day's consumption is useless, as all beyond that becomes waste. Beef and fish are very cheap indeed — their price may be considered almost nominal ; pork is higher, and mutton higher still, though of the most wretched quality and the narrowest conceivable supply. The exceeding dearth of green vegetables is severely felt by the new- comer ill this intensely sultry climate, and, in conjunction with drink- ing-water of the vilest description, contributes, I doubt not, very much to the unhcalthiness of the 'neoplo (more especially of the poor, who constitute nineteen-twentieths of the whole), and at times renders both the island and the whole ot the sea-board a mere lazar-housc for disease and death to revel in. Melons, of various descriptions nnd the finest growth, flourish and abound during the heats of midsummer, and con- stitute, indeed, almost the only resource of the parched-up and sun- dried inhabitants. There are no springs in Galveston Island ; nor is there any fresh water, except what is caught during rain, and that which filters through the sand into wells — one of which is usually attached to each homestead. The former soon grows corrupt in summer, and abounding in the larvte of musquitoes, which assume the appearance of small eels with feathered heads, and arc amazingly active while in this aquatic state. The wells cannot be dug more than about eight feet deep, as below that measure lies a stratum of black pesti- ferous sea-mud, intermingled with rotten shells, the contact of which with the water renders it totally useless. During the hottest part of the year, these shallow wells luil jjartially, or altogether; and the drought that ensues is highly injurious to the inhabitants, as well as destructive to the cattle. At those times considerable money is made by such people as chance to have cither rain or well-water to dis- pose of. OR TEH AHA. lA er; and the s, as well as Although these minuto particui. may no ponfles* ny genrr»f interest, they will perhaps be pardoned when the read* i is up' « the many strenuous efforts already made, and yet making, lu popiil; t- Texas with English emigrants, and to whom, practica! .. such ai .. parcntly insignificant circumstances are of every importanc( . I will now proceed to make some few remarks upon the state of society in Galveston — to illustrate it by the story of Captain Thomp- son, who in 1841 met his death in Mexico, and thus conclude the present chapter. Texas generally may with safety be regarded as a place of refuge for rascality and criminality of all kinds — the sanctuary to which pirates, murderers, thieves, and swindlers fly for protection from the laws they have violated in other countries, and under other governments. It has become almost a proverb in the United States, that when a runaway debtor is not to be found, when a slave-stealer is totally missing, or a nuirderer has contrived to elude justice, he has chalked upon his house- door, " G. t. T." — Oone to Texas, Nor has this passed into a proverb without much fact to support it. Many innocent and deluded people are certainly mixed up Avith this vile population, and some mercantile men of respectability, education, and probity ; but, in the main, scoundrelism, under one shape or another, constitutes the larger portion of the present population of Texas. Were it either necessary or be- coming, I could give the names of several parties of the most respecta- ble standing in Galveston (so far at least as wealth may be considered to confer respectability), who were Southern slave-stealers, old smugglers and buccaneers in the Mexican and Indian Seas, runaway swindlers, and murderers in the States, This is stated with the greater certainty, as the individuals alluded to were within the range of my own ac- quaintance, and, in some instances, have related their lives and adven- tures within my own hearing. I also, on one occasion, accidentally met with no less a character than the first-mate to the celebrated Lafitte, the pirate whose head-quarters were on Galveston (formerly called S^. Louis) Island, and who took such an active part with the Americans at Orleans during their last war with England. On another occasion I shall probably have a curious story to tell of this old cam- paigner. m IG ST. LOUIS ISLF, m u * SniiK' i\\rvc or four years ngo, as I nm infonnod l»y tho older inlmbit- iiiits of tlie island, Galveston was scarcfly habitable by people of decent life, in consequence of the numbers of desperate ga?nbler8 who infested it — sot all law and authority at defiance, and by intimidation and force of arms (which they openly carried) maintained themselves at whatever ])eriod and during any length of time they might think jiropcr. At that period, the forinidablo bowie-knife was in pretty active operation, and assassination the ordinary termination of personal quarrels and dis- putes. Mr. F of Galveston, a gentleman whose kindness to mo in sickness and difllcultics deserves this public acknowledgment, has related an anecdote to me touching this subject which I cannot with- hold from the reader, as it so strikingly illustrates the lawlessness and disregard of human life which then prevailed. One evening, towards sunset, he was standing at his doorway in the principal street of Gal- veston, when he observed a man of respectable appearance and carriage coming down the rude causeway towards him. Not far behind was another individual, who walked rather faster than the first one, and apparently with the intention of overtaking him : this he shortly did, and on passing by drew a bowie-knife, si.J)bed the unsuspecting victim of his revenge, who instantly fell dead upon the spot, and with the greatest coolness and deliberation wiped the knife-blade upon his sleeve, and walked on as before. This was within about fifty yards of Air. F *s door. Little or no notice was taken of the matter, nor was the individual who had committed the crime even so much as arrested. In the " city" itself matters are now considerably improved ; but no farther off than Houston, and throughout the country generally, the knife, pistol, or rifle is the supreme arbiter in every personal " difficulty," as a quarrel is there termed, that occurs. Even during my own resi- dence in Galveston, a man was one morning found in the midst of the town sLaughtered in a similar manner, and, as far as my knowledge or inquiries went, with equal impunity on the part of the murderer. In- deed, at this very day, although the crime of assassination is actually less frequent than formerly, human life is held at the least possible value, and esteemed not too great an atonement for very venial crimes. I shall have occasion to give some curious illustrations of this fact OK TEXIANA. 17 Idcr inlinbit- plf of decent who infested on nnd force at wlmtcvor proper. At vv operation, rcis and dis- idncNS to niu dgment, has cannot with- lessncHH nnd inj;, towards rcet of G al- and carriage behind was St one, and shortly did, .'cting victim nd witli tlie in his sleeve, irds of Mr. ter, nor was as arrested, ed ; but no nerally, the •difficulty," ly own resi- nidst of the lowledge or derer. In- I is actually ist possible nial crimes, of this fact before my obiervations upon Texan society are concluded ; but for the present month let the story of Captain Thompson suffice. Being one evening at thn Tremont Hotel in company with Mr. F ■, the gentleman above alluded to, a large company being at the time present, he privately inquired of me whether I knew or had ever seen Captain Thompson, or Mexican Thompson* as he was more generally termed. On my replying in the negative, Mr. F pointed out an individual in the crowd, with the remark^" That is the very man f he is one of the boldest fellows that ever breathed, or he would not dare to come into Galveston, where he knows there are many who would seek his life, but are perhaps afraid to encounter him. He is a frank and good-natured man, but of the most desperate and reckless character. I do not think there is a single individual in the whole island who would care to fight him, if he could possibly help it, with any weapon." On inquiry, I found that Thompson (an Englishman, I believe, ^ birth,) had several years previously been the captain of a sloop-oi- ,v\4i in the Mexican service. During the latter end of the year 1835, I was ordered to Galveston Bay for the purpose, it was stated, of aj (lining the facts connected with certain troubles that had previou.iiy taken place at Anahuac between the Mexican Government and the people there. Thompson, however, improved upon these orders (if they were his orders), and at once attacked, captured, and carried off an American vessel, then engaged in the Texan trade, and which at the time chanced by ill luck to fall in his way. This act was regarded by the inhabitants as a virtual declaration of war on the part of Mexico, and the highest indignation was expressed towards the individual ag- gressor himself. Time passed on ; the revolution which made Texas inde- pendent was effected ; no restitution or redress for Thompson's violence was made ; when, lo ! he appeared in Galveston alone, and as bold and confident as Hector himself. He came and returned when and in what manner he pleased, and no man ventured to meddle with him. On my expressing the wish, Mr. F introduced me to this singular indi- vidual. He was a man of middle stature, stout but compact, possessed of the most good-humoured and pleasing of countenances, wore huge mustachios of a reddish-brown colour ; carried on all occasions a brace of double-barrelled rifle pistols upon his person, besides a bowie-knife ; D 18 ST. LOUIS ISLE, i,'!-% :■' \ while his conversation evidently showed that he lacked neither native intellect nor education. Indeed, to speak the truth, I was really " taken" with him. Some few days after this interview, Mr. S , the pilot, of whom I have previously made mention, expressed to me his intention of going down into Mexico Proper, with the view of settling there, in case things were found according to his expectation. From that time up to Novemher 1841, (and several months had elapsed,) I heard nothing of either Mr. S or Captain Thompson, until one evening as I was smoking my cigar after a hard day's hunting, and trying to fumigate away the myriads of musquitoes that filled the air as though with dust, Mr. S , the pilot, entered, and sitting down upon a rough-hewn sofa by my side, informed me that he had just returned from Mexico, and subsequently related the following story of Captain Thompson : — " Mr. Hooton," he began, " let me beg of you never to drink spirits any more ; for I have seen such a sight with Captain Thompson in Mexico, originating altogether in brandy-drinking, as I hope never to see again in this world, and which has made me a teetotaller for life." " What has happened, Mr. S ? " I inquired. " I told you," he replied, " that I was going down to Mexico. Thompson wanted to go with me, and eventually we agreed to sail for Tampico, taking my pilot-boat, and that Thompson should act as cap- tain. During the whole passage, which owing to unfavourable weather lasted nearly a fortnight, he did nothing scarcely but drink brandy day and night. He scarcely either ate or slept. When we arrived at Tam- pico and went ashore, Thompson put a belt round his body, stuck a brace of pistols in it, and additionally armed himself with a cutlass. Three of the men we had brought with us he armed in the same man- ner, and, thus attended, walked into the town. He said it was needful in such a place as Mexico, where a man was never safe of his life. In one of the principal streets, he stepped aside to get a "drink" of brandy-and-water at a groggery : when he had ordered what he wanted, he gazed steadfastly in the face of the landlord, who was serving him behind the bar, and then demanded whether his name was not so-and-so, giving the name, which I omit. The man said it was his name. * Then,' replied Thompson, * do you not remember, about seven years OR TEXIANA. 19 ago, being my first mate ? Do you remember how you betrayed me, and that I promised if ever 1 met with you again, no matter how long first, I would shoot you ? I shall be as good as my word.' And immediately he drew a pistol upon the astonished vintner and pulled the trigger, but the weapon missed fire. The second was upon the point of being discharged, when the man attacked drew a double- barrelled gun from underneath his counter, and before Thompson could fire a second time, put the contents of both barrels into his body : he was almost cut in two, and fell dead upon the floor. One of his men immediately jumped over the counter, sabre in hand, and clove the inn- keeper down, nearly cutting the head and upper part of the body from the remainder. They were now making off, when the acting authorities, hearing something of the disturbance, arrested the attempted fugitives, and within an hour, without judge, jury, or trial, the three men were shot. Such is law in Mexico, and such the effects of drink in this burning climate." And thus Mr. S ended his story, and thereby enabled me to be the first who has put the death of the notorious Mexican Thompson on record. ■ 'm 20 ST. LOUIS ISLE, 1 » CllAPTER II. :i n;i Bowie-knife described. Colonel Bowie. Unhealthiness of the Country. Appearance of the People. Our Emigrant Band. Austin. Galveston Doctors. Story of Tom the Sailor. Southern Planters and their Annual Migrations. Slavery. Black and White Labour. Mexican Inroads. Unsafe Travelling. The Santa F6 Expedition. Story of M'Allister. Texas bankrupt and powerless. Public Hos- pital. Failures of Intending Settlers. Having already mentioned the bowie-knife, as not only so common but so formidable a weapon, both in Texas and the whole South, the reader will perhaps not be displeased to hear a little more of it,— the various tragical hand-to-hand exploits which have been from time to time performed, even amongst the " highest circles " of that quarter of the world, through its agency, having conferred upon it a degree of bloody and horrible distinction never yet acquired by many of its elder brethren of the same craft. Let it not, however, be regarded altogether in the light of an engine of human slaughter ; since, in many other respects, it is one of the most useful of articles to the settler and fron- tierman. The same blade which this morning, perhaps, was buried to the hilt in the body of an enemy — or it may be of a friend, with whom its owner had a " difficulty " — will also serve to-night to carve the venison for supper ; to skin and cut up the hunter's game ; to extract hooks from the gullets of ponderous red-fish, when its master goes a-fishing ; or to supply any other need, no matter how small (if not too small for its own si'?e), for which a knife can possibly be required. In short, Butler has accurately predescribed its various uses — aided, no doubt, by a wonderful spirit of poetical prophecy — in the following charming portrait of the dagger of his " Sir Knight" : — " It was a serviceable dudgeon. Either for lighting or for drudtring : oil TEXIANA. 21 I When it had stabb'd, or broke a head, It would scrape trenchers, or chip bread ; Toast cheese or bacon, though it were To bait a mouse-trap, 'twould not care." Some of the tribe, nevertheless, are too exalted for these me- nial offices, and imbued with a spirit akin to that of many heroic men in our own times, who hold nothing worthy of themselves but " glorious war," and would rather rast in sulky repose for ever than for an instant condescend even to think of becoming useful in any other, and probably better capacity. To the best of my knowledge, this instrument was devised by Col. James Bowie, an American, and a man of desperate valour. He con- sidered, and apparently with justice too, that in close fighting, a much shorter weapon than the sword ordinarily in use, but still heavy enough to give it sufficient force, and, at the same time, contrived to cut and thrust, would be far preferable, and more advantageous to the wearer. He accordingly invented the short sword, or knife, which has since gone under his name. It is made of various sizes ; but the best, I may say, is about the length of a carving-knife, — cast perfectly straight in the first instance, but greatly rounded at the end on the edge side : the upper edge at the end, for the length of about two inches, is ground into the small segment of a circle and rendered sharp ; thus leaving an apparent curve of the knife, although in reality the upturned point is not higher than the line of the back. The back itself gradually in- creases in weight of metal as it approaches the hilt, on which a small guard is placed. The bowie-knife, therefore, has a curved, keen point ; is double-edged for the space of about a couple of inches of its length ; and, when in use, falls with the weight of a bill-hook. I have heard it stated, that a blow from one well wielded is sufficient to break a man's arm. Certain it is, that I have myself seen skulls of Mexicans brought from the battle-ground of San Jacinto, on which Texas gained her in- dependence, that were cleft nearly through the thickest part of the bone behind, evidently at one blow, and with sufficient force to throw out extensive cracks, like those of a starred glass. Thi» is more tiue to fact, than complimentary to Mexican valour. At the same time, it proves that old adages may occasionally be mistaken. — " He that I i kml ml fi Wi 1^^ oo ST. LODIS ISLE, !-> ^i f . 1 |-' ^ ■;[■'■; > lift fights and runs away," docs not always " live to fight another day." Bowie went to Texas during the trouhles which preceded the inde- pendence of that country, and was lying sick in bed at the Fortress of the Alamo, when, on the 6th of March, 1836, it was stormed by Santa Anna and taken. Bowie was murdered there upon his pillow The hand that formed the dreadful knife could no longer wield it. The celebrated Colonel Crocket, of Tennessee — of whose unmatched huntings and bear-excursions few readers but must have a vivid recol- lection — also fell in the battle of the Alamo. The authorities say, he was found almost buried amid the corses of Mexican soldiers whom he had slain before he himself fell. Perhaps I ought scarcely to have mentioned this circumstance, which is to be found in most histories, only tha* I wished to add to it the pleasing fact, that Crocket's favourite watch, which he had disposed of to a gentleman in the States during his long tramp through prairie and forest to the Texan frontier, was recently, and with generous consideration, returned to the Colonel's widow, when the possessor, for the first time, heard of his death. Although the act of carrying arms in secret is held to be illegal, yet it is quite general, I believe ; unless, perhaps, with the immediate in- habitants of a tolerably well populated town. They are generally at hand in the majority of stores ; in liquor-shops, either placed under the counter, or, more usually, behind the bar upon the wall, within reach of the individual attending, and immediately before the eyes of the customer. When openly carried, the knife is in a sheath attached to a body-belt ; when secretly, either in a narrow pocket, purposely made, down the straight part of the trousers' thigh, so that the bending of the body is not incommoded nor the weapon discovered ; or in a similar cascing down the back, between the shoulders. It is hence considered by sonie individuals as sufficiently indicative of evil intentions on the part of an opponent, if ^n the event of a warm dispute, or of presumed oflFence given, you see him pretend to scratch the back of his head, or make any other equally genteel and polite attempt to conduce to his own personal comfort and private satisfaction in that significant and suspicious region of a loafer's earthly tenement of clay. The ruder orders of people farther South — for there, no more than in England, are the "ruder" orders to be considc""'! as merelv «i'"""- OR TEXIANA. mous with the "lower" orders— have a custom, I am informed, of occasionally deciding desperate wagers of battle by hooking themselves together by the bands they wear, and thus fighting with the knife, sincp neither can get away, until one falls or both are killed. The majority of instances of summary knife or pistol law which occur or have occurred in Texas may be traced to one of three principal causes : — to political excitement ; to the custom of the people in as- sembling nightly at hotels, groggeries, liquor-stores, and certain bur- rows called Ten-pin alleys (for, nine pins being forbidden by law, they set up ten, and roll away day and night with impunity) ; and last, and perhaps most fertilr; cause of all, to the endless disputes amongst neigh- bours, and the injustice too frequently practised by one individual to- wards another, to which the wretched administration of the law — or rather, more truly, its non-administration — gives most ample scope and impunity. Indeed, in this last respect it may confidently be calculated on by the emigrant that he will have to carry his own law in his own person, and enforce it too, if need be, with such weapons as I have just spoken of. This is the case, as far as ever I could learn (and that without contradiction) throughout the country. In the first city of the Republic, I know, of my own knowledge, that the local executive — the best, we may suppose, in Texas — is nearly powerless, and its Court consequently the most hollow and ludicrous farce in the shape of a court of justice that ever, surely, bore the name. Other matters, more direct to my present purpose, prevent me from going into that highly- important subject at this moment ; but it shall by no means be over- looked in a proper place. Another peculiar characteristic of the state of refinement and social intercourse amongst the people of this country is, their inveterate habit of swearing and cursing. I say peculiar, because though no unusual thing elsewhere, yet its very excess, its depth and recklessness, consti- tute its singleness and singularity there. The current of thought and meaning very often flows into and becomes lost in an ocean if oaths, like a fresh stream in a putriJi sea, — oaths too of a character so entirely new and diabolical, that one would be apt to imagine the genius of Depravity herself had tasked her utmost powers to produce them for the especial use of this rising State. They likewise laugh uproariously <>4 m K'l m m m / 24 ST. LOUIS ISLE, ^ ''.'■"■' 'I e» . \n . 'k: and explosively, as it were, — concluding, as a matter of course, with n loud shriek not unlike the conclusion of the Indian war-whoop, and from which it is prohably derived. ' We had not been located many hours, after our arrivai, in the habi- tation of an English lady (Mrs. S.), whose husband was then in Eng- land on business than accounts began to pour upon us of the unheolthi- ness of the climate ; and ho trifling fund of anticipatory pity was exhausted upon us for the disappointments and miseries which we all were doomed to endure. The almost inevitable fatality of the main- land, and of those parts of the interior — Brazoria and the Brazos, for instance — where at present the greatest quantity of cotton is produced, was strongly dwelt upon ; unless the Northern emigrant who purposed settling on the land had taken the precautionary measure of becoming "acclimated"* by a year or so's residence on the island. Abundant illustrative cases not of doubtful significancy were quoted in support of these representations ; nor, in fact, did that kind of ocular demonstra- tion derived from an inspection of the crow '. of people wo daily saw, appear in the very least to deny them. Most of the men, particularly such as had spent mr.cii time up the country, walked with a loose, dangling gait, as though no tensity existed in the muscles of the body, and each joint of the bones had been separated, and subsequently re- united with bad wire, after the fashion of an anatomy. This did not arise, as might be ingeniously surmised, from the fact of their carrying such enormous loads of fat and lean as to make the supporting timbers of the living pile creak and stagger beneath their burden, — because verily they looked more like those spare-boned horses to which some 'cute Yankee alluded when he asked their owner whether he was a horse-builder. "Why?" demanded the other. " Becos, old feller," ■•eplied Jonathan, " I see you 're already set up the frames ! " While with literal accuracy it may be said, that real Texan complexions gene- rally are of a yellow kid-glove colour — or, let us in other language say, of a sort of witch-like and superhuman buff. Notwithstanding all this, we could not believe. The books said other- * This word is not in the dictionaries ; but as it is both usefid and expressive of Its meaning {accustomed to the climate), I have not hesitated to adopt it. -m the influence of the vapours arising from the cypress swamps of the Lower Mississippi. In fact, at one time " Galveston Island " was as universal a medicine as is now, or ever was. Dr. Morison's pills. Under these circumstances, I ask, how comes it that Galveston swarms with doctors ? that doctors find plenty to do amongst a population of from two to three thousand ? (I guess at it, since the authorities lite- rally cannot afford to pay for the taking of a census ;) that yellow fever and mitigated cholera are no strangers there ? and that the visits of Southern Americans and Orleanians for the sake of health have totally ceased, after only one or two experiments ? Perhaps Messrs. Newell, Lawrence, and Kennedy, who know so well the healthful pro- perties and the virtues of Texan air, will endeavour to reconcile these facts to the satisfaction of that public whom hitherto they have so wofully misled. At the same time, the charges of doctors (eight in ten at least of whom never had their diplomas) are most enormous. It is no uncommon th'ng to hear a labouring man state something to the effect that, " It 's of no use working here ; for if one contrives to save up seventy or eighty dollars beforehand, and then gets ' chill-and-fever' for two or three weeks, it all goes in physic, and then one 's just as for- ward as when one started." And such, in fact, is the case. While patients decline in purse, doctors acquife a highly healthy action of the same vital organ ; and though hundreds of the medicaWy-advised drop into their graves, I do not believe that Galveston Island can yet boast of containing the honoured bones of one solitary medical adviser. Like tarantulas, they can kill anybody except themselves. Should the inquisitive and curious reader wish to know why they especially contrive to escape while other people are seized, I reply — ^because they supply themselves out of the pockets of their patients with innumerable comforts and conveniences, calculated in that climate to mitigate or ward off disease, which the poor suffering patients, who have to work for their living, cannot, in nineteen cases out of twenty, supply themselves with. •r i I V n t' r 'I :ir i, > 1 ■|i! m1 i It i-' I I 1 '.! W- ST. LOUIS ISLE, IndividuuUy, I was cognisant of the fact that a common seaman before the mast was charged by one of these biting prussic-acid rascals no less a sum than seventy dollars (about £14 English) for somewhere near ti.^ee weeks' attendance, draughts and boluses included! Jack, however, (^Tom I ought to say, for that was his name, — Tom Allen, a Scot) — Tom swore lie would never pay it ; and Texan society may confidently n^pose its faith in bis promise — he is sure to keep it, for the best of reasons — because he never could pay. Incidentally, I may give a sketch of this man's career in Galveston. He was a seaman on biard the ship " Francis," in which we left England, and was, beyond comparison, the most able navigator on board. He had been to almost all parts of the known world, had fought as a pirate amongst the Turks, and had every nook and comer of the earth beneath his eye far more clearly than many a well-schooled student at twenty, with all his globes, his geographies, and his tutors. The Captain quarrelled with Tom on the voyage, because Tom grumbled at short commons and no grog. A regular c. ' ...id-dog, or dog-and-badger life, did they in consequence lead of it, until our passage was concluded. The Captain used to threaten to shoot Tom through the head ; a threat to which Tom replied by coolly reminding the old skipper that " two could pbv at that game," — as in truth they could had it been tried, for the latter had too much of the old pirate in him not to keep a '• bosom friend" of that kind with him ever after hostilities commenced. When we arrived in port, and the cargo was begun to be unladen, Tom discovered various casks of bottled London porter stowed away in the hold, belonging to his old enemy the Captain. This was a glorious revelation. He now determined to be revenged for the short allowance and grog-stopping to which the crew had been sujected at sea, by dis- cussing this identical porter while engaged with the rest of the men in unlading. He accordingly broke open the casks, took out the bottles, knocked the necks off and drank the contents along with his comrades, singing out " Yeo, oh — oh, — he-ave — oh !" all the while, to divert the attention of the first mate, who stood at the head of the hatchway on deck superintending the delivery of those portions of the cargo taken from below. By afternoon all the men below (in the hold) were gloriously drunk, and, long before sunset, totally unable to work. The OK TCXIANA. 20 mate found fiuilt, Tom grew rebellious and independent, the men backed him up, and, eventually a desperate and bloody fray took place on the wharf, in which Tom was worsted, and for which he was afterwards lugged off to prison. On the following day he was tried, and convicted in a tolerably heavy fine, which being paid out of his wages, left him at liberty again, and he returned to the ship. That sa' le night, however, he and two others, — one the cook, named Harry, and the other another Tom, a ship-boy, called, for distinction, Young Tom, — contrived a plan of escape from the ship altogether. At midnight they executed it so well, that, by getting on board a fisherman bound towards Houston, they were sailing up Buffalo Bayou before the old skipper of the " Francis" knew where to look for them. Young Tom made, however, a grand mistake : he left, in the hurry, his trunk on the wharf ; and when he next heard of it, it was found to have nothing inside, although it was quite full of new clothes when he left it there ! Tom Allen and Harry obtained employment in the con- struction of a boat for some settler upon the Bayou ; wliile young Tom (who eventually left his bones to bleach and dry in Galveston sand under circumstances of a very pitiable nature) rambled off over the prairie in quest of adventures and a living, and finally got elected to the office of cowherd to a gentleman squatter, who, after the accustomed Texan fashion, never paid him a penny for his service. I may, however, return to this unfortunate boy's story on a more fitting occasion. Tom Allen, that hardy seaman, — he it was who was suspended by ropes for half a day together with his lower extremities dangling in the sea, while he fixed our jury-rudder after getting aground as before related, and that at a time when every other man on board positively refused to do it from dread of sharks, which abound ift the Gulf; — Tom Allen, I repeat, soon fell sick, and subsequently, after the departure of the old ship for England, was brought down to the island more dead than alive. Then it was that he swallowed, in the course of so brief a period, seventy dollars' worth of doctor. After that he got into the dockyard ; and, in case his intermittent fever does not cause his promotion to heaven, or his degradation to the other place, I should feel inclined to J.I I, I* w ¥^ .;i* ''. . .']() ST. LOLLS ISLE, conclude, that in thi* l()n■ equally with thoso who make constant use of l)otli wine and spirits, arc liable to it. Nay, 1 have known worse cases amongst the former class even than the latter, and hence am partly induced to conclude thr t the atrocious compound of liquid matter, vegetable essence, and insect life and excrement, there termed " water," has more to do with it than is ordinarily s»ispected. The slightest mishap of this kind will frequently confine a patient to his house for weeks together, and gene- rally continue, fiom first to last, during a period of several months. The nctuiil difficulties of effecting the location of suitable land, settling down upon it, and working successfully through the host of impedinTiciits and privations that beset the savage life of a new beginner in a new country, are literally inconceivable, as contrasted with the previous conceptions of the intending emigrant, when, in the ardour of anticipation, he overclimbs the greatest obstacles with the same facility as the imagination may climb to the summit of the Ande?, and suffers only in fancy a thousand miserable necessities and pains, uny one half- dozen of which when embodied in fact may chance to make life itself appear (under such circumstances) no very desirable inheritance. This truth may receive some verification from the prodigious numbers of failures which occur in such venturous trials, to one single attempt that can be regarded as successful. Out of the thirty individuals who went ou.'. in the same vessel with myself, not more than three entertained for v, moment any other views than those of obtaining land, cither by purnhase, or through the medium of the Government grants, — of squatting upon it, and becoming for the remainder of their natural lives good citizens of the new Republic. Look at the result. Of all this number, not one succeeded in effecting the object for which he had left home and country, crossed thousands of miles of ocean, and gone to Texas. Before Christmas of the same year, some of them had returned home, or gone into the United States ; some were dying, some dead, and some almost perishing from sheer want, either because they could get nothing to do, or were too sick and reduced to work at all ; and some others, alas ! were imprisoned upon the island, merely because their resources being completely exhausted, they had not left the means wherewith to get away. u a 42 ST. LOUIS ISLE, Wlien occasion shall call for the relation of some of their stories more in detail, the public will perceive how easily, and by what a rapid process of transition, the earthly paradise of a couple of octavo volumes may be converted by disease and anxiety into a bodily and mental pan- demonium. May I never again see such ruin of body and fortune, such wreck of heart, as it was my fate to witness in Texas ! m 'A .V '4 OR TEXIANA. m CHAPTER III. My own Location. Bayous. Gardening. Pig-shooting. Cat-killing. Texan Courtship. Scarcity of Women. The President and the Washerwoman. Wea- ther -and Climate. AcTiNO upon the medical advices of the people with whom chance brought me into contact, in conjunction with the practical lessons taught me by a few weeks' experience, I soon resolved to remain (at least for the present) in the island; to abandon all immediate intentions of penetrating into the interior ; to await the result of farther knowledge, and profit, if possible, by the experiences of those who, in this parti- cular, were more sanguine and venturous than myself. Accordingly, while the various members of our emigrant party were dispersed far and wide, some in one way and some in another, I myself rented a cottage, with a large enclosure of garden-ground attached, about half-a- mile from the " city," and upon the border of a large bayou* about half-way across the island, between the Bay and the Gulf. Some two or three weeks previous to my entry upon it, this cottage had been fairly lifted off its foundations by a tremendous " norther," and canied a couple of yards backwards, but deposited again upon the ground as 1, 1 ivq * A Bayou (or Bt'ou, as it is pronounced) is a long, narrow, and tortuous watercourse, like a natural canal, which derives its origin from the sea, and runs inland, like a small river, to the length not unfrequently of some miles. One of these completely separates Galveston Island, and is pretty deep. Numerous others, generally fordable, intersect it in all directions, and render travelling a rather embarrassing business to any individual unacquainted with their position and depths. They abound with small fish and crabs, and, con- bcquently, arc the grand resort of all descriptions of wading-birds, which afford such excellent sport to the fowler. 41 ST. I-OUIH ISLF., Ir» ^i- level and uninjured as boforo. It consisted of two liirf^c roomsi, optMi to the ridgu inside, and constructed with the doors and windows opposite each otlier, nortli and south, for the benefit of tlie air. Daylij^ht sliono hero and tlicro tltrough the cracks and ill-fitting joints of the pinnk walls ; nnd on tho hcnms and rafters which supported the shingled roof, various colonies of a gigantic sort of wasp had established their home* steads, in the shape of large masses of mud, filled with holes of a geo- metrical figure, like those of a honeycomb. Mice also had built their nests on tho cross-timbers, ten or twelve feet from the ground ; and a small republic of fierce and warlike rats had additionally declared their independence of the tenant below, and hoisted the liberal fiag of rats- tail on the roof and upper beams of the building. Behind was a de- tached kitchen, which stood about two feet from the ground, upon fonr legs, like a stool. The enclosure in which all this was situated had once been cultivated, but was now '* an unweeded garden," a waste more rankly luxuriant by far than the open prairie itself ; for such all neglected land becomes after the spade or plough has thrown up hitherto-buried soil to the action of the sun and air. Snakes and lizards had made their choice dwellings in it, and the melancholy blue marsh- bittern sometimes paid it a brief visit of inspection at the hour of twi- light. Close behind us, the bayou expanded into a large shallow pool, about two feet deep — one foot of mud and one of water — which, morn- ing and night, and frequently throughout the day itself, unless too much disturbed by the sportsman's gun, was the constant resort of hundreds of wading and fishing birds, of all sizes, — from the snowy crane, whose breadth of pinion is six or seven feet, the large blue crane of still more ample dimensions, the gigantic wood-ibis, and the magnificent roseate spoonbill, down through all gradations of size to some even more diminutive than a sparrow. On some low sandhills beyond, our pro- spect that way was terminated by the melancholy remains of an unin- closcd grave-yard — the remote and barren resting-place of all who fell by the pestilent yellow-fever, when Galveston was visited by it in 1839. Just by way of illustrating the indifference which prevails there on this subject, as well as what little regard is commonly had to the ordinary observances of decent sepulture, a little incident may be mentioned which, at the time of its occurrence, shocked my feelings considerably. %i^ ii . l.