and in width, from the Gulf of Mexico, an average of 80 miles: 2ndly, the high, dry and undulating country commencing near the Sabine and Red rivers, and extending westward to within from 20 to 30 miles of the Rio Grande, and North to the Colorado mountains: 3rdly, the high and rolling table lands North and West from the mountains.

In the first of these divisions, much of the soil is an alluvial deposit, resting on a bed of shells, and a section between the Sabine and San Jacinto rivers is comparatively unproductive and unfit for agricultural purposes. Between the San Jacinto and San Antonia rivers there is much soil of the best quality, and such is adapted to the culture of cotton, sugar, rice, figs, oranges, &c.; from the San Antonia to the Rio Grande, the soil is more diversified and better supplied with water, and all things considered, except timber, is more valuable the any other portion of the country bordering on the Gulf.

This first division, however, may be considered less friendly to health than any other portion of Texas. Timber is scarce, water is impure, and consequently unwholesome chills and fevers are common; the annoyance from mus quetoes, flies and other nauseous insects is intolerable for man or beast, and the climate in this low country, enervating in the extreme, creating in the hot months a degree of lassitude truly insupportable; besides, for many months in the year, the roads, which are much better defined on some maps extant, than they are on the face of the country, are impassible, and such is the nature of the soil, that durable thoroughfares will never be constructed unless at enormous expense.

Yet its near approximation to the sea, the fertility of some of the soil, and the fish and oysters in the bays and rivers appear to render this division inviting to emigrants,

and they declare themselves blest with the finest sea breezes in the world: an assertion which is in part true, otherwise a residence almost any where within the limits of the first division would absolutely be intolerable.

The 2nd division possesses many advantages over the first: it is better supplied with water, is beautifully diversified with prairie and timber lands, and an average of as rich soil, affording a great variety of native grapes, plums, &c. &c., is adapted to almost every description of vegetables common to the Southern and Middle States of the Union.

The 3rd division north and west of the mountains, is decidedly the finest portion of Texas; the air is pure and elastic, the water in cool running streams, is as clear as crystal, the soil generally sufficiently rich to produce a bountiful harvest; and here wheat and all kinds of small grain will flourish—an advantage possessed but by a small portion of country below. But this region is not at present the abode of white men. Wild horses, wild Indians, and almost every description of wild game abound, and claim here to be lords of the soil; but like every thing else, their days are numbered; and soon, very soon, the smoke will be ascending from the settler's cabin, the prairies will be transformed into cultivated fields, and the growl of the prowling wolf, and neighing of the wild horse will be heard no more, but in their stead, the notes of virtuous industry will fall upon the ear, and it is to be hoped the spire of the seminary of learning and the village church will be seen peering through the beautifully wooded groves that now adorn this lovely country.

To a lover of nature this division of Texas offers a most delicious feast. The scenery is truly grand and imposing, presenting, as it does, the extensive and verdant prairies sprinkled over with lovely islands of timber, no

ble rivers and angry cataracts. The high and abrupt precipices, lifting in many places their lofty summits apparently to the clouds, all unite in forming a splendid panorama truly sublime.

On the wide spread carpet of these beautiful plains, and near by some placid stream have I frequently sought repose and respite from the cares of this world, and while gazing upon the dotted vault of heaven, and listening to the low murmuring waters, enjoyed a luxury in quietness no where else to be found; and when awakened by the primitive songsters of the forrest, have reviewed the works of the Almighty, untouched by the rude hand of man, and sighed for the presence of my own dear children, and a few friends to adopt this country for my home and my grave.

Amid such scenes I involuntarily turned my thoughts to my native country, and the busy throng among whom I have been accustomed to move, to the happy family circle that I once enjoyed, and objects yet remaining of my tender regard who were then far, far away: perchance thought I, we shall meet no more, perhaps the last remaining tie to bind me to earth is now broken, and my children may be numbered among the dead, or perhaps here, surrounded by real dangers, my own pilgrimage upon earth may be ended, and those for whom alone I have lived, or desired to live, and for whom my days of toil and sleepless nights have been devoted, may soon be thrown upon the tender mercies of the world.

Such reflections were often to me impressively sorrowful, and required a mighty effort of the mind to divest them of a form of reality, and to gain a belief that even here, far removed from civilization, the hand of a beneficen, Being could be easily traced and his promises to the fatherless and widow realised.

From the foregoing general view of the three natural divisions of the country, it is evident that nature has been bountiful, and when all her resources are developed by the ingenuity and industry of man, and these solitudes inhabited by a moral and intelligent community, Texas will indeed be a delightful country; presenting no considerable obstacles to the cheap and easy construction of speedy channels of communication, from one extremity to the other. The products of her soil will be transported to the shores of the Gulf, without much delay or expense, and the comforts and luxuries of other climes will pour into her lap in exact proportion to the wants and ability of the inhabitants to consume them.

Texas was formerly claimed by both Spain and the United States, and became the subject of a long negociation between the two goverments; the result of which was a relinquishment on the part of the United States to the territory in question. There has, however, always been those among us who have viewed the country with a wishful eye, a feeling in which the government have at times participated; and president Jackson expended a few thousand of the people's money in an abortive attempt to purchase the country from Mexico. So sanguine, too, was the old hero of success that he went so far as to offer the governorship of Texas to a prominent member of his party, in North Carolina,-he was however doomed to

disappointment as well in this as some other measures of greater importance.

Again there is, and has long been many of our citizens who view a further extension of territory as dangerous to the integrity of the Union, and have constantly manifested a determined opposition to measures of such tendency; and while our party have invariably asserted that in fixing the Sabine as the south western boundary of the United States, the American Secretary was outwitted by Don Ennis De Onis, the Spanish Minister. Others, with perhaps equal information, have ascribed to the Hon. John Q. Adams, motives wholly unworthy of an American Statesman, and a narrow-minded jealousy of the growing importance of the Southern and slave holding portions of the republic. Neither of these positions are entitled to any credit or belief, and are only worthy of notice as showing the mere ebullitions of party warfare. Be this as it may, the country, thus far, has rather been a curse than a blessing to any of the numerous claimants, being first wrested from the natives by Spain, regained by the Mexicans and rightful owners, and by a similar process to that used by Spain in conquest, is now in the possession of North Americans.

Spanish settlements were made in Texas as early as 1692; these, however, were little else than trading estab, lishments, and missions for making proselytes to the Cath olic faith. Here the pious fathers of the church received the red men of the forest and prairie, and with a bible in one hand, and a dagger in the other, taught them a new, and doubtless, as they believed, a more acceptable mode of worshiping the Great Spirit. Previous to this, the customs of the natives were not dissimilar to those of other tribes of American Indians: they lived by the chase-the ties of nature were of short duration, often leaving the