There are no large towns in Texas. Bexar, or as it is commonly called,
St. Antonio, is the capital, and contains about thirty-five hundred
inhabitants--the other villages are small, varying from one hundred
to one thousand souls. St. Antonio, like all the Spanish towns,
is composed of houses built of logs and mud, and makes a squalid
appearance. It is situated about twenty miles east of San Antonio
river. The principal towns are, Nacogdoches, St. Augustine; and on
Galveston Bay, Harrisburg and Lynchburg: on the Brazos--Velasco,
Brazoria, Columbia, St. Felipe, and a new town in Robinson's colony
at the falls: Cole's Settlement, fifteen miles west of the Brazos: on
the Colorado--Metagorda, Montezuma, Electra, Bastrap, or Mina: on the
Gaudalupe--Gonsales: on the San Antonio--Goliad, (formerly Bahia,) and
BEXAR: in Powell's Grant--St. Patrick: on the Rio Grande, or Rio del
Norte--Refugio, Metamoras, Reinosa, Camargo, Mier, Revilla, Laredo,
Presidio and the city of Doloros.
A new town is laid out at the falls on the Brazos river in Robinson's
colony, about two hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. This is the
place where the land office is kept for this colony, and will become
quite a village. But the country is not now settled enough to make or
support large towns. It must be the work of time. Although men may
lay out a town, and commence building it, yet it cannot prematurely
be forced into existence. It must have a back settlement to support
it. The merchant and mechanic cannot sell, unless there are some
inhabitants to buy.
The Spaniards, more than one hundred and fifty years ago, built
some small towns in Texas, the principal of which are St. Antonio,
Nacogdoches and La Bahia. These became something of villages; but for
twenty years their population has continually diminished; and the
country at large does not contain half the Spanish inhabitants that it
did at that time. They, like the Indians, dwindle away, or flee before
the settlements of the Americans.
The Mexican government had three garrisons of soldiers stationed in
Texas--one at Nacogdoches, one on Galveston Bay, and one at Velasco,
at the mouth of the Brazos. Some of the commanders of these garrisons,
attempted to exercise despotic powers, in seizing Americans who had
become obnoxious to them, and putting them in prison. About two years
ago, their conduct became so oppressive, that the citizens rose _en
masse_, killed some of the soldiers, and took the remainder prisoners.
The Mexican government then recalled all the officers and soldiers,
and there has not been a Mexican garrison in Texas since.
The inhabitants of the country pay no taxes at all. It is said that
the lands are exempt from taxation for ten years to come. All articles
imported for the private use of the emigrant, are free of duty; and in
fact, a great portion of the merchandize pays none. When I left the
Brazos river, there was no custom house officer upon it; and a number
of vessel loads of goods were landed, without being required to pay any
duty.
Almost all kinds of goods afford a good profit and a ready sale in
Texas; especially domestic cottons, boots, shoes, hats and ready made
clothing. Coffee is used in large quantities, but I did not find
hardly a cup of tea in the whole country. It is not a good place for
mechanics. Manufactured articles of all kinds are brought from the
north, and sold cheaper than they can be made here; and the country
is too thinly settled, and the raw material is too scarce, to give
much employment to artisans of what is called custom work, such as
shoemakers, tailors, &c. Blacksmiths, however, are an exception to
this. They are indispensable, although there are now but few of them.
The price charged for shoeing a horse is from three to four dollars.
Texas is connected with Cohahuila, and both form one province of the
Mexican Confederacy. But lately, they have been made into separate
judicial districts; each having its own courts and officers. In
Texas their proceedings in court and the records, are in the English
language; but land titles are still written in the Spanish. The laws
are liberal; they guarantee the freedom of religious opinion and
a trial by jury. Courts are held in St. Felipe, Nacogdoches, St.
Augustine, Bastrap, &c. The government is elective and republican. I
attended an election of sheriff and other county officers. They vote
_viva voce_, as the practice is in many of our southern States. To be
an inhabitant of the country, is all the qualification necessary to
become a voter.
Physicians are occasionally found in the country, and there are a small
number of lawyers located in the principal towns. There are but few
preachers of the gospel, and I believe no meeting houses, except some
decayed Roman Catholic churches.
The country needs more professional men. It opens a fine field for
enterprising men in any profession. The wheels of government in Texas
move quietly along. The storms which agitate and distract the city
of Mexico and its vicinity, spend their force before they reach that
province. I think, the government forms no serious objection to forming
a settlement in the country.