-Ki;*; i l-- j'M *^ mm 9^' Pt^ w' 'sir, Km ^ ^ >, • ' ■ ■■ *' At so in the — acr grave- along divide some ( usual upper the ha ? of dec( The Ic up the clothes -Zilp. h , i OH TEXIANA. 45 . I At some -cceut period, subsequently to the burial of the fevered corses in these dry sandhills, a road had been formed — not dug, but trampled — across the prairie, and directly through the centre of this dreary grave-place, leading to the shore of the Gulf. The first time I walked along this track, and was passing between the banks formed by the divided ridge of hills, my attention was arrested by the appearance of some object protruding out of the sand on one side, of a somewhat un- usual character. On stepping up to it, I found it was no other than the upper end of a rough coffin, the lid of which had been pulled aside by the hand of some one curious in the investigation of nature's laboratory of decomr jsition, and there left, as too troublesome to be replaced. The loose, fine, dry sand had run down from above, and nearly filled up the vacancies of the inside ; while from amidst a mass of poor grave- clothes and sand, intermixed, stared forth a dry and withered head, yet covered with long black hair, upon which corruption had not taken place, owing to the total absence of all moisture, and the excessive heat of the climate, but which appeared not unlike that of an Egyptian mummy, or the preserved head of a New Zealander. A small but horrid kind of land-crab, found amongst these arid places, had left the claw-marks of its journeying to and from the coffin upon the smoothly- drifted sand ; and now and then the filthy carrion-eating turkey-buzzard might be seen hovering about the place, or perching on the top of some adjoining wooden tomb. Nothing else of life was to be seen, from one horizon to the other. The waste amid which the corpse lay, seemed as dreary and as dead as the corpse itself. I turned away half heart-sick : my dog ran towards it, snuffed up the air, and turned away also. I believe it lay in that exposed manner a week or ten days, when some one, professing more respect for the remains of man's mortality than fear of recalling buried fever from the grave, placed some thorns upon the coffin, and covered the whole up again, though still it stood out upon the line of road like a large molehill. The landscape, I had for- gotten to say, was embellished from this gcave-yard view by a fine prospect of the gallows, upon which a " nigger " had once been hung, I think for murder. With the exception of hemp, all the requisite machinery was in perfect readiness for the next volunteer. My next-door neighbour in this retreat was Major A , a Ken- kt 46 ST. LOUIS ISLE, tuckian by birth, a hero of the Revolution, and Mayor of the City of Galveston. Possessed of all the half-savage characteristics both of his origin and of Texan society generally, he yet was, both in manners and education, a gentleman. The propinquity of our dwellings soon pT3ced us upon the footing of familiar acquaintances, and thus helped to be- guile many of those tedious and listless hours which, in a hot climate, and amidst a coarse, illiterate people, will inevitably steal a march upon any man whose tendencies and tastes unluckily chance to require mental provender of a rather more dainty quality than the intellects of a population of carpenters, blacksmiths, and petty shopkeepers are in general empowered to furnish. It was, I think, in the " merry month of May" that I first set to work upon Galveston soil, and began to put to the test of practical experiment the boasted productiveness of its never-fading gardens. " Nearly every month," so writes the Rev. A. B. Lawrence's protege, *' can furnish fine lettuce, radishes, beets, and peas, and thus regale the appetite of the Northern traveller, as he arrives on the coast in winter, with the luxuries of his own summer season." Plaving got my ground in order, I planted three kinds of English peas, Brussels sprouts, French beans, parsley, radishes, car ots, onions, garlic, and shallots. Lest, however, these should, like many other flattering Texan promises, chance to fail, I also put in a numbti* of seeds which we had brought from the Isle of St. Thomas, West Indies, consisting of mangoes, mammae apple, soursops, mespils, shaddocks, and a large brown bean, which I found growing upon the rocks of the Bay. The season being dry — so dry indeed that nearly all the wells in the island failed — I had these seeds watered with persevering constancy whenever they required it, but always before sunrise and after sunset. Eventually the largest kind of pea (which in England grows to an enormous size) grew from three to four inches high, flowered, and bore pods, little more than an inch long, with one or two perfectly-matured peas in each. The other kinds did not even show their noses above- ground ; while of all the other English seeds, as well as West Indian, not a single one came up at all, ^ I re-dug my whole garden, and tried a second experiment with sweet potatoes and water-melons of various kinds. These succeeded to ad- 1 I y I' OR TEXIANA. 47 miration ; and I had the daily pleasure of seeing my melon vines stretching over the soil at the rate of little less than a foot in twenty- four hours. With great care and attention, some two or three hundred melons were produced, and approaching to ripeness, when one dire black day — a day that " stands aye accursed in the (gardening) kalendar" — I betook myself to a deer-hunt some twelve or fifteeen miles down the island ; was out one day and two nights, and on my return home found Gay's fable of the pig in the tulip-ground realised amongst my crop of water-melons. As this matter, slight as it may seem, subsequently caused my life to be openly threatened, the reader will excuse such particulars as it may appear necessary to give. Any gentleman who happens to be enthusiastic in natural history as displayed in the grunting genus of animals ought to go to Galveston forthwith, since no place can be named where greater facilities for study in that particular department of science may be enjoyed. Parson Trulliber would have been in greater ecstasies there than ever he was, even when he pushed his brother Adams into the hog-sty ; since the pigs are not only amazingly numerous, but remarkably acute and sharp, and, in their industrious researches after the various edible delicacies of the island, display a degree of sagacity and discernment eminently cal- culated to redeem the character of their whole race from that odium of proverbial stupidity which, by the common consent of mankind, has been fixed upon it. Enjoying unchecked the republican freedom of going at large wherever they please, both town and prairie are overrun by numberless herds of them. Useful as aids and assistants to the turkey-buzzard in clearing away all descriptions of refuse and offal, they likewise exert all their powers of nose an 1 teeth in smelling out and destroying snakes of all kinds, which they devour with surprising avidity; in fact, through their instrumentality mainly, is the eastern end of the island, upon which the city stands, indebted for its compara- tive freedom from those annoying and dangerous reptiles. The pig catches a serpent by placing his foot upon it, and pinning it to the ground in the division of his hoof. Both day and night do they hunt about over miles of ground, though most generally during the day. Early in the morning, almost before daylight, they may be seen setting out from the town in the greatest of all possible hurries, and in distinct I' ' Tf, 48 ST. LOUIS ISLK, 8 iim^ in droves, towards the prairie swamps and sides of the bayous, calling at every detaclted settlement in ''.leir way, to pick up what may chance to have been thrown outside the enclosure — not omitting to walk into your f^arden, if entrance can be found and no human creature can be seen ; but carefully abstaining from r y attempt of the Letter kind should a two-legged enemy, either in trousers or petticoat, appear to have an eye upon them : in this case, they content themselves with a longing peep through the palings, just by way of seeing when your sweet potatoes are likely to be ready, or your water-melons getting towards ripe. One very large old sow in particular I remember that used to pay a visit to my neighbour Major A 's garden about two o'clock in the morning, lift the gate off the latch with her nose, and deliberately walk in to devour whatever freshly-grown greens the Mji^^r and his gardener had contrived to raise. Our separation fence was in indifferent repair, and, consequently, I also became occasionally vic- timised through the same channel. At first, I contented myself with driving the pigs out and securing my fences, but, on the solemn advice of the Major, resolved afterwards to shoot every pig found within my horticultural territory. " D — 'em, Hooton ! " said the Major, " shoot every one of them, and send me in a piece of the pork. I shall do the same thing, and wc will, at least, have bacon for our greens, if we can get nothing else." As this advice came from no less a personage than the mayor of the city, and he promised to see me out of all trouble in case any indict- ment for pig-slaughter should be brought against me, I did not for a moment hesitate to take it. Still, I adopted all preventive measures within my power, as loath to get into a "difficulty" if it could be avoided, and knowing, at the same time, that pig-shooting in Texas is about as dangerous a crime to the individual perpetrating it, as man- slaughter or wilful assassination. As my melons grew towards ripeness, the temptation to the enemy without grew greater and greater, as evinced in the increased numbers of swinish inquiries that were daily and nightly made through the aper- tures of the external fences. Still, in spite of all precautions, occa- sional watchers would get in for a few minutes, and retire again with a charge of buck-shot more thar they calculated on. But on that sad 'if OR XnXIANA. m I and Uttlucky day on which I left the place to take care of itself for a while, a whole legion of them took advantage of iny absence — wrenched the palings off with their flexible snonts, and were actually revelling amongst melons and sweet potatoes at the identical time when I re- turned home. The garden was totally destroyed — trampled down, eaten, and grubbed into enormous hills and hollows of lifelis waste, after a fashion that would have made Abercrombie or Mr. Loudon frantic. So intent were many of them upon their feast, that I slipped into the house unobserved, and, in addition to a charge of shot already in my fowling-piece, loaded with a pistol-ball and two triangular pieces of rough lead, being determined to bring down my game if possible. Major A was looking over his fence, and smiling at these i)repara- tions as he pointed out to me the principal offender and ringleader of the herd. It was no other than his night visitor, the old sow. At a distance of about thirty yards, she received the whole contents of the gun upon the side of the head or neck — I could not tell which, owing to the dusk of night which was then approaching. She spun round two or three times, and fell. I ran into the house for a bowie-knife, to finish the business ; but before I could return, she had got up and trotted away. 1 gave up all attempts at gardening for the future, and endeavoured to satisfy my feelings of mortification and revenge by shooting every head of swine that came into my waste, whether by day or by night. Still, out of at least a round dozen that were well shot, I did but succeed in converting ono into pork ; — a piece of sporting ex- perience which warrants me in stating, for the information of old shots in England, that to kill a pig by one discharge of powder and lead is next hooti:!g of. one belongin;.|S; to i!;c British Consul in Hous- ton, under circumstr.uct s similar to th,-:..^ I havo detailed, led to a great political difficulty, and at one timo rather seriously threatened a rupture between the two countries ! The Texan Government, however, made the amende honorable as mcII as it could, and thus most happily averted what might have proveti a painful and prolonged warfare between the advocates of gardens, and the numerous and savage supporters of the constitutional and inalieiinble rights of pig. Cats, also, constituted another terrible source of annoyance and de- struction upon our premises. In consequence of the weather, it is impossible to shut up your kitchen, or place where meat is kept, even during the night. Our kitchen had a window at each end, both of which were always left open for the air. The feline tribes in the neigh- bourhood soon discovered this interesting fact, and made great profit of it by nightly devouring our fish and meat, and concluding by licking the dishes off the shelves to the floor, and then flying at a maniacal speed from the clatter of their own raising. It required considerable address to drop upon these alert and soft- footed gentry — especially during the dead of night, when, in white nightcap and bedgown, the sportsman has to turn out at a moment's warning, and creep upon them with sufficient caution to get within shot. The nights, however, in that climate can never be called dark, like those in this country, unless some northern storm be drifting along % ; oa TEXIANA. m the sky, in which case they are as black as the bottom of the Dead Sea. In consequence of this, I could frequently get to one window, while some thievish Tom or Tabby was perhaps hesitating suspiciously and reluctantly on the side of the other. By thus shooting through the kitchen, I eventually relieved the neighbourhood of some of its finest midnight prowlers, and provided many excellent morsels for the buz- zards, which never failed to come and decently inter the corpes in their own stomachs. Luckily for the welfare of my face and head of hair, there were few or no old maids in Galveston — women being so remark- ably scarce, that a maid is hardly to be met in a day's march ; and widows of any mark or likelihood are either pestered to death by loafers of all descriptions, or compelled to get married again, if only as a stroke of good policy, and in sheer self-defence. Some few months after our location in the delightful habitation just described, an English vessel arrived in Galveston Shallows, with emi- grants of a tolerably respectable class as the world goes ; and amongst them was one married gentleman, without family, who died within two months (I think) after setting his foot upon Texan sand. A sprightly and gay widow of about five-and-twenty, with the highly-prizable qua- lification of a small property (a qualification more invaluable, perhaps, in Texas than in any other known region of the earth), was immedia- atcly subjected to a kind of matrimonial public competition. The town was thrown into a state of social hurly-burlyism : single gentlemen dressed up in their best, and pranced and capered about upon unruly horses all in the widow's neighbourhood ; small but ambitious and as- spiring storekeepers rubbed their hands till their eyes sparkled again — peeped into their tills, cleaned up their fronts, and respectfully invited the widow to a seat, a cake, and a glass of wine, whenever she honoured the public side of their counters with her presence. Nothing, in fact, could be heard along all that part of the coast of the Mexican Gulf but the name of Mrs. . It surpassed in intensity of interest, and (of course) in beauty of association, the most horrid murder that ever was committed : it superseded the news from Orleans, and slipped un- consciously out of the mouths of bachelors whenever they attempted to tell you either about their own health or the present value of a Texan dollar. i» ST. LOUIS ISLK, f.'P'.ii ■i .. As Ihis lady's husbuiul died while tlu-y were yet reiimiiiing at one of tlie hotels of the town, she found it necessary immediately to take a private house ; and, as chance would have it, she took one upon the prairie close by our own. A servant-girl, about as big again as herself, constituted licr only companion in this retreat ; and when she came to take possession of it, such an escort of anticipatory husbands attended as was truly marvellous to behold. In no long time, there were a wine- merchant, a sea-captain, a baker, a liquor-store keeper, and a petty Galveston doctor, all together keeping a sharp look-out after the widow, and contending in jealous emulation for the honour of her hand. Nor was this all : numbers of other bachelors, without an object, but deficient in " pluck," talked and boasted of meditated conquests as yet only in the egg state — while the aforesaid baker's man, and the proprietor of a ten-pin alley, severally laid close biege to the servant. Now the widow gave none of them the least kind of serious encouragement, but, being one of the most giddy, mischievous, wicked young witches that ever did undertake to tease and torment the heart of unfortunate man, ex- erted her utmost abilities (and they were not few) in turning the whole affair to funny account, and setting her host of mercenary lovers as much at loggerheads as possible. The baker, a steady, industrious, ignorant and raw Irishman, tolerably " well-to-do" in the city, who was previously in the habit of bringing bread round our neighbourhood early in a morning, mounted on the seat-board of a cart, and dressed like any sloven, now shaved and spruced himself up because he had to call at the widow's on his rounds. And whereas he was always before in such a desperate hurry to get back to the town again, that he might justly have been' regarded m the light of a flying baker, lo! now he began to dismount at the widow's, and leave his horse to take an hour's nap standing at the gate, while that courteous and facetious lady allowed him to entertain himself at her breakfast -table. Being, however, of not the most valorous disposition, he held his rival the sea-eaptain in great dread, and usually contrived to sit where he could have an eye upon the window and discern him upon the prairie afar off (in case he should be coming), so that time might be allowed for his precipitate escape with his cart before Greek could meet Greek face to face, and Soft-bread and Sea-biscuit could jostle too closely together. ■ k.' •'•^* OK TCXIANA. 6B tscape •bread In the course of the morning, she would take a drive with the cap- tain, — he, by the way, in order to demonstrate hia triumph, generally contriving to crack his whip close by the very door of the baker who had been before him. After dinner, she might chance to ride out on horseback attended by the young wine-merchant — and in the evening be perhaps so perseveringly waited upon by several together, that all her address was required to stow them away out of one another's reach or knowledge, in order to prevent any alarming symptoms which might else have arisen on her premises of bowic-knifc and bullet. On Sun- days the baker's man arrayed himself in his Texan Volunteer dress, and, with musket on shoulder, marched in military pomp to subdue the female force of the kitchen ; while he of the ten-pin alley shone in the glittering colours of a fantastical half-Mexican fiilled and decorated garb, not very distantly related to that of a harlequin. Not, however, to prolong this tittle-tattle, which is far better adapted to the genius of Mrs. Trollope or of Miss Mitford than of my pen, let it suffice the reader to be informed, that after the expenditure on the part of all these loving applicants of a vast deal of time, of buggy-hire, and of attendance, — after the wine-merchant had betaken himself to scandal and claret in despair — the captain sworn a violent oath that he would shoot or knife any man who dared to wed the widow except himself-— afler the liquor-store keeper had given it in as a hopeless speculation, the doctor discovered it was no joke to be made fun of, an'' the baker had even gone so far as to re-model, re-paint, re-furnish, and re-carpet his bachelor's hall, in the self-imagined confidence of soon having a gentle addition to his household, — the widow openly avowed that she knew they only wanted her for her money, refused to have any of them, and remained a widow still when I bade adieu to Galveston. From all this, however, a moral may be drawn, for the benefit of the unmarried of the gentle sex at home ; since it clearly appears, that if a woman may be no more of a witch in her own country than a man is said to be a prophet, she has only to go to Texas to charm and fascinate at least one-half of a town's bachelor population. I knew a lady there, about three-and-twenty, who had been married three times, and was then on with her third husband, who, if I recollect aright, was hardly ex|)cctcd to get better. For, notwithstanding the scarcity of women is iti-f ii ST. LOUIS isll;, oat t)f tliis house till ho does pay. Next weeks don't do for rn, :, Ihf y "re always coming, hut never comes.' " • Then, I no tak clothes ! ' •• • Touch 'em, at your black peril, if you dare, till them two dollars and a hafe is pead into these crinklinp; fingers that 's smarted over 'em!' says I, and in that way I got rid of him. After a bit, he comes ngain, and says he — ' Massa send his com'I'ment and say he send mony Mundy, only he mus hav clothes t'night, cos he goine out t'morrow, and his shirts all in that bun'l.' " ' I've nothing to do with his going out or his stopping in ! If folks can't afford to pay for their shirts washing, they've no right to dirty 'em — that's my maxhum. Now, yo' need not stop sturing and grin- ning there, becos they shan't be stirred out of this house till they are pead for, be it longer or shorter first.' And wi' that I sent him back a second time. Same night, a gentleman taps at nr door — a tall, stout gentleman he was — and says he-— ? " ' Ah, Mrs. Jones ! ' says he, ' so you won't let my slave bring my clothes home, I understand ? ' " ' Not till they 're pead for, sir,' says T. He smiled and said he dare say it was right enough, and then began to look round the room. * Well,' said he, ' you 've a very delightful little house here, very in- deed. Ah ! that 's a beautiful clock — a beautiful clock it is ! Did you bring it from England ? ' "• We did, sir.' ' ^ - " ' Well, I should like such a one very much. Do you think your husband would part with it ? ' " ' I dare say he would, sir, if he could get his price for it.' '* ' Hum ! — well, when he comes home, tell him a gentleman will buy , it of him if he'll name his price, and I'll call up again on Monday — and, at the same time, Mrs. Jones, I can settle this trifle about the washing, you know. You've no objection to my taking the clothes, I suppose?' " ' Not if you'll pay me for 'em, sir.' He langhed at that, and said he, 'You don't seem to know who I am, Mrs. Jones ?' " ' No, sir,' said I ; 'and us far as that goes, I don't care either !' OR TEXIANA. I» " ' My name is 8ain Houston.' " ' Sam Houston or Sam anybody else, it inakea no differonco to nic. Them sbirts shan't go out of this house till they are pcad for, if they stay for six months, for I can't afford to buy soap and sal-eratus, and wash folks's things in at th' bargain, if they niver pay for it when it's done. Besides, sir, I should think you can't buy th' clock if you can't pay for your weshing.' " So he laughed agen, and bid me a good-night. Kext morning his nigger corned up agen pretty early, and broat th' money along wi' him ; but I didn't know till then, when I axed him, that I 'd bin talking a-that-a-way to th' President o' th' country his-self. However, I always had his weshing after, and he always took care to send th' money for it when it was done." • Any woman who happens to possess a genius for washing — an en- thusiast in the business — a creature whose highest delight is in " fine drying- weather" — must needs pass a blissful life in Galveston, since kitchen-flres are altogether superseded by the more economical heat of the sun, and clothes-horses ore a mechanical invention the utility of which can scarcely be comprehended so close upon the Tropic of Cancer. This will readily appear, if I may be allowed to pass, by such a rapid transition as the present, from washerwomen to the weather. It has been affirmed by various Texan advocates, that the climate of the country is neither so hot nor so cold as in the more northern At- lantic States, but that the prevailing character of the weather all the year round is much the saine with our Hne summer weather in England. Now, as facts in this matter are preferable to assertions, and the quick- silver tongue of a thermometer is better to be depended upon than the silver tongue of any interested author, let us see what one of Fahren- heit's says of the heat and cold in Galveston. Opportunity did not allow me to begin a register until the 16th of July ; but from that period to the middle of December, with some few unavoidable omis- sions, it is sufficiently complete to give a just idea of the heat which is " not too great to work in," and the cold which never grows unpleasant. The thermometrical "averages" given by Mr. Kennedy are very apt to mislead the reader. It is not by averages that the body feels changes or excesses of temperature. It is by these relatively, one to anothcri .■rA^ '} V. m hI 4 I? ' l S8 ST. LOUIS fSI.E, that the constitution is most affected. I prefer, therefore, to give a few accurate particulars, to averaging the various temperatures through- out the day and night during any given month of the year. The season of 1841 was in no respect unusual;, and as Oalveston Island is neces- sarily much cooler than the habitable *' narrow strip " of mainland, with its calm, dead atmosphere, some idea may be formed of the greater heats of these swamps and alluvial bottoms. On the 16th July, at six in the morning, about sunrise, the thermometer stood at 80 deg. Fahrenheit in the shade ; at seven, it was 100 deg. in the sun ; at mid-day, 100 deg. in the shade : next day, at seven a.m., 108 deg. in the sun. On the 25th, before sunrise, and in the house (open all night), 71 deg.; at six, 102 deg. in the sun ; and, at seven, 115 deg. On the 29th, at ten a.m., 124 deg. in the sun, with a north-east breeze. This was at my house on the open prairie ; but, in the city, the ther- mometer, under the same exposure, stood at 140 deg. On the 5th of August, at six a.m., 80 deg. in the shade, with an east wind ; at ten a.m., 119 deg. in the sun and wind. On the seventh, at the same hour in the morning, 80 deg. ; and, at half-past eight a.m., 122 deg. in the sun, it being a dead calm ; at mid-day a strong breeze blew, and the thermometer fell to 120 deg. ; at four p.m., 108 deg. in the son and wind. Throughout the remainder of the month, the average was some three or four degrees lower. About the middle of September, the ther- mometer varied from 70 deg. in the shade, to 99 deg. in the sun and wind. A month later, the temperature varied from 50 deg, to 70 deg. morning and evening — noon is not marked. From the beginning to the middle of November, the lowest registration was 55 deg. in the shade at eight a.m., and the highest 105 deg. in the sun at nine a.m. About this time many of the feathered tribes became migratory, as vari- ous red-birds and Bohemian chatterers stayed on the 14th in our gardens, apparently on their passage south. During the remaining portio*^ jf the month, the temperature varied early in the morning from 58 deg. to 70 deg. ; and, at noon, from 70 deg. in the shade to 98 deg. in the sun. On the 26th a "norther" came on, and the thermometer suddenly fell, at seven in the morning, to only 2 deg. above freezing ; at noon it mounted to 46 deg., and fell by ten at night to 40 deg. On the 28th, the norther still continuing, at seven in the morning it was as I. *.4 iilr OR TUXlANAk low as 22 deg., and, of course, there was a severe frost ; at noon, 28 deg., and the same at sunset. The next day, at seven a.m., it rose to 44 deg. On the 4th December, at seven a.m., 43 deg. in the shade ; at noon, 56 deg. in the same place, and 86 deg. in the sun ; at sunset, 56 deg. again, in the house. Similar degrees of temperature prevailed until the 8th inst., beyond which my register does not extend. The " averages " of all this might make a very delectable climate ? but the fact is, that the various changes are felt very severely, and especially by indivi-^uals who are openly exposed to their influence. After a succession of hot weather, a norther, with the thermometer down to freezing point, will, with many constitutions, produce the sense of excessive cold, and cause ague and fever to a certainty. These north- ers are sometimes accompanied by frightful storms of thunder, light- ning, and rain ; during which, what with the rattling of the latter upon your shingled roofs and wooden walls, the roaring of the wind, and the never-ceasing bellowing of the thunder, broken now and then by terrific claps that convey the sensation of an immense weight let fall upon the top of the skull, it is next to impossible to make yourself heard by a person sitting close alongside, unless by literally shouting very loud. The lightning is incessant— the heavens appearone mass of vaporous fire, intermingled with streams of forked lightning of all colours, that really seem to run down from the sky like molten metal. Two or three hours of this are not amongst the most pleasant of things; but it has its glories, nevertheless. However, it is " time to be silent " for this once. r4 Sv'li: ST. LOUIS ISLK, CHAPTER IV. Romance and Ilcalit}'. Cedar IJayou. Fate of L.'s I'arty. A Bull dog dcvotirccJ. Wild Cattle. A delirious Crew at Sea. Miserable Death of Henry J. Music in Galveston. The Staffordshire Curate's Son. The Old Vintner. Story of Poor Tom, the Ship-boy. F^J ■. '■ r' fit >^ r ■■ 1 Amongst our band of emigrants who left England i the full and final intention of settling for life in Texas, was a sort of family party, composed of a Mr. L., his mother, wife, several young children, and his sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. P. All were full of hope, but the first-named individual, the most full of money, perhaps, of any one who sailed on that occasion, with the fixed determination to live and die in the land of his adoption. As the story of this family is one of the most strikingly illustrative at once of the "healthiness" of habitable Texas and of the fate which commonly awaits Northern emigrants that my observation and experience enable me to adduce, I will give it at once, and, without regard to the period of time it occu- pied in the development, state it from first to last as briefly as the subject will allow. During our passage out, we heard great boastings from this family party about a high-sounding locality in Texas called " Cedar Bayou," to which they were bound ; as well as much grand small-talk touching a certain Captain S., a friend and distant relation — an old campaigner in various parts of America, who had finally settled in Texas — and at whose recommendation, also, it was that these samples of three living generations had embarked for that blessed country. They were about to locate land (£300 purchase-money) immediately adjoining their good friend and cousin Captain S., who had now been settled two or three years, and whose descriptions of the locality were almost as charming OR TEXIANA. m as Milton's of the Mount of Paradise, — making, of course, the regular abatement for the terrible consequences of the fall of Adam and Eve ; since even Mr. Kennedy himself must, as a good Christian, allow that, indescribable as the present beauties of Texas are, they must have been indescribably more so before the Great Deluge of the era of the patri- arch Noah. Still there is everything left in Texas short of the Tree of Life, and that of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Americans have a saying, that there is a place in Texas so remarkably healthy, that people never die there — unless they chance to grow so desperately tired of life, that, for the mere sake of getting rid of it, they either hang, shoot, or drown themselves. Yankee-like, however, they do not say how long it takes to satisfy a resident of this Vale of Enna that a long rope is preferable to life, or a bullet in the brain to buffalo beef and a squatter's happiness. Cedar Bayou, then, was everything. Alligators swam about in the front of the house ; the whole region thereabouts abounded in game ; and herds of fine deer not unfrequently came, in all unconscious security, so close upon Captain S.'s log mansion, that he could shoot them down without going further in the pursuit than upon his own terrace, or to his chamber-window. What a pleasant foreshadowing of future delight was this to sick and heart- weary passengers, gazing over a ship's bulwarks into the vacancy where land should be, and longing, like lovers after th». absent, for that bliss to come, the very thought of which made present pain less durable ! Immediately upon their arrival, preparations were made for an in- stantaneous removal from the ship to Cedar Bayou ; and cases of crockery, glass, and tV.n .cure, translated from a liOndon drawing-room, not forgetting a pianoforte to enliven the prairies, and mingle its nightly music with the howling of the wolves, — all were bundled into a barge alongsi^'r^ and, with some few casks of dry provisions to fall back upon, the happy group set out for the head of Galveston Bay, on which Cedar Bayou lies. For a while we who remained on the island heard little or nothing of them, except nov/ and then when Messrs. L. and P. rambled five or six miles through wood and prairie in order to reach the Houston steamer as she passed down the paltry channel of Buffalo Bayou, and .1' '■ ^Ai ■ \ '4-. 5 .■'tiy h m ST. LOUIS* ISLE, :^i; ?f f«4 thus got a lift as far as the island ; but on those occasions we received iiourishing accounts of the delightful country in which they were situated— of the magnificent cedar woods, where the white man's axe might cut and come again with unlimited impunity — of the Captain's timber dwelling, upon a scale as gigantic as an English baron's castle — and many protestations that they were literally so enchanted with the place altogether, that no consideration on earth could ever induce them to leave it again. At this time they were felling trees, and engaged in interesting dis- cussions and agreeable social squabbles as to the most eligible site for their contemplated house. In the mean time, Captain S. had accom- modated the whole family with shelter beneath his ample roof; but as the Captain in the construction of his aaztXe had committed the small oversight of spending all his resources upon the outside shell thereof only, it is not very surprising (what was indeed the fact) that the whole of the interior should be without partition-walls, so as to con- stitute chambers and separate apartments. With this large influx of new-comers, male and female, one room, however extensive, would scarcely sufllce. The defect, however, was soon remedied, by suspend- ing sheets and blankets from corner to comer and side to side, and thus shooting up w ^oUen walls and linen defences, instead of planks or lath and plaster. But trifling incu.ivenicnces of this kind are cheerfully endured, if indeed they do not vanish altogether, when thoughtful and reflective emigrants come to recollect that it cannot be expected that everything should be exactly to one's mind in any part of t!ie world, --not even in Texas, though it does so far surpass every other known ;)ortion of the great globe in furnishing all that the human heart can d ^sirc. The Captain also had a body-guard of dogs, of no mean size or very gentle nature, as may be surmised from the fact, that they earned their own living, equally with the wolves, by hunting down rabbits and other small game, and, on one occasion, fell unexpectedly upon one of their own species, and summarily disposed of his remains after the manner herein described. — Mr. L. had brought out with him from England a small but fine and well-bred bull-dog of noted courage, and tenacity of sticking greater than that of a sucking-fish when once he had taken •■f OR TEXIANA. hold. This animal he carried with him to our friend and trusty cousin the Captain's, in the patriotic hope, no doubt, of introducing a worthy stock to the new republic, and improving the breed of Texan farm -yard guardians. Some brief period had this stubborn individual remained upon and about the premises in pertect security, though without, per- haps, bull-dog like, making himself as social and cLutty with his fero- cious new friends as might any spaniel member of some more well-bred and aristocratic kennel, when one day, a fatal day to him, he took a walk in company with his congeners belonging to the Captain, the latter, Mr. L,, and some others heading the party. Now, whether it was that Captain S.'s dogs took it into their heads that English bull- dog must be very line eating — whether they were remarkably hungry after an unsuccessful liunting expedition — or merely fancied, like epi- cures as they were, that un additional pleasant snack after dinner would finish them nicely off by way of dessert, I cannot undertake to say ; but this may be predicated, that, from one or other of these causes, or some other of equal cogt>ncy, three of them, while running with Bully in the prairie, suddenly turned upon him with a surprisal worthy of the best dogs of Indian warfare, killed and devoured him upon the spot, and pur- sued their journey with a degree of philosophical contentment only equalled by that of the gentlemanly Galveston assassin alluded to in my first paper. This singular circumstance, however, must distinctly prove to the reader, that " dog-law," as Bentham terms it, and common law, in Texas, are pretty nearly one and the same thing. On occasion of one of the visits of Messrs. L. and P. to the island, they purchased a boat for the navigation of the Bayou^ and also with the intention of using it in future on their various passages to and from the island. This they would be the better enabled to eflfect, inasmuch as Mr. P. was previously a noted oarsman amongst the aquatic clubs of the Thames at London, and will be readily recognised by many mem- bers thereof as the well-known Mr. Thomas. That this i idividual was also otherwise well adapted to brush through the difficiltics and hardships of a settler's early life, may be inferred from the lact that he was a pugilist of tolerable pretensions, and, at the period of our arrival in Texas, in excellent " training " for hard labour and endurance of any or all kinds. ■ ■■ V ■ m • ■■■• .