Various - Blackwood\'s Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843

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BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

No. CCCXXXVII. NOVEMBER, 1843. VOL. LIV.

CONTENTS.

ADVENTURES IN TEXAS.
TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN.
THE BANKING-HOUSE.
THE WRONGS OF WOMEN.
MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN.
CEYLON
COMMERCIAL POLICY.
A SPECULATION ON THE SENSES.
ON THE BEST MEANS OF ESTABLISHING A COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE
BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS.
TWO DREAMS.
THE GAME UP WITH REPEAL AGITATION.

* * * * *

ADVENTURES IN TEXAS.

NO. 1.

A SCAMPER IN THE PRAIRIE OF JACINTO.

Reader! Were you ever in a Texian prairie? Probably not. _I_ have been;
and this was how it happened. When a very young man, I found myself one
fine morning possessor of a Texas land-scrip--that is to say, a
certificate of the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company, in which it was
stated, that in consideration of the sum of one thousand dollars, duly
paid and delivered by Mr Edward Rivers into the hands of the cashier of
the aforesaid company, he, the said Edward Rivers, was become entitled to
ten thousand acres of Texian land, to be selected by himself, or those he
should appoint, under the sole condition of not infringing on the property
or rights of the holders of previously given certificates.

Ten thousand acres of the finest land in the world, and under a heaven
compared to which, our Maryland sky, bright as it is, appears dull and
foggy! It was a tempting bait; too good a one not to be caught at by many
in those times of speculation; and accordingly, our free and enlightened
citizens bought and sold their millions of Texian acres just as readily as
they did their thousands of towns and villages in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
and Michigan, and their tens of thousands of shares in banks and railways.
It was a speculative fever, which has since, we may hope, been in some
degree cured. At any rate, the remedies applied have been tolerably severe.

I had not escaped the contagion, and, having got the land on paper, I
thought I should like to see it in dirty acres; so, in company with a
friend who had a similar venture, I embarked at Baltimore on board the
Catcher schooner, and, after a three weeks' voyage, arrived in Galveston
Bay.

The grassy shores of this bay, into which the river Brazos empties itself,
rise so little above the surface of the water, to which they bear a strong
resemblance in colour, that it would be difficult to discover them, were
it not for three stunted trees growing on the western extremity of a long
lizard-shaped island that stretches nearly sixty miles across the bay, and
conceals the mouth of the river. These trees are the only landmark for the
mariner; and, with their exception, not a single object--not a hill, a
house, nor so much as a bush, relieves the level sameness of the island
and adjacent continent.

After we had, with some difficulty, got on the inner side of the island, a
pilot came on board and took charge of the vessel. The first thing he did
was to run us on a sandbank, off which we got with no small labour, and by
the united exertions of sailors and passengers, and at length entered the
river. In our impatience to land, I and my friend left the schooner in a
cockleshell of a boat, which upset in the surge, and we found ourselves
floundering in the water. Luckily it was not very deep, and we escaped
with a thorough drenching.

When we had scrambled on shore, we gazed about us for some time before we
could persuade ourselves that we were actually upon land. It was, without
exception, the strangest coast we had ever seen, and there was scarcely a
possibility of distinguishing the boundary between earth and water. The
green grass grew down to the edge of the green sea, and there was only the
streak of white foam left by the latter upon the former to serve as a line
of demarcation. Before us was a plain, a hundred or more miles in extent,
covered with long, fine grass, rolling in waves before each puff of the
sea-breeze, with neither tree, nor house, nor hill, to vary the monotony
of the surface. Ten or twelve miles towards the north and north-west, we
distinguished some dark masses, which we afterwards discovered to be
groups of trees; but to our eyes they looked exactly like islands in a
green sea, and we subsequently learned that they were called islands by
the people of the country. It would have been difficult to have given them
a more appropriate name, or one better describing their appearance.

Proceeding along the shore, we came to a blockhouse situated behind a
small tongue of land projecting into the river, and decorated with the
flag of the Mexican republic, waving in all its glory from the roof. At
that period, this was the only building of which Galveston harbour could
boast. It served as custom-house and as barracks for the garrison, also as
the residence of the director of customs, and of the civil and military
intendant, as headquarters of the officer commanding, and, moreover, as
hotel and wine and spirit store. Alongside the board, on which was
depicted a sort of hieroglyphic, intended for the Mexican eagle, hung a
bottle doing duty as a sign, and the republican banner threw its protecting
shadow over an announcement of--"Brandy, Whisky, and Accommodation for Man
and Beast."

