The river De la Nueces, with its tributaries, rises among the rocky mountains of Ganahuaca, and is very narrow but deep; keeping an uninterrupted course from about north-west to south-east, it finally empties itself into the Nueces Bay. This river was formerly the western boundary of Texas, which separated it from the state of Coahuila; but at the period of the declaration of the Independence of Texas, the Texans extended their western boundary to Rio Grande or Rio del Norte.

The Rio Grande or Rio Bravo, formerly called Rio del Norte, is the western boundary of Texas, which separates Texas from Mexico; this is the largest river in Mexico, and rises in the Verde Mountains, in about 45° north latitude, sweeping along the base of the western chain of the Sierra Madre, watering in its course the confines of the vast plains known as the Bolson Mapimi and Parras; collecting the waters of innumerable rivulets that flow from the lakes of Parras and Mapimi, it winds round the foot of the Sierra de Pilaros, thence keeping due east until it receives the waters of Puerco; then running south into the Gulf of Mexico, after a course of 1600 miles. The waters of the Rio Grande are clear, light, and wholesome. It navigation is seriously obstructed by a sand bar at its mouth.

The Arkansas river is the north-western boundary claimed by the Texans, and is supposed to rise in latitude 42° north. This river does not assume the character of a permanent stream until it reaches

38° north latitude, when all the rivulets that run through the intervening space, which is composed of a very loose sandy soil, seldom take the same course twice, being supplied at one seasar, by the rains, and at another by the melting of the snow on the mountains. The waters of both these seasons take the course best suited to convey them to the point whence the river may be said to have a fixed source, namely, in latitude 38° north.

The coast of Texas presents but few bays, and these are obstructed by sand banks and bars, while internally, they are both shallow and exposed.

Sabine Bay or Lake, on the extreme eastern point of the coast of Texas, is quite inaccessible, having innumerable sand, mud, and oyster banks, which commence some miles out at sea, and continue to its mouth.

*

Galveston Bay is the largest inlet on the coast, and is accessible, both on the east and west, for ships of light draught of water. It varies from ten to twenty-five miles in width, and is from thirty to thirty-five miles in length; but its navigation is obstructed by two sand bars which run from east to west. The first, "Red Fish Bar," occurs about

The charts of Matagorda and Galveston Bays that have recently been published in England, are nothing more than drawings, no survey having as yet been made. Copies of the drawings from which those charts have been taken, were in my possession when in Texas.

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twenty-two miles from its entrance, and the second, Copler's Bar," about five miles higher up the bay. Matagorda Bay is at present next in importance to Galveston Bay. It is about forty miles in length, and varies from five to nine miles in width. It is shallow within its entrance," Passo Cavallo," seldom affording more than seven feet water in the deepest part of the channel.

Aransas Bay possesses many advantages over Galveston and Matagorda Bays. It is easier of access, having more water at its entrance, and being well sheltered within, and is, above all, the most healthy part of the coast.

Nueces Bay possesses all the advantages of Aransas Bay, and is, if any thing, more healthy. These bays have been almost overlooked by the Texans, up to the present time, but they will ultimately become places of some importance.

West of Nueces Bay there are several smaller ones, called Lagunas, formed by a long sand bank, named, "Isle de Padre," or Mustang Island. There are many inlets to these Lagunas, but they have not been sounded, and are generally believed to be very shallow; this portion of the coast is, in fact, but very imperfectly known.

All the bays and rivers of Texas are infested with alligators, serpents, water moccasins, lizards, frogs, toads, scorpions, gally nippers, tarantulas, ants, wasps, cantharides, horse-flies, and musqui

toes; the latter swarm upon the boats passing to and fro, and soon throw the passengers into a sort of Mississippi commotion. Fish also abound in the waters of Texas; such as cat fish, sheeps'-head, buffalo, red fish, mullet, eels, trout, perch, crabs, prawns, and oysters.

The mountains of Texas, from their contiguity to those of Mexico, are supposed to possess vast mineral riches; but there is nothing on record except an Indian tradition, to establish the fact of their existence. Many parties have been formed in Mexico, Texas, and the United States, to explore the San Saba Mountains in the north-west of Texas, but they have been either driven away or cut to pieces by the Comanches.

The San Saba Mountains are, strictly speaking, the only mountains in what is called "Texas Proper." They may, however, be styled the footstones of the Andes of Peru, which, after entering the states of Mexico and Puebla, divide themselves into two large chains, the western arm running due north, at the distance of about 100 leagues from the Pacific Ocean; and the eastern one following and keeping the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, at the same respective distance, until it reaches the state of Coahuila; it is united by a ridge of smaller mountains to the rocky mountains which follow the Rio Grande, from north to south, and finally are lost in the table lands of Texas.

The enchanted rock is a huge mass of lime-stone, rising abruptly from the centre of an inclined plane, to the height of 220 feet. Its surface is bare, except here and there, the head of the "ribes adoratum," a species of blackberry, is seen waving its head in the breeze. The original inhabitants are supposed to have had a temple on this rock; and to this day it is known among the various Indian tribes as "the enchanted rock." The Gaudalupe, Piedra Pinta, Ganhuaca del Sacremento, and Obscura, form the immense ridge of mountains which follow the eastern bank of the Rio Grande, as already described by Humboldt.

Among the very many remarkable features of the revolutions of nature in Texas, there are to be seen two mounds, one near Nacogdoches, and the other a few miles from Columbia, on the Brazos. The former is elevated about eighty feet, and the latter from 150 to 200 above the level of the surrounding plains. These mounds are supposed, from the marine deposits found on their surface, from the base to their summits, to have been originally submarine, together with the whole region that now forms the lower country. They were, doubtless, nothing more originally than sand-banks, formed by the confluence of the waters of various rivers with the Gulf of Mexico; and this supposition is materially strengthened by the knowledge of the fact, that such formations are now in rapid progress, and that these must necessarily be