> M f: .-^M ■Vi m ST. LOUIS ISLE, i^' I -' m-^ I'-' ' I.Vt , 1 ^;.;,: m The boat being purchased, they also found that another hand or two vronld be required, and accordingly fixed on one of the passengers who had come out with us, and whom they prevailed upon to accompany them back to Cedar Bayou, for the purpose of assisting them in build- ing their log edifice, and enclosing and cultivating their land. This young man was Mr. T. B., the son of an English curate in the parish of W — Im — tn, in Staffordshirje. Sacred as his father's order was, he himself had been bred up to farming and cattle-breeding — had been sent out (he said) by a gentleman in England who had purchased Texan lands, to discover and locate them, but had totally failed, like many others, in the attempt. The Cedar Bayou people had a shrewd eye to poor B.'s utility, and seeing that his own enterprise had failed — reflecting that his knowledge of stock was likely to be eminently useful, while his own bodily powers of labour were none of the most contempt- ible, inasmuch as he stood nearly six feet high, and, though not posi- tively robust, was strong in proportion — they fixed upon him, as I have said, and, by the mere offer of " board and lodging," without wages, induced him to join his adventures with theirs. In their own boat, then, self-contained as it were, the three sot off in hiyh spirits and flying colours to track, for the first time by their own skill, the shoaly waters of some forty or sixty miles of open bay. Boats discovered keel upwards, and swollen corpses found washed upon the desert shores of Pelican Island or Three Points, presented them- selves to the imaginations of we treaders upon soft sand who remained behind ; but, fortunately, no reality ever came to bear them out. The three settlers arrived, after a long voyage, in safety ; and, for " a time and a season" afterwards, very satisfactory accounts occasionally reached us of their and their families' well-doing. But a change was about to come. Summer was advancing — that season when the " ntirrow strip" of Mr. Kennedy begins to reek smd steam with pestilent carbonic acid gas, emitted imperceptibly tlirougli the myriad pores of the earth's surface — when the fermentative part of animal and vegetable decomposition is most active beneath the ahiiust perpendi .lar rays of the sun — when water grows eciually scarce and filthy, and fever and ague stalk forth, altirnateiy to seortli men's bi)dies with living fires, and shake lluir joints almost to dislocation with ^ ;l^< '^ OR TF.XIANA. 05 ¥.-h burning cold. And, with the coming of all this, likewise came flying accounts from Cedar Bayou, brought down by passing fishermen, hunters, or ramblers who chanced to cross Captain S.'s, that some of the English family recently gone there were " sick " — that one or two of them, nobody knew who or which, were dea!! ; but that, altogether, they were in a very poor and desperate condition. These rumours ob- tained but a very partial and fluctuating degree of credit until the re- turn of a stout young Irish labourer, who had been at work upon the ^arm adjoining Captain S.'s, and had come back almost prepared for his coflUn, confirmed, in great part, what had been previously said About the same time also, a strange queer-eyed old vintner, from the South of England, who had come out in the *' Francis," but whose objects and intentions were as completely closed within himself as are the contents of a closely-bunged barrel of beer in the vessel which con- tains them, chanced to penetrate into the country on a fruitless land- hunting expedition, and, on his return to the island, called upon his friends at Cedar Bayou, not only for the j urpose of seeing how they " got ahead," but also for the purpose of getting both his pockets and his belly filled with bread — an article which, as he did not find it growing wild in the prairies, he had rather naturally run short of during the two days last past. He found the inhabitants of Captain S.'s castle, with its blanket-walls and sheet-partitions, in a most deplorable condition ; nearly all of them being ill, few able to help themselves ; the whole without advice, oc even medicine, beyond what their own chests afforded ; and not a single one of all the four men, the captain, Mr. L., the Thames oarsman, or the curate's son, so much even as able to get down as far as the island for either physician, physic, or the ordinary necessaries of life. Indeed, so short were they run in the article of bread-stuffs, and so weak their prospects of being soon able to lay in an additional supj)ly, that though our queer-eyed vintner had not enjoyed an opportunity of blessing his crust during forty-eight mortal hours before, Captain S. refused to let h.in do more than satisfy the cravings of his stomach while he remained on the spot — most resolutely opposing all the persuasives he used in order to entice a few cakes or biscuits into his wallet by way of provisions for the morrow. With the return of the vintner, also arrived an immediate invitatiQO- K< *i. ..'■■'I .<. -A U\'$M 66 ST. LOUIS* ISLE, ,:■'. ,1, III; from Mr. L., to a young surgeon of our party, Mr. T. W., the son of a gentleman in Kidderminster, requesting him to repair immediately to Cedar Bayou, with all such physical consolation as his professional knowledge, combined with the resources of the Pharmacopoeia, might be able to afford. Mr. W. accordingly brushed up, and having re- ceived directions to be landed on Somebody's island, (the true name of which has escaped my memory,) set out in the afternoon by the Houston steamer for his destination. Landed on that island he certainly was ; but instead of finding, as he had been led to expect, a resident and a place of shelter there, he soon discovered, after the steamer had pur- sued her course, that he was just as much " the monarch of all he surveyed," as ever was Robinson Crusoe's prototype on the island of Juan Fernandez. How long he might have remained there, Provi- dence only knows, had not some neighbouring settler on the main- land discovered his predicament, and kindly ordered a boat to be pushed off for his relief. At the house of this gentleman I believe he remained all night, and the next day pursued his pathless jouniey across the prairie towards Captain S.'s; encountering by the way various herds of half-wild cattle collected by the hundreds together, and being compelled to brave with a fainting heart many a threatening father-bull, whose head and horns and bellowings were opposed in no very pleasant array to his intrusion upon those comparatively primitive domains. The ** domestic" cattle of the out-settlers, it may be observed, are nearly as wild as the native-born buffaloes of the land. They are suffered to roam at large in the wilderness ; are never housed, winter or summer ; are driven up but once a year, in order that all the young ones may be branded with the owner's peculiar mark, and then set at liberty again to feed and increase after their own kind until another season is over ; excepting of course all such as the proprietor may in the mean time either dispose of, or destroy for the consumption of his own family. Domestic creatures of any kind, from the largest down to the pigs and common barn-door fowls, may, if not branded or otherwise marked, become the property of any man who chooses either to shoot them, or drive them away. There is but one method of avoiding these OR TBXIANA. 67 herds of beeves, and, strange as tlie phraseology may sound, that is by going straight to thein. To diverge from your path when they happen to cross it, or to exhibit any sign of fear, is to be followed and perhaps attacked by them. To walk boldly on towards them even where they are tossing the turf with their horns, and growling pretty loud animal thunder against you, is the safest plan. They will stand until possibly their noses are within reach of your walking-stick, when, all on a sudden, a legion of tails are hoisted into the air, and, with many a ludicrous bound and caper, the whole herd quickly flies to a distance, there to make another stand. When Mr. W. returned from Cedar Bayou, he brought no very re- freshing or encouraging information. Ague and fever had taken possession of the house so far as the new residents were concerned : the men were unable to get out of bed ; one of the children was dead, and buried in the prairie; Mr. L.'s mother (an old lady about seventy) was very ill indeed; Captain S., the old campaigner, had nearly all the joints of his fingers on both hands in a state of running sore, accompanied by such a fetid odour that it was scarcely endurable even by himself. Of course he was disabled, and had to sit still with both his hands swaddled up in cloths and poultices ; while his wife was lame with similar places upon the legs, amounting, I think, in number to about seventeen. Yet in this wretched condition they were without help, except what could be afforded by a very young maid-servant (herself at times delirious with intermittent fever) ; nor had they had for some time past any fresh meat, but were living upon dry and salt provisions. Eventually the old lady died : with some difficulty, it may be presumed, her own kith and kin contrived to dig her grave, and she was laid beside her grandchild. This was not all. Subsequently, in consequence of their inability to get down to the island for stores, they lived about a fortnight in this diseased condition, without a morsel of wheaten flour or bread in the house, principally consuming boiled rice. At length, one day, the startling intelligence reached me, thai Messrs. L., P., and young B., the curate's son, had arrived at Galves- ton, in their own boat, but in such a condition that they had to be carried or otherwise assisted up the strand ; that they did not know t :■■;•: m 68 3T. LUUIS ISLE, i 1 i *■! 1 'i " ! how long they had been in cominig, as all three hod been delirious on the water, and thus buried count of day nnr^ night in oblivion ; and that they were so desperately ill, that no Christiuu in Galveston, either at inn, coffee-house, or private reiiidirice, wo^iid take them in. In all this it proved there was too much truth. Finding themselves somewhat recovered after the visit of Mr. W., and being in extremity as before stated, they had sci out some few days previously, it appeared uncertain what precise immbcfr — had very naturally found their disease wofully aggravated by exposure in an open boat to the sun during the blaze of day, and the damps and dews of ten or twelve hours' nig^it. They remembered having forgotten their course ; they knew that on one occasion, when Mr. L. was very bad, he threw his coat over- board, containing, they thought, his pocket-book, full of important papers. The coat they caught up again, but there was no book in it ; and Mr. L. had not the most remote knowledge whether he brought it with him or not, although he intended to do so, as his visit to the island would have been of little utility without. They also recollected that Mr. B., when he was bad, got out of the boat, and stood upon a little island in the shade of a tree, until they fetched him off almost by force ; and afterwards they found themselves amongst a number of little shell islands, somewhere, it seemed, about Redfish Bar, but they were lost, quite lost. After a while, they saw a boat at a distance, and hailed it with hats and handkerchiefs as well as they could. It tacked about and stood towards them. A gentleman and two fishermen were in it. They had previously observed something amiss on board our sick party's craft, and were thinking about steering down upon them. This gentleman was Dr. C. F. W — rs — r, who resided at a place called Edward's Point, hard by. He soon saw how matters stood, and with great kindness and humanity conveyed the whole party to his house, where a day or two's rest, shelter, food, and medicine, enabled them to make another start, and just reach Galveston in the manner described. By the bye, that same Edward's Point forms one and almost the only bright speck in my Texan recollections ; for at that place did I pass ten days of the most delightful wild happiness that ever poor lover of Nature enjoyed. It will make me a chapter some day, a feast for lirious on vion ; and on, either ■' At hemselves extremity : appeared sir disease during the ars' nig 'it. V that on oat over- important )ok in it ; )rought it isit to tho ^collected )d upon a ilmost by imber of but they ivith hats nd stood Phey had y's craft, entleman Bdward's th great e, where to make J. nost the !e did I )or lover feast for ►i- \lM u ■■>: hi. I ¥■■' y''^i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) t 1.0 ^1^ 1^ Ui 122 12.2 2f 144 *■ 1.1 l.-^KS L25iU |16 Photografiiic Sciences Corporalion 23 VVfST MAIN STRIIT VVIISTIR,N.Y. 14SM (71«)I72-4S03 if ;V % i i^m 5 I M.>. c?> 'yrl m #■• I ■■< '-4... ■..■*■. .. 1 r«^ .¥ f :.i:^ ''^r Pi O W CO J w o o CO 3 w O CO J o o CO § OR TEXIANA.. 09 readers of natural history. I could almost think it worth a voy we of three thousand miles to enjoy« So, as has been said, neither innkeeper nor private lodging-letter would open the door for the reception of our sick. What was to be done ? It luckily (for them) happened there, that one of their fellow- passengers from England had recently been established in a comfort- able general store in the heart of the town. He was a married man, without family, and had sufficient room in his house. To Henry J.'s all three were therefore conveyed. Poor J. ! little did he think then that the path of humanity and benevolence would indirectly lead him to the most deplorable and unfortunate of graves. So, however, it proved in the sequel. It must be understood, however, at the outset, that J. had very kindly been put into this store by the owner, a merchant of Galveston, in order to find him something by which to earn a living. His receipts were also to be accounted for weekly. That two out of the three invalids had nothing in the world to pay either board, lodging, attendance, or medical advice with, was well known. Whether the third, who had it in his power, would do so, remained to be seen. Meantime, however, J. found ready money for all they wanted, as it appeared inconvenient to Mr. — — to advance anything, or even pay as he went along ; while his wife found more than sufficient employ- ment in waiting upon them day and night. This was a heavy tax indeed upon a new beginner, without capital of his own, and acting in his capacity of shopkeeper merely as the retail agent of another. All the running expenses had to be supplied out of the till, and consequently the week's reckonings fell considerably short in actual cash. To add to these difficulties, the store also began to be deserted by the public, who before appeared inclined to support it, not so much perhaps from any fear of contagion, but because in fact, as one of the patients grew worse, it became highly disagreeable to enter the house. The Thames boatman was now in a wretched condition. For the most part insensible or raving deliriously, his legs also swelled to an enormous size, broke into sores, and rendered the office of waiting upon him so unpleasant and difficult to fill, that not one female in Galveston would undertake it for wages less than one pound English per day. Poor Mrs. J. did it all fur charity. I cannot 1. 1 ■ r n. -.y: ^iti J"! m mi m $ ■ Iblf 70 ST. LOUIS ISLE, II J\ enter into the full extent of the physical miseries to which poor humanity was reduced in the person of this individual. The curtains of silence must be drawn around this bed of suffering, and they that have hearts to sympathise may, if they will, drop a tear in secret behind them. J. in money-matters was now getting upon his last legs. He knew it was useless to ask for supplies where none existed, and he had not the heart to attempt to relieve himself in the only practicable manner, namely, by turning the unfortunate out of his house. In this embar- rassing and desperate situation, his moral philosophy forsook him: hope of success now entirely abandoned his breast ; he saw, or believed he saw, himself a totally lost and ruined man, and hence he abandoned himself as helpless at the edge of the declivity, and slid down to a pitiable death in despair. In utter recklessness, he began to drink to excess : he foresaw the end ; he pointed it out to others ; he declared there was nothing else now left for him, and distinctly expressed to me personally his fixed intention to end his difficulties in that manner. The Cedar Bayou settlement was now finally abandoned as a delu- sive scheme, betraying only to disease and death. The women and remaining children, together with all the household gear, were removed at the earliest convenience, and preparations were contemplated for as speedy a retreat from Texas as the mitigation of disease would allow. At length the powers of human endurance triumphed so far that all three patients were able to be removed, a step which poor J.'s growing illness, combined, with all other circumstances of this deplorable case, to render absolutely indispensable. Our partially-recovered oarsman did but vacate his bed just ir- Mme for his too tender-hearted and despairing entertainer to lie di^ pon it for the last time. I think he lay about two monthf ; and, notwithstanding everything that could be done was done, he giacnally declined as though quietly going to sleep. At times he wandered in imagination over the scenes of more pleasant tidies in Ergland ; he gathered dreamy fruits from visionary gardens, and often assured his afflicted wife that he was once more on the ship again, sailing back to that home which in this frail body he was destined to see no more. Then, by a transition which delirium never stays at, he bid her hurry, — make haste : — " Be quick, quick," OR TEXIANA. 71 said he, " or we shall be too late : the ship is ready, and will go without us ! " Alas, alas, poor fellow ! the phantom vessel of death was spreading her shadowy sails before his eyes, and pointing with her sable streamers across that obscure and horizonless ocean, beyond which, let us hope, the mercy of the Almighty had prepared even for his erring but most charitable spirit a more bright and golden land than that in which his bones were to be laid, and a happier home than any to which earth's seas could carry him. Every true catholic heart will believe, that as " charity covereth a multitude of sins," this unfortunate man's charity has blotted out the sin by which he died. Should any too self- sufficient moralist condemn the conduct of poor J., and flatter his own vanity by boasting how very differently he should have done had he been placed in the same circumstances, let me remind him that virtue without trial is but negative, not positive ; that to conquer difficulties is easy enough at a distance and before trial, as the champions on both sides achieve a victory before the battle is begun. It is only he who does wrestle and contend that is truly entitled to say, when he has tested the event, whether he has strength to stand, or is only weak enough to fall. J. died so that life and death were fixed together too closely for the actual line of distinction between the two to be observed. That gay young widow of whom I have before spoken relieved his wife of all the last bitter duties, (for she was a good-hearted creature in truth,) and his body was buried as speedily as possible, after the Texan fashion, being about evening, if I recollect aright, of the same day. Mr. L. eventually disposed of his household goods by auction, and repaired with his own immediate family to New Orleans on his way back to England, leaving his sister and brother-in-law, Mr. P., the oarsman, sick in Galveston and reduced to the last extremity. From a fine, powerful young man, such as I first described him, Mr. P. was now become, it was believed by his physicians, a cripple for life — one of his legs, in which mortification had, it was said, at one time actually begun, being rendered comparatively useless. I was informed that he and his wife attempted to support themselves, she by keeping a little school, and he by giving instructions upon the fiute — an instrument ■;.■•?! ■J vj,' i m ■;'■'■( I.' •^. i-ff km • >7 ^ ' 'Mi M ■4 *. » II l:i H fi 72 ST. LOUIS ISLE, which he played excellently. But what Texan barbarian could be found who would attempt to " soothe his savage breast" by learning music ? I know not. An election drum, or a nigger's fiddle, makes up about the only orchestra ever heard in Galveston. The human voice " divine" is seldom heard in song ; and in wooden church and chapel where it is heard most loudly, truth obliges us to declare that the divinity seems to have departed -almost altogether from it. Sometimes a newly-imported voice from England will happen to trill an old coun- try ballad, or detect itself half-unconsciously murmuring some such tune as that of "I hear them speak of my Father-land," while yet the body is fresh with unexhausted Northern health, and the spirits are bounding and free; but even such songster soon grows mute: the music of the past sinks into a saddened memory, and the expiring soul of former song gasps out after a few months its last breath in that fevered and enervating atmosphere. Save the wild laugh and shriek of tavern-loafers, and the explosive " yah, ah ! " of the negroes, nights are silent enough in this most gay and amusing of Southern cities. There is enough of glorious moonlight, bright, dreamy, and inexpressibly delightful from its warmth and spiendour ; but it is still as the reign of Silence herself. There is no music, save that of the far-off breakers of the treacherous Gulf— a solitary voice from the charmed tongue of Nature, which, sounding remotely through the dim hollow of the night, only makes stillness fall yet more emphatically upon the spirit. Yes, there are other sounds, which to some ears might be music too. The prairie seems alive throughout its whole extent with the sharp, quick whizzing of millions of insects, grasshoppers, or locusts, which play their little pipes and clatter the sounding cymbals of their dry skeleton wings incessantly all night long; while, now and then, the loud drum- like burr of the invisible goatsucker, as she pursues her painted prey of moths in the air, startles the solitary ramble as the bird repeatedly sweeps in a tremendous circle from above, and each time bursts this singular sound within a few feet of his head. But of that music of art which cheers or saddens, and speaks to the soul in heavenly syllables, there is nothing. Poor P. may gather listeners about his door and windows, but few within his walls desirous of instruction. In February of the following year, (about three months having r:<; OR TEXIANA. IS elapsed,) I met Mr. L. and his wife and children on the Levee in New Orleans, just as they were going on board a vessel bound for England. The former was still suffering from frequent and periodical attacks of the old complaint, and was in so weak a state as to be but just able to get on board even with the assistance rendered him by his friends. The curate's son remained in Galveston because he could not get away, and mainly subsisted upon the two most precarious and pitiful of props— chance and half-disguised charity. What farther became of the various members of this unlucky band I know not. Enough, however, has been related to satisfy the reader that the enthusiasm created by first impressions in a foreign country, almost every object in which is delightfully new and astonishing to the senses, cxm be very little depended on for its report of sensations, places, and things. When a fresh settler, to whom the idea of possess- ing landed property is perhaps altogether new, first finds some actual hundreds of acres within his reach and all his own, other minor matters never peep from out the shade, and for the time being he be- comes in fancy equal with some old feudal baron, or the peer of an English lord, though without that title, which he can well afford to kick before him virith scorn. But when he comes to gather his fancied flowers, the thorns remind him that they are there also ; and too fre- quently teach the hard and unpalatable lesson, that what the heart most seems to desire — ^liberty and one's own ground to tread upon — ^may be purchased too dearly. The pleasurable idea of felling wild cedar, and building one's house of scented wood, like the beams of Solomon's Temple of old, becomes worthless when the risks are that one may perhaps not live long enough either to finish or inhabit it. AUigutors may be, as they are, highly-interesting and exciting reptiles to watch, and chase, and shoot at ; but the loss of your dogs, dragged under water by them, or a long and delightful "spell" of • intermittent fever, caught by wading into muddy bayous to fetch them out, are drawbacks upon the gratification of curiosity and the hunting mania which people are prone to think too lightly of until they are too completely tn for them to be able to withdraw again. The certainly most delightful of all human field-privileges — that of roaming savanna and forest as free as the very wind that blows across your face, with no man or tyrant law to arrest I. -U In m ill km •yrm • ' I? 74 IT. LOUIS* I8LB, ¥1 f'l the crack o^' your rifle, or the louder roar of your fowling-piece, when the finest of four-footed game or the most magnificent of birds comes within .your reach — also loses some of the gloss which an English, and especially an English town-bred imagination is apt to put upon it, when, from practical experience, it is found that even the most expert sports- man must make a perfect business of hunting if he expect to live upon wild game ; and that, to do so, he has time neither to raise a roof above his head, a fence around his settlement, nor put a plough into his grolind. To see wild speckled deer from your door is mighty attractive in a book, a letter, or a magazine ; it is also amazingly gratifying to see them fall before your weapon ; but the eating thereof is fiyr less satis&ctory and the trouble usual upon success very much greater than the object sought is worth, save only for the sake of recreation and i^ort. The veniison of Texas is poor, dry, insipid, and hard stuff; because, perhaps, it cannot be kept, to render it in general fit for any man who has not the teeth of a shark, or the snout of a saw-fish : nor, in a country where good beef may almost be had for the askiiij^, is it (iso far tuft the larder is concerned) very much worth the killihg ; those parts which in a sheep commonly go to the manufacture of that true-bred Cockney's delight, a " chop," being in reality the only tolerable pordon; Our old vintner's overland expedition in search of an appropriate place of settlement has already been alluded to. Although he had by ho means fotmd what he wanted, he did not altogether fail in catching something, as he arrived on the island in an ill state of health, and im- mediately afterwards was laid up in bed of brun fever. While he thus lay helpless, and in such a position that he could see through the door- way into idle garden, he was amused by observing the pigs 8<[ueeze through his fences, crunch up his melons with their usual gusto, and in perfect safety from him, close, as it were, under his very nose ; while his pumpkins and squashes were not unfrequently gathered by the children in mere mischief, and laid, out of veiy devilry, upon his own step. On these occasions, though otherwise a fiiithful member of the Church, he has been plainly seen to swear inwardly idth great spiritual (energy, but beyond thait his efforts could not go. After his recovery, adi St vau pur tioi hoi adi to whd 11 \ e, yrhen i comes sh, and t, ^rhen, sports- to live learoof into his ttractive ifying to fiur less aterthan ,tion and because, man vrho nor, in a it (30 far Dse parts true-bred tolerable >propriate lie bad by 1 catcbii^g 1, and im- le be thus the doior- s squeeze }to, and in >se; while ■ed by the jn bis own iber of the lit spiritual B recovery, OR TEXIANA. 75 he borrowed a few dollars of a friend who had sat vp with him many a tedious night, and supplied him with numberless little luxuries otherwise beyond his reach ; he also increased the amount by another small loan obtained from some other quainter, paid his outstanding small debts in a two-legged table and an old umbrella which he left behind him, and then shipped off to Orleans, for the ostensible purpose of fetching his wife, whom he expected to meet there on her passage from England ; but, somehow, very miraculously, he never came back again ! Whether he forgot it, or whether, when he fell into his wife's clutches, she first detained him by violence and eventually hugged him off to a place of greater safety, can only be conjectured. The most liberal construction we can put upon his conduct is, however, that he lost his way some night and tumbled into the Mississippi, or he would have surely gone back to Galveston again, if it had only been to return the amount of his loan to the friend, and constant watcher during his sickness, from whom he had raised it. To be sure, if we are to credit the moral philosophers, there is such a thing as ingratitude in the world, and such a venial crime as " serving out " one's friends ; but then, at the same time, let us reflect, that a good specimen of ingrati- tude may possibly teach its victim an invaluable lesson for his future guidance through life ; while to drop upon a kind-hearted friend at the earliest opportunity, is assuredly to save his pocket for the future, by demonstrating to him, in the most conclusive manner, the extreme folly of lending money before he well knows who he has got to deal with. It is as clear as mud, then, that our friend the vintner was entirely in the right, and he of the generous disposition as decidedly wrong. This same old gentleman, by the way, was n it exactly the glory and admiration of the whole ship, even on the passa^fi out. Amongst other striking propensities, he had a very pleasing knack of secretly slipping unseen into his berth, and remaining shut up there, apparently for the purpose of overhearing what kind of interest attached to the conversa- tion of the passengers, ladies included, in the cabin. This agreeable, honest, and manly habit, of course caused him at length to be mightily admired— especially by the fair sex, who, as everybody knows, rejoice to find an eld fellow in a closet close by, listening to their tStC'd-tStes when they fancy themselves alone, and hence he himself not unfre- m I .'■\ 1 m i :"'i J jft.';-i It'''* 1 mi fr 76 ST. LOUI8 ISLE, '■V I ivy if fi' fl: [^ j ; quently became the subject of con venation, presumed to be behind his back. On one occasion, I recollect, my wife, two or three other ladies, and myaelf, were talking together, when one of them alluded to the vintner in terms quite worthy of the subject. Sure that he was airing himself on deck, and consequently a long way beyond ear-shot, they spoke with that laudable freedom which conscious security is apt to give both to thoughts and speech. I am not certain whether they did not subject his taste for lurking stealthily in his berth to a living anatomisation. I enjoyed the fun all the more, because I entertained some suspicion that the old spider was at that identical time in the inside of his hole, and, therefore, encouraged them to proceed by every means in my power — innocent, of course, all the while of any evil in- tention. At last, amidst the very whirlwind of their indignation, lo ! 'OUt popped the vintner ! A dead calm instantly ensued. He hurried off on deck, and the ladies flew anywhere they could to hide their faces. I enjoyed a hearty laugh, and to this day am decidedly of opinion that there was no listening ever afterwards. Still, the old boy was not altogether bad. In fact, I never yet met with the monster that could truly so be considered. He enjoyed some sort of a tender heart, though of what precise genus I shall not attempt to explain. Fowls sick of repletion and the pip, pigs in lack of potatoes, or sheep bleating over the wastes of the Atlantic, either for the nibbled mountains they had left or for a wisp or two of hay as a substitute, always found a friend and supporter in the vintner, as many fierce wordy conflicts with the supercargo of our vessel, entirely on their account, can amply testify. He could behold a poor steerage- passenger sick and drooping for a drop of drink with unusual com- placency ; but a chicken-breasted cockrel pining for a barleycorn, or a ship-grunter minus his natural and proper allowance of wrinkled carrots and cuddy slush, appealed to his tenderest affections in a man- ner as strong as it was instantaneous. One would verily have thought that he either lay under some deep obligations to cockrel which he knew not well how to discharge, or that at some former period of his life's history he had been saved from the jaws of death by bacon alone. In the matter of Tom the ship-boy's hardships, (young Tom, formerly alluded to,) he likewise evinced a proportionate degree of interest ; OR TBXIANA. rt though had Tom chanced to rejoice in a scarlet comh and wattlet, or been blessed by nature with an internal grunting apparatus of a truer pitch and semi-pig tone, there is no doubt but that his demands upon our vintner's sympathies would have been considerably larger. Tom was a heavy, dull, half " soft " country lout of a lad, whom his father, an English farmer, could make neither head nor tail of at home, and therefore, being at once anxious to get him out of the way, and labour- ing under the common mental delusion that anything would do to manu- &cture a sailor out of, had sent him to frisk at sea, and mayhap stumble upon a fortune, and become a nabob in the West Indies. He always walked the deck as though a small grindstone was attached to each of the soles of his feet ; an awkward peculiarity attributable, as he himself pathetically observed, to the surprising fact, that all his toes, somehow, (the L— d knew why 1) were curled under his feet in such a manner, that it was with the greatest difficulty he could overtake even a walking crow across a ploughed field, much less ascenr^ shrouds with that needful alacrity which a squall or a change of wind requires. He consequently mounted to the yards with the speed of a tortoise on its hindermost legs, and walked about the ship precisely as if the deck was both red-hot and highly magnetic at one and the same time. The simplicity of this unfortunate creature caused him to be sadly imposed upon and maltreated by the sailors during our passage. Occurrences frequently took place which raised our highest indignation, and not very seldom produced squabbles between the men and the less cautious of the passengers ; but which it would have been better to have avoided if possible, seeing that your seamen are marvellously tenacious of their paltriest rights (as they consider them) in everything connected with the ordering and discipline of a vessel. The men in the forecastle, with whom young Tom boarded and lodged, made free with his wardrobe during his absence, stole his jackets, and borrowed his combs and brushes without leave, whenever they wanted them. This they were the better enabled to effect, as they positively refused to let him look his chest, upon the plea that to do so would be to cast an imputation on their honour. If Tom dared to complain, they gave him a rope's-ending, or dashed buckets of sea-water in his face, until sometimes he hobbled about dripping-wet all day. Many an indignant 4 ; '{'ii i4V ■■»t t . 1 m 70 ST. LOUW IILt. ^H' eye have I leen loowl and flaah upon that vetiel at these pitiahle torments, and many an honest breast has burned to execute justice upon the perpetrators: but "blue water" seems to be man's especial field of tyranny, while they who feel the keenest sensA of right are usually the last to be able to exercise it. Tom survived his term of trial, ran away as before related, and turned cowherd somewhere on fiufialo Bayou. His duty there was, amongst other things, to drive the milch-cows home at four o'clock in the afternoon. This depart* ment he frequently forgot, as he very naturally would, being generally fast asleep on the prairie not only at that especial hour, but during the space of one or two others after it. His employer thrashed him to his heart's content, but could make no better of him, and eventually in, one would suppose, sheer despair, actually sent down to a neighbouring location, where the lad's old shipmate and greatest enemy Tom Allen was at work, requesting that worthy to come up at the first oppor- tunity for the especial purpose of punishing poor Tom-boy after a keener fashion I Allen saw plenty of whisky in the wind, and readily undertook the job. Having got half intoxicated, he set about his business by sousing Tom repeatedly in the Bayou, and belabouring him at the same time with a cow-hide. Eventually he finished off in style by laying a boat-oar about his head, one unfortunate, or perhaps fortunate, blow of which drove away for ever at least half of the poor share of wit nature had bestowed upon him, and converted him into a sort of idiot. His employer, not exactly relishing, perhaps, this unan- ticipated result, and moved by compassion for himself to get out of the scrape as easily as he conveniently could, soon afterwards discharged the lad altogether, protesting at tbn «ame time that he had no money at all to pay wages with, but that he had no objection to give him, if he liked, a good bullock instead! Tom's appetite was not strong enough to relish all this beef at one, and therefore he declined the offer, but eventiially extracted about a dollar from his employer's exchequer, bemg just sufficient to carry him back again to Galveston. In the principal street of that celebrated city he was met on his arrival by one of our passengers, who managed to get the above story from him as distinctly as his failing brain would allow. He had just landed, and was blundering along the road with a kind of gooseberry-bottle in bis OR TIXIANA. 