As we approached the house, we saw the whole garrison assembled before the
door. It consisted of a dozen dwarfish, spindle-shanked Mexican soldiers,
none of them so big or half so strong as American boys of fifteen, and
whom I would have backed a single Kentucky woodsman, armed with a
riding-whip, to have driven to the four winds of heaven. These heroes all
sported tremendous beards, whiskers, and mustaches, and had a habit of
knitting their brows, in the endeavour, as we supposed, to look fierce and
formidable. They were crowding round a table of rough planks, and playing
a game of cards, in which they were so deeply engrossed that they took no
notice of our approach. Their officer, however, came out of the house to
meet us.

Captain Cotton, formerly editor of the _Mexican Gazette_, now civil and
military commandant at Galveston, customs-director, harbour-master, and
tavern-keeper, and a Yankee to boot, seemed to trouble himself very little
about his various dignities and titles. He produced some capital French
and Spanish wine, which, it is to be presumed, he got duty free, and
welcomed us to Texas. We were presently joined by some of our
fellow-passengers, who seemed as bewildered as we had been at the
billiard-table appearance of the country. Indeed the place looked so
desolate and uninviting, that there was little inducement to remain on
_terra firma_, and it was with a feeling of relief that we once more found
ourselves on board the schooner.

We took three days to sail up the river Brazos to the town of Brazoria, a
distance of thirty miles. On the first day nothing but meadow land was
visible on either side of us; but, on the second, the monotonous
grass-covered surface was varied by islands of trees, and, about twenty
miles from the mouth of the river, we passed through a forest of
sycamores, and saw several herds of deer and flocks of wild turkeys. At
length we reached Brazoria, which at the time I speak of, namely, in the
year 1832, was an important city--for Texas, that is to say--consisting of
upwards of thirty houses, three of which were of brick, three of planks,
and the remainder of logs. All the inhabitants were Americans, and the
streets arranged in American fashion, in straight lines and at right
angles. The only objection to the place was, that in the wet season it
was all under water; but the Brazorians overlooked this little
inconvenience, in consideration of the inexhaustible fruitfulness of the
soil. It was the beginning of March when we arrived, and yet there was
already an abundance of new potatoes, beans, peas, and artichokes, all of
the finest sorts and most delicious flavour.

At Brazoria, my friend and myself had the satisfaction of learning that
our land-certificates, for which we had each paid a thousand dollars, were
worth exactly nothing--just so much waste paper, in short--unless we chose
to conform to a condition to which our worthy friends, the Galveston Bay
and Texas Land Company, had never made the smallest allusion.

It appeared that in the year 1824, the Mexican Congress had passed an act
for the encouragement of emigration from the United States to Texas. In
consequence of this act, an agreement was entered into with contractors,
or _empresarios_, as they call them in Mexico, who had bound themselves to
bring a certain number of settlers into Texas within a given time and
without any expense to the Mexican government. On the other hand, the
Mexican government had engaged to furnish land to these emigrants at the
rate of five square leagues to every hundred families; but to this
agreement one condition was attached, and it was, that all settlers should
be, or become, Roman Catholics. Failing this, the validity of their claims
to the land was not recognised, and they were liable to be turned out any
day at the point of the bayonet.

This information threw us into no small perplexity. It was clear that we
had been duped, completely bubbled, by the rascally Land Company; that, as
heretics, the Mexican government would have nothing to say to us; and that,
unless we chose to become converts to the Romish Church, we might whistle
for our acres, and light our pipes with the certificate. Our Yankee
friends at Brazoria, however, laughed at our dilemma, and told us that we
were only in the same plight as hundreds of our countrymen, who had come
to Texas in total ignorance of this condition, but who had not the less
taken possession of their land and settled there; that they themselves
were amongst the number, and that, although it was just as likely they
would turn negroes as Roman Catholics, they had no idea of being turned
out of their houses and plantations; that, at any rate, if the Mexicans
tried it, they had their rifles with them, and should be apt, they
reckoned, to burn powder before they allowed themselves to be kicked off
such an almighty fine piece of soil. So, after a while, we began to think,
that as we had paid our money and come so far, we might do as others had
done before us--occupy our land and wait the course of events. The next
day we each bought a horse, or _mustang_, as they call them there, which
animals were selling at Brazoria for next to nothing, and rode out into
the prairie to look for a convenient spot to settle.

