The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-11-27
JeffsrsoEian.
LETTER FROM TEXAS.
AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. s, '6s.

LETTER FROM TEXAS.
AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. s, '6s.
DEAR JEFF.:-Among your readers
are many who would be glad to know
something of this country-its phys
ical, social and political position. So
far, nv duties have not proved oner-
Gus, and may spare you an hour ad-
vantageousIy, "without manifest inju-
nv to the service" A word or two
of my journey to this place, (the cap
it.l city of Texas) On the 22nd of
October left Findlay, under orders
for Texas. The storms of winter were
already threatening us of the Lake
Region. -Four hundred miles South,
I met the sweet Summer gales, and
as I travelled still Southwark, the eli
mate gradually changed, until 1 felt
the scorching breath of the tropics,
and saw myself surrounded by all the
luxuriant wild growth of the rich val
ley of the Lower Mississippi, warmed
and kept in perpetual life by the al
most perpendicular rays Of the sun,
rendered still more bland by the
modifying influences of the Atlantic
and Gulf of Mexico. At New Orleans,
on the first of November, the people
were making their winter gardens
and upon the same plat, you would
see the ripe and decaying vegetables
of previous growth. The season is
perpetual one gang of field hands
would be planting the sugar cane,
another cutting, grinding and manu-
featuring from previous crop. The
sugar cane is very remarkable plant.
Each stalk has three pairs of eyes,
from which it germinates-one pair
for each year-and then it must be
renewed. The sorghum also renews
tselt from the root; as one crop is
taken off, another springs up; but it
does not grow so perfect in the South
as further North it is indeed the su-
gar cane Of the North, but it lacks the
richness aud flavor of the cane of the
Gulf States. The stalk of the sugar
cano when matured is thicker than the
stalk of the Indian corn. 1t averages
from six to ten feet in length, and
when full ripe, and the upper husk or
blade is slipped of, it is of a dark pur-
pie color. The fg, orange, banana,
lime, melon and peach, grows in great
abundance. / crossed the Gulf from
Brashear city, Lear Berwick Bay, to
Galveston, on the steam ship Mata
Gorda-one of the Morgan line. Mr..
Morgan, of New York city. has seven
teen of these magnificent steam ships
running to and from different points
on the Gulf A passage across the
Gulf on one of these grand Ocean
steamers is quite an affair in the life of
an ordinary mortal, and one that he
will be very likely to remember unless
bis stomach is very steady and his
head free from dizziness Our ship
rolled and tumbled about like some
huge monster in the throes of death.
The officers of these vessels are gen.
tlemen of cultivation, and are most po-
lite and courteous to all those who
will be so to them. They are to all
appearance finished seamen, and man-
,gs their vessels with a master yet a
Kindly hand. Their ship is their home,
md they appear to he very much in
owe with it. We landed at Calves
.on, aud thence travelled by railroad
% BRENNAN, and thence by stage to
Austin. Texan railroads are in bad
,epair and poorly furnished with roll
ng stock and yet they are greatly |
,verworked by travel and freight
But the man who travels in this coun-
,ry by stage, will not afterwards COM
plain of railroads. And yet staging
n Texas is not so bad as it once was
n Ohio. The roads hero are never
and they are all the better for
{, but they are billy and rocky-and
If all the lands on earth, this is the
and of f''immense distances" A Jour-
ley of five hundred miles is performed
With as little ceremony as our North
I'm people would essay one Of fifty
The traveller starts out on horseback,
upon one of the small but
ctive and hardy native horses. pre-
ared with lariat to picket out his
orse to grass, or catch another with,
hould anything happen to his own
teed The Texan, whether white,
lack or red man, rides in a lope and
its his horse like contour. If the
raveler is hungry food is, everywhere
bundant, and game is plenty the
ivers abound in fish; the woods and
ven prairies are alive with game
eer, turkeys, geese, ducks, grouse,
lover, quail, rabbits, &c, dc.
The Indian, the Spaniard, the Mexi
an, the Negro, and the Anglo Saxon
ave all done their best to ruin Texas, g
ut nature has struggled against them |
II, and still keeps her fair land beau G
ful and rich. Texas has almost !
very variety of climate and natural ,
The coast is low, humid,
ch, luxuriant and beset by fevers.- q
he North and highlands are still fer 3
lie, but dry and healthy. The apple, il
ear, plum and cherry grow in North n
N Texas; wheat Of the finest quality e
nd in great abundance is raised one =
lndred miles north of Austin cot =