70 hand, fUll of wild gre«n gnpei which he had gathered in the woodi, and of which he was eating as he went along, apparently unconscious of anyhody seeing him, and laughing idiotically now and then with pure satisfaction at their delicious flavour. He was kindly conducted to a house, and in due time a humhle situation was obtained for him. But poor Tom was fast winding up the last ravelled end of his short coil of life. He complained of his head— hinted some indistinct stuff about Big Tom and a boat-oar, and then fell mortally sick. He was carried on a cart to that magnificent public hospital, which Mr. Kennedy must well remember from its superior convenience and great architectural beauty, and, after a brief period of endurance, died — away from home and relations, comparatively unknowing and unknown. Possibly, should his friends in England chance to peruse this hasty chronicle of the history of an ill-used and unfortunate sea-boy, it will be the first intimation they have yet received of his final fkte. If it be so, I trust their feelings will not be unnecessarily shocked ; since, fh>m what the wretched creature himself used to tell me during his miserable midnight watches at sea, I feel warranted in entertaining the most sanguine expectations that their hearts will remain unbroken. ■<' •5-1 ■M \t'':\ ',1 m^ ^M' CHAPTER V. Conclusion of our whole Party's Adrentures and Experiences. The Snake-hunter. The Professional Man. The Brothers S.' The Family Man. The Florist Amongst the rest of the " fallen " of our company \rhom I have not yet mentioned ytaa Mr. R., a fine youug fellow, who went out from London with the express intention of merely enjoying the delights to be found in Texas, gathering; a few curiosities, and returning to England when a convenient opportunity should occur. He was in the prime of youthful manhood — gay, light-hearted, and generous : he kept alive all who otherwise would have drooped on the outward passage, and, though himself very sick, was a great promoter of health in others. When we arrived, he was one of the first and most indefatigable of sportsmen, and being stout and healthy, underwent great fatigue, when occasion called for it, without the least after-suffering, if not with apparently renewed vigour. Anything, from an alligator ten feet long to an insect not ten lines, was adapted to his search and preservation. The former description of game was, however, the most attractive to us all ; and with delight we one day learned that R. in the coi^rse of his rambles had discovered a nice, " comfortable " little one, about three or four feet long, and therefore fit to carry back to England, disporting itself in a small pond of its own, about a mile and a half beyond the Hospital ; a distance which, added to that between our then residence and that public edifice, alarmed some who otherwise would have been volunteers. Only three started (nearly one, though, be it observed, to each foot length of the enemy), and of these I made one. Of course, it was regularly understood that the proprietorship— the " copyright " — of the creature was vested in R. himself. He had dis- covered him, and virtually taken immediate possession ; just as doth y*. 1 ST. LOUIS' ISLE, OR TEXIANA. 81 ! your remote navigator when he erects his sovereign's flag on a newly- found bit of Nature's waste. Two fowling-pieces laden with swan- shot, one rifle, and a piece of rope, were soon on the way towards the pond. We found it situated in the midst of a grassy swamp, of small dimensions, but so transparent that, except on one dark, deep side, the eye might traverse the bottom throughout. After creeping cautiously in the grass for a while, he was discovered half out of his element, amongst the reeds on the opposite side. Two shots were fired, but he had vanished. At length he was seen again, apparently about half- way between the surface and the bottom, paddling or walking through the water with almost the rapidity of a fish. When near the top, he received the rifle-ball somewhere about the head. He leaped back- wards, and swam on the surface, belly (or should I say "stomach"?) upwards ; and then we could see the blood trickling downwards through the clear waters, to stain that pleasant earth below, on which, in all probability, his brightest days of youth and innocence had been spent. R. was now excited in the extreme ; and I urged him immediately to wade into the pond, as the alligator was his property, and fetch him out before he sprang into activity again. The latter was considered impossible : besides which, these ponds are so likely to contain about a yard's depth of yielding mud, that an imprudent man, going in to fetch out an alligator, runs great risk, instead of catching the reptile, of taking his place securely at the bottom. This nobody knew at the time, and my friend luckily refused. I then told him that an alligator was very long-lived, and we had better shoot again to make sure. He wished us not ; and at that very instant his game rolled suddenly round, and at great speed disappeared on the deep dark side, there to inquire in vain for a water surgeon to dress his wounds, and perhaps to die. Knowing the game was up, I departed homewards alone, shooting cur- lews, as I went, for the next day's dinner. R. and the remaining sportsman remained on the spot until nearly dark, watching for the reappearance of the alligator ; but, like a lover who has received his last rebuke, he " never came again." Some time afterwards, however, these two indefatigables departed one morning in another direction, and, after watching and firing all day, killed one about ten feet long. Next day, they left about nine, o'clock M ti ■■'■I, Cm * 1 m t ... |..,;P t\ i 1:* ■;■* m .•^ II.'- V i W \i i Sfi ST. LOUIS* ISLE, in the morning to get him out of " Alligator Pond," his permanent resi- dence, and skin him for stufBng. This operation lasted them until about sunset, at which time they called at my house on their way back, lug- ging the enormous load they had stripped from his carcase. Soon after, being laid down while the hunters refreshed themselves, the musky smell emanating from it became so ntrong as to be almost intolerable ; nor do I think it entirely left the place for some days after. R., how- ever, after all his trouble, was doomed to. a second disappointment. Before he could prepare the skin for stuffing, the odour became so offensive that it half-poisoned the neighbourhood ; and with much greater difficulty than they had before carried it three miles, did they now carry it half a mile to throw it into the prairie, away from human habitation. Still, R. pursued his researches. He manufactured boxes to put his specimens in, and in order to assist in filling them, collected many con- tributions from others of our party. Time was now wearing on beyond the period of his intended stay, but no ship lay in the harbour bound homewards. Part of the cash which he had brought out to defray his own expenses he had generously lent to the supercargo of a vessel which I need not name, under the expectation of having it repaid when wanted. It was qot forthcoming. His personal outgoings were rapidly increasing, and at length, whether from these or other causes I do not undertake to determine, but certain it is^ his health and spirits rapidly declined. The lively became dull, the joker joked no more— the songster of our social evening parties either sang not at all, or with such effort and lack of heartful feeling that melancholy took the place of mirth. At length, the barque " Sarah," from Liverpool, which had previously arrived, prepared for her departure, laden with Texan cotton. R. took his passage by her, and paid down the money, according to custom. His departure was much regretted when the vessel left her moorings. She was towed out by a Galveston and New Orleans steamer, with Mr. S. the pilot on board, but had no sooner reached the " bar," that death's gate of Texas, than the hawser by which she was attached to the steamer broke, and left her to strike and beat upon the sand. Instead of returning immediately to her aid, the steamer (on board of nor I OR TCXIANA. 83 which ihe pilot was) pursued her way, in order to convey a number of inv' ' visitors to see some French commander and liis vessel, then lyi , farther out to sea. in about two hours she returned. The " gal- lant bark " had sailed her last knot, and was eating her way into the sand. With great difficulty the personal property on board was secured, the cargo being partly damaged, and partly wholly lost. Unfortunate R. came back again, having paid so many pounds for so brief a ride and the chance of shipwreck. I am not aware that in any part of the world a captain is held legally liable to refund a single penny of a passenger's fare, in case the vessel has actually left port and is wrecked within the shortest given period afterwards. In the present case, however, the master of the ii Sarah" returned, I believe, one-half. Eventually, R. made a second start by the steamer for New Orleans, intending to remain a short time in that city, and from thence to pro- ceed by some sailing vessel to New York. At this latter place remit- tances from England were to meet him, and thus facilitate his return home. Before his departure, he most faithfully promised to write to several of his intimate acquaintances in Galveston immediately on his arrival in the first city of the States. Time passed away, but not a single letter came to a single individual of the whole ntimber. Some wondered whether " Out of sight, out of mind," was his maxim, as it is that of too many of that extensive body, the treacherous and the hypo- critical ; while others stood stiffly up for the honour and pure feeling of young hearts — declared that impossible, and, from his silence, pre- supposed his death. After a long period of suspense, a letter at length arrived, dated from New York, and written by a lady who had left in the same steamer with him from Galveston. R. had died of yellow fever three days after the vessel had left the " Crescent City" (as Or- leans is termed), and had found a grave in the Gulf of Mexico. On my own arrival in Orleans, I learned from some of his acquaint- ance there, that he bad throughout his stay so perseveringly followed his favourite pursuit in the surrounding swamps, as to have obtained, almost by the common consent of all who knew him, the title of " The Snake-hunter." What became of his collections and personal property I know not, nor do I recollect the name of the vessel in which he sailed. One of m ii'V. ti.".? :m i'l ■';■' M ^' 1 1 I if:, M ov ST. LOUIS' ISLE, 'hi !•; i>* :.:ii his particular friends was a gentleman occupying a situation in the Stamp Office, Somerset House, London. The fate of his companion in the slaughter of the alligator, as far as I can trace it, was also deeply to be regretted. Bat two or three yean out of his term of apprenticeship to an eminent professional man in London, highly skilled in its most abstruse branches, and with brilliant prospects before him at home,. he unhappily became smitten with the love of Texan acres. With an excellent outfit for settling and the cultivation of land, he, in conjunction with his brother, made, on their arrival, every exertion possible to obtain a fitting location, but failed to do so from precisely the same causes which have produced failure in the cases of so many others. Besides this, what they saw of the place and felt of the climate was so remarkably different to anything they had been led to expect when they adopted the prevailing fallacies concern- ing that country, that it made them pause and delay at first, when otherwise they would have been active. Be it not understood that negligence was attributable to the two brothers ; prudence alone dictated this course. The younger, he of whom I am speaking, soon gave the speculation in as a bad job, and being resolutely, if not obstinately, bent on never returning to England to endure the sarcasms and jokes of his friends and acquaintance, most heroically resolved to throw him- self upon the world, to find his fate, to sink or swim. To reason with him upon the absurdity of this view of things was totally vain : though I know not whether the absurdity of such kind of friends and acquaint- ance is not much greater than his, when we refiect that in all probability the same sort of foolish dread of folly has caused many a proud-spirited but mistaken young man to remain in exile during his life ; enduring hardships, and yet perhaps flattering his relations at home with fabled accounts of successes which never came, merely for the well-meaning purpose of keeping them contented ! But these are the people who consider themselves most wise. If they prophesy evil and chance to be mistaken, it is all slurred over, in order to screen Self, with a " Well, we are very glad to hear it, but it is a great deal more than might have been expected ;" and that perhaps is the first and last they care to say on the subject. But should the case prove the other way on—- should they forebode calamities, and calamities should come — woe I •'f. ..I OH TEXIANA. w the to the unlucky dog who ever after falls into their clutches ! How pitiably he is liable to be at any moment mauled ! The spectre of his deadly sin of having, to the best of his own judgment, endeavoured to better himself, hovers continually before his eyes ; and to the last day of his life he is doomed to hear himself sentenced, either in private or before company, something after this fashion :— " Ah I well, it almost serves you right ! / saw what would come of it — / told you beforehand what you would have to go through ; but you would not listen to me. Oh no ! I was not clever enough to have my opinion considered : though I should think you have now seen enough to convince you that some of us common folks know something as well as yourself! " — the said " something as well as yourself " meaning all the while, in truth, everything better than yourself." In short, the unfortunate speculator in emigration is too often made, on his return home, to feel much more like a returned convict, than a returned honest man, whose only blame is that his past hopes have utterly failed. Tn that sense, none but a self-conceited jackanapes, an utterly igno- rant fool, or any other kind of thing without Christianity in it, would do otherwise than express regret and pity. But some people will and must be self-wise in spite cf either Christian feeling u: wv>....non sense. For the benefit of all such, let me quote just two lines from a curious old English rhyming version of the Apophthegms of Diogenes, and then return to our narrative. " To him that is in misery, do not affliction add : With sorrow to load sorrow's back, is most extremely had" The younger brother, then, (whose profession, by the bye, was as totally useless to him in Texas as though no such profession ever existed in the world,) eventually gave in until he saw how matters might turn up, and in the mean time with a kind of studied regularity amused himself — and yet, he said, " without seeing any amusement in it" — ^by going out shooting anything he might come across, or by re- pairing pretty early in the day to the extreme end of a deserted but prodigiously long pier of pile and plank which shot far into the bay, and, provided with hook and line, sitting there with the patience of a man ""m .•tfl Vli* >.' 86 ST. LOUIS ISLE, of lead, catching cat-fish and crabs till nightfall. In this employment he would sit, with only a small blue cloth cap on his head, baking under an unclouded and burning sun, while many other sportsmen in the same line fqund it necessary to fish from under an umbrella.* At length, finding that nothing was to be done in Texas, and that a man has small chance of living to the age of Old Parr without doing something more than shoot cranes and hook cat-fish towards his susten- tation, the common stock of the two brothers was parted ; — the younger sold off his share by auction, and went to New Orleans, unknown to or by a single living creature in that great city. There, however, though otherwise his excellent talent might have been available, no public works of the kind in which he could have been engaged were going on. He was as much at a loss in his profession as ever. Nor did other kind of employment worth even alluding to present itself until his resources were well-nigh exhausted, and be knew not scarcely what to do. During the latter portion of this period I was myself in Orleans, and urged him again and again to return to England. He was as firm as ever. Both my wife and myself were then under great afilictions ; and I cannot allow this opportunity to pass by without recording the deeji obligations we were under for bis personal attendance and kindness, when other friend or acquaintance we had scarcely one. On previous occasions, as his difiiculties increased, he had mentioned to me his determination rather to work as a common " stevedor " (or ship-porter, on the Levee) than agree with my earnest suggestions to him touching a certain method of returning to his own country and re- establishing himself in his profession. , " At the same time," said he, " my associates there would be such a legion of ignorant, drunken, and degraded Irishmen, and half-savage Spaniards, that I would do almost anything rather than this." " By heavens ! " said I, " never come to such as that ! Go home. Never heed the wretched sarcasms of such as you call your friends ; for they who would utter such against you in these circumstances, are more fiends than friends, and do not heed them. Your relations will If * Men carry umbrellas there to keep off the sun, just as commonly as, in this climate, they do to keep off rain. OR TEXIANA. 87 ^'t such a -savage nly as, in never do so, but be glad to find you safe back again, though you should walk through England to your home in the garb of a beggar I " It is almost needless to say, that my remonstrance had no effect. The last time 1 saw him was one day when he called at our house, and told me he had determined to go as a common sailor before the mast, in case the captain of the vessel he had in view would take him. The captain alluded to lodged in the same house with him, and he had hopes. At the same time, he said he was in a great hurry to leave ; he could not stay long with me, as he had a friend outside waiting for him. Accordingly I pressed him to come again as soon as he could, and tell me how he had decided, which (perhaps equivocally) he promised to do. About an hour after he was gone, I found a small token left by him privately on the chimney-piece, the sight of which made me burst into tears, for it told too plainly that we should never meet there again. Such proved to be the fact. He never called on me any more, and the wretched state of my own health did not allow me to make such inquiries as might at least, if but poorly, have satisfied my feelings. Therefore, whether he went or not, I cannot say. If he did, his destination was, I believe, to the East Indies ; but my memory is not sufficiently strong on this point to warrant me in giving it as fact. It is not, however, a matter of any importance to the public at large, though one of much consequence to his numerous friends in England, who otherwise may never know what has become of him. Of this I am pretty certain, he himself would never tell them. His brother remained some considerable time afterwards in Galves- ton; but, though a most worthy ynvLug man, not withou:, necessary means, and, as far as I knew, in the enjoyment of very good health, he still found no temptations either to stay there or go into the interior. This may be presumed from the fact, that towards the close of last year he Tet\irned to England, and has since embarked for a place more dear to his fancy, New Zealand. The published laudatory works on Texas make as much as they possibly can of the " emigrants who are continually arriving," but say nothing of those who are as continually going away again when they can get, or of that more unlucky class still, who would as continually do the same had they the means. • *. n A I 'I, r.ll :;i ■■*+ ■(*.■• ii' ra *i .:•,('« M ■.;i ' '-i' li i ■ !■ rf 88 ST. LOUIB ISLE, ■t W ?■• if ii 'J ■I ^ The wonderful virtues of the air in the cure of consumptions are also much spoken of. All the pills in Christendom are nothing to Texan air. Let us see. Only one case of the kind came under my observa- tion, %nd, though not remarkably decisive, may be adduced in illus- tration as far as it goes. Mr. F., a young man formerly in the employ of a grocer (named Henson, I believe) in Nottingham, and subsequently in that of one of the Society of Friends residing in Birmingham, left England in the ship " Francis " along with us. A more thoroughly practical good Christian I never knew— few indeed who were his equals. All felt mucb inter- ested in his welfare. Shortly after his arrival, he obtained an excellent situation in the store of Mr. P., and, for a brief time, went on well. That he was consumptive, there seemed no doubt ; for though I had it not directly from his own lips, yet the fact reached me in a manner which left not the least moral doubt upon my mind that he had gone to Texas almost especially upon that account. No very long time had he been there before he fell ill, his general complaint being undefined ; but he spoke much against the excessive sultriness of the climate. After his recovery, his employer determined to establish a new store at Matagorda, and Mr. F. went down to superintend it — that locality being considered at the least as healthy as Galveston, if not more so. During the course of the year, his letters did not say much in favour of any change for the better ; though he found excellent friends there, and was beloved by all who became acquainted with him. — Devoted crea- ture ! He was, while in Galveston, our constant Sunday visitor. He bad helped me to prepare my garden and fit up the house, and never felt so happy as when hii^ weekly remission from toil enabled him to pass a few hours beneath its roof. Indeed, I dare say he spoke as he felt when he one day christened it " The Cottage of Content." A considerable space of time elapsed towards the conclusion of our own stay, without any account being received by any of us from him. On the very day of our departure, as I was standing on the wooden pier at the foot of which the Orleans steamer lay, a young man whom I but remotely knew by sight walked up and inquired if I were not Mr. H. On being answered in the affirmative, he informed me that he had just f OR TEXIANA. 80 returned from Matagorda, bringing o message from poor F. to me ; and that, Iiearing I was upon the point of leaving, he had come down to the boat in order to catch me and deliver it. " He could not write," said he, " but he told me to tell you he was not quite so well — and parti- cularly, that he should go back as soon as he could, as his anxiety to get home was intense." How was this ? Worse ! Surrounded by friends, though new ones— under no pecuniary difficulties of any kind — without a single living re- lation in the world, for he was the last doomed of his race — ilways ill at sea, and yet possessed of an intense desire to get back again as early as possible to the land of his birth ! I thought, whether rightly or not, of that one last wish which the dying exile always feels, but could make no reply. There are green churchyards, and shadowy tombs, ^ and solemn-sounding rivers running by them, and places where the ashes of our kindred lie, in England ; and when the great curtain of time begins to rise and warn us to look for the eternity beyond, the heart of man mil speak in these most natural of accents, and point its poor frail dust towards the sacred heap of its forefathers, even from the uttermost end of the earth. Whether he lived to fulfil his desire, I have no means of ascer- taining. Being upon the subject of our various companions' fortunes and ex- periences in this new Republic, it may be as well to proceed with it — to sketch them through, and leave the intelligent reader to draw his own conclusions from the examples thus laid before him. Two brothers, Messrs. W. and J. S., arrived in Or.lveston under the necessity of an immediate want of employment. This would not by any means have been the case, but for a curious swindling Texan land- agency transaction in which one of them was victimised shortly before our vessel left London. Since I was personally observant of the prin- cipal details of this aifair, the reader may depend, as far as the authority of my name is concerned, upon their general ajcuracy. I will, how- ever, leave the " victim " to state a part of the case, premising only, that after he had discovered, on his arrival in Galveston, in what man- ner he had been cheated, he addressed a letter upon the subject to the editor of the " Civilian" newspaper, part of which runs as follows — the m i I: *r 'f% 8T. LOUIS' IJT.r, 'in tf !*' individual whose name ii omitted being the agent in question. This portion, however, gives only the history of the agent ; but, as a fair sample of the tribe, it is valuable. " In 1830, Mr. — — — failed in the town of Leeds, England, and fled from his creditors to the United States. While there, he purchased from Mr. Woodward, then (I believe) Texan Consul in the United States, a quantity of Mexican fcrip, and on the distinct understanding from Mr. W. that the scrip was in all probability not good, but that he offered it so exceedingly low as to render it well worth the while of any peculator to chance the purchase of it. ■■ bought it ; sub- sequently he resold to John Mansfield Halliday, Esq. of Petworth, in Sussex, upwards of 8,000 acres, at the rate of two dollars per acre ; at the same time guaranteeing the same scrip to be perfectly good. Acting on this transaction, Mr. Halliday sent out thirty-two emigrants to locate the land. On the arrival of these strangers in Texas, they discovered that the scrip was wholly worthless, and consequently that they themselves were totally adrift, and dependent entirely upon their own unaided exertions. Several of them are still living in the Republic, who will at any time come forward and attest the truth of this state- ment. These parties have never received any compensation for their loss, and the base treachery which had been practised upon them. The agent afterwards found out that he had made a bad ' spec.,' and in order to remedy his own absurd blundering, he made ' an appeal to the sympathies (as he terms it) of the Texan Congress,' in which appeal he deliberately stated, that he had purchased the Mexican scrip of Mr. Woodward upon the positive assurance that it was perfectly good. Mr. W. publicly denied this statpoient; but, through the leniency and liberal feeling of the Oovernm(;nt of this Republic, an act was passed, granting to ■ the power, which he now perverts, of giving one portion of land to emigrants, and swindling them into the purchase of the remainder." The power alluded to in the last sentence is thus exercised :— To every married emigrant whom the agent in question is supposed to send out, he gives 320 acres of land, and to every single man half that number. He stipulates, however, that one-half of each shall be returned to him again by the emigrant, and provides a printed formula to be filled up >'«J l.U OR TEXIAMA. 91 and signed fcir that purpose. His next object is to persuade the emi- grant to purehaae the same half back again which he had but just before given away t The inducement he holds out for this comes in the shape of a promise that in case the request is complied with, he will procure a free cabin passage for the intended settler by the first vessel from either Liverpool or London. The land thus given, given back, and re« purchased, is unlocated— -it lies anywhere or nowhere— and the emigrant himself on his arrival is left to wander over a vast country in order to find it, or to abandon the matter altogether. Mr. S. entered into a bargain of this kind ; but, by mutual agreement, he paid the agent in goods. This required his whole stock ; — a fact, however, about which he cared very little, seeing that not only was an . area of 320 acres secured to him, but his own passage and that of his wife also. The ship-brokers, a couple of sad young rascals in street, agreed to accept the agent's order for their going on board, and to hold him (the agent) responsible for the payment. But, lo ! when the time came, they denied having done anything of the kind — declared that ■ ■ had not paid the passage-money, and refused to take S. and his wife on board unless he himself paid again, after having previously paid the agent, their accomplice, iu goods which he agreed to accept ! The day of sail- ing was drawing nigh — S. was resolved not to lose his passage, and by great exertions raised enough to satisfy the villains ; thus submitting to as vile a swindle as any set of blacklegs ever attempted. Mr. S., his wife, and brother, reached Galveston penniless. On inquiring for employment, an offer was made to them by an individual who owned an unoccupied house and large plot of land upon the island, to take the house rent-free, be provided with seeds for planting, cultivate the ground, and receive two-thirds of the profits resulting therefrom by way of payment. This they gladly accepted, and a short time found these two brothers driving a plough for the first time in their lives, and making gloriously uneven furrows across their enclosure of sand. Even or uneven, however, can matter but little in a country the writers upon which assert that it is quite sufiScient to bore a hole in the ground with your stick, and drop Indian corn into it, to insure a sufiicient return. That article and various kinds of melons constituted the main seeds *%l ^Ml f'ffl M.'^ iT. LOUIS ISLE, ^, planted by the two S.i. Eventually, the corn came to nothing, the ni((g«n in the neighbourhood stole the melons by night, and the " pro- ftti" amounted to a sum not easily divisible amongst three, as the readet may readily conclude — it was £0 Oi. Od. ! When the summer was over, they abandoned this attempt to turn farmers and gardeners, and having both been bro ight up to a handi- crad for which some sort of demand always exists, especially in a new country, they returned to the town and betook themselves to their ori- ginal trade. Finally, the youngest went to Houston, fell sick, and I heard no more of him ; while the other remained in Oalveston until he could not obtain anything to do, and had buried his recently-married wife, and then, by some means or other, got away into the United States. Another individual, a man with a wife and a large " small" family, who also intended to settle and dig up his share of the now Republican soil, likewise found himself amongst the disappointed, and finally bo- took himiielf to the steward's pantry on board a petty steamer plying between Oalveston and Houston. On this, I believe, he remained until one day the vessel blew up in the Buy of Oalveston. Whether he was blown up too, I cannot any, as the affair happened after I had left. This at least may be averred, that, after some considerable period of service, he could get no more than his victuals for his pains. But perhaps the most remarkable subject who went out with us, — and he is the last of who.n I shall have occasion to speak, — was the venerable Mr. , a gentleman well known amongst the florists of a celebrated London suburb. His objects in paying a visit to Texas, as explained by himself, were of the most purely philanthropic kind. Having conceived the idea that some of the best English varieties of currants and gooseberries, as well as potatoesi and other seeds suitable for the kitchen-garden, would in all probability conduce very materially not only to the appearance of the cultivations, but also to the bodily comfort and solace of the inhabitants of Texas, he resolved forthwith to take a visitation voyage thither for the special purpose of carrying out a supply. Patriotism, humanity, and a keen consideration for the poor dry-mouthed creatures whose doom it was to burn beneath a southern sun, alone actuated him in making this bold attempt; and inasmuch as i OR TKXIANA. !)3 ho wai quite wealthy enough to do lo without damage to hit fortunes, ho did it ucci rdingly. No long acquuintance wai neoeuary tu enable everybody on board to discover that the old i^entleman wns not only astonishingly good- humoured and facetious, but also something of a wag ; and hence the conclusion v. is arrived ut, that although he did all this entirely for " the good of Texas," some other muro immediately personal good might chance also to have a share in the consideration of the venture. This supposition was at length verified in a rather singular manner. How deplorably our vessel was fitted out has already been stated. Some time before we neared the West India Islands, the fact became evident and known to all, that wc must either put in at some one of them fur the purpose of procuring fresh water, or run the almost cer- tain risk of perishing at sea for the want of it. The beautiful little Danish island of St. Thomas's was accordingly selected as most eligible for that purpose ; and about noon on the 8th of March we anchored in a splendid little bay at about half u mile's distance from and immedi- ately before the town. The efiect produced upon the mind of a nature- loving European by the first close sight of a fertile tropical coast is inconceivable by those who have never experienced it. He feels as though suddenly transported iilto a new planet, invested with a totally new and higher order of decorative creations animate and inanimate. Of cotirse, all were eager to rush ashore. But before arrangements for this purpose could be effected, boats from the shore q^ime alongside, bringing all kinds of strange vegetable produce ; tame parrots, that knew how to talk, at a few dollars a-piece ; and certain very long stone bottles, like little Irish round-towers with necks on the top, containing something which our sea-cook Harry immediately and with charac- teristic sagacity concluded to contain something more valuable than all the rest. Now Harry had in his possession a tub three-quarters full of " slush," as it is termed in the ocean vocabulary, — that is, of the waste fat and skimmings from his pans and boilers, — and knowing it was an article always in demand at a sea-port, though for what purpose I know not, instantly formed the design of bartering his "slush" for as many of the aforesaid bottles as ho could get. Preparatory, however, to pro- posing a bargain, he sank to the bottom of the tub all the heavy offal -il i. il (■ri 1-1 I M. m ^ M v.: 94 ST. LOUIS ISLE, S'"' »'! m he could lay hands on, in order to make up a brimmer. This done, an agreement was soon made, and Harry with all his messmates retired, .bottles in hand, to the forecastle, for the especial purpose of abandoning work and enjoying them. At last the passengers got ashore, and divided into parties, according to the inclinations and desires of the individuals composing them. Some departed immediately to an inn, in order to eat a land-dinner as soon as they could ; some strolled about the streets, making most un- intelligible purchases from the many-coloured population, who retailed equally unintelligible things there; while others walked directly off endways to see the country and enjoy the picturesque. Amongst these latter were myself and wife, and three or four others. Outside the town we were overtaken by a planter, who, seeing we were part of the English strangers just arrived, most politely invited us to his house, entertained us throughout the greater part of the afternoon, and explained whatever we saw of greatest curiosity and interest. This gentleman was Major Helm. In the evening we received a similar murk of attention from the Governor, who resides at the Fort ; but as some little matters of business called me into the town, I had not per- sonally the pleasure of being present. When we returned on board in the evening, we found the vessel in most horrible confusion. All the sailorc had got fearfully intoxicated on the contents of Harry's bottles, and would have converted the ship into a little pandemonium had not the mate forced them below. We then learnt for the first time, that during our absence on shore, one of the dogs, designed to go to Texas, had instead gone mad, and run about the deck in a dreadful state until very fortunately driven into a secure hen-coop, which was fastened on him, and in which he shortly afterwards died. At dusk, as I was " pacing the deck alone," another boat arrived from shore bringing back our good-humoured and respected old friend the florist. As a small matter of news, I communicated to him the fact that hydrophobia had made its appearance amongst the dogs, that one had died — and I was about to suggest the immediate necessity for their farther security, when he stopped me short, and, looking too grave to be otherwise than serious, begged mu to tell him no mure about it. — Hi' OK TEXIANA. 95 He had himself, some time before, been bitten by a favourite lap-dog, which was immediately destroyed ; so that whether the petted little animal was really mad or not, nobody knew. The horrible idea had, however, taken such strong hold upon his mind, that eventually his physicia'uS advised certain journeys abroad in the hope of thereby dis« sipating it, and one of which seemed in part to be his present. But to hear that a dog had actually gone mad on the vessel, he could scarcely endure. Deep as was the regret I felt at having so unconsciously and abruptly given pain to a very worthy individual, I could not but reflect how the narrow worldly maxims of " never telling your affairs to anybody," and " always keeping things to yourself," may, under particular circum- stances, not only defeat their own object, but actually aggravate the identical difficulties they are so confidently presumed to avoid. The space of a few days after we again set sail, proved sufficient to effectually obliterate all unpleasant recollections from Mr. 