These mustangs are small horses, rarely above fourteen hands high, and are
descended from the Spanish breed introduced by the original conquerors of
the country. During the three centuries that have elapsed since the
conquest of Mexico, they have increased and multiplied to an extraordinary
extent, and are to be found in vast droves in the Texian prairies,
although they are now beginning to become somewhat scarcer. They are taken
with the _lasso_, concerning which instrument or weapon I will here say a
word or two, notwithstanding that it has been often described.

The lasso is usually from twenty to thirty feet long, very flexible, and
composed of strips of twisted ox hide. One end is fastened to the saddle,
and the other, which forms a running noose, held in the hand of the hunter,
who, thus equipped, rides out into the prairie. When he discovers a troop
of wild horses, he manoeuvres to get to windward of them, and then to
approach as near them as possible. If he is an experienced hand, the
horses seldom or never escape him, and as soon as he finds himself within
twenty or thirty feet of them, he throws the noose with unerring aim over
the neck of the one he has selected for his prey. This done, he turns his
own horse sharp round, gives him the spur, and gallops away, dragging his
unfortunate captive after him, breathless, and with his windpipe so
compressed by the noose, that he is unable to make the smallest resistance,
and after a few yards, falls headlong to the ground, and lies motionless
and almost lifeless, sometimes indeed badly hurt and disabled. From this
day forward, the horse which has been thus caught never forgets the lasso;
the mere sight of it makes him tremble in every limb; and, however wild he
may be, it is sufficient to show it to him, or lay it on his neck, to
render him as tame and docile as a lamb.

The horse taken, next comes the breaking in, which is effected in a no
less brutal manner than his capture. The eyes of the unfortunate animal
are covered with a bandage, and a tremendous bit, a pound weight or more,
clapped into his mouth; the horsebreaker puts on a pair of spurs six
inches long, and with rowels like penknives, and jumping on his back,
urges him to his very utmost speed. If the horse tries to rear, or turns
restive, one pull, and not a very hard one either, at the instrument of
torture they call a bit, is sufficient to tear his mouth to shreds, and
cause the blood to flow in streams. I have myself seen horses' teeth
broken with these barbarous bits. The poor beast whinnies and groans with
pain and terror; but there is no help for him, the spurs are at his flanks,
and on he goes full gallop, till he is ready to sink from fatigue and
exhaustion. He then has a quarter of an hour's rest allowed him; but
scarcely does he begin to recover breath, which has been ridden and
spurred out of his body, when he is again mounted, and has to go through
the same violent process as before. If he breaks down during this rude
trial, he is either knocked on the head or driven away as useless; but if
he holds out, he is marked with a hot iron, and left to graze on the
prairie. Henceforward, there is no particular difficulty in catching him
when wanted; the wildness of the horse is completely punished out of him,
but for it is substituted the most confirmed vice and malice that it is
possible to conceive. These mustangs are unquestionably the most deceitful
and spiteful of all the equine race. They seem to be perpetually looking
out for an opportunity of playing their master a trick; and very soon
after I got possession of mine, I was nearly paying for him in a way that
I had certainly not calculated upon.

We were going to Bolivar, and had to cross the river Brazos. I was the
last but one to get into the boat, and was leading my horse carelessly by
the bridle. Just as I was about to step in, a sudden jerk, and a cry of
'mind your beast!' made me jump on one side; and lucky it was that I did
so. My mustang had suddenly sprung back, reared up, and then thrown
himself forward upon me with such force and fury, that, as I got out of
his way, his fore feet went completely through the bottom of the boat. I
never in my life saw an animal in such a paroxysm of rage. He curled up
his lip till his whole range of teeth was visible, his eyes literally shot
fire, while the foam flew from his mouth, and he gave a wild screaming
neigh that had something quite diabolical in its sound. I was standing
perfectly thunderstruck at this scene, when one of the party took a lasso
and very quietly laid it over the animal's neck. The effect was really
magical. With closed mouth, drooping ears, and head low, there stood the
mustang, as meek and docile as any old jackass. The change was so sudden
and comical, that we all burst out laughing; although, when I came to
reflect on the danger I had run, it required all my love of horses to
prevent me from shooting the brute upon the spot.

