The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1883-01-30
SAN ANTONlOsTO THE RIO GRANDE.
Address by Dr. wheatley to the British
Association.
Something About the Great Western COun-
try Beyond Del Rio.


attached to the Sunset railroad, and. "a mem
Der of the British association He was presen
at the last British socable, and in response t.
the Presidents invitation to contribute some
thing TO the harmony of the meeting he said:
Mr.. President, ladies and gentlemen 1 thanl
you for the kind way in which you have
received me, and though cannot, as suggested
by your President, tell you an anecdote, may
at least say something of the western country
which may interest many of you. The question
| is, shall | treat what / have to say from al
| immigrants view, or that of an agriculturist
Perhaps it will be better for me to do both
when you leave San Antonio you will find that
| the land rises gradually, and you pass
| large expanse of prairie lands. Here il
is about 200 feet higher than San Antonio
The soil is dry typical, but deep, about
| 40 feet, and excellent for the Guilt
walton of cereals, the only drawback being
| the want of water. At Nueces there is an en-
tire change of vegetation. We lose the mes
quite and we come to an entirely different
plantation when we arrive at Del Rio. The
Rio Grande at that point is a low lying, rapid
stream and people take advantage of it to draw
water on their irrigable farms. Operations here
are successful, the cost OF raising cereals and
vegetables being very slight. To irrigate the
farms they have only to divert the waters of
the Rio Grande and then throw it on the land
kas required AT these farms two good and fine
crops have been obtained in the year. The true
west country lies beyond Del Rio. The rocks
gradually crop out, at first low, then bold
cliffs and caves, characteristic OF this section.
Devils river marks the line of demarcation
of u different country. 1t rises some miles
above and flows along by the banks of pecans
and by remarkable bluff go or 800 feet in
height. There are deep canOns, wide and shall
low, gradually deepening till it reaches the
river. BY the streams of waters have found
in the canons u varieties of ferns, one a
beautiful maiden hair fern, and some sweet
scented shrubs, smelling something similar
to the sweet briar of our own country, As
you go on you come TO the remarkable
Seminole Canyon, which was undoubtedly the
original resort of Indians, traces of which are
found there, and which can only be entered at
two or three places. 1t Is so remarkable that
for few moments / will draw your parti-
cular attention to it. Imagine for moment
the canyon ScOOped out as ii were, very shall
which you will find pretty plants resembling
the camelia. The sides of the canyon have Il
picturesque appearance, and this is created
by the rain, which is great. In two hours ]
measured four inches of rain, and when |
tell you that in England rainfall of one inch
in "a hours is remarkable, you will have some
idea of the extent of rain; the rocks vary in
appearance and as you go on you will find
water i'll various places, and vines so thick and
strong as to make your progress difficult
Here you find traces of the Indians in rude
paintings upon the rocks representing fishing
hunting, etc. As you pass onward you come TO Il
a place resembling huge craving dock suff-
GENTLY large to contain vessel three times the
size of the Great Eastern. As night falls the
scene is gloriously grand and impressive. Then
we come to streams, in which are huge blocks
of rocks, surrounded by beautiful ferns. The
difficulty of getting at this place may be
imagined, that though within 600 yards we had
to go six miles to haul water, because the
canyon was inaccessible at other points. The
rocks are remarkable and contain much fossils.
The vegetation here is worthy of notice. There
are lying around thousands of valuable herbs
" m
only to the Mexican or the Indian. Some of
these have sent TO the celebrated Sir Henry
Thompson, and he was much impressed with
their beauty and utility. There is much money
in that way to Il resident who can collect the
herbs for their proper use.
The life in a railway camp is so remarkable
and many would expect that | should have
much to re late, but more mOnOtOnOus
life is scarcely possible. There are immense
caves many miles in LENGTH in all these caves
you find distinct traces of the Indian in the
rude arrow head; there also is found Il remark
able shell which have carefully searched for
in vain elsewhere in the district and which it
would appear has been drought by the Indians
from some distance. There are plenty of deer,
wild turkey and panther. ] have heard of the
latter but never saw them, but | have no
doubt that they exist in that section. | re-
member one night cOlQred man running in
who was as excited and as pale as a negro
could possibly be. On inquiring the cause OF
his alarm he said he had seen something with
two lights, about the size of a wagon, which
opened MS great mouth TO SWALLOW Dlm out
he ran faster and so escaped, He had no doubt
seen panther, magnited its size, and was re-
markaby careful that he was not left behind
on any future occasion 10 incur the same
risk.
The Doctors address was listened to with
marked interest, and at its conclusion he was
loudly cheCred.
A Mr.. JONES has introduced in the Legs
lature bill making passenger coaches public
places. In the most limited sense a public
place is one to which the public have free &C
cess and if the bill be passed the question will
arise whether persons will have to pay to en-
ter coach. Perhaps Mr.. Jones idea was to
do away with privacy and give men the right
to enter cars reserved for ladies, or to entitle
colored people to all the privileges white
people enjoy. But the provisions of the bill
are so vague that one can only conjecture their
makers intention. Try again, Mr.. Jones, but
don't make yourself so ridiculous the next
time.