's mind. The delights of St. Thomas's had to be rehearsed in everlast- ing chatter, horticultural instructions to be given (and they were given freely) to all who intended to resort to the land, and a thousand antici- pations to be indulged in touching the place to which we were bound. There was also a song to be sung on the " last Saturday night at sea ;" and sung it was on his part with excellent effect : — " Mother were dead, and sister were married, And nobody at whoam but feyther and oi, Feyther and oi, feyther and oi I ' Nobody at whoam but feyther and oi ! " I cannot recollect it all, and even if so, it might not be worth giving ; but at least it was uncommonly funny, whoever were the author and the composer. Well, but after our rudder wad lost, and we ourselves began to think that we were lost too, our good-hearted florist lost to a certainty all his spirit. His pleasant chit-chat took wings to itself and flew away — "feyther and oi" were only an echo in the memory ; and during some forty-eight hours or so, scarcely a single word in exchange could be obuined from him. I repeat it not in ridicule of the man, whose If t"" m ■i w ■ Jl#' 5 « rtK,., ■ • -w.i- / civ '■' '-'irT 96 ST. LOUIS ISLK, li memory must be to this day pleasant to all on board, but only because the picture he exhibited struck mc, in spite of its sincere feeling, as singularly humorous, and therefore too good to be lost ; but during that time, whenever on deck, he paced up and down in the most de- jected manner, his hands behind his back, his head hanging down, and his eyes upon the deck beneath his feet, uttering aloud some such un- answerable interjections as these : — " What brought me here ? What did I come here for ? What, in the name of G — , did bring me here ? To leave my pleasant house at , my wife, my grounds, and come here ! What, in G — 's name, did I come for ?" And this one string was played upon, as far as the gamut of language would allow, in every imaginable note. Safety and a pilot soon set all right again, and afforded a very plain solution to the problems which just before appeared more embarrassing than even the squaring of the circle. At Galveston, his currant and gooseberry cuttings sold at somewhere about half-a-doUar or a dollar a-piece ; his seeds were bought up by the half-ounce with avidity : he discovered, beyond contradiction, what " brought him there." He rejoiced in the new vegetation presented to his eyes. He enjoyed himself delightfully in the company of my neighbour. Major A., at the Tremont Hotel. He lost his way on the prairie, and stumbled on the wrong doors when returning home in the dark. He called at our dwelling on his way, and related his day's adventures with extraordinary facetiousness, besides trying to sing " Feyther and oi," when he could not remember it, and then asking, " What, . in Heaven's name, does make me forget it ?" And, finally, he departed home by way of France, and is happily now restored to his '• pleasant place " at ——-. Thus, then, reader, I conclude the story of the experiences of one ship's company of emigrants and visitors to Texas, and of the results that followed. Having read, now judge for yourself. Example is coi> sidered better than precept, and most earnestly, though with a sad heart, do I lay these living, dying, and dead examples before you, in contradiction of all the false precept of all the books of mere laudation that ever were written. OR TEXIANA. 97 <: I cannot conclude this portion of my observations in that quarter of the world without adding (perhaps most appropriately in this place) the following remark from a good authority. It was made to me by a planter from Kentucky, who had just returned to Galveston after a three months' travel and camping out, in company with some other Americans, through the best available portions of Texas. Their object, be it remarked, was to settle there, in case they found it adapted to their purposes. On an inquir^ being made respecting his opinion of the country, he briefly remarked — " There 's some tolerably good lands here and there ; but / juess the country will always be pretty considerably unhealthy." " Would you settle there?" I asked. " No, stranger," said he ; ** we can fam a deal better in our own States. Nothing is to be done without good health." 'Jiff fit. ■"11 "ft y V -J ••■'■imf m as ST. LOUIS ISLG, CHAPTER VI. t Canvassing for an Election. Compliment to Commodore Moore. Point Bolivar. A Prairie Feast. Quarrelling. The Lady Mayoress. Poverty of the Corporation. Canvassing for an election is not one of the least amusing social ope- rations carried on occasionally amongst the various dispersed communi- ties of Texas. Tavern meetings, enlivened now and then by the glitter of a bowie-knife and a stream of blood amongst the crowd, — low balls, to which ladies not exactly as virtaous as nuns have free access, and chowdie parties* held in the open air upon the coasts of the Gulf or Bay, — constitute an important part of the vehicle through which any hopeful candidate endeavours to achieve success. My neighbour the Major called upon me one day, with the intelli- gence that he was going on the following morning across the Bay to Point Bolivar, for the purpose of canvassing that locality in the interest of a Mr. Potter, a lawyer in Galveston, who had been announced as Democratic candidate for the of&ce of Member of Congress, in opposi- tion to another of his own professional tribe, named Jones — a man who, from a common blacksmith, had raised himself, by his own mental appli- cation, to the station of first advocate and lawyer then supposed to be in Texas. The Major appeared anxious that I should witness a little election life in the new Republic, and accordingly invited me to take a seat in his boat and accompany him throughout the aifair. • A " chowdie party" in Texas is pretty much the same thing as a " clam- bake " in the United States. In ene case, ordinary fish constitutes the founda- tion of the repast given on the occasion ; in the other, the shell-fish called clams. Each, however, is nothing more than a feast given in the open air — usually for the purpose of assembling electors. They are "gipsy parties" in fact, though called for another pui-posc. i< . (A OR TEXIANA. 99 t Bolivar, poration. cial ope- jmmuni- he glitter ow balls, :ess, and } Gulf or ?hich any intelli- le Bay to e interest unced as n opposi- man who, ital appli- )sed to be ss a little to take a a "clam- ic founda- fisli called open air — jarties" in We reached the town about nine o'clock. There was great bustle amongst all those citizens who were most immediately interested in the present candidate. The Mayor's Constable had dressed himself up in his best, a la Mexican, and, mounted on a borrowed horse, armed with a Mexican whip with a lash three or four yards long, was scouring about the streets in a fury, hurling up clouds of sand into the air, and cracking his tremendous thong as loud as he could at every corner. This appeared to be for the purpose of rousing the inhabitants to a proper sense of their duty, and collecting together as large an escort as possible for Potter to Point Bolivar. Potter himself appeared half bewildered between the arrangements necessary to be formed, and the endless demands made upon him for his presence in iialf-a-dozen dif- ferent places at the same time. Our friend the Major at once under- took to relieve him of all difficulty in the first of these matters — so far, at least, as all the needful " creature-comforts " to be taken with us were concerned ; a department, indeed, in which he at all times evinced the strongest interest, his highest conviction ever being, that without plenty to eat, drink, and smoke, no good whatever under heaven could be done in such a cause. The Major accordingly reminded Potter of the hams and bread — cautioned him particularly to see that the wine and brandy were not forgotten — asked him with intense earnestness whether he had ordered any ice. No ! it was totally impossible to do without ice ; nobody could live the day through — the ice must be ordered immediately. " Here," said he, " there is my Constable com- ing ; I'll send him round for it at once. Give him a good big blanket to roll it in, and he'll see it down to the boat at the time, so that we shall then make sure of it." This dont-, the Major considered a little, and then, struck with a new thought, charged Potter, as he valued his life, not to omit abundance of cigars. " Nothing is to be had at Boli- var," he argued, " and therefore what we do not take with us we must go without. Better by half have some to spare, llian not enough ; and what is left we'll use up at the election." Potter replied, that he had sent two boxes down already, if the Major thought that would do. *' Not enough, not enough !" exclaimed the latter ; " have another whole box at least." And so another box was sent for, and tucked I • k-3 /•'I M t ';m (:J. ■m 100 ST. Loris ISI.F, under the Major's own arm for security, being in size not nmuh inferior i.0 an infant's coffin. It was about mid-day when we finally got down to a small fleet of boats which, with their intended passengers, were awaiting the embarka- tion of the Mayor, in order to enjoy the benefit of the Galveston Cor- poration Hand, which the Major had taken care to secure for our own boat. Several ladies who were intending to grace the canvass with their presence evinced some anxiety to be seated in this latter ; but the Mayor privately protested to me that such an arrangement would never do, as they would be a complete check upon the enjoyment of the pass- ::ge, by preventing our drinking, smoking, and talking with that entire freedom and ease which constituted the principal charm of a job like the present. He also additionally hinted that " we should gain no great credit by sailing in the same craft with them, as he happened to know " and then, with a mysterious nod, and a " 'Twon't do, Hooton, 'twon't do !" concluded his observations. By keeping his eye upon the Constable, who well knew its meaning, the Major eventually eitectcd such an arrangement as he liked, without seeming to meddle much with it; his will being expressed through the Constable witli almost as much facility as though this latter gentleman had been merely an explanatory appendix to the Major's own body. Just before we pushed off, a young midshipman in the Texan Navy came down to get a passage ; and as we were in want of a good helms- man, Mr. Wyman was appointed to the post. The Band, which con- sisted of one drum, two horns, and a fiddle, was already " in liquor," having been thumping, scraping, and blowing ever since daylight, and consequently keeping the animal as moist as over-exertion in a hot climate is apt to require. Mr. Wyman had also evidently been refresh- ing himself during the morning after the same fashion. At last, everything being arranged — the cigar-box opened, and wine and brandy uncorked, — we pushed off", to the national Texan air, "Oh, come to the bower" — an air much more sentimental than patriotic, but which has become the national air of Texas, in consequence of its hav- ing been fought to by the Revolutionists in their final encounter with the Mexicans at the far-famed San Jacinto. Tlie lact was, 1 understauti. *!i OR Tli;XIANA. 101 that just upon the Texnn onset in that batllc, an old man who either fiddled or bagpiped to the troops on the occasion was called upon to strike up something uncommonly patriotic and invigorating. In the hurry and tumult of the moment, he could not recollect anything of the right sort, and as the emergency would not allow time for musical reflec- tion, he broke out with the first that turned up, and rushed on to the fight with that lovely ditty of "Oh, come to the bower" ! which from that time forwards was exalted into the national air of the country. It happened on this auspicious day, that Commodore Moore, the Commander of the Texan Navy, was lying out in the Bay, and directly on our course, in a sloop-of-war with which he was ordered down to the southern part of the Gulf for the purpose of intercepting any Mexican vessels that might chance to fall in his way ; and accordingly our worthy Mayor determined to salute him respectfully as we passed. In spite of all precautions, however, and the supposed skill of our helmsman the Middy, the boat was so bunglingly managed, that, for want of due formalities, an insult was really offered, instead of a compliment; while the Band was in such a desperate hurry to let off its patriotic sentiments, that •' Hail, Columbia, happy land!" broke involuntarily forth two or three times, and was as often suppressed, before the Major could brenk in these rampant Bepublicans to proper obedience to the word of com- mand. The Commodore appeared on deck, and seemed to invite us on board ; but the Middy and the Constable made such a miss between them, as to be unable, in the tide, to take the boat near enough along- side to enable us to hear anything that was said. Meantime, it was plain enough to see that Wyman's fellow-officers were laughing heartily at this specimen of his seamanship. The Major broke into a horrible passion, and ordered them to sheer off and get out of sight as soon as possible, or he should feel so desperately ashamed of their bungling that he would not promise not to pitch one or two of them overboard. I expected a furious quarrel, but eventually it passed off peaceably, Mr. Wyman drowning his mortification during the remaining part of the I)assa;jje in strong brandy-and-water. When we arrived within a few yards of lane!, the Middy attempted some sort of manoeuvre which ended <: '».■ f § i.f» If m ? ;#■ ■i. 102 ST. LOUIS ISLE, in plungins: him over head and eurs into the sea ; but as we were then upon the shallows, he floundered to land, more crest-fallen than ever. In fact, all our address was required to get his spirits up again, as he grew downright melancholy at the anticipation not only of the jibes and jeers of his sea companions, but also from the dread of losing his commission when next he returned to his ship and had his conduct investigated by the Commander. Our whole party having landed, proceeded to the first house nt hand, where, in style sufHciently rough, were set out food and drink ny« body who chose to partake of them. Some frizzled and fried for them- selves ; some drank and smoked ; somo lounged with their legs on the chair-backs ; some wanted to know when Potter would be there ; and all were in a hurry for the arrival of the Commodore and the officers of the Navy. A ball was to be given that night, and nothing could be done without the sailors. It was soon discovered that a larger and an empty house would be required for supper and ball, and a small detachment of inspectors was sent into the neighbourhood to discover and take possession of one, in case it could be found. This they were not long in effecting, and thither all immeiiately repaired, to put it in order for the occasion. All the doors were wrenched off the hinges, and transmogrified into tem- porary tables ; an out-house was converted into a free cigar and drink- ing establishment ; and then, these arrangements made, the Major in- formed me that it was high time to take a peep into the neighbouring cattle enclosures, or on the surrounding prairie, for something in the shape of fresh meat, to be cooked for dinner. I accompanied our ex- cellent purveyor on this interesting expedition, and soon had the satis- faction of seeing him fix on a young heifer, almost as big as her mother, as a fit and proper beast to be slaughtered for the ensuing meal. The owner did not exactly want to part with her ; but, of course, that ob- jection had not the least weight in the stomach of the Major. When a man expects to be very hungry, bo does not consider another man's calves in any other light than that if veal ; and when a Texan multi- tude is to be fed, why, fed they must be, if there be anything within reach to lay hands upon. Potter had arrived by this time, and was t" OR TEXIANA. 103 'li consulted. At a good round price, the devoted benst was agreed for, and IT any imaginations revelled upon her remains, even while she was poking her damp snout almost in their faces, and staring at her murderers in the conscious security of her own quiet pen. Meanwhile the canvass was going on, and the candidate was suffering the most rigid of questionings from the most ignorant of voters, and enduring examinations and cross-examinations by such incapable, though momentarily important men, as, at any other time and under other circumstances, he would have turned from with despising and scorn. In the course of the afternoon, I fell in with an old inhabitant of Bolivar Point, named Parr, a settler from the States upon this dreary tract some fifteen or more years before, and while the Mexican laws against immigration were still in force. He was considered as wealthy as almost any settler in Texas, and nsxially had a troop of two or three hundred fine half-wild horses, whic roamed the prairie at will, and found ample protection from bit and saddle under his peculiar descrip- tion of patronage. He resided several miles aloof from any other farmer, with his wife and two or three daughters; having, for the especial benefit of the latter, a tutor, residing in a house provided espe- cially for him hard by. Towards evening, our bowie-knife butchers lugged their veal into the waste garden of the house of which possession had been taken, and slaughtered it. Others were as industriously employed in selecting posts, rails, and great beams of wood, to make a bonefire of, by which to roast it in the open air. A short time before the operation of skin- ning commenced, the Commodore and his ofiUcers arrived. One of the latter chanced to walk up to the scene of slaughter, and seeing a citizen with a knife between his teeth preparing to take the hide off, leaped over the fence, calling loudly upon him to arrest his hand. He declared that the whole beast would be spoiled if cooked without the skin, and immediately took the highly responsible and delicate business of finishing these preparations upon his own shoulders. "Mexican and praiiie fashion," said he, " were the best in a case like this. Came con cuero is the plan. Get eight or ten long poles, t if 1 lOi ST. LOUIS ISLE, ^■i: m stick them into the ground round your fire, and in a short time all will be ready." These orders were obeyed, and a tremendous fire was raised, while Captaip S r carved up the carcase in fine " gaucho " style, and suspended the various joints as they were cut off on the points of the surrounding; fences, and where the hot flesh quivered and leaped in mangled di-uth-life for the space of ten or twenty minutes afterwards. By nightfall, the various pieces were suspended on the poles, skin out- wards, and thus frizzled until done through, each being served up as it became fit for the table. It was between the hours of nine and ten p.m. before dinner could be considered ready ; but as some few of us were scarcely able to wait until that time, old Pnrr and myself ran a sharp stick through a joint, carried it off between us, and cooked it at the house of a neighbouring acquaintance, for the especial use of the famished and failing amongst us. During the course of the day, the fiddler had sworn to wear out every gut of his instrument before he went back, ar:d the horn-players to blow their faces to a point before the next morning's light dawned upon them. The former was as good as his word — he returned mute to the island on the morrow ; but whether the latter had also kept their promises as faithfully, 1 had no opportunity of ascertaining. About midnight a quarrel, arising from a very trivial circumstance, originated between our now drunken Middv^ Mr. Wyman, and a young English- man present. The former wanted to fight then and there with knife and pistol, which he carried in the breast of his jacket, while the latter was totally unarmed. A long skirmish of words took place, during which my countryman received — and for a long time with great for- bearance — much insolent provocation. At length he could bear it no longer, and, although his antagonist was considerably the taller of the two, volunteered either to give or receive a sound dressing, after the true John Bull fashion, in case Wyman would put aside his arms. This the latter declined, alleging that those were his weapons, and with them he meant to fight. " Then lend me either of your pistols," replied the other, " as I am unarmed— step back six paces, I will do the same, and then fire." OR TRXIANA. 10.J ,3 I am This proposal he was also hesitating at, wnoiv Comm- .ore VIo< opportunely came up, and, addressing the Englishman, requested ^ to decline any further proceedings in the matter; stated that Wyn t had long been considered a quarrelsome and bad character, and thai i the earliest convenience, he would hold a court-martial upon him, and, in case he found him guilty of misconduct, punish him accordingly. This settled the matter, as both parties were then separated by their friends. Our worthy Mayor remained to dance and drink all night, as I must have done also, in lack of a boat to take me back, had not my friend^ Mr. F. been returning in his own craft and offered me a passage across the bay. We set out about midnight, and arrived in Galveston between two and three o'clock, after twice getting aground on the sandbanks. At one time, our steersman mistook his course by the lights, and was steering straight out to sea and amongst the breakers of the bar, but was fortunately put on the right course by the watch on board the Com- modore's vessel, who hailed us in the emergency. The simple Middy was quite oblivious on the following morning of all the events of the night ; but having ascertained what was in store for him, he kept away from his duty during the space of forty-eight hours ensuing, and thus made the matter worse. On the third day, he was apprehended in the town and brought before a court-martial. The result was, that he was peremptorily discharged the service. Eventually he became a poor loafing fisherman in those very seas which before he roved in the capacity of assistant defender. These additional specimens of Texan society and manners did not tend very materially to the exaltation of my opinion on those two heads ; and, subsequently, I saw no more of the election proceedings than those of the last day, which closed it. A friend of mine, however, who attended a public meeting one night in the city, informed me, that while one of the candidates was addressing the audience, two men amongst the latter, and near to him, had a few words of dispute, upon which one of them diew a knife, slashed it down the temples of the other, and put it up again. The person wounded soaked up the blood with his handkerchief, without taking any immediate revenge, while i^l. I tM IM l"''!- n-^ I lOG ST. LOUIS ISLE, the crowd around looked as pasaively on as though they beheld only an ordinary occurrence. Ob the day of polling, two opposite taverns wore thrown open to the supporters of each candidate. Brandy and ice-water were the order of every moment ; the counters were thoroughly crowded without inter- mission, and the rival rames of Potter and Jones were literolly shrieked and yelled by half-frantic voters in eo<5h other's ears throughout the town. In the evening the PotteriteS were declared to be in a consider- able minority — an announcement which was followed by a long, loud yell of triumph by the Jonesists, the roar of which was finally lost in the rising cry of a fight. I now expected to behold some pretty knife- work ; but one of the combatants having at the outset been pitched head- lung down some steps into the street and disabled, a civil pause shortly afterwards ensued. A dray, which stood in the horseway, was taken possession of by a crowd of men who hung upon and about it like leeches, when, in the middle of the successful candidate's address, and when public attention was all absorbed in it alone, somebody suddenly withdrew the pins which held the body of the vehicle down to the shafts, and shot the whole cargo out of a heap into a deep splash of mud and water which lay close behind. This was the primest joke during the whole election ; and as I had now both seen and heard quite enough to satisfy my curiosity, the Major and I, along with a few other friends, discussed a mint-julep or two along with Potter, and severally departed to our homes. I scarcely think the Major's objections against the ladies entering his boat were in themselves of the most cogent and valid character, but that they arose in great part from a dislike he seemed to entertain against the whole sex in common, founded, it would appear, upon the sad experience of a very curious specimen of female mortality that adorned his own house. When first I commenced gardening, and was in the almost constant habit of rising at day-dawn, my ears were sure to be regaled, as I dug and planted, with a heavy rumbling sound from the Major's house, which evidently proved that his domestic establishment was " up and doing." This same rumbling was repeated at intervals of a few hours •u OR TEXIANA. 107 at Icaat twice, and frequently tliree times a-day — day by day (Sunday included), with surprising regularity. " Bless mo ! " thought I to my- self, " what a remarkably industrious and persevering woman that Mrs. A must be ! what a treasure in a household, and how doubly inva- luable in the Texas ! Morning, noon, and night, she is always turning that mangle ; and as her husband is out all day, she creates him no kind of annoyance by it." Such was my soliloquy, often involuntarily re- peated with variations, as the constant roar of the mangle broke upon the early morning solitude of the prairie, the dead calm of its burning noon, or the soft stillness of its nightfall. Another favourable point, as I understood, in her domestic character was, that she was seldom seen out of her house, and never beyond the enclosure round it. She might be heard, however, rather oftener, when cow-hiding a nigger maid-ser- vant, or swearing at her with boundless energy and fliiency of language. While she and Mrs. H. were yet total strangers, the latter was in the constant habit of receiving, six or ten times a-day, messages from her neighbour, requesting the loan of a washing-tub, a loaf, a piece of but- ter, a bit of pepper or salt, an axe to split logs with, a bucket of water, and an;; other conceivable article which might happen to be in her possession. Few or none of these were ever returned again ; and so numerous and varied did the applications at length become, that any indifferent spectator would naturally have concluded that my wife kept a private huckster's shop for the especial service of the Lady Mayoress of Galveston. In case an application of this kind failed, as it some- times >.id, a nigger, with plate or dish in hand, might be seen scouring the neighbourhood for the space of a mile round, and canvassing every house until the required loan, or rather gift, was obtained. This sin- gular borrowing, or rather begging system, prevailn to a surprising extent in Galveston ; not so much to the mutual accommodation of neighbours, as to the encouragement of such as have not, supplying themselves pretty freely with all things from those who happen to have. " Lend mother about half a pound of lard," or, " Missis wants a pair of fiat-irons," is a request quite as common as it is polite : and not unfre- quently is it followed by another, to the effect that " Mother 's sent this lard back again, becos she 's borrowed some better and sweeter from !■: -■n m 108 ST. LOUIS ISLE, ^1 Mrs. Thingutnty ! " or, perhaps, " Missis says if she can't have them irons about a week, she not have 'em at all." So that, in fact, these borrowers seem positively to do you a kind of favour even by accepting your •things, and lay you under an obligation to themselves for conde- scending to make use of them. Should a barrel of flour be seen to enter your house, a demand for a part of it is immediately created, and " A basinful of flour out of that .barrel you had in this morning," is very soon inquired for. Or perchance you order a gallon or two of spirits, or a few dozens of Texan pumpkin ale, and a neighbour or two will inevitably come to taste your cigars or tobacco during the evening, and moisten the human whistle, as a matter of course, with as much of your liquor as can agreeably be carried in the living vessel bacV again. Practices of this kind come properly under the head of "loafing" (living idly on other people), as defined in the American vocabulary. Should nobody happen to be in the way when a borrower comes, the latter does not hesitate to enter either your house or kitchen, in search of the article wanted, and, on finding it, to carry it off without so much as leaving any memorandum behind to inform you towards what quar- ter of the horizon your property has taken temporary flight. When you happen to want it yourself, you must send round the neighbourhood, in order to ascertain who has borrowed it, before legal recovery can be made. As midsummer advanced and the wells failed, the Mayoress increased her demands upon us for buckets of water, which, of course, were not denied, as we had no desire to arrest the progress of that mysterious mangle, the music of which reminded us more frequently than anything else of the distant rumbling of those marvellous ninepins played by long-departed Dutchmen in the heart of the Catskill Mountains, as heard of old by the renowned Rip Van Winkle. Still, as the family was small, and we could scarcely suspect the Mayoress of taking in half the town's washing, the subject long remained to our feminine department, like a penny London reporter's account of an unrevealed murder, *• shrouded in the deepest mystery." At last, since, as Byron says, " Time, at length, sets all things even," again. OR TEXIANA. 109 the whole was brought to light by the explanations of the Major himself. ' » I was sitting on my doorstep, one evening after sunset, smoking my pipe and watching the lightning, as it played in silent splendour some tliirty or forty miles off, and over a space of one-half the horizon from east to west, when I observed the Major walking down in the dusk towards our gate, with a pipe in his mouth about a yard and a half long, the stem of which was carved from a piece of wood grown on the battle-field of San Jacinto. *' Well, H — ," said he, " I have come to smoke a pipe with you ; there 's no room in my own house for me, so till bed-time we can have a bit of a chat together." I made him welcome and comfortable, and he recommenced the conversation. " That wife of mine," said he, " is everlastingly cleaning. I never come home and see her without a brushy a dust-rag, or a wing in her hand, sweeping the floor, flapping the furniture, wiping the pictures, sluicing down the boards with water, or scrubbing the children in a bucket. I verily believe she is more of a demon than an angel of cleanliness, for everything is eternally in disorder for the purpose of being scoured and dusted. Just now, when I went home, intending to take my pipe and go to bed, she followed me with a broom and swept away the dust from behind me at every step I took into the house. The two children had been just dipped and put to bed, but hearing me coming, wanted to see me. I went into the chamber to caress them, and was followed by her, with a bowl of water and a big lump of soap, to wash their hands and faces again after they had touched me : and in that manner she goes on day and night, till, d — n it ! the place looks always like a man just shaved, with nothing but lather, and brushes, and towels all about him." I protested that it appeared perfectly marvellous to me how she could And time for so much devotion to the cause of domestic purity, seeing, as it appeared to us, that at pretty regular intervals between daylight and dark she was so constantly and faithfully superintending the opera- tions of her mangle. •i 'PA '.mi If'' i-mfi no ST. LOUIS ISLE, Jf J •* Mangle !" exclaimed the Major, " there is no mangling machine in my house ! The noise you hear arises from nothing but the removal — three or four times a-day — of the chests and boxes we brought with us from Itentucky, which she shoves up and down the floors in order to wash under them. If the well is dry and we have but a bucket of water to use, it is sure to go on to the floor, even though we have not a jug- ful left to mix one's whisky with. Curse it ! there is no use in saying anything about it, — I never trouble my head upon the subject ; but I do believe she has a perfect monomania for cleaning, that no physician in the States could cure. Now, since the weather has been so dry, our poor old cow has gone upon half allowance, and sometimes no allowance at all, just because every bucket she could borrow has gone to scour the house or sluice the children." This latter statement I could easily believe, inasmuch as that self- same old cow used to run across the prairie, from afar, whenever she chanced to see anybody drawing water from our well, and if not sup- plied with a few buckets, would wait two or three hours, in the middle of a burning day, with her head against the palings, and in deep but longing patience, for the liquid charity to be bestowed upon her. When this fact was discovered, I caused the supply hitherto enjoyed by the Lady Mayoress tu be stopped, and, instead, to be diverted into the channel of the old cow's muzzle. The latter evinced her gratitude by coming to me whenever she saw me out, following me like a dog, and regularly attending at the same hour, in the same place, until she had received her portion. This arrangement likewise stopped the '* mangle ;" and during the period of greatest drought, our neighbour's mop and broom enjoyed comparative repose. One half of these outlandish habits may be attributed to American " rearing," and the other haK to the miserable pecuniary difficulties which seem to involve evevy public office and officer, from highest to lowest, in this country. My acquaintance with the chief magistrate of Galveston was of no very long standing, before he plainly informed me that he found it next o impossible to live, because he could not get in his petty salary as mayor ; or, in case he did at all, it was only by miserable instalments, like a labourer's wages, of a few dollars at a time. OR TEXIANA. Ill He farther stated the pleasing fact, that in consequence of this defici- ency, the executive justice of the place was pretty often necessarily perverted, as he found it absolutely needful, in every case brought before him, to inflict a pecuniary fine, in place of other more appro- priate punishment, in order that the corporate funds might thereby be the more plentifully replenished, and thus become all the better enabled to maintain his office, and, through it, his own family estab- lishment. I* , ti \ ■ Pi ■"1. Ill l\2 ST. LOUIS IbLK, CHAPTER VII. Boating Excursion to Edward's Point Dr. W.'s House. Description of the Point. Arrival of Spaniards. Fishing for Terrapins. Alligator-gars. Rediish. Alligator Shooting. Line Fishing. The Red Bug. Incidents with Snakes. Slaughter-house Dogs, an Adventure. Lafitte, the Pirate's Mate. A Texan Duel. Frontier Mur- derers. Mock Indian Thievrs. Tom the Slave. Having received an invitation to make a short sojourn at Edward's Point, — a portion of the main land which juts out upon the Bay of Galveston, and is sitaated, I think, about thirty or forty miles from the wooden city, — I availed myself of the opportunity, and, one afternoon in May, went on board a small boat for the purpose of proceeding thither ; Dr. C. F. W , the proprietor of the location to which I was bound, accompanying me. Whether he was really a doctor, or only one of those appearances of one so common in Texas, is not for me to determine. At all events, he did not practise the profession, except upon himself and the men he employed in the capacity of fisher- men — a business which he carried on upon a large scale, supplying the city with fish both fresh and cured. It was stated that he tvent under an assumed name, having been obliged to leave the United States, of which he was a native, for having shot dead upon the spot a man with whom he had c quarrel. This latter incident may be presumed to be true, as he himself subsequently related it t me. About sunset, we passed the body oi man in the water ; but it was not considered worth picking up, although one of the fishermen sug- gested the propriety of tacking about in order to acertain whether he had not something in his pockets. This was overruled by the Doctor, on the grounds that it was very unlikely — that we were sailing seven knots an hour, and at best should be sufficiently benighted without staying to examine a corpse. i Some time afterwards, one point of land having in the dark been ■ftl ' 'it OR TEXIANA. lia mistaken for anothet, we ran upon an oyst?r-bed, and remained set fast during thi; space of nearly two hours. Tlie fishermen immediately jumped into the water and pulled a quantity up from the bottom, which we amused ourselves in discussing, while they pushed and pulled until the boat was got off again. At nearly midnight, Edwards' Point was made ; a tolerably ele* vated corner of land covered with indigenous shrubs and trees, — a delightful sight, even in the dark, to any one who has seen nothing of the kind for four or five months. Varied as the sea may be thought by those persons who behold it but freshly and briefly, three months make it as barren as the salt-plains of the Eust ; and Galveston Island presents on the general surface an appearance little less monotonous, since it has never yet condescended to assist its naked beauties with any coronal decoration of the kind now alluded to at Edwards' Point. Assuredly there is on this island a spot called Eagle Grove, which might alTord wood enough, by careful cutting and packing, to supply one chosen individual with a fortnight'? fuel ; but that is the only favoured spot of the kind which, as far as I know, either ancient piracy or modern telescopes have been able to discover. The boat being moored close alongside a small pier of posts and boards, we proceeded tu climb up and land ; but, in consequence of the darkness, I had nearly taken up my habitation with the fishes instead, by stumbling half through a hole caused by two omitted planks in the flooring. " Bill," one of the fishermen, who had fougtit through the revolution, now pulled at a rope attached to one of the posts, and soon discovered to me, by the floundering and splashing which occurred in the water, that a large fish was attached to the other end. It was a "redfish," not hooked, but which (having been caught when not exactly wanted) had had the rope passed through the lower jaw, and then been cast in again, in order to keep him both alive trnd safe until wanted. The practice seems exceedingly cruel, but it is no less com- mon ; the quantities of fish taken in thi. ^art of the Bay being so great, that the number of hands employed could not otherwise have kept pace with the supply while in a fit state for use. After brushing some distance up a narrow path betweei. the trees and brushwood, the Doctor and I arrived at the door of a very large ^^a 114 $T. LUUIS ISLK, fiilil s?i* building, perfectly dark, and apparently without an inhabitant. Having knocked, somebody ran down the sounding stairs and demanded who vrsxs there ? He then opened the door, but no light was visible through- out the interior. The Doctor put me into a large room on one side the entrance, and requesting me to be seated in an easy chair, went a.vay to obtain a light and set tha wheel of supper spinning. I sat a long time, perhaps an hour, betore the light came. Still, the night was not so dark lut that something might be seen. Two or three roundish objects lay on the table against which I sat, and, by way of amusement, I took up one and carried it to the window : — it was a human skull. T tried another or two, — they were the same. So I sat down again •' cheek by jowl" with these shells of bygone thought and action, and mused about them. At length the Doctor appeared with a light, and the intelligence that he had been seeing to the supper ; and this put a certainly not very disagreeable end to what Tennyson terms, my " Hob and nob with death." The skulls were those of Mexicans, found on the battle-field of San Jacinto, and to which allusion has before been made, as nearly cleft through the back with the bowie-knife. The Doctor's establishment was altogether of the masculine gender, — a tall thin lad (his son) acting as cook, scullery- wench, bed-maker, and housekeeper (sometimes for a week together alone) during the absence of his father and the men. On those occasions he caught his own fish and cooked it for dinner, drank rain-water and coffee, hunted for birds' nests, and perhaps occasionally contemplated his own portrait in the looking-^lass, by way of obtaining a short glimpse of the vision of society. lie was clever, as most of the American youths are, — had lived among; t the Indians three or four years, spoke the Choctaw language we^l, and told very marvellous stories of wild beasts and backwood snakes. Next moi ling I was up, not with the lark — for the " prairie lark" seldom gets up higher than the top of a tall thistle, — but with the egret and the sea-ea»le ; anxious to see what manner of place it was in which midnight had v^eposited us. And truly it was a beautiful place ; sur- OR TEXIANA. 