87 



as noticed in the higher lands, the rolling prairie, the tim- 

 ber belts and the immense tracts of level prairie. 



The country for the most part is well watered and the 

 timber ridges, which are frequent, are covered with noble 

 pecan trees and other walnuts, also oaks, ashes, elms, 

 cottonwoods, sycamores and mulberry trees. 



The undergrowth was generally light, and through 

 arching alcoves the sun-light glistened from the polished 

 leaves, producing an exhiliarating effect upon the mind ; 

 while other woods, heavily draped and shrouded with 

 hanging masses of the Tillandsia or Spanish moss, pro- 

 duced feelings of an opposite nature. 



The monotony of the grassy prairies was relieved and 

 varied by a copious sprinkling of the yellow starry blos- 

 soms of Helianthus, Leptopoda and Helenium ; or blotched 

 and spotted with white masses of Euphorbia, Eupatorium, 

 and the prickly Argemone. Many plants hitherto seen 

 only in cultivation were traced to their native wilds, such 

 as Argemone, Gaura, Salvia, Eupatorium, Bignonia, etc. 

 This was remarkably manifest when the party alighted 

 from the sleeping car at Fort Worth, on a brilliant Sab- 

 bath morning after a thunder storm of the previous night, 

 where they saw the coal-black soil at their feet covered 

 with Verbenas, Salvias, Eryngiums, Argemones, Gauras, 

 Solanums, Asclepias and Cassia. Here it was that they 

 first met with a strange little Amariliad, since ascertained 

 to be Cooperia Drummondii. 



At Austin, the capital of the state, a drive was taken 

 to Mt. Bonnel where were found novel specimens of trees 

 and shrubs ; Sophora speciosa, with its hard pods of reel, 

 bean-like seeds, Diospyros Texana, the wild persimmon, 

 Prosopsis glandulosa, the mesquite tree ; woods and cop- 

 pices of the latter are known as Chapparel, of which we 

 heard so much during the Mexican War. The increas- 



