I-:RAL SURVEY OF TEX A* WOODLANDS. 5 



continental axis. (See Map 1.) (iuadalupe Peak, the highest eleva- 

 tion in the State, is 9500 feet above sea level. 



It is not easy to distinguish natural subdivisions within the State. 

 Such terms as East Texas, Central Texas, South Texas, and West Texas, 

 indicate popular subdivisions, but the bounds which these terms are 

 intended to designate are not clearly defined and are not well formu- 

 lated in the public mind. The term "country" is commonly used to 

 designate limited districts, or regions, within the State. Thus we have 

 the Coast Countn^, Llano Country and many others which more or less 

 definitely define local limits. Xo set of directional terms can possibly 





Map 1 Elevations of Texas. 



1 1,000 to 2,000 feet; 2 2,000 to 3,000 feet; 3 3,000 to 4,000 feet; 

 4 4,000 to 5,000 feet ; 5 5,000 to 6,000 feet ; 6 Over 6,000 feet. 



coincide with the natural subdivisions of the State. Therefore, the 

 reader, in considering the geographic and climatic, as well as the forest, 

 divisions is referred to the maps which are included in order to clarify 

 the text and avoid unnecessary descriptions. 



In a broad sense the physical characteristics of the State are those 

 of a great, diversified plain, or scries of plains, bordered on the south- 

 west by mountain? and inclining gently toward the sea. The slope of 

 the plain is rudely comparable to a wide, low stairway leading from 

 the sea northwestward, in which the various subdivisions of the plain 

 represent the treads and the local escarpment?, which separate the sub- 

 divisions, represent the rises. Great irregularities tend to destroy the 