Mounted upon this ticklish steed and in company with my friend, I made
various excursions to Bolivar, Marion, Columbia, Anahuac, incipient cities
consisting of from five to twenty houses. We also visited numerous
plantations and clearings, to the owners of some of which we were known,
or had messages of introduction; but either with or without such
recommendations, we always found a hearty welcome and hospitable reception,
and it was rare that we were allowed to pay for our entertainment.

We arrived one day at a clearing which lay a few miles off the way from
Harrisburg to San Felipe de Austin, and belonged to a Mr Neal. He had been
three years in the country, occupying himself with the breeding of cattle,
which is unquestionably the most agreeable, as well as profitable,
occupation that can be followed in Texas. He had between seven and eight
hundred head of cattle, and from fifty to sixty horses, all mustangs. His
plantation, like nearly all the plantations in Texas at that time, was as
yet in a very rough state, and his house, although roomy and comfortable
enough inside, was built of unhewn tree-trunks, in true back-woodsman
style. It was situated on the border of one of the islands, or groups of
trees, and stood between two gigantic sycamores, which sheltered it from
the sun and wind. In front, and as far as could be seen, lay the prairie,
covered with its waving grass and many-coloured flowers, behind the
dwelling arose the cluster of forest trees in all their primeval majesty,
laced and bound together by an infinity of wild vines, which shot their
tendrils and clinging branches hundreds of feet upwards to the very top of
the trees, embracing and covering the whole island with a green network,
and converting it into an immense bower of vine leaves, which would have
been no unsuitable abode for Bacchus and his train.

These islands are one of the most enchanting features of Texian scenery.
Of infinite variety and beauty of form, and unrivalled in the growth and
magnitude of the trees that compose them, they are to be found of all
shapes--circular, parallelograms, hexagons, octagons--some again twisting
and winding like dark-green snakes over the brighter surface of the
prairie. In no park or artificially laid out grounds, would it be possible
to find any thing equalling these natural shrubberies in beauty and
symmetry. In the morning and evening especially, when surrounded by a sort
of veil of light-greyish mist, and with the horizontal beams of the rising
or setting sun gleaming through them, they offer pictures which it is
impossible to get weary of admiring.

Mr Neal was a jovial Kentuckian, and he received us with the greatest
hospitality, only asking in return all the news we could give him from the
States. It is difficult to imagine, without having witnessed it, the
feverish eagerness and curiosity with which all intelligence from their
native country is sought after and listened to by these dwellers in the
desert. Men, women, and children, crowded round us; and though we had
arrived in the afternoon, it was near sunrise before we could escape from
the enquiries by which we were overwhelmed, and retire to the beds that
had been prepared for us.

I had not slept very long when I was roused by our worthy host. He was
going out to catch twenty or thirty oxen, which were wanted for the market
at New Orleans. As the kind of chase which takes place after these animals
is very interesting, and rarely dangerous, we willingly accepted the
invitation to accompany him, and having dressed and breakfasted in all
haste, got upon our mustangs and rode of into the prairie.

The party was half a dozen strong, consisting of Mr Neal, my friend and
myself, and three negroes. What we had to do was to drive the cattle,
which were grazing on the prairie in herds of from thirty to fifty head,
to the house, and then those which were selected for the market were to be
taken with the lasso and sent off to Brazoria.

After riding four or five miles, we came in sight of a drove, splendid
animals, standing very high, and of most symmetrical form. The horns of
these cattle are of unusual length, and, in the distance, have more the
appearance of stag's antlers than bull's horns. We approached the herd
first to within a quarter of a mile. They remained quite quiet. We rode
round them, and in like manner got in rear of a second and third drove,
and then began to spread out, so as to form a half circle, and drive the
cattle towards the house.