But in a new and thinly settled country, the laws, however wise and
good, cannot always be enforced. Magistrates and executive officers
are few, and courts often at a distance. The new settlers, therefore,
sometimes take the law into their own hands; and although they may not
inflict the same punishment the law enjoins, I believe they generally
do substantial justice. As an instance of the kind, I will state a
case that happened on the bank of the Colorado river. A man settled
there, who proved to be a notorious thief. He stole cattle, horses,
hogs, or any thing he could lay his hands on. His neighbors resolved to
endure his depredations no longer, and gave him notice to depart from
that section of the country, or abide the consequences. After waiting
awhile, and learning that he intended to remain, some half dozen of his
neighbors went to his house in the evening, took him to a tree, and
gave him thirty-nine lashes, well laid on. They then told him that the
punishment should be repeated every week, as long as he remained in the
neighborhood. Before a week came round, he left that section of the
country, and has not been heard of since.
In the interior of the country, there is a salt lake, from which a
load of fine salt may be obtained in a short time; and appears to be
inexhaustible. A small stream runs from this to the Brazos river, and
sometimes renders its waters too brackish for use.
By the laws, slavery is not allowed in the province; but this law
is evaded by binding the negroes by indenture for a term of years.
You will, therefore, find negro servants, more or less, all over the
country; but more, on the lowlands, towards the bays and seacoast.
Large cotton plantations, in this section of the country, are
cultivated by negroes; and here also are found some good houses and
rich farmers.
Texas lies between the twenty-seventh and thirty-fourth degrees of
north latitude; and between sixteen degrees thirty minutes, and
twenty-seven degrees west longitude from Washington; and contains
probably about one hundred and fifty thousand square miles--as large
as all New-England and the State of New-York. It is bounded, east by
the Sabine river and a line drawn due north from its head waters to Red
River--south, by the Gulf of Mexico--west, by the river Neuces, Rio del
Norte, and the Cordillera mountains--north, by the Red River, until it
hits its eastern boundary.
More than half of the country is prairie. The margin of the streams
and the moist highlands are covered with a fine growth of timber. All
the seacoast and on the bays, there is a strip of low, level land,
extending seventy miles into the country. The prairies are here very
rich, but too level to be pleasant or healthy. The remainder of Texas
is high, dry and gently undulating; but not mountainous. Between the
rivers Sabine and Trinity, are extensive, gently undulating, sandy
plains, generally covered with a good growth of pitch pine; but
occasionally covered with post-oaks, hickory, &c. Among these, are
interspersed small prairies of good land; sometimes having a black
soil, but generally of a reddish cast, and occasionally of a deep red.
From the river Trinity to the western line of the State, are high,
rolling, beautiful prairies of all sizes and shapes imaginable. So
beautiful are these prairies, that the imagination cannot paint a more
delightful scene. Cultivation, however nicely performed, will rather
mar, than add to their beauty. They are surrounded with a dense forest
of trees; sometimes two or three miles in depth, and sometimes only of
a few yards. On the highlands, or elevated plains, are frequently found
oak-openings, similar to those of Michigan and Illinois. Texas, with
the exception of the pine plains, may with truth be said to possess a
deep, rich soil of black marl.
That portion of the country lying between the Colorado river and
Louisiana, is subject to powerful rains in the fall and spring; but as
you go southward and westward towards the city of Mexico, the rains
become less frequent, and not so abundant. About two months in summer,
it is generally quite dry; sometimes, so severe is the drought that
vegetation withers, and the grass on the prairies becomes dry. To the
southward of Texas, the Spaniards irrigate their lands to make them
produce a more abundant crop. The planting season is so early, (from
the first to the middle of February,) that all the crops, except cotton
and sugar cane, come to maturity before the dry weather commences; and
these get such a vigorous start in this luxuriant soil, that they are
seldom materially injured by the drought.
The roads are all in a state of nature; yet so smooth is the surface,
and so gently undulating is the face of the country, that in dry
weather, better roads are not found any where. A person, however, often
meets with moist bottom land, and streams difficult to pass. In the wet
season, travelling is more disagreeable and difficult; and sometimes
impracticable, on account of the swollen, rapid streams of water.
Although carriages run without difficulty all over the country, yet
the inhabitants have not yet introduced pleasure carriages. The mode
of travelling is on horseback; but women and children often go in a
baggage wagon drawn by oxen. Baggage wagons are quite numerous, but I
found only one pleasure carriage in the whole province, and that was a
gig-wagon.
Emigrants are continually pouring into Texas, both by sea and by land,
and from every section of the United States. The southerners generally
choose the lowlands bordering on the bays and Gulf; but the northern
people prefer the high lands in the interior. If emigration continues,
it will soon contain a very respectable population.