Connecticut western news., 1881-09-07
Texas Letter.
since last W

TexNS Letter.
 ED. NEWS II suppose but few readers of the News ever heard the howl of the wolf and the first time one hears it, it will make him think of home and drive away sleep for an ried on by five or six of them, in quiet, still night, one can easily imagine himself in "the innermost circles of Dantes Inferno, listening to the derisive laughter of demons, amidst the howl of 8 single wolf seems made up of combi nation of sounds. beginning like the vail of five year old urchin who has his fingers caught in rat-trap, changing into the bark of Spitz dog, and ending with sudden yelp, as the dog would be apt to end if knocked over with half brick. in the middle of his solo. He is 8 cowardly brute, and if he has single re- deeming good quality, would like to know what it is. A small pack of them were about here last fall and early winter, but we gave nine that they left. They came into small pasture and killed lamb not more than hundred steps from the house. There is occa- sionally cougar shot, and they say there are wildcats, both long and short tailed. but I never have seen either. But the strangest ot all the animals of Texas is the opossum. He seems to be mixture of coon, pig and mon. key. In size and color he resembles the coon, in his squeak and love of fruit, thet pig, and in his ability to climb trees and hang by his tail,
 
 and roots, and they have stolen several chick ems from us. The female has pouch in which she carries her young until they are quite large; one I caught not long ago had seven young ones with her. Their flesh is very good eatingl; tastes much like the lean meat of a pigs foot, and is tender and juicy. Rabbits are plenty, both the common and mule cared. Until 1879 there was goodly quantity of fish in the Blanco, but since that very dry year they are scarce. Our old friend, the sunfish, pR ia ha naDtlfnl Than there are cat or southern bass, and in the large rivers buffalo fish and others that I ( o not know the names of. Catfish are caught that weigh from quarter of & pound to 50 or 60 pounds each. The people from this vicini- ty go in parties to the Guadaloupe, fishing. and usually get all they want. Buffalo fish are caught weighing from two to ten pounds each, They fish with the set line mostly, and camp by the river for three or four days. But the gamest fish, and tHe best eating, is the bass one who understands fly fishing could have rare sport with them, as but few are caught with bait, and they are plenty in all the larger streams. They have way of kill ing fish that think would not meet with much favor from your Rod and Gun clubs. When the small ponds and lagoons are low, party of thirty or forty will dig a ditch long enough to carry of nearly all the water then all hands unstable and ride up and down, stirring up the mud and gas from the bottom, until the poor fish are suffocated, and rise to the top oi the water, then, each armed with 6 shelaap about two feet long, they rap the fish on the head and put them in their sacks. In the fall of 1879, just before left Anderson County, a party of us took a wagon load out of little pond that did not cover more than two acres of ground.
 Texas, in common with all sub- tropical coun- tries is full of reptile and insect life. Indeed the great drawback to thorough enjoyment of life here, is ''varmints," as the colored pop ulation call them. There are aligators, tur- tles-some edible and some not-snakes, both poisonous and harmless, lizards, centipedes, scorpions, tarantulas, ticks, feas, bedbugs and last but not least-except in size-chizzers, or red bugs. Of the serpents, two kinds of rattle snakes, two kinds of moccasins and the missing adder are poisonous. The moccasin is first cousin to the he'fattlesnake, but darker colored, without rattles, and lives near the water. The adder hisses like goose, and has the power hand; it is only & small snake less than two feet long. Then there is the chicken snake, a large, sluggish reptile from four to ten feet -'"'~ a -Anraseutative of the black snake tribe, but of drab color. Among the others is 8 small striped snake that falls in pieces when struck with stick. This is the country where the celebrated hoop snake, that takes it's tail in it's mouth and chases you, is said to abound, but have yet to meet the individual who has seen one. Last year kill ed seven rattlesnakes, four moccasins and one adder, besides dozens of other kinds. This year there are not many, for some reason-pos. sibly have killed them all. The centipede is & thousand legged worm with black body and bright yellow legs, from six inches to a foot or more in length he lives in rocky, damp places, but frequently comes into houses. l have read and heard great stories about how told to make talk. I know of two who were bitten by them, and neither case proved se- rious. One young man was bitten on the toot while putting on his boot another, young lady was bitten on the side while putting on her night dress. It made bad cores in both cases. A centipede has no business to bite a pretty girl, even if she is Dutch. The ticks are all bloodthirsty wretches, from the big bear tick to the little seed tick, but the seed ticks are worst, for they are so small you can in some places, especially near springs and other water. They will cover your clothes be- fore you know it, and they bite like every thing. The tarantula is big spider covered with hair that lives in hole in the ground, They say his bite is deadly, but if you let him alone he won't trouble you. The sting of scorpion is no worse than that of a wasp. But the worst of all is the red bug. He is so small you can hardly see him, of bright red color, and lives in the grass. His favorite place to stick is the tender skin under the knee and arm, but he does not hesitate to take hold wherever he happens to light, and burrow into the pores of the skin. The bite burns and itches, and if he were as large as louse he Woulu uTlNe Sue CTdEy. IredSo VIII XII tueIu, and that must have been the reason the an cient Jews were 80 fond of amounting them selves. Every Texas family keeps from one to six dogs-the poorer the man, the more dogs, generally, and the hogs run about the door and frequently creep under the house. Is it any wonder the people are tiea-bittenP hope no one will think there is rattlesnake behind every log, centipede under every tree, or that you cannot go to the spring without get ting covered with ticks and red bugs. While there are more of them than one could wish, they were created for 6 good and beneficent purpose. The human species, wholly depriveo of insects, would fade from the earth, and 'mosquitos teach us patience, submission and resignation TEXAN.
 Blance. Tex, Aug. %, 1881.