Hitherto my mustang had behaved exceedingly well, cantering freely along
and not attempting to play any tricks. I had scarcely, however, left the
remainder of the party a couple of hundred yards, when the devil by which
he was possessed began to wake up. The mustangs belonging to the
plantation were grazing some three quarters of a mile off; and no sooner
did my beast catch sight of them, than he commenced practising every
species of jump and leap that it is possible for a horse to execute, and
many of a nature so extraordinary, that I should have thought no brute
that ever went on four legs would have been able to accomplish them. He
shied, reared, pranced, leaped forwards, backwards, and sideways; in short,
played such infernal pranks, that, although a practised rider, I found it
no easy matter to keep my seat. I began heartily to regret that I had
brought no lasso with me, which would have tamed him at once, and that,
contrary to Mr Neal's advice, I had put on my American bit instead of a
Mexican one. Without these auxiliaries all my horsemanship was useless.
The brute galloped like a mad creature some five hundred yards, caring
nothing for my efforts to stop him; and then, finding himself close to the
troop of mustangs, he stopped suddenly short, threw his head between his
fore legs, and his hind feet into the air, with such vicious violence,
that I was pitched clean out of the saddle. Before I well knew where I was,
I had the satisfaction of seeing him put his fore feet on the bridle, pull
bit and bridoon out of his mouth, and then, with a neigh of exultation,
spring into the midst of the herd of mustangs.

I got up out of the long grass in a towering passion. One of the negroes
who was nearest to me came galloping to my assistance, and begged me to
let the beast run for a while, and that when Anthony, the huntsman, came,
he would soon catch him. I was too angry to listen to reason, and I
ordered him to get off his horse, and let me mount. The black begged and
prayed of me not to ride after the brute; and Mr Neal, who was some
distance off, shouted to me, as loud as he could, for Heaven's sake, to
stop--that I did not know what it was to chase a wild horse in a Texian
prairie, and that I must not fancy myself in the meadows of Louisiana or
Florida. I paid no attention to all this--I was in too great a rage at the
trick the beast had played me, and, jumping on the negro's horse, I
galloped away like mad.

My rebellious steed was grazing quietly with his companions, and he
allowed me to come within a couple of hundred paces of him; but just as I
had prepared the lasso, which was fastened to the negro's saddle-bow, he
gave a start, and galloped off some distance further, I after him. Again
he made a pause, and munched a mouthful of grass--then off again for
another half mile. This time I had great hopes of catching him, for he let
me come within a hundred yards; but, just as I was creeping up to him,
away he went with one of his shrill neighs. When I galloped fast he went
faster, when I rode slowly he slackened pace. At least ten times did he
let me approach him within a couple of hundred yards, without for that
being a bit nearer getting hold of him. It was certainly high time to
desist from such a mad chase, but I never dreamed of doing so; and indeed
the longer it lasted, the more obstinate I got. I rode on after the beast,
who kept letting me come nearer and nearer, and then darted off again with
his loud-laughing neigh. It was this infernal neigh that made me so
savage--there was something so spiteful and triumphant in it, as though
the animal knew he was making a fool of me, and exulted in so doing. At
last, however, I got so sick of my horse-hunt that I determined to make a
last trial, and, if that failed, to turn back. The runaway had stopped
near one of the islands of trees, and was grazing quite close to its edge.
I thought that if I were to creep round to the other side of the island,
and then steal across it, through the trees, I should be able to throw the
lasso over his head, or, at any rate, to drive him back to the house. This
plan I put in execution--rode round the island, then through it, lasso in
hand, and as softly as if I had been riding over eggs. To my consternation,
however, on arriving at the edge of the trees, and at the exact spot where,
only a few minutes before, I had seen the mustang grazing, no signs of him
were to be perceived. I made the circuit of the island, but in vain--the
animal had disappeared. With a hearty curse, I put spurs to my horse, and
started off to ride back to the plantation.

Neither the plantation, the cattle, nor my companions, were visible, it is
true; but this gave me no uneasiness. I felt sure that I knew the
direction in which I had come, and that the island I had just left was one
which was visible from the house, while all around me were such numerous
tracks of horses, that the possibility of my having lost my way never
occurred to me, and I rode on quite unconcernedly.

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