115 [laving ed who irough- )nc side ir, went I sat a ight was ■oundisli isement, in skttll. rn again ion, and ght, and [lis put a I of San arly cleft 3 gender, id-maker, iring the aught his e, hunted n portrait the vision are, — had Choctaw easts and airie lark" 1 tlie egret ,s in which lace ; sur- rounded with old moss-grown trees,* not " ancestral " perhaps to any generations of men who had asserted their old dominion there, but most :ruly so to those of the innocent feathered tribes that so numerously ni'ide tlio trees their home, and cherished, like a paternal hearthstone, some fa\ ourite bough. Wild vines, hung with abundance of yet green grapes, interlaced themselves amongst them, and formed natural arbours, like those which Milton has described in Eden, and Westall has designed. On the outskirts of this, and upon the hill side, the picturesque prickly pear, now adorned with splendid flowers, grew to an enormous size — humming-birds darted about in the sun, rabbits jumped along upon the skirts of the open grass, and a sort of bird coloured much like our pheasant, but far less in size, occasionally adorned the narrow and wild pathways between the trees. s In front the prospect consisted entirely of a vast expanse of bay, studded with numberless little islands or banks, composed of nothing but shells, and entirely destitute of verdure, yet rendered beautiful by the fanciful forms theii lines composed. On the opposite side lay an equally wide expanse of prairie, the extreme distance of which lost itself in the misty circle of the skies. Only one house, and that about three or four miles off, was anywhere visible ; not a single head of cattle could be seen ; and the whole space was as silent as the petrified city of the Arabian tales. The lonely grave of some bygone dweller there, situated about a quarter of a mile behind the bouse, added con- siderably to the solitary effect of this scene. One Saturday night about ten o'clock, as the Doctor was telling me the curious history of a family of wholesale murderers who but a few years ago made themselves almost the dread of that part of Eastern Texas in which they had taken up their location, his story was inter- rupted by the entrance of three Spaniards from Galveston, who had just • This moss does not grow upon the trees, but only hangs from them, living upon the air. It is the " Spanish beard" of the Southern woods ( Tillandsia timeoides), and not unfrequently hangs five yards long from the boughs. When boiled down, along black fibre is left, in almost every respect resembling horse- hair, and as an excellent substitute for which, in the manufacture of mat- tresses and seats, it is extensively used. '■'■iV' .1 IIG ST. LOUIS ISLE, 1% P arrived on an expedition for the catching of the terrapin, — a small kind of sea-tortoise, which is used in Texas for the manufacture of soup. They had engaged to supply one of the hotels ivith, I think, two thousand ; and the first fishing was engaged to come off on the following mjrning. Sunday is the same as any other day in that country, and fishing and shooting just as common as during the remaining part uf the week. Anxious to see the sport, I set out with them at about noon, — the hottest part of the day being precisely that during which the terrapins come to the surface of the water. A net fifty or sixty yards long W"s provided for the taking of them, — a smaller one to cover the boat wui. and prevent their escape when caught, and an axe to kill a dangerous kind of fish called " alligator-gar" with, in case any should get into the net. The sky was wholly cloudless, the sun buri>ing hot and the water beautifully calm, as we rowed amongst the little shell-islands before mentioned. The noses of many terrapins were seen sticking out of the water, and our Spaniards, aided by the Doctor and Bill, imme- diately set to work. When the net was drawn up, a tremendous splashing ensued inside, — the axe was ready in the hands of one who well understood this kind of pisciscide, and in a minute or two the head of an alligator-gar was beaten in. In the scuffle, however, his upper jaw was chopped wholly away and sank to the bottom. He was then taken out, a:id cast upon the shelly shore of an island to rot. I got ashore myself to examine him. He measured from about three to four feet long, was covered with hard enamelled square scales like teeth, and had a snout considerably longer than that of a crocodile of the same general size. He bled like a pig ; and as the wounds he had received appeared evidently mortal, I left him. About an hour afterwards, on re- turning' to the same spot, much to my amazement I saw him wriggling about in the effort again to reach his native element! With such assistance as I could lend him, he effected that object, and swiftly swam cway, with only one jaw, and his hrad battered in on the top. However much this may sound like what is commonly termed a " traveller's tale," it is literally true. Similar slaughter occurred almost every time the net was drawn ; while on each occasion a curious variety of strange fishe-s were brought to light. One of these was of the same size and shape ac a common sole. OR TEXIANA. 117 with the exception that it had a long tail like a rat's, and beneath it a very sharp horny spike, with which it endeavoured to strike the ancles and feet of whoever approached it when thrown on the shorn. This fish is in Texas termed a " stingaree" {sting-ray), and though comparatively so small, is ''>le to penetrate the leather of a boot with its spike or sting, and thereby produce such acute pain to the individual wounded, that I am assured the stoutest-hearted man will dance and bellow under the affliction as though he were a child. The pain subsides after the expiration of about an hour. As the fishermen, while wading with their nets, are liable to be struck by the stingray, they invariably either chop off the tails of such as they catch, or throw them sufficiently far into the land to prevent them getting into the water again. By five o'clock, nearly three hundred terrapins of various sizes were taken, besides a great quantity of red and other fish, and we returned home. At the last haul of the net, however, two hawksbill turtle were taken, being the only pair then known to have been caught in Galves- ton Bay. Some weeks previous to the period of which I am now speaking, a solitary alligator had made his appearance in the Bay nearly opposite the Doctor's house, and had b ,en so far petted by the men, who threw him waste fish, as to have secured, apparently, his permanent residence in that quarter. Feeling anxious to obtain the skin of one of these reptiles, I one day went out to shoot him if possible, having loaded my gun with ball instead of shot. At about fifty yards' distance, I got five discharges at the mark formed by his eye, which just rose above the sea sufficiently to enable him to look along the surface. The visible portion was not larger than the centre of a target, and as my fowling- piece was not adapted for ball, it is no marvel that so small a mark was missed. When the ball passed within an inch or two above his eye, he took no notice ; when it hit his head or body, he merely sank for a few minutes, and came up again as boldly as ever. At length, the Doctor brought down one of Colt's six-chambered rifles, and at the second shot hit him. I sent a man into the water to fetch him out, when it was found that half the upper part of the head was carried away, leaving the brain bare. Still his muscular power was excessively strong, and rendered it no easy task to meddle with him. Under these circum- m m 1 m ' Ih :M. . XW I m ^1 ST. LOUIS ISLE, Stances, as well as in order to free the creature from pain, 1 cut the head quite off, and proceeded to skin the carcass. This operation lasted nearly five hours ; and even when, after that lapse of time, I threw 'the remains into the sea, the vitality had by no means ceased. This amazing tenacity of life could never have been believed unless it was seen ; but of course all sensation must have ceased when the deca- pitation was effected. Th^ skin of an alligator will not strip off like that of any ordinary animal, as the hard, tendinous flesh grows into it, and thus renders the operation of separating the two both difBcult and tedious. The jpecimen here spoken of was not more than five feet long. Fishing with a common hempen line, for redfish, is also a fine sport in Texas. At Edwards' Point and Redfish Bar (so called because of the great abundance found on that sandbank), we enjoyed the fun in perfection. Day or night, in the moonshine or the dark, and at any hour just suitable to our own fancies. Bill the Revolutionary soldier, the Doctor's tall son, a^.l myself, used to go out with a line each, row the boat silently away to one of the shell-islands, and commence our sport. The bait used is a small mullet, which there abounded to such a degree that all which was requisite to catch them, was to take a com- mon boat-oar in one's hand, quietly steal down to the edge of the water in some place undisturbed by our landing, and knock the mullets out on to the shore. One of these is put alive on to the hook, and as the fishing-line has a heavy lead attached to it, by swinging the lower part of the line for- cibly round, sufBcient impetus is acquired to hurl it a long distance into the sea ; the fisherman himself generally wading knee or middle deep, in order to secure the advantage of deeper water for his bait. As soon as a fish is hooked, the sportsman throws the line across his shoulder, and runs to land as fast as he can, taking care to draw his prey far enough out to return and secure him. As many of the red- fish are very large, and the alligator-gar will also take this bait, such precaution becomes needful, since such fish are frequently strong enough either to break the sportsman's rope, or, in case he ties it to his arm, pull him rather farther into the water than he is at all likely to approve of. . M on TliXlANA. 119 Very early one morning, intelligence was brought me that the men had caught a rather rare fish, called a " grandccour," and were anxious that I should go down to the water-side and see it before it was scaled. I accordingly walked down in my slippers, and found lying on the beach the most splendid-looking creature of the kind that perhaps ever human eye beheld. Even the dolphin was not comparable to him. He was five or six feet long, bulky in proportion, and had precisely the appearance of being made of shining silver, with here and there a sha- dowy tinge of green. The fish had not been caught with either hook or net, but, in leaping out of the water, had dropped upon a raft of firewood then floating off the Point, where the men secured him. The scales were all of a very large size, the largest being not less than a crown-piece. Over all that portion of each not covered by the other scales was spread a thick leaf of this silvery-looking matter, thick enough at least to produce a very visible elevation of that part of the surface. — A portion of this marine beauty was prepared for breakfast, and found to bear a considerable resemblance to veal. One of the terrapins having laid an egg, about the size of a rook's, I buried it in the sand as its own parent would have done had she been at liberty, in the hope of being able to produce a juvenile terrapin ; but, in consequence of being laid too near the surface, it dried up instead of hatching. These eggs are not provided with a hard shell, but a skin like that purest of all parchments, parchment just before it receives the ink of law upon it. The method of killing terrapins is not amongs; the least barbarous customs of this barbarian country. They are laid upon their backs either close to the fire or upon the red wood-ashes, until the thick shell becomes so hot to the animal within, that he desperately stretches out both legs and neck in the vainest of endeavours to extricate himself from the walls of his burning house. The tender-hearted cook watches her opportunity, and when it is evident that, in ordinary phrase, the poor terrapin "cannot contain itself," — or, in other words, will no longer draw back his head into such a living furnace, — the knife de- scends and the head is cut away. I have seen such heads, at least half an hour after being cut off, attempt, on being touched, to bite with i if< i Hi f I .■'■ ! ^'^ ' i H i;'! t uo ST. LOU18 ISLE, Buflicient force to take the piece out of the finger. During this time the eyes will occnsionally open, though generally they remain shut. During my stay at Edwards' Point, I contracted one of thi most annoying and irritating diseases (if properly it can be called a disease) which it is possible for poor mortal to bear. Being in the frequent habit of hunting for rabbits about the copses with only a pair of light noiseless slippers on my feet, I at length found the lower portions of the legs and ancles itch so intolerably, that either to sit still in the day- time, or sleep soundly at night, was totally out of the question. Yet, not the remotest visible cause existed for this horrible sensation — a sensation far less endurable than literal bodily pain. The Doctor in- formed me it was produced by the " red bug," — a microscopic insect which abounded in the grass, and had taken possession of the skin in consequence of my going out without boots. It must not be supposed that the " red bug" bears any resemblance to the noisome insect com- monly known under that name here. Insects of almost any description pass under the general name of " bug" in America. As though Nature had an especial eye to my personal enjoyments at that time, she likewise indulged me with what is in Texas termed the •'prickly heat." The name sufficiently explains itself; and though the irritation is not so great as that produced by the " bug," it yet com- pensates in some degree by extending over the whole surface of the body. The two together, combined with the great want of sleep they produced, appeared at times as though they would drive me to dis- traction. I bathed in fresh water and in salt — I rubbed my body with oil, with spirits, and at last with flour. The latter was done while the body was yet wet with bathing, in order to make it stick on ; so that, as a kind of paste was thus produced, the reader's imagination will not be drawn too largely upon, if he resemble me to a sort of living pie, — the meat baking the crust by its own natural heat. After a week or ten days, my deliverance was obtained from this earthly purgatory ; though it is one in which the newly-arrived emigrant may generally expect to pass a much longer period of time. Another yet more disagreeable, because more formidable, tenant of the prairie grass, is the dark sooty-coloured moccassin snake. This OR TEXIANA. ISl most suhtilo of all the bcnsts of the field does not nttnck unless ncci- dontiilly trodden upon, — a tiling however wliith immv c.is'ly hiippiMi where it nhounds, owing to its colour reiuleriii<,' it generally more invisible than most of the other snakes, of which a great variety exists in Texas. Early one morning, before it was yet scarcely lij»ht, I went out alone '• gunning," and took a narrow hunter's path beside a bayou, where the grass was three or four feet high. The birds had not yet come down upon the water, and I walked listlessly along, thinking, as far as in one's nature lies, of next to nothing. Suddenly I received a smart quick blow upon the ancle from behind, which almost instinctively told me it was from the stroke of a snake. The horrors of a rapid death by poison rushed upon my mind as I turned directly round and discerned a moccassin in the path, with his eyes fixed on me and his jaws dis^- tended at an angle of some seventy or eighty degrees. During a minute or two, my feet appeared grown to the spot. I then retired backwards some yards, and, when at a convenient distance, pointed my gun and fired. His head was blown quite away ; but the body (which was about as long as a walking-stick) I picked up, and immediately returned home to ascertain whether his attempt to bite had succeeded. Happily it had not ; a circumstance partly attributable, perhaps, to the fact that I had high boots on, and very wide sailor-like trousers. On another occasion, while creeping upon my hands and knees in order to get at a wood-ibis, I very nearly placed one of my hands upon a snake of the same kind ; but, except in these two instances, never got into any danger from them. Perhaps the most awkward adventure of all that personally befel me in this way was the following. It occurred in Galveston Island some time after my return from Edwards' Point : but as it is somewhat in character with the general tenor of these sketches, the relation of it here may not be inappropriate. For, although it did not end in either a Whitechapel or a Seven-Dials catastrophe, such was certainly promised up to the very instant that deliverance came. . Contrary to almost invariable practice, I one morning sallied out totally unarmed, except with a short " life-preserver" which was placed in the breast of my coat, upon a sketching ramble amongst the desert sand hillocks and the grassy swamps at the eastern end of the island. ;l ' 1* I % •I '■'A m 122 ST. LOUIS ISLE, %Mi rV< Vit A handsome little w^^elp, one *' Tony" by name, travelled at my heels, and made his way through the tall stiff grass much after the same baffled fashion, and with not much greater ease than his master has occasionally experienced when endeavouring to force his way into a cane-brake. About noon, having half lost myself, I looked out for a land-mark ; and having discovered one in an isolated mass of rude building which is used as a slaughter-house for the city butchers, and which stands on the prairie about a mile from the principal portion of the city itself, I directed my course thitherwards. After brushing through the pathless prairie awhile, 1 lighted upon a deep sandy road leading in that direction, and pursued it. The slaughter-house stands on rising ground, and has attached to it an enclosure surrounded by very high and strong wood fencing, in which the half-wild cattle intended for the knife are first of all with difficulty driven. They are afterwards picked out as occasion requires, but not unfrequcntly turn upon their slaughterers, and, amidst great danger, are either shot, pinned by powerful dogs kept there for the purpose, or dragged to the ground by the Mexican lasso. Approaching the foot of the rising ground, I observed a large white dog about the size of a mastiff, though not so long on the leg, come from round a corner of the building, look a moment in the direction I was coming, and then walk down to meet me. Tony piped one little growl, and then began to whine, creeping at the same time with his tail between his legs so close upon the heels of my boots, that they chopped him under the chin at almost every step taken. As the beast approached sufficiently near to allow a distinct view of him, it must be confessed I felt at the moment that I would much rather have met face to face with any wild beast in Texas. Although so large, he was made in a similar mould to that in which our English bull-dog is cast, only that the former was distorted, more ugly by half, horrible to look at. His head seemed scarcely less than that of a man, while his forehead and brows beetled so much that they appeared almost to shut his eyes. Conscious that to exhibit fear by attempting to get away would only be to endanger myself the more, I steadily pursued the road, without even crossing to the opposite side, for the brute had taken the precaution to come down in a straight line on the same side as he first saw me. Cautiously however, and without ;'ii i i n a m « %f la < %: ' ^ ';'N 1—1 ■ V: (ll ^ i'>- CO ^ ''S- O *> » < ^ '.""iw*'' :£, ^ ^ii^i-' MJ vl ^"SkJ' *-7 l^M.' P 1 •'* ' •" # •f ' :'V,)' 'tit ■/-Stl ■ -y.i ■ ii'V !.i ■:^>*i m m % %■ oil TKXIANA. liiS more apparent movement than was just needful, I placed my hand upon the "supple-jack," or preserver, in ray coat-breast, and kept it there ready for a blow when needful. As we approached each other still nearer, the dog gradually walked more softly, and at the same time us gradually bent himself towards the earth, as though preparing to spring. The necessity gave me courage, and I still walked on directly in his face, knowing, as I did know, that if such show uf confidence would not save me, nothing would. Had I even attempted to get out of the way, little doubt can be entertained that he would have been upon me in a moment. When within a yard or two, his belly nearly swept the sand. Tony attempted to run yelping away, but dared not face his fellow-creature, and therefore, as I afterwards found (since I dared not take my eyes off my antagonist for a moment), retired about a hundred yards behind, and leaving me to it, there took up his stand to await the result. > Another yard or two, and the slaughter-dog put his nose close to my knee, but did not attempt an attack. He then passed behind ; and at almost the same instant 1 observed anothci formidable beast, taller than the first though not of the same kind, also coming from the same place towards me : — another instant, and another dog equally large also made his appearance. These latter two eventually took up their positions, one on each side of me, but rather in advi^nce ; while, on turning my head very slowly in order to avoid alarming these voluntary guardians for my safe custody, I found the first one with his nose within two feet of my legs, for the purpose of taking care of me behind. And in silent state, with this powerful body-guard — or rather under this dog-arrest, I marched on towards the slaughter-house. Of two things I took espe- cial care, — neither to deviate from my path, nor to increase or slacken my speed. Neither did I speak ; though my thoughts were busy enough in wondering what they meant to do with me, — whether they would detain me at the slaughter-house until some friendly butcher who knew them chanced to arrive for mv deliverance, or whether, when we arrived on the ground of blood, thej would fall upon and devour me. I knew they were not particular — that their habitation was with death, their food raw flesh and entrails, their drink not unfrequently warm blood ; and as to attempting force against three such fellows, it was out of the 'M ■M. Hi I 134 ST. LOUIS ISLE, 1 question, unless in the case of a direct attack — though even then it must have proved ludicrously useless. Not 'a single human being was in sight, — not a house near enough for the inhabitants to hear, had I imprudently shouted. My only pre- sent hope lay in the possible circumstance that, as the dogs were out, there might be some one on the premises ; but as we arrived almost close upon them, the first living object 1 beheld was a rat, about as large as a good-sized kitten, sitting on his hind-quarters outside one of the doors, and either washing his nose or picking a bit of victuals by way of mid-day refreshment. This incident appeared conclusive, — either that nobody was there, or that slaughter-house rats are very bold and brass-faced rats indeed. The latter proved to be the case ; for on reaching another corner of the building, I espied a much-to-be-desired- iooking butcher scraping the hide of a pig. He instantly raised bis head, and perceiving how matters stood, — for even then I cautiously avoided shouting to him, — called in a sturmy voice to the dogs, name by name, to come up. Rather reluctantly, they obeyed this command ; and then I stood still, first to thank him for having rescued me from voi-y unpleasant custody, and then to whistle up the affrighted Tony. With great difficulty, I achieved the latter object : but he no sooner saw his ca'iine masters again, than he scoured away before me at least half a mile, v.here he awaited my coming. When I reached him and took him up in my arms, he trembled like a jolly on a crippled table ; nor did he recover his spirits until the lapse of some hours. As for myself, on arriving at home I took a glass of grog, smoked my pipe, and related and laughed at my adventure. That these dogr, were trained to guard in the same ma-.mer the cattle brought for slaughter, no doubt can be entertained. That any effort made by any desperate bullock to travel out of his path would draw upon him the teeth of his " policemen," is no less to be doubted. 1 would therefore advise any man who may chance, if any ever should, to find himself placed in similar pickle, to " take warning by this example," and not run the risk of his life in an inconsiderate and t'mid attempt to save it. Let me now observe, on recurring to another subject, that during the description of our boat-passage to Edwards' Point, some few observa- Ml oil TEXIANA. 125 tions touching a rather notorious character, which the Doctor made to me as we floated at ease upon the water, were purpos<=>ly omitted in order to prevent any interruption to the narrative. They may now be introduced, in connexion with such other observations upon the same once formidable individual as I afterwards was enabled to collect or make. We were just in sight of Point Virginia, and looking down the West Bay which principally separates Galveston Island from the main land, when the Doctor remarked — " Not many miles from where we now are, lives an old man whom .T should very much wish you to see. Most of all, I should like you to hear him talk of his own adventures during many years in this part cif the world : but he is very suspicious of strangers ; and even were I, \vho am one of his greatest confidants, ^o introduce you, I do not think he would say a vi 3rd about them — and especially if he thought you went for that purpose only. He does not like the idea of being be- trayed. He has repeatedly asked me to go and spend a few days with him for the purpose of ' taking down ' his story, because he says that the greater part of what he has read about Lafifte the pirate he knows to be untrue. The American novel so called, he says, is ridiculous." " Who is he ?" I asked. *' No other, sir, than Lafitte's own first mate during many years." " Supposing," said I, " we were some day to take a ramble and drop in upon him ; that you should introduce me as a particular friend, and tell him / would ' take down ' his s^ory, aud disabuse the world of the falsehoods already printed relative to Lafitte ?" " It would not do at all," replied the Doctor ; " for though he has repeatedly said as much to me, yet if I were to go to-morrow for that especial purpose, he would not tell me anything. Yuu must either leave the old man to talk about it when he himself thinks proper, or he will not talk at all for the best man living. You must know him well before he does that." Although I entertained little hope of being enabled to cultivate the old veteran's acquaintance so far as to obtain, within any reasonable period, his confidence, I yet bad hopes of an interview. But amuse- ments of another kind, enjoyed day by day at Edwards' Point, eventu- ♦4'aj m Ma M 126 ST. LOUIS ISLE, Hi ) ally prevented even this, and, until some time after returning to the island, I thought no more about it. A tt length chance threw me in the way of a man who had once been a horse-jockey in England — had ridden at most of our principal races, and won at several of them. He then drove a dray, dealt in horses, and was doing well in Galveston. While in conversation, I happened to mention old C — h — 11. " What ! th' old pirate, you mean, sir ?" " Yes," replied I, — " that is the m.in." '* Well," he replied, " I stopped at his house one night, though I didn't know it — and a rough rider he 's bin in his time, no doubt. It happened this way : — One of my horses broke his tether one night some time ago, and went off, as they always will, clean down to th' t'other end o' th' island; so, when I wanted him, I mounts another that knowed the use of his legs, and set off pretty early in the morning to hunt him up.* I rode after every troop I saw, but could not find him, and at last by dark hour I had lost myself. I thought I was not far off St. Louis, but couldn't tell. However, I rode on, meaning either to lie down on the prairie and sleep till morning, or come back to Galveston, if I did not meet with a house in my road. At last I saw a little shanty standing by itself, and went up to it. I see'd a stable outside, so I dis- mounted and clanped my horse just temporary, you know, and then went into th' house. There was an old man sitting by his-self without a light ; but he soon got one ; and when he see'd me, says he, holding th' candle in my face — says he, ' What do you want, or what have you come here for ?' 1 told him I'd been seeking a runaway oss all day, and couldn't find him, and if he could obleege me with a night's lodging I should be glad. 'Late watch,' said he, 'to hunt up osses: what did you come on?' * Another,' said I, ' and I've just tied him under cover.' ' Oh, you have, have you ? Then you mean to stop, whether I'll have you or not V house, you your sleep • Horses used in the town, when either they are turned on the prairie, or otherwise get loose, very ci'ten make off for the wild parts and the western portion of the island, where they associate in hbrds, and sometimes remain for months together, defying every effort to drive them back. OR TEXIANA. 1}^7 th* stable, as I have done many a time before.' — For you mind," he remarked to the writer, " I was stable-boy before I riz to be jockey. '• Well," he continued, " the old man set his light down on the iiible, and asked me to have a bit of summut to eat and a drop of whisky. I took him at his word, seeing I had not been at th' crib all day ; and while that was going on, I thought th' old boy got civiller. At last, says he, ' Young man ! you aren't such a lubber as to think of coming here to get anything, are you ? Becos if any man was to kill me in my 8lef>p, he wouldn't find a single bit (sixpence) either in this house or anywhere about it. 1 have enough to keep me, and summut more when I want it ; but it 's nowhere hereabouts, and nobody ever will know where it i«, until I tell them. Who are you V I told him my name was D , and that I came from Galveston. ' Do you know who / am?' said he. * No,* said I, 'I don't; but you needn't be afraid.' 'Afraid!" he shouted, — 'afraid!' and burst out laughing. P^ihaps he see'd I was but a light-weight, and thought he had no need to be after giving me that caution. ' All right,' said he, — * you may stop ; and perhaps you'll find your oss to-morrow as you are going back. Sleep on that stretcher there ; and I'll take my turn on these old chests.' So, as I was tired, I took th' old boy at his word, and, wi'out pulling my clothes off, stretched myself along th' stretcher, and scor -eemed to be asleep. I could see, howiver, by th' red light through my eyelids, that he was in no hurry to have a snooze — unless he was like a oss, and meant to take it standing. " After he had rambled all the place over, and thought I must be gone to sleep — for I snored like a bellows with a coke in its nose in order to make him believe so — he corned quietly up to me, without his shoes, and staged clean into my face to see whether I was really asleep or not. In course, I didn't peep through any nick in my eyes then ; but I could feel his chaw-baccy breath blowing on me as hard as a oss when he's down. In a bit — not longe- than a one-mile heat — he seemed satisfied as I was what some calls in th' arms of Murphyus, and went off to get his blanket. But, after pottering about another hafc-hour, instead of going to bed, I heard him open one of his chests ; and thinking nothin about me, he begun humming to his-se'f a sort of a song while he looked inside. This made me peep again ; and as he A'J I m 'm m iiM i 15^8 ST. LOUIS ISLE, had his light in one hand and the box-lid in t' other, I perceived a lot of fine old ornamented pistols, cutlasses, and iiicii like, fastened on th' lid, and lying inside." " Could you hear what words he was humming ? " *'^ot at starting," was the reply, " for he cantered pretty slow at first; but when he got rather warmer, unknown to his-self, as he handled his old arms, I could liear him better, and then I understood him to say summut of this sort : — " 'For man-of-war or Mexican We boys care not a bit, While St. Louis is behind cur back, And before our face Lafitte ! — Lafitte, my boys, the bold Lafitte, — And before our face Laiitte !' " "Any iuore?" asked I. " Well, there was another varse or two ; but I think he got distanced at last, for it never seemed finished ; and, besides, I couldn't hear him well : — " ' Our lots was cas', and a Spanish lass Fell mine, I well remember : Oh, a jovial time had we in the prime Of a Mexican-Gulf December ! — Lafitte, my boys, the bold Lafitte, — And before our face Lafitte ! If dead men tell their tales elsewhere, What matters that to me ? Why, nothing, lads, till I go there With my own good eyes to see ! — And before our face Lafitte ! What God believes your Spanish Don, Or English merchant-man. Though they go to their graves through blood and the waves. And swear it as hard as they can ? — And before their faces Lafitte ! Then bury deep the golden heap, And a bearing take, d'ye see ! /. y That we may know, whenever we go. Where the bloody treasures be ! — Lafitte, my boys, the bold Lafitte, — ^ '^ And before our faces Lafitte.' OR TICXIANA. \29 a lot of th'lid, slow at , as he erstood *' That was all ; but while he was humming th' last on't, he pulled out a queer old-fashioned big bottle — whether it was Dutch or not I don't kno.", but it would hold about as much as a Flanders mare — and took a good b'vig, just as it was, though he seemed in a great hurry to get a mouthful of water after it.f When he *d done, he slapped down his lid, rolled his blanket on his legs, doused his light, and lay down on the chests till morning. He gave me a breakfast of hard bread and whisky before I started — and that was all I saw of him." istanced lear him I aves. Afterwards, on occasion of a deer-hunt, about fifteen or twenty miles down the island, undertaken by an acquaintance and myself, we " put up " at a lone house, on the outside of v/hich, as we approached, an immense fire was visible, and, suspended in the centre of it, a huge iron pot full of hot pitch, which two men were sttending, while a third, mounted on the house-roof, was plastering on what they handed up to him, secundum artem. I need not say we were not at the old mate's shanty ; although it was evident enough that he on the roof knew how to handle a tar-brush, and had, in all likelihood, many f ] "/■''„ In case these sketches should be found to contain matter of suflicient ■K'i iS2 ST. LOUIS ISLE, I I' interest to induce the reader to proceed with them, I add another or two of a different character from the foregoing. How the Doctor's wholesale murder story was cut short by the entrance of three Spaniards one Saturday night, has already been stated. It is also necessary to premise that I afterwards heard another state- ment concerning some other -parties, quite distinct from those whose name I am about to use — although in many particulars the details of each so closely corresponded, that possibly one may partially be blended with the other. This is mentioned rather to prevent misconstruction, than from any apprehension of much damage resulting by rolling half- a-dozen rascals together. But that the matters herein stated are gene- rally true of either one party or the other, the reader may depend. They afford a fine specimen of the (even very recent) frontier life and adventure of Texas. Eastern Texas is, of course, that portion adjoining the United States; and although the country in which the present scene is laid was then, even more perhaps than now, most sparingly inhabited, yet through it ran certain roads or tracts usually pursued by such merchants as traded overland between Mexico and the States, as well as by travellers and wayfarers of any other description. Inns being altogether out of the question in that desert region, the traveller has nothing else to choose but one of these alternatives : either to roll himself up in his cloak, or his surreppa,* if he have one, and sleep on the prairie with his horse beside him ; or endeavour, as far as he can, so to time and direct his travel, as to enable himself to reach some settler's house, in case one can be found, at the end of his day's journey. One of the most remote of these domestic outposts — -being possibly fifteen or twenty miles from any other habitation — was inhabited by a man named Slocum, and his two sons. They began their location in a very poor and inferior manner indeed, apparently from sheer want of the * The surrcppa, or Mexican blanket, is a woollen article about the size of a bufFalo hide, woven by hand, I believe with much labour— adorned with divers colours all over, and when of tine quality and pattern will fetcli eighty or a hundred dollars. It is made with a slit in the centre, through which the head is passed, thereby causing it to fall all round like a cluak. OR TEXIANA. 