PREJUDICE AGAINST WILD DUCKS. 191 



Brazos, to pay him a visit; he had been very rich before the 

 war, having owned some four hundred slaves, a racing- 

 establishment, and a fine house in New Orleans. When his 

 negroes were freed and left him, he had no money to work his 

 plantation, and had, like most Southern planters, always lived 

 beyond his income, so that now if a Northern man had not 

 taken part of his ground at a low rent, he would have starved, 

 as there was no sale for his land. 



On the way to his house, we came to a cabin with a lake in 

 front of it, and this was full of wildfowl of many kinds, which, 

 as they were swimming about a few yards from the house, we 

 supposed had been raised by the settler ; but, on asking him if 

 this was so, he told us that they were wild, but as they were 

 not fit to eat he never fired at them. Not agreeing with him, 

 we dismounted and had a splendid afternoon's sport ; the only 

 drawback was our having to retrieve our own ducks, as we had 

 not brought a dog with us. We found the same prejudice every- 

 where among the uneducated Texans against eating wild ducks, 

 though of course they were as good there as anywhere else. 



We took those we had shot to Captain Duncan's and found 



j 

 them capital. His plantation was a melancholy sight, the two 



negro villages were falling into ruins, as also were the racing- 

 stables, and the Captain and his son seemed to have lost all 

 spirit, wandering about disconsolately, and doing nothing but 

 eat and sleep. Miss Duncan was charming, and had all the 

 spirit left in the family, but she could not induce her father 

 and brother to exert themselves, though she tried hard to 

 do so. 



On returning to Clear Lake we determined to start for San 

 Antonio as soon as we could find another team of mules, those 



