Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1846-10-15
Nj | S C E l. l. A N Y.
TEXAN TOWN AND A MARCH FROM THE
SEA BOARD TO THE INFERIOR.

A correspondent Of the National Intelligencer
writing from ''San Antonio de Bexar,' then the
head quarters of the central division of '.the Army
OF INVASION" gives graphic sketches, from which
we make some extracts below. The first is an
amusing description of Labacca, as the writer calls
1t; but LaUacca, according to the New Orleans
papers
The village of Labacca is a curious compound
a rare specmen-even of the patchwork mosaic
OF western settlements" 1t probably contains
twelve or fifteen families, in whose dwellings pride
and poverty are mixed on the most philosophical
principles. The houses generally do not reach the
dignity OF an Arkansas residence-.'two pens and
passage"-but are little better than huts of frai
materials, and frally put together. Yet the occu-
pants of many OF them, if striving to rival each
other in exhibiting the power Of contrast, display
siiVer FORKS on pine tables, unvei their mohCgany
upon uncarEeted and uhsoaped floors, and flourish
thelr damask upon walls unpublished by the trowe ,
and through winch the suube. ms dance with virrin
freshness The nasal and ful-lunged music of The
inclplent Porher minges its melodies in the same
apartment with the tender tones of the Texas belle
ana tile Volupuous strains of one of Chickering' IS
unmatched The mournful remnants of former
iuXuriance, the first germ of the aspirations of mann
mon, the evidence OF refinement that poverty and
reveIses cannot annihilae, and the vulgarity that
wealth and prosperity serve only oils to set off,
premature decay and deere ut juvenility, beau
ufully interviewer and dovetailed together, even
with more than congressional confusion Ofdeas. In
TACT, pigs, poultry, planos-corn meal and custards
sand, sawdust, and silver-tubs, teapots, and ia
es'ry-metals, mosquitoes, and mahCgany--gourds,
9lniets, and geranluIns, associated together on
the most generous terms Of affection and Fourier
Ism, and without regard to those arbitrary rules
which govern In older and less natural comununi-
ties, and which separate the domestic elements as
widely as are the upper units Of mankind from the
lower hundreds.
The torpidity hitherto indigenous to all Texas
has here ceased for time, and the vitality of the
Federal L reasury, opened, as we facetiousy
tod at Washington, by reason of "Mexican hostil-
lues, has reused even the dry bones of Labacca
Man, woman, and child feel the electric shock of
illegal tender" and are reused into vigorous exer-
ton to hold their dippers while the golden shower
continues; and mustangs, gourds, and horned frogs.
the principal products of the country, have recently
risen greatly In value, under the irresistible temp
tatons of the unwonied display of the mamrnon of
unrighteousnpss
The last detachment from Illinois arrived at our
encampment near Palidor Creek, twelve miles from
Labacca on the 9TH of August, and on the tn the
march upon San Antonio de Bexar commenced
This days operations were emphatically adven-
lures by ''food and field" The route lay through
flat treelesS country, unbrolen in its monotony
save by intervals of what are here called ''hog-
wallow prairies." These formations Of pitfalls
and elevations Of every variety of form, and suc-
ceeding each other like cups and saucers turned
topsy turvy. transition over such a region,
either on foot, on horseback, or on wheels must be
attended with numerous practical suggestions on
the ups and downs of life, and might remind one
with slight alteration, of the lines in Don Juan
Chow man fell
know not but how he falls and rises
These Texas prairies place beyond surmises."
The march Of an army over prairie may, no
doubt, be a very handsome affair in the abstract,
but the reality partakes Of but very few of the cha
racterstics that might be anticipated. Instead Of
boundless plains covered with carpets Of perpetual
verdure and enameIled with flowers of gorgeous
cooring, over which the wild horse may be seen
careerng in his strength, and herds Of deer bound
ing in their native grace and beauty, (yide writers
on Texas, passi,n) there is before you nsught but