13:i most important necessary means. But to the traveller in the prairie, even the poorest location is a more welcome sight than none at all ; and consequently, both day and night occasionally found the weary horse- man either seated at the rude table or reposing on the ruder pallet of the indigent squatters. Time, however, which, amongst all the rest of its doings, usually gives to perseverance and industry their reward, did not overlook the Slocums, as a few years found them most rapidly advanced in fortune and possessions. But in what manner their perseverance and industry were exercised nobody could exactly discover ; the out- ward signs and evidences of them being quite imperceptible, either about the house or upon tho land. Enough of the latter was kept in a state of slovenly tillage just to maintain appearances, but totally insuffi- cient to the production of such r, change. Their iiorses increased in number<< very rapidly ; their house was much more abundantly supplied with all manner of necessaries ; und the sons carried on such a free and idle life, with money always at con.mand, ua at one. astonitihed and puzzled their more sober-minded and plodding npti!>' tours. As time passed on, suspicion increased : that they lived by lobbery, f>!W for a moment doubted. From time to time variMing the threshold a second time to go away, when he again turned round, and, putting his hand in his pocket, drew oVit one picayune of the sum they had received, and, cast- ing it towards the " prisoner bound," with the r nark, " Don't say we left you without silver in the house," finally departed and joined his comr nion; but both were pretty quickly out of sight. The wife cut her husband's harness, and the best search was made for the thieves, bi wi tOut effect. He never recovered a cent of his money, and the parties were never brought to punishment. It is almost needless to state, that they were not Indians, but white villains disguised as such. Thus brought to ruin in an unsuspecting hour, the victim settler sold off, and thereby raised just enough to carry himself and his wife back to Galveston, and set them up in that small store before men- tioned, and in which the Major and I have sucked many a delicious melon, and passed various happy hours. < ■ >, And this is frontier life in the Garden of the World. Yet, notwithstanding the occasional occurrence of the above different descriptions of amusement out in the wilds, it is at once a remarkable and pleasing fact to record, that petty larcenies of any description are equally as rare, either in towns or in the prairie, as in this country they are common. Shutters to your house-windows are seldom or never thought of; and fastenings to your doors, as a preventive to robbery, are next to needless. I have left our house unfastened, with not a soul on the premises, for the space of two nights and a day together, but never, except on one occasion, found that any person had ventured to enter. On that occasion everything, from top to bottom, had been overhauled, even to the papers of my desk, the key of which I had inadvertently left in the lock. Nothing, however, was missing, except two pen- knives. I had reason to believe this was done by some of the negroes, who are remarkably inquisitive and curious. Let me now abandon these horrors, and give a slight sketch of a negro character, as developed in the person of a tall, fine, handsome fellow — handsome of his kind, I mea" — named Tom, who belonged to a neighbour of ours, and was frequently sent with presents of fruit, &c. OR TEXIANA. 139 "now td time i in his d, cast- ; say wc iiied his wife cut thieves, and the »ut white tn settler 1 his wife Fore men- , delicious B different emarkable ription are intry they or never )bbery, are t a soul on but never, 1 to enter. )verhauled, advertently two pen- he negroes, sketch of a , handsome jelonged to f fruit, &c. He stood at least five feet eight inches high, and additionally enjoyed the handsome peculiarity of a small beard growing in a perfectly hori- zontal line from the end cf his chin, and shaped precisely like the upper half of a broad spear. Tom prided himself upon being a gentleman ; and as he really did know how to behave himself, I treated him pre- cisely as well as his master, or any other '• Mr." in Galveston. This soon put him upon a familiar footing — exactly the iMng I wanted — and enabled him to talk without fear, let, or hindrance. One morning I was out early shooting on the bayou, and Tom was somewhere in the neighbourhood, along with a little boy, watching me. As luck would have it, I brought down two roseate spoonbills at one shot. Tom dashed into the mud and water to fetch them out ; and, on bringing them to me, he remarked — "That bes' shot I ebber see. in my lite!" (He spoke very good English for a negro.) " I see many men as calls 'emselves sportsmen come up here to shoot, but nebber see sich a thing as that. I s'pose missis is to hab one of these ?" ..;^ " Certainly," said I ; " take them both to your mislress, with my compliments." Tom was highly please J, and went off, but, after breakfast, came into our house with a dish of cucumbers and thanks. "Now, Tom," said I, " will you have a drop of whisk y-and- water ?" for although to give another man's slave drink is legally a punishable crime, his master and I were on terms which set all such peccadilloes aside. i ;.' ' , " In a bit, if you please, massa ; but I jus' want say afore, what a capital shot that was you made this morning ! — Yah, ah ! — Nebber saw better in my ]ife ; no, not in all my life ! You see that little boy I talk to ? Veil, what you think I say to him ? — Yah, ah ! — I say this, says I, 'Massa Hooton's a berry good 'un,' says I, — yah, ah! — 'a berry good 'un, though he be a berry little 'wn .'' Yah, ah! ah, ah, ah !" Tom was now ready for his cold toddy. While discussing it, he told me how he had he»n to chapel (the negroes' chapel) one Sunday a short time before, and how Father Peter, the preacher, delivered a sermon so long that it kept them all much after dinner-hour. It was not even yet completed, when he said — " And now, dear sisters and bredren, in W H iiff \ . I ■m[ m ! _ ?feS 140 ST. LOUIS ISLE, m l;i ii de sebcnteent place, I hab to warn you — but I shan't keep you long, bekos it's high time we abjurned to dinner — " '•'You all right dcre, Father Peter!" exclaimed Tom, "so I'll be off!" Whereupon Tom added, " I get up on my seat, and habbin two ladies :»n my arms, I walk straight out, and eb<;n/body ilbllowing me a-laffinl" r , There is nothing in this except n small riioral for Cat. cT energetic gentlemen who go about to convert negroes' *' hearts," l>e{\>vi? they have converted their heads, " Nal'lve prea^'icrs" very often do little more than produce a religiou ; Sunday pautomime for the amusement of their sable audiences. The mentiop. of the " two ladies oji his arms," reminded Mrs. H. of a white handkerchief which bud beeu picked r and was supposed to belong to Tom. The fact wa>i this : — Sou\o few days before, we had been to visit a friend in the town, before whose garden-gate this hand- kerchief had, one Sunday afltenioon, been found. The lady of the house could not find an owner for it ; but afterwards recollecting that she had seen Tom (who, by the bye, was the black beau of Galveston) pass by some short time previously, concluded it might possibly belong to him, and, therefore, placed it in Mrs. H.'s hands for restoration in case it proved so. Tom looked at it — " Yah, ah ! — mine, to be sure — be sure it is ! Now look you. Missis Hooton, I tell you how it is, and all about it : — You find him in d' road by Missis Silbersides' ? " " She found it, Tom, and asked me to give it to you if it should prove to be yours." " Mine ! — ob course he 's mine, to be sure ! — and now I tell you all 'bout it. You see, on Sunday afternoon I has walking along Mi' two ladies, and habbin 'casion to use my hankercher, I took him out and dropped him. But as there was a lady on each arm, ob course, ma'am, you see it would be berry ungenteel to let go an' stop to pick him up agen ; so I pass by, tbinkin it berry possible that Missis Silbersides, or some of her people thereabout, might find him, and perhaps wash him for me, and send him again when they come t' find out who he b'long'd -to. ■ ' ,'• ■■■ OR TEXIANA. 141 I long, I'll be in two ing me tiergetic ey have ,le more of their s. H. of posed to vre had is hand- \f of the ting that tlveston) y belong ration in " But what if it had been lost ?" " That case, ma'am, I care nothin 'bout him, 'cos I wouldn't insult any lady 'bout a hankeicher." The "ladies" were of course black slaves, like himself. Poor Tom ! he was some time afterwards sold from our neighbour's to a merchant in the town for seven hundred dollars ; and as he much liked his former place, he became very crestfallen. Besides, he did not like the idea of being sold for ao little. He declared indignantly to an individual who coarsely accosted him on the subject, that he had known the time wIvA he fetched a thousand in New Orleans ! That was after he left " Old Virginny," where he was raised. Notwithstanding all that has been so confidently asserted to the con- trary, the purchase and sale of slaves are just as common in Texas as the transfer, for pecuniary considerations, of any kind of animal. With reference to the importation of native Africans I cannot so confidently speak, having enjoyed no opportunities for the acquisition of facts bear- ing conclusively upon that subject. ' ■:c^} ■ u, Missis n d' road it should II you all g wi' two out and >, ma'am, k him up srsides, or wash him B b'long'd vt".' ' • :*•'. 142 ST. LOUIS ISLE, CHAPTER VIII. N ■;| ' 1 il 1 : ; I ' '♦:; 1 : i: i If' i I'l I An unexpected Meeting on the Prairie. The Story of Two Scotsmen. Amusing Anecdote of a "Tart" Specimen of a Squatter's Wife. Just while I am in the vein for story-telling, let me beg to present the reader with the following, the incidents of which actually occurred a short time before our arrival at Galvsston. ■ It was towards the close of one of those numerous counter-revolu- tions which of late years have so harassed and distracted the ancient Empire of Mexico, that a solitary traveller, mounted upon a jaded steed, And apparelled as a soldier, wended his lonely way, under the scorching heat of the sun, across one of the apparently boundless prairies of that country, and in a nearly north-easterly direction. Occasionally he drew from his pocket a small compass, and attentively watched its bearings with reference to the course he was taking ; for Buch an instrument is absolutely as indispensable to the traveller across those primeval wilds, as to the mariner who finds no beaten path nor friendly beacon between one great continent of the world and another. Over his uniform, which was that of an inferior officer, the traveller wore a large surreppa, or Mexican blanket, woven in imitation of a tiger's skin, which depended gracefully from his shoulders, and fell in folds down the sides of the beast upon which he was mounted. A splendidly-decorated bowie-knife of the heaviest make, a pair of long pistols in holsters by his knee, and a silver-mounted rifle laid across his saddle-bow, constituted all the arms which the stranger carried. The man himself looked wayworn, sallow, and haggard. He was more than six feet high, and possessed of a naturally fine, expressive countenance ; but it was so changed, both in hu e and character, by the 11 il Amusing resent the (ccwrred a ^r-revolu- le ancient cled steed, scorching ies of that ttentively iking; for Her across 11 path nor another, e traveller ation of a and fell in inted. A lir of long across his id. , He was expressive Iter, hy the :3vJ W w •-d W hangt a wet sail in a calm at tea ; And the long-birda ihut up their minitreliie i And tlie inaect-penple, a myriad race, Alotip Meem'd alive in that fated place. When all was done, fierce Fever and Death Laugh 'd loud till they grappled their sides for breath ; And their ghastly hands they shook with each other, " As enrth-born man shaketh hands with his brother ; For well they knew, in their horrible glee, That each like a brother to each would be. Through the dark dumb woodn a river shines, : Studded with masts as tall as the pines; Their white sails seeming, the green among, Like blossoms huge on the branches hung. , ' And on its border a city stands Kear'd ages ago by long-moulder'd hands. Though still in its growing might it invades, Year upon year, the grey forest shades. Fierce Fever saw it, and fVanticly cried , With a dreary shriek, " She shall be my bride ! Love me or hate me, I '11 woo her, and wed ; And old King Death, he shall fashion our bed, I know, for he 's sworn it by earth and by hell. For this bride he will fashion it deeply and well I " Death heard, and strode fast through his measureless gloom I'o rouse up the Ghavp. to make room — more room I Brief was the time ere he brought his bride — The city she left was a desert wide. Such seems the home when the best-loved one To another's care is for ever gone. Her marriage dress was a shroud, for he Took Death to hold bond for her constancy. So Fever, and Death, and the Grave, — all three, Spent the marriage feast in high jollity. Bad as all this may be, the South generally does not produce any better. The heat of the climate appears to addle men's brains rather than hatch them ; the Muses are swaddled iri cotton, and laid under a mosquito curtain to doze continually; assuredly they now and then jabber a little in their sleep, but it is a mass of marvellous nonsense li. I TUB UNITED NTATU8 AND CANADA. im om ce any rather inder a d then tnsense nnd idiotic incoherency. It appeani, indeed, a question open to very' material dispute, whether tlic physical influences of a tropical climate are not positively such as almost to preclude the probability of high literary efforts ever being made amongst a people subjected to their enervating influence. " A pleasing land of drowsy-head it U, Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye ;" yet dreams which a man generally feels too listless and too idle to weave into toilsome verse. He seems to live amongst poetry realised ; he breathes its warmest air, he gazes upon its glowing light ; the earth around him is gorgeously attired in its most magnificent flowers ; the bright birds of brighter verse flit bodily before his eyes ; and the genius of poetry languishes because the imagination can add but little of the beautiful to what Nature has already made. But to return from this digression. Amongst the various and curious features which the Mississippi about Orleans presents, is one peculiar, perhaps, in extent if in nothing else, to this place alone. I allude to the " flat-boats," as they are termed, which, from various remote distances up the river, bring down Western produce of all such kinds — from a potato to a pea-hen — as the cypress swamps are incapable of producing. A flat-boat is nothing more than a quadrangular floating box — a wooden dripping-tin, — a capacious washing tub, composed of rough sawn planks, and provided with a rude kind of cabin, made sufliciently water-tight to enable it to float down the current to its destination, and no more. Numbers of this description of craft are moored so closely together by the river-side, that one may run along the floor formed by their flat-covered tops with equal facility as upon the deck of a ship. The owners of the flat-boats no sooner arrive, than they open their floating shops for the sale of their respective cargoes; and as their prices average little more than one-half of those demanded for the very same articles when retailed in the stores of the city, there are always numbers of customers thronging the Levee, and keeping the region of the flat-boats in a state of remarkable liveliness. Some bring potatoes ; some, apples, eggs, fruits, &c. ; and others, many hundreds of couples z 1, ' ;•*•'■' ■ V m 170 GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN I "l I; ! 1 ■■ f5' ; of " chickens," as they are all termed — although you may readily pur- chase hens half as old as yourself, and cocks by the score, with spurs long enough to adorn the nose of a rhinoceros. In fact, all barn-door fowls are chickens in American phraseology, if not found exactly in a fossil state. It is not advisable, therefore, on all occasions, when pro- mised a " chicken fixen " for 'dinner, to let loose the hungry imagination upon some blushing Miss Pullet, or aspiring hobble-de-hoy of a cock- rel ; since the chance is, that one may be served instead with one of those patriarchal samples which constitute fit food only for a straw- cutting machine, or a circular saw-mill. When the proprietor of a flat-boat had disposed ^^ his lading, he dis- poses also of the boat itself; which now possesses no other value than that which the timber whereof it is made can give. It has served its purpose, it cannot return up the stream, and is of no other use than so much old plank. Having done this, the man himself returns home on board one of those numerous steamers which, day and night, may be heard at a mile's distance, puffing and blowing like so many weary leviathans, as they pass and repass between the Crescent City and the Far West. Those prodigious buildings, the cotton steamers, also constitute a remarkable feature upon the Mississippi. The English reader cannot possibly form a more correct idea of their appearance at a distance than by imagining to himself a " factory" three or four stories high, placed upon a rather ornamental raft, and sent to float upon the water. On a nearer approach and closer inspection, however, they are found to be splendidly got up, and provided with accommodation (civility and gentlemanly conduct included) to which the traveller by any other than first-class British vessels is too often a stranger. During that period of the year in which the produce of the West is principally brought to Orleans, the banks of the river are literally co- vered with thousands of bales of cotton, barrels of molasses, hogsheads of sugar, and cases of various other articles, which remain wholly or in part thus exposed during the space of some weeks. The merchants and agents to whom these goods are consigned, provide private armed watchmen to protect them during the night against the negroes — a race of people who appear to inherit a peculiar liking for sugar and treacle THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 171 in particular. Probably this penchant is considerably increased by the practice adopted by some slave-ownei's of allowing their slaves to " hire themselves out" at a certain sum per week or month, that is, to pay their owners that sum in the place of service, and make as much more as they can for themselves. By these people lolly-pops and sugar-stuffs of various descriptions and devices are exposed in the streets for sale, and it is more than probable that some considerable portion of the sweet fabric used in the manufacture of these articles of juvenile trafhc is ex- tracted by night from the barrels and hogsheads lying upon the Levee. A man in my iieighbourhood, who used to wear a great-coat made of coarse green baize, and who, consequently, looked much like the per- sonification of Spring, as it appears in Dutch Guiana, was one of the night-watchers upon the Levee, who, during my stay, chanced to shoot a slave in the act of filling a bag with sugar out of a hogshead which he and an accomplice had broken open for that purpose. " And what," said I, " if the negro should happen to die ? " *' I shall have to stand my trial, that's all, and of course be acquitted, as I have done no more than my duty. The fellow ran away, when I called to him to surrender, and of course I fired." Had this slave died, the trial, I believe, would have been gone through more for the purpose of recovering damages for his loss, than for any purpose of criminal justice. In connexion with the river, the " Thief Boats," as they are com- monly called, may likewise be considered a peculiar craft. Formed for swift sailing and shallow water, they ply above and below the city, wander up the creeks and bayous, and very generally give a decided preference to iiny spot where a plantation, with slaves upon it, is con- veniently at hand. The chief object and employment of the owner is, to collect fowls, ducks, geese, &c., either through the criminal agency of some dishonest negro upon the establishment, who, of course, re- ceives a trifle for his pains ; or simply by force of his own address and dexterity. The plunder is stowed away in a covered part of the boat, and on its arrival at Orleans is taken to market by some of the boat- owner's accomplices. It is generally known that a very " respectable" living is in this manner obtained by numbers of as, of course, equally respectable individuals. I. - •t'-ri A lA ;:'■•■'] If -,I 72 GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN 19 CHAPTER II. The Markets. Fire Bells. Anecdotes. Sample of the Slave System in a Court of Justice. Trial of a Pirate. Florida Indians. New Orleans Wires. The markets of Orleans, of which there are several, afford to the curious spectator more pleasure and amusement than any other public buildings that can be named. They are all covered, and built in the lightest style, for the purposes of cleanliness and the free admission of air. They are well lighted with gas, and generally provided with fixed tables which let down — leaf tables, I believe the carpenters term them, —and that serve, while wanted, by way of stall ; being, when out of use, thrown back so as to leave the various areas and avenues of the market-place entirely open and free. The markets are held every day of the week, without exception ; and business commences with the earliest customers about three o'clock in the morning. There is no fixed time, but that hour is the most usual. The " French market" is the greatest one ; and taking into consideration both the amazing variety of produce, and the equally great variety of human character and dress there assembled, it presents perhaps as fine and curious a picture as, in the same way, can be found in any part of the world. Tropical fruits, of all kinds, from the neighbouring West Indian Islands, -^parrots that run at large about the stalls, and talk and scream at will, — various beautifully-coloured birds in cages, — gigantic herons, — wild ducks and geese of all sizes and colours, — pigeons, squirrels, owls, and fish of indescribable varieties, together with cray-fish creeping about alive in the baskets, form some portion of the merchandise most un- usual to the Northern stranger. The birds are killed by the hunters in the forest swamps and pools,— the fish taken chiefly in Lake Pont- THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 173 chartrain, which lies about three miles behind the city and communicates with the Mexican Gulf. The finny prey is brought direct from the fishing-boats by railway, in the space of six or seven minutes ; so that it is a usual thing to see them (the bufialo-fish, especially) still gasping for the water of life when the purchaser carries them away. All this will be found in ojie part ; in another, all descriptions of culinary vege- tables and fruits that the season can produce ; and, as may be supposed in such a climate, they are not at any time wanting in either variety or abundance. In a third avenue will be found newly-l ked bread, in most tempting variety of shape, together with confectionery and sweet- meats of every sort to which French taste in this important petty art can give rise. • • In a separate building, the visitor wanders through a little province of butcher's meat, slaughtered in the cleanest style imaginable, and compared to which the shambles of JLiondon positively resemble a slaughter-AoMsc. Heads and offal are never seen. Here occasionally the eye may alight upon the carcase of a fine bear, ticketed probably " St. Charles' Hotel," by way of hint, one may presume, that if the lovers of bear's meat want a dinner upon that splendid viand, they now know where to find it. But should a whole bruin be not monopolised by one establishment, but instead be properly jointed for the private consumption of the citizens, then the price demanded is two "bits" (one shilling English) per pound. The epicurean value of bear's flesh in Orleans may therefore be inferred, when it is stated that the best of any other description of meat averages not more than three pence per pound, and very frequently not that. In fact, the poor, who best know from necessity how to go to market, obtain it for a price almost nominal. I have seen slaves (sent by their masters to market) pay half a dollar for the same description and precisely the same quantity of fish as a poor purchaser has immediately afterwards obtained for a "picayune" (3d). Whether this be fish-st'ill charity in the latter case, or imposition in the former, the reader can determine for himself; though my own belief is, that liberality is more active in the one than avarice in the other. The Levee outside these markets is also crowded with itinerant vendors of many races, — English, Irish, German, Spanish, and Negro, — though 174. GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN their commodities are incalculably more varied than their own classes. One description of people, however, arrest the stranger's attention par- ticularly. I allude ti the friendly Red Indians, who come almost in their native garb to sell baskets of cane of their own forest manufacture — baskets of beautiftil savage pattern and colouring, and next to ever- lasting wear, — at a price which would make an English weaver of willow twigs turn pale, and induce Thomas Miller at once to renounce the trade, and never more " Weave his oziers as he weaved hit rhymes." To provide for the various wants of this early-stirring population, the neighbouring taverns are thrown open ; and in the market itself num- bers of pretty and clean young female slaves attend, with excellent tea and coffee in brightly-polished urns, cups and saucers that look new from the hands of the potter, and bread-and-butter hot and cold, all set out upon one of the whitest of cloths spread over a stall, and, as a whole, served up in a manner to which the most fastidious could not object. At mid-day the markets are closed ; the tables or stalls are turned down, and certain slaves, employed for the purpose, commence a general sweeping and scouring with water, which so completely purify the place, that within an hour or two afterwards the visitor of the morning would not be able to discover that either animal or vegetable matter had ever been brought under the roof. Such regulations are admirable, and in a Southern climate amount to a positive virtue. But few days had I been in the Crescent City,— -the customs of its inhabitants were still strange, — ^when suddenly, in the middle of one dark night, I was awakened by the loud and musical tolling of some great church bell, which seemed to be summoning to early service the pious Catholic descendants of the old French founders of Orleans. My imagination was quietly wandering amidst old cloisters and cells, monks, priests, and sacred altars, when its course was interrupted by the tramp of hurrying feet outside, and the fearful cry of " Fire, fire ! " It was ** the fire-bell" I had heard ; and how many times again was it doomed to be heard during the ensuing four or five months! — occasionally, ''i ■I'i 18^ GLIMPSES ODTAINED IN mer received his purchaie-moncy, and woi conveyed, along with mnny others that came in with him, up the Miasissippi ; but before arriving at their destination, Tigc til contrived to malce his escape, and after traversing many hundred miles of swamp, suddenly renppc fired upon the oil scene of action. In the beginning of 1842, Tustcnugj^e was still harassing the Americans with great effect. Sunu otltcr chief, howeier, whose very hard name I forget, " came in" with his people, and along with them was shipped off under a military escort to Orleans. They were taken to the barracks, which stand about three miles below the city, and detained there a week or two, until a proper vessel for the river navigation could be provided. It was on a Sunday during that interval that I visited thcui. The open square formed by the surrounding buildings presented a singular picture. Numbers of Yankee pedlars, with cloths, scarfs, trin- kets, and Birmingham ware of all descriptions, were scattered around, each with his merchandise laid out before him on a large cloth spread open upon the ground. Amongst these, as points of highest attraction, lounged the newly-arrived Indians, a wild people, fresh from the swampy forest recesses of their birth, in whose eyes the trash before them was treasure, and a brick-built barrack a very palace. Old and young, man and boy, woman and girl, were there ; some clad in the barest of primitive coverings, and the children not clad at all. Others, and especially the young men, flourished about with the most dignified air amidst the supposed magnificence which a second-hand cloth coat or jacket not worth half-a-crown could confer, but for which, in all proba- bility, they had bartered far more than the cost price. One young fellow marched leisurely up and down with a gait and expression of extraordinary dignity ; he was evidently displaying himself, and bask- ing in the sunshine of his own importance. All this arose from the fact that he wore over his forehead a plain piece of new tin, cut in the form of a half-moon, and bent so as to fit the head. It was much after the fashion of the tiara of Juno, as represented in Grecian sculpture. But the simplicity displayed by an aged chief in the matter of a child's toy was more amusing still. Having picked up one of those little soldiers stuck on a box with a wire handle, the turning of which causes the arms to rise and fall upon his drum, at the same time that it THB UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 183 produces a few hard notci, ho turned the wire twice or thrice. Then ho regarded the toy with intense earnestness, and again turned. Of course tbo samo sound and movement were repeated. He was growing much astonished. He inspected it with the greatest care, and tried again. The results were the same, but ho was involved in deeper mystery. He let fall his hands, and turning his face upwards to tho skies in tho most thoughtful of attitudes and with a most powerful ex- pression of amaaomcnt, continued during the space of at least ten minutes to consider within his own soul the cause of this marvellous effect. But the point was too abstruse for him to solve ; and even- tually he replaced tho toy with great care on the spot from which it had been taken, and, without one word or si^.i to the pedlar who solicited him to purchase it, folded his arms, and stalked grandly away to his quarters. Many similar anecdotes might be added ; but we will here conclude with a brief allusion to a subject of another nature, which ought not to be forgotten, — I mean the early marriages amongst the people of this natural hothouse. At from fourteen to sixteen, the " girls " are physi- cally gi-own women, at the extreme of beauty and bodily perfection ; but mentally they are yet almost like children, and quite as fond of gingerbread, loUypops, and a good romp as any school-hoyden in these loyal realms. I knew a lady of this description, the wife of a neighbour, who almost daily, and with the extreme of infantine simplicity, not only made herself sick with ice-creams and sweets, but also went pretty re- gularly to play with the lesser children at hide-and-seek, or jumping over a skipping-rope, for the mere self-enjoyment of the thing. Upon the whole, the impressions left upon me by both the Crescent City and its inhabitants were of a very favourable nature, and such as will ever excite reflections of the most pleasing kind. With the two exceptions of " Yellow Jack " and a sun in summer rather too hot, few cities in the States are more agreeable ; for in the winter season the climate is delicious, — that is, during six or seven months of the year. ISi GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN CHAPTER III. Passage from New Orleans to New York. Features in American Society. The Ladies. As far as my observation has gone, ordinary sea-voyages are far more interesting to the individuals who perform them than to anybody vise ; and if tt^ose same individuals happen to be remarkably sick by the way, all the more remarkably interesting do their reminiscences thereof become (to themselves) during the whole after period of their lives. The sea itself is magnificent ; on a piece of canvass it is great ; but on paper it is (relatively speaking) nothing : animation, incident, charac- ter — all are wanting. We must people it, to make anything of it. I am not just now aware of anything particularly interesting which happened on our passage from Orleans to New York, or I would at once proceed to relate it. To be sure, we sailed in the brig " Creole," of Richmond — that celebrated " Creole" about which so much stir was created some time ago, when certain slaves on board her, bound for an American port, rose in mutiny, killed the mate, damaged the captain, and, having gained the victory, compelled the crew to take her into a British Possession, where they were set at liberty. We also lay, during the space of a week, in the midst of a most horrible calm in the Mexican Gulf ; during which nearly all the men fell too sick to recover by the time they reached their destination. It is likewise a pleasing fact — so, at least, we thought it then — that during the calm a shark was caught by the mate, with a degree of piscatorial dexterity which I never before saw equalled. We were in "blue water" — scarcely even wrinkled from one horizon to the opposite, and so transparent that I doubt not THE UMlTtD STAtES AND CANADA. lit the eye of the spectator could penetrate many fathoms down. The vessel literally lay " Like a painted ship, upon a painted ocean." Late one afternoon, we, who happened to be below, suddenly heard the cry on deck of " A shark, a shark ! " Instantly a general scramble ensued, and the quarter-deck soon contained all the souls permitted to tread that wonderful space, eager to get a sight of the monster, which continued to play at various depths about the ship, now before, now behind, and then alongside. He was small, but in activity and speed most beautiful. At a short distance above him, and stationed one on each side, behind the head, were two small dark-coloured fishes, banded vertically with deeper colour, which are termed " pilots." Swim as the shark would, at whatever speed or in whatever direction, they in- variably maintained the same position— most exactly regulating their motions according to his. In fact, if there be any piloting in the matter, the shark himself holds that important office, w nile the object of these finny satellites is only to come in for a snack of that prey which they " personally " are unable to seize. Having sufficiently gratified our curiosity by watching his evolutions, the mate, a first-rate go-ahead sort of a Yankee, threw out his line, with a piece of white rag attached to the end by way of bait, but without a hook. This he held in his right hand, while with his left he lowered a thick rope, formed with a large running noose, which he kept so accurately between the bait and the shark, that when at length the latter made a sudden rush at the fine-flavoured and highly-nutritious morsel before him, he passed, not through the noose, but only half-way, as the watchful seaman, at that most imminent of all crises in fishing, twitched up his rope, and brought the horrible creature to the surface, suspended like the golden fleece of a woollen-dealer's sign. The com- bined strength of three men was required to haul him on board, although his length was not probably greater than from six to seven feet. A sucking fish was attached to him, possessed of such a re- markable power of adhesion, that on being placed in a common wash- *' '.\ i..-».