CHAPTER VIII 



SOUTHERN TRIPS, 1852-1854 



From the letters and books relating to his Southern 

 journeys, there is less of scenery or of rural art. He was 

 concerned with giving a true picture of the economic and 

 social conditions in the South, especially as affected by 

 slavery, and his observations were directed mainly to men 

 and their affairs rather than to their landscape surroundings. 

 There are, however, numerous passages of great interest in 

 this regard, especially on the Texas journey of 1853-4. 

 Several are here given. 



One is written from San Antonio, Texas, March 12, 1854, 

 to a friend. 



Meantime we are traveling about, without definite aim, 

 in an orignial but, on the whole, very pleasant fashion. 

 The spring here is very beautiful, the prairies are not mere 

 seas of coarse grass, but one of varied surface, with thick 

 wooded borders and many trees and shrubs, standing singly 

 and in small islands. Having been generally burnt over or 

 the rank grass fed closely down, they have very frequently 

 a fine close lawn-like turf, making an extremely rich land- 

 scape. At this season, moreover, there are a very great 

 variety of pretty, small, modest flowers, such as I send you, 

 growing often very thickly in the grass. There is an ever- 

 green shrub rare, and new to me, which is the finest shrub 

 I have ever seen. ^ Its leaves are Acacia-like but evergreen, 

 bright and glossy like Laurel, and it bears a cluster like those 



' This plant has been identified by the Botanist of the U. S. Bureau of 

 Plant Industries as that commonly called Frijolito or Frijolillo {Sophora 

 secundiflora). 