-i w 186 GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN bason, he defied all our power to dislodge him by any legitimate means. One of the largest of dolphins and a "baracuta" were also taken during the calm. Both proved excellent food. On the 20th, we were off that part of the coast of East Florida where the Seminole Indians are most numerous, and which is con- sidered by seamen as very dangerous ; for if a vessel chance to get ashore here, an*^ the people in her succeed in saving their lives, they necessarily fall into the hands of the Indians, who show no mercy, not even that of a sudden death, to either the Americans or the English. The French enjoy an exception to this savage rule, as the Seminoles consider they have never received molestation or injury from that nation. Four days subsequently, we were off that wild old cape, the ever- stormy Hatteras — that cape which is considered by many seamen one of the worst, if not the worst, in the world, except " The Horn." Dana, an American writer, in " Two Years before the Mast," says the sailors have a saying — " Though the Bermudas you may pass, Beware of stormy Hatteras." At night, then, a storm came on as a matter of course ; with all the accompaniments of an obscure moon, a sky and sea horizonless, from being blended into one, and lightning of all colours, from scarlet to blue. When the wind rose, the sound was so great that one might have readily supposed he was under the Falls of Niagara ; while the rolling of the vessel was so great, that her yard-arms continually dipped into the water. Altogether, we seemed to have at last caught a glimpse of that region which Milton describes as the reign of " Chaos and Old Night." The rain fell as at the Deluge, and the lightning could plainly be felt warm on the skin at every flash. This lasted till midnight ; and, marvellously enough, during the whole period little or no thunder could be heard. If we were on the skirts of the storm, what must the centre have been ! There is a lighthouse on the Cape, but we could not see it. In fact, our Captain gave the Cape " a very wide berth." Nothing, else of moment occurred worth relating; butwbenwe anchored THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 187 in the Hudson, the former Captain of the *' Creole," during the mutiny, came on board to take another peep at the scene of his disaster. His face was covered with scars of wounds received from the slaves at that time. We had but a poor introduction to New York. The rain fell in torrents, and gave to the city, the river, the shipping, and the famed Hoboken on the opposite side, much the appearance of a drawing " done " in Indian ink by some young Miss at boarding-school, saving that the scene in question toas in perspective, whereas the other thing unhappily never is. American society in New York conveys to a stranger pretty much the same sort of impression as that produced by an individual just emerged into manhood. The national toilette appeavc to have been very elabo- v rately studied, and the public cravat to have been adjusted with marked discrimination and attention to correctness. The same spruceness— the result of close shaving, plenty of soap and hair-oil, accurately polished boots, splendid ties, and garments thoroughly dusted — are visible everywhere. Notwithstanding this sort of popular jackanapery — which, after all, has the negative merit of not being very mischievous — there are features in the social fabric of the American people which would redeem a thou- sand petty follies more than they already perpetrate. One of these is the utter absence of that wretched serfdom in which the employed por- tion of our population are so generally held by their employers. Amongst them, the terms employer and employed are literally and strictly appli- cable ; .with us, it is emphatically and slavishly master and man. That despotism and paltry domination which so abundantly prevail in the shop, the warehouse, the counting-house, and the factory of satirically- termed " Merry England " — which make the man so continually sensible that in the master he sees, not so much a fellow-creature, as a superior order of human being — are happily almost unknown in the commercial laboratories of the United States. For although one individual may serve another from behind a counter, or mounted on a tall stool at the desk, he yet practically, and to all intents and purposes, feels that " A man 's a man for a' that ; " and as a man, not ai a mere serf or a slave, 188 GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN he insists upon being treated. He serves in the full consciousness that between the employer and the employed the obligation is mutual, and not, as with us, all on the side of him who obtains from another work to do. He respects his own manhood — he knows his own value as a citizen — ^he relies upon the natural equality of creatures similarly formed and constituted — and looks upon the adventitious circumstances of fortune and station as matters for self-gratulation in the individual him- self, far more than as titles to the spontaneous and sneaking respect of others. This is as it should be. We see not there the downcast faces —the abject demeanour — the passiveness under affront and insult-— the quiet pocketing of contumely and scorn — the bosoms with only dead hearts within them, which in socially-unequal England everywhere offend our eyas, and make the soul of independence sigh over the vic- tims of pride, ignorance, and wholly-forgotten rights. How different indeed in these things are the people of opposite sides of the Atlantic ! There^ in the words of Ovid, " Man walks erect, and, with uplifted eyes, Beholds hia own hereditary skies." Here — bowed before the idol of Mammon, with poverty and the dread of losing employment always before him — his eyes are, on the con- trary, ever as it were seeking his hereditary possessions in the dust. Heaven has no prospective inheritance for him, and the story of the family paradise of his ancestors is only a pleasant fable. Bitterly, in behalf of pillions, do I feel these truths ; and deeply do I pray for at once their physical and moral emancipation. Though at the same time — and without quoting Daniel O'Connell's celebrated quotation, '* Hereditary bondsmen," &c. — I am fully convinced, that if emancipa- tion in the moral and social sense ever is to come, it must come from the body itself which is to be emancipated. In this country, poverty is now the acknowledged and legitimate title to neglect and conten)pt : no Act of Parliament, no Magna Charta could make it more so. Let men learn within themselves not to be ashamed of poverty, however much they may dislike it ; let them no longer bend when they pass before the golden calf in the market-place ; let them practically transfer THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 189 their veneration of the purse to the esteem of self; and the all-powerful golden god of these debased times will perish for lack of offerings, and vanish because his worshippers have turned away their faces from him. I am well aware that, like other besotted victims of idolatry, the disciples of the money-Christ will cry out that " there is no god so powerful as our god, for what can you do without him ? " Blind de- votees ! cry, serve, implore, and lay your bloody offerings still upon his altar ; but know, at the end of all this, that in proportion to the ex- altation of your idol, is also the working of your own annihilation. The man of social life is swallowed up, absorbed, and lost in the un- ceasingly praying and serving devotee of Mammon. In consequence of the difference here pointed out in the social relations between man and man in America, as compared with those existing between the people of old monarchical States, where wealth is the governing rule, and classes and conventional distinctions the ine- vitable result in practice, we see little of the haughtiness and tyranny of mere money-power in the United States. For although some of our popular writers on that country have characterised American conversa- tion as consisting mainly of repetitions of the word " dollars, dollars, dollars," there does not exist essentially one hundredth fraction of the spirit of dollar-worship in America which is to be found pervading the very bones and marrow of British society. Where, indeed, shall we look for more abject servitude, more cringing and prostration of the soul to wealth and the wealthy, than can be found at home ? With woful grace indeed do the children of Father John attempt to dis- figure, with this vilest of moral dirt, the outward man of Brother Jonathan. If those do not talk about it so much as these, it is probably because they bury it deeper in their heart of hearts ; according to the accepted maxim, that they who feel the most, not unfrequently say the least. Much that has been written concerning the manners of the Americans —or, rather, of their want of manners — is undoubtedly true. No rudeness can exceed that of an ordinary hotel table, where the rule of " looking after yourself" appears to be the only one thought worthy of il!:; 190 GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN recognition. But the studied politeness and punctilious etiquette of a people brought up under a graduated system of ranks and circles-— looking vrith deference to all who on one hand are nominally above them, and with implied scorn on all below them on the other hand- could not by any possibility exist in a nation, every individual of which so strongly feels within himself, as does the American, the sense of his own natural equality with all men. Thus, the excess of self-respect appears to beget, and especially to European eyes, a want of due respect towards others. Our fault-finding and satirical writers have failed to see the true cause of these somewhat Gothic manners ; not reflecting, that the formal refinements and finesse which originate with courts and nobilities can have no natural place amongst a people who realise in their institutions the doctrine that " all men are born free, and equal in their rights." Perhaps, however, for the especial gratifi- cation of our future " Trollopes," some powdered and silver-buckled backwoodsman may yet arise to draw up — a la Chesterfield — a code of politeness for the instruction and improvement of his benighted countrymen. 'Tis a pity that an awkward bow should tell so fatally against a mighty Empire, or that the ignorance of a President in the invaluable art of " making a leg " should lose him the countenance of half the grandees of Europe. Of the American ladies I have, happily, little to say ; because, that little being not in the highest style of compliment, the less I make of it the better. In personal appearance, they are too generally slender, lathy, flat ; deficient in one of the most important essentials of beauty in the female form, and consequently not so externally attractive as such animated magnets usually are elsewhere. In their ordinary in- tercourse, too, with the other sex, they are cold, icy, unimpassioned— almost as if heartless. An American Sappho or an Eloise may be considered a physical impossibility. Nor is it at all probable that any Helen will ever arise to cause the siege of their modem Troy. They afibrd, indeed, but little food for the ideal of love, which, after all, is, like the iced sugar on a Twelfth-cake, the sweetest part of it. In fact, the Republican Cupid must be a lean and ill-fed cherub, winged like a common fowl, instead of with the THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 191 dyes of the rainbow ; and the popular Hymen, a sort of young gentle- man who keeps a day-book and ledger. Judging from appearances, I should say no Gretna Green can be required within the territories of the States, since any one matrimonial smith can work on cold iroa as well as another. ■..viy ( . / 192 GLIMPSES OBTAIN CD IN CHAPTER IV. fianeftil Influence of the " Moral Philosophy " of " Poor Ricl.ard." Literary Tasto and Literature in the United States. Possibly the alleged mercenary character of the people of America may, so far as it has any foundation in reality, be traced back to a source, the very naming of which will probably surprise sonie of my readers whose mental exercises in tracing effects up to their causes have not been habitually pursued. Yet I am not alone in the opinion, that the economical maxims of " Poor Richard " have exercised a very baneful influence upon generations, whose amount of knowledge in other respects was not suflliciently liberal to enable them to sec across the very narrow ditch of selfishness which the ** philosopher " was drawing around them. Poverty inventing pithy sayings to justify niggardliness and money- scraping, may assume the cloak of philosophy, but will eventually prove herself a most purblind and narrow-souled impostor in the end. Only imbue thoroughly the bosom of a child with the maxim, that " a penny saved is a penny earned," and you may rest satisfied that the most generous and noble impulses of the heart are effectually poisoned at the very roots. If tenderness, benevolence, charity — the purest and most angelic of the poetical passions — survive a youthful training upon the basis of such a principle, then are tenderness, benevolence, and charity indestructible and unassailable in the moral fortress of the human breast. Such a training might, end in all probability would, create a worthless and despict^ble miser — a wretch whose humanity ex- tended not beyond the pale of self — a paltry worm, incapable of sym- THB UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 198 pathy, and unworthy to receive it. But that such a training should leave room for the growth of one generous sentiment — one high and morally.dignified aspiration in favour of our common humanity, is as imposs. as that the pages of an account-book should fill the soul with the inspiration of the heavsns. With what shall I contrast this petty grovelling philosophy, to show it in all its full-blown meanness ? Where shall I find a pure and per- fect colour to place in forcible antagonism with this mixed and dirty tint ? Ah, here I have it I 'tis at my fingers' ends ! One authority inculcates, that " A penny saved is a penny earned ; " another, a greater, and a heaven-descended one, in a magnificent spirit of bene- volence and faith, enjoins thus — " Cast thy bread upon the waters, and it shall return to thee after many days.'* Did that mischievous old man, " Poor Richard," ever soar to the comprehension of this beautiful lesson, clothed in a metaphor equally brilliant and beautiful ? Never ! His feet were clogged with the dust of the world, and his eyes covered with that thick film of selfishness which shut out all enlarged and compre- hensive views. To see the moral and social duties through Poor Richard's medium, is precisely the same thing as attempting to view objects through spectacles of horn. Society, at best, retains just sufii- cient of the character of a congregation of distinct and isolated indi- viduals — multitudinous units in a state of mutual antagonism — without the formal inculcation of the most deplorable selfishness as a leading principle of life, and the paltriest Instructions in meanness, disguised under the specious name of domestic economy. Selfishness is, indeed, not only the most odious, but the most short-sighted of human feelings or propensities. None so entirely as this defeats its own object ulti- mately. Man is dependent upon man, do as he will ; and the more he generalises — infuses, as it were, his indi\'iduality into the mass, the better for himself. One mighty sympathy should bind all together, — not an uneasy principle of repulsion drive the constituent atoms apart firom each other ; a truth not clearly seen just now, but which future generations in wisdom and benevolence shall realise. From a repub- lican nation particularly ought the whole tribe of " Poor Richards," with their debasing and trashy proverbs, to be utterly banished. They can have no honest and legitimate business there. They are a disgrace, in , 2c 194 OLIMrSES OBTAINED IN truth, to the whole world of humanity. But if they are to have some corner in which to breathe out the pestilent breath of their lives, let it be where some dark and selfish despotism — the ideal of their own doc- trines — reigns triumphant a)id supreme. The philosopher who drew fire from the cloud, also raised Mammon from hell — that Mammon who, according to Milton, first used in the abyss of fire the same line of argument : "but rather seek Our own good for ourielve$, and from our own, Live to ouaauLVKa." So much for Franklin. There is one other subject upon which I cannot refrain from making a few passing remarks. It is that of the sound and healthy taste so plainly and generally evident amongst the Americans in that most im- portant particular, their literature : not theirs in a literal sense, but theirs* by adoption and transfer from older and more mentally-produc- tive uations. On this point, indeed, the Republic may justly con- gratulate herself. Sound and valuable works are read and esteemed ; and a true foundation is, in this respect, being laid for the raising of a truly intellectual and exalted people. But whether, in the absence of international copyright laws, the universal ransacking of the literary stores of the Old World — the wholesale adoption and instantaneous re- publication in America of the newly-born works of the passing time, without compensation to either the foreign author or the publisher, is not also a wholesale, though indirect, piece of injustice and dishonesty, admits scarcely of a question. No sooner has the power of wind, water, and steam conveyed the sheets of our new works and monthly periodicals to the American shores, than the Park Benjamins and the Hastings Welds of the Republic, armed with tremendous scissors and oceans of ready paste, set to work, with the alacrity of men labouring for their lives, to transfer their contents to mammoth sheets — " New Worlds" and " Brother Jonathans" — which they retail by their tens of thousands at a price little above that of the issues from the press of the celebrated Catnach of Seven Dials; but which amply compensate Benjamin and Hastings, because they pay not one farthing for author- UNITED STATM AMO TAN ADA. 195 shi{ nd incur I licavier expenses if* the .u^iuctioa than those of compoaiiion, p«^i, ink, pa t>, «ndwA' ,«. "Wli'V-. therefore, probably, the English contributor t< •(!? nativi jterioduaii lives leanly in some poetical garret in a cheap ^urb of L tdon, Benjamin gets oveWoaded with fat and cellular sm upot. the productions of his talent in New York ; and in the merely still-lite capacity of foreign retail agent, blows his own name through the trumpet far louder than the names of the principals whom he insists on representing. Publishers )f another description are equally busy in their line, producing accurate reprints, alike to the very type and colour of the wrappers, of the English peri- odicals, and differing in no particular from the originals, except in that of being " imprinted " at New York, instead of London, Edinburgh, or Dublin. If the English at one time, in buccaneering and piracy, levied heavy contributions upon the personals of the habitants of America, ample reprisals are made upon them now in another sort, by the Morgans and Lafittes of the printing-office. The only difference in the respective robberies is, th^.i one was of matter, and the other is of mind. This system, however advantageous to the people of the States as a body, in furnishing them with the results of the highest intellects and most able learning abroad, has a most pernicious effect upon the growth of a native literature, and the fortunes of American talent. Where so much of the best is got for nothing, what chance remains that the young and inferior productions of the soil itself should be paid for and encouraged? Or who, not born to a fortune, can avoid the fate of the admirable Bryant, and do otherwise than waste his poetical sweetness on the desert acres of a newspaper for the sak" of bread ? Where, now, would have been Washington Irving and Fennimore Cooper, had they lived on American patronage alone, and reaped not in England their harvests of popularity ? One might have ploughed his paternal acres, and the other his familiar deeps, and nothing more. The Republic is a dry- nurse to the babyhood of her literary children. Precisely when most they require nourishment, she has no breasts for them. It is in the natural course of things, that while the majority of a people possess no accumulated fortunes for their sons- — and from out that majority principally arise the geniuses and great mental lights of i 196 OLIMP8E8 OBTAINED IN every age — if the pursuit of literature will not in tome adequate mea- sure enable a man to live, the literature itself must be narrowed, cir- cumscribed, and in a languishing, paralytic condition. Mind and bread- and-cheeae are not so thoroughly independent of each other as the world ordinarily feels willing to believe. The writing of the most sentimental romance is often interrupted by the vulgar necessity for a meal ; and the very stream of Shaksperian poetry itself has been mingled with many a cup of sack. Authovi>, any more than the hewers of wood and drawers of water, are not celestial things of air. The physical man must be attended to, or we shall receive but little, and that tamely, of the evidences of mind. .(■ THE UNITliD STATES AND CANADA. 197 CHAPTER V. Route from New York to Montreal. Saratoga. Bloody Pond. Tieonderoga. Lake Champlain. Montreal. Emigrant Sheds. St. Lnwrenoe. Quebec. Indian Sum- mer. Conoluiion. ,u Whoever can enjoy travelling unir' './id comforts of the hearthstone, wo .. c^ '..ia!\ from New York to Montreal, lit? t »i;..< ■ •> your much- wanted breakfast at *'.•.' ats over the absent '^^nt in the journey > Hudson — matching ^and all Americans devour their meals as if stealing insti. d of paying for them)— ruggedly railroading from thence to Saratoga Springs, — still more desperately jolting in a lumbering backwoods stage-coach to the head of magnifi- cent Lake George, the deep water amid tree-covered mountains, and studded with nearly four hundred miniature islands ; — then a comfort- able night's sleep at the hotel there — a morning's passage down the lake some forty miles by steamer — another mortal Yankee stage to Lake Champlain — steamer again all night to . . . St. John's, I think, and rail to finish off with the remainder of the way to the banks of the St. Lawrence opposite Montreal : a chain of beautiful scenery* — moun- tain, forest, plain, and water ;— spots calling up old recollections of the days of violence — Fort George, Bloody Pond, and Ticonderoga; — scattered farms of the far-removed settlers — clearings in the forest like squares cut out of solid wood — ploughed fields covered with stumps of departed trees not yet grubbed out of the ground, and amusement enough amongst talkative and intelligent fellow-passengers. All this, however, should be enjoyed in the reality of a bright week in the month of August, when " Jacob's Falls" are worthy of a celestial Ruysdael — 1U8 GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN when Lake George is crystalline enough to display shoals of trout floating in conscious security far below the disturbance of steamboat paddles, and the shores of Vermont are greener than their very name. Of all waterfalls that ever fell before my eyes, Jacob's Falls are the most magnificent and surpassingly picturesque : would that some artist of gigantic genius might some day undertake to paint them from below the bridge, and thus give to society one of the most perfect landscape compositions surely to be found in the world ! " Bloody Pond" lies in a still, sequestered mountain nook, some distance off the road, and, with its fearful memory of battle done on its banks between the English and French until the water reddened into a horrible mockery of the life- stream, and the revived consciousness that yet imbedded in the slime of its bottom lie abvndantly the peaceful bones, without quarrel now, of the warriors who there gained death and " glory," makes the visitor pause in melancholy musing amid the leafy solitude, and ask himself the eternal question, " Why and to what end was all this ?" The once-formidable fortress of Ticonderoga, situated on a mighty headland at a turn in Lake Champlain, is now a heap of rubbish. In fact, an unsentimental Englishman who happened to be one of our passengers, — a mere animal whom to meet abroad makes one half ashamed of one's countrymen, — pronounced it altogether unworthy of inspection, and not a whit superior in appearance to many an old batn which he had seen in the fields of his native land. Such is the differ- ence between eyes merely, and those eyes of the mind which invest with poetical and romantic imagery even the barest skeleton of a scene, and in the veriest waste behold all that is rich through the simple asso- ciation of ideas. At the inn hard by Ticonderoga, we beheld " Elsler Grove," a group of trees before the house under which Yan-ny Elsler delighted to sit, and where is shown the identical deal board whereon the immortal Fanny reposed her gentle limbs. This relic, however, I must confess, had more attractions for me, because I just then happened to be tired, than on any other account. There was nothing to be seen on the plank itself, and the " association of ideas " in this instance was of too tender a nature to be indulged in. Lake Champlain is a muddy affair, and much of the same colour as THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. H)9 one of our brownish-yellow highways ; — a rather remarkable fact, when the tourist calls to mind the brilliant transparency of the neighbouring Lake George, whose waters it receives. The steamers on this lake are fuelled with wood, the clouds of sparks emitted from which, that escape through the sieve or cullender at the top of the fivanel, make by night a display far beyond the reach of the pyrotechnic art. I can scarcely avoid making a passing remark upon the manner in which the business of the British Custom-house encountered on this route is carried on. To me it appears unaccountable if it be honest ; if not, why of course it is readily accounted for. Not wishing, when leaving New York, to be encumbered with more of my luggage than was just necessary to supply the occasions of the journey, I applied to a carriers' firm in that city for the transmission of various boxes, &c. to Montreal. On inquiring whether they had not better be left so fastened as to allow of a ready opening at the Custom- house on the Canadian border, I was told to make them as fast as I liked — they would pass without examination, as they the (firm) had made arrangements for doing " all that kind of thing." And assuredly they had ; for when the Champlain steamer arrived on the Canadian shore — the Customs' officers came on board, and the goods came to be overhauled before them — lo ! my packages were amongst the number, and passed without examination as a matter of course, while the trifling portmanteau, &c. which I had brought along with me was thoroughly "cleaned out" and emptied on deck before a porter was allowed to take it away. This is one of the advantages which tourists and travel- lers passing from New York to Montreal or Quebec will derive from transmitting their luggage by " Jacob's line." From hence, another railway across a wretched, ill-cultivated, and barren prairie brings us to the banks of the "mighty river." The St. Lawrence, that grand liquid highway into the interior of Canada, must certainly be classed amongst the most magnificent and picturesque of American rivers. Clear, expansive, studded with beau- tiful islands, and broken by grand and charming falls, it affords to the voyager along its waters an endless succession of scenery of the very highest artistical character. At some distance above the city of Montreal, it divides into two 200 GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN brandies, atid sweeping over a vast extent of country, ap lin reunites, and thus forms the island upon which Montreal is situated. It will be matter of interest and information to a great body of our readers if, in this place, we throw a little light upon the condition and treatment of the numerous bodies of poor emigrants who annually arrive, under the patronage of Government, at the city we have just named, and subsequently get distributed over the country, or cross the borders into the United States. During our residence there in 1842, we were taken by a gentleman to inspect what are commonly — and too appropriately — denominated " The Emigrant Sheds." These are long rows of weather-boarded buildings, surrounding a square court or yard, in which the pauperised emigrants are packed together far more miserably than soldiers in the worst of barracks, and under such circumstances of discomfort as, in a climate like that of Canada, must be deeply trying to even the rudest of Irish agricultural labourers, accustomed as they are to suffering and exposure. But the want of sufBcient shelter is not the worst feature in this truly deplorable establishment. The great length of the " sheds" may be estimated from the fact that they are calculated to contain each, perhaps, between one and two hundred people. They are provided with bedsteads ranged down each side — are appropriated indiscrimi- nately to both sexes and all ages, the married and the single, and yet, from one end to the other, there exists not a single partition to render any one bed or its occupants in the least degree sheltered from the observation of all the others ! — a statement which, however incredible it may appear to the virtuous and modest people of England, is a positive fact. In the centre of the yard is a square erection divided into two, with an entrance on each side, and a huge fireplace oppo- site to it, where the emigrants cook their victuals as best and at whatever chance they can. That pretty scenes of quarrel and fight frequently occur in consequence, for the point of precedency, is easily imagined. In this wretched herding-place the penniless emigrants remain until opportunity occurs for their advancement into the country, or appoint- ment to some situation in which their labour is required. THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 201 The buildings stand outside the city, upon the bank of the river, and are backed hy what in Montreal is termed " The Mountain." To guard against the crushing in of the roofs of buildings by the deep falls of snow which occur in Canada, the greater number of large erections, such as churches &c., are provided with roofs of an exces- sively high pitch, or very steep in the declivity, in order to throw it off: and as in the majority of cases tin is used for a covering in the place of slates or tiles, a very pretty but remarkable character is given to the scenery in which buildings form a feature, during either bright sun or moonlight. It was in the latter end of October 1842 that we took the steamer from Montreal, and dropped down the river to Quebec : but as this passage was effected during the night, no opportunity was afforded for observation between those two cities. In point of picturesque situation and effect, Quebec is a notable and engaging locality. It is, as it were, naturally divided into the Lower and the Upper Towns; — the former being that portion of the city which is built upon the water-side, below those hanging precipices whose top constitutes " The Heights," and the latter that other and most aristocratic quarter which, along with the formidable citadel, stands upon The Heights themselves. Some of the streets are so steep as to require flights of steps, extending across their whole width, in order to facilitate their ascent by foot-passengers, vehicles of all kinds being necessarily excluded from them ; while others, in which no steps occur, offer dangers that few English "whips" would choose to en- counter, although with impunity driven both up and down by the experienced residents of the city. To our eyej the fortress offers far less of an imposing appearance than we had been led to expect; — a circumstance arising, perhaps, from the fact that nearly the whole of it is formed in hollow ways and hidden underground. In fact, little more is visible than the residences of the officers, which present towards the river the ordinary appearance of soldiers' barracks. The present fortifications do not include all the superficies formerly occupied by them when Canada was in the possession of the French ; 2d 202 GLIMPSFS OBTAINKD IN a large portion of the " Heights of Abraham" being covered with vast and rude ruins of the French defences, as they have been left ever since the taking of Quebec by the gallant Wolfe. Few parts of the American Continent can offer more beautiful, ex- tensive, and sublime scenery than, on almost every side, is presented to the spectator from the Heights uf Quebec. Mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, are all spread beneath the eye to a distance of sixty or seventy miles, as though laid down upon a map — but, invested with those mighty charms of reality, colour, vastness, and atmospheric effect, which no art, however skilled, can give. Still, to a liberally-disposed mind, Quebec (and the observation applies equally to other Canadian towns) is a disagreeable place to live in. The military seem to constitute the sole grand object of what Carlyle terms the " hero-worship" of the inhabitants ; and ultra loyalty and red jackets predominate, to a dreadful extent, over everything else. Having spent nearly a fortnight in this city, it was without regret that, on the 4th of November, we went on board our vessel (the barque " Souter Johnny," of Liverpool), and early in the day set sail for England. The weather was bright, cloudless, and warm, — the first day, indeed, of the •' Indian summer" — a period of warm weather which always precedes the setting in of the Canadian winter, and some- times lasts three weeks. During this period the air is hazy, especially within about ten degrees of the horizon — but hot, and what the London people term " mug»y." It operates as a weather-signal to the inhabit- ants of the country to prepare for the setting in of frost, and conse- quently is a busy time throughout the land — every one preparing his store of fuel, furs, provisions, &c. for the next five or six months. As soon as this false summer breaks, winter very often comes down with the suddenness of an avalanche, and storms, winds, and snows drive with terrific violence over the land. The Canadian rustics, how- ever, take advantage of the fine weather while it lasts, to cut wood in the forests, separate the trees into lengths of about seven feet each, pile them together in a pyramidal form upon the spot where they have been felled, and so leave them until the snows have fallen and become THE UNITKD STATES AND CANADA. 203 sufficiently hard to bear the sleigh. They then fetch the stacks from the woods, for home consumption. The western shore of the St. Lawrence is very mountainous in the interior, and occasionally also close upon the water. Innumerable scattered farms of the French Canadians, or " hnbitans," speckle the coast on either side, and give a pleasing and lively character to the whole line of river for many miles below Quebec. As we descend the stream and advance farther into the barren north, these however be- come more sparely scattered, and at length disappear altogether. The Island of Orleans, upon which General Wolfe encamped pre- viously to his attack upon Quebec, is beautifully situated and well wooded. At the distance of a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles from Quebec, the scenery has assumed a grander character, from its being upon a scale of more gigantic magnitude. These are the solitudes that are almost unpeopled, and to attempt to cruoS which in winter would be to go to inevitable death. On the afternoon of the second day, we arrived oflf Green Island, the residence of the pilot who brought us from Quebec. He therefore left us, after h iving received eleven pounds for his two days' services in bringing us thus far. • ' The number of pilots upon this river is about two hundred and thirty — a body of men for whom, in such a capacity, the inexperienced landsman car. see little necessity. But upon the broad principle that the demand usually regulates the average supply, we must conclude that there cannot be amongst them many supernui •'ries. It is sur- prising, however, that out of this great nu .nber, v.-ry few indeed of the pilots can either read or write. Ours was one of this unfortunate class, though otherwise a very intelligent man. On showing him a sketch which I had made off the shores of Metane, he immediately recognised it, and pointed out the highest mountain peak seen in the distance as the place where, some time ago the skeleton of a " whale'" was disco- vered embedded in the earth, by men who were digging for stone. It would be no matter for surprise, if, on scientific investigation, the " whale" should '^_ rove to be " very like" a mammoth. Indeed, were this inhospitable and unknown region to be thoroughly explored by 204 GLIMPSES OBTAINED IN THE U. STATES AND CANADA. some skilful geologist and naturalist, little doubt can be entertained but that the results would well reward the labour, and compensate the investigator for his expense and peril. Having reached the Gulf of St. Lawrence, we had a dim and distant vision of the coast of Labrador. " Beyond this flood, a frozen continent Lies dark and wild, beat by perpetual storms Of whirlwmd and dire hail, which on firm land Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems Of ancient pile ; all else deep snow and ice." So says Milton of a still drearier place than even Labrador : and Acre, having reached the sea, we bid the reader adieu. THE END. H, 1. STEVENS, PRINTKR, PHILFOT LAVE, CITY, LONDOK. ;ertained isate the i distant NEW COLONIAL WORKS PUBLISHED BY SIMMONDS & WARD, LONDON; And to be had of all Booksellers. or: and JUST PUBLISHED. One Thick Vol. 8vo., with Five Views of the Province, price lOs. 6d. A Complete HISTORY OF NEW BRUNSWICK, WITH NOTES FOR EMIGRANTS. BY DR. CESNER, F. G. S., Author of "Kemarkt on theOeology and Mineralogy of Nota Scotia." One Vol. demy 8vo., pri?e 5s. THE EMIGRANT: A TALE OF AUSTRALIA. BY W. H. 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" From his connexion with the periodical press in New South Wales, Mr. M'Combie has been enabled to gather together much curious information re- lating to the humbler livers in the fiush and elsewhere in that Colony, and has contributed entertahiing papers about them to ' Simmonds's Colonial M;^ga- zine,' 'Tail's Magazine, and other publications. Collected, they make a very characteristic volume, in which we read of many things generally un- noticed in more systematic productions, such as adventures among log-huts, and descriptions of the habits of the poorer settlers, their little rogueries, and occasionally more serious offences. We may therefore say, that there is a new scene for these domestic and internal concerns, which, as they differ from our home afff 'rs of a similar kind, may divert an idle hour with the variorum of wandering life." — Literary Gazette. THE BEST AND MOST RECENT WORK ON NEW ZEALAND. 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