April 19, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



295 



BUILDING-STONES OF EAST TEXAS. 



It is generally supposed that building-stones are very rare in 

 eastern Texas, and that nothing harder than a clay or sand bed is 

 to be found. This is far from true, according to R. A. Penrose, 

 jun., in the Texas Geological and Scientific Bulletiti for March, as 

 there are found in many of the eastern counties rocks which com- 

 bine variety and beauty with strength and durability. The sand- 

 stones are the most important; the limestones, though equally 

 serviceable, being less widely distributed. 



The State Penitentiary, at Rusk, is built of a yellow sandstone 

 composed of grains of silicious sand and altered greensand. It is 

 of a yellow color, easily cut, and occurs near the penitentiary in a 

 bed about twelve feet thick. This Claiborne greensand itself is 

 also used extensively for building chimneys and foundations, and 

 in many cases it might be used for more extensive structures. It 

 is found in many places in the form of a yellow indurated mass, 

 the color being due to the alteration of the greensand. It is also 

 found of a green color and a compact clayey consistency. Both 

 these varieties are found in many places of sufficient strength to 

 prove of considerable value in building, though they are generally 

 soft and crumbly. 



Near Alto, in Cherokee County, and elsewhere, is found a white 

 sandstone, very tough, hard, compact, and durable. It is in some 

 places slightly colored by oxide of iron, but in others is of a pure 

 snow-white. It occurs in a bed capping the Claiborne marls, and 

 varies from one to three feet in thickness. This would prove a 

 most serviceable rock for building-purposes ; and where it preserves 

 its white color, without blotches from iron, it is by far the most 

 beautiful rock in eastern Texas. It has as yet been but little used, 

 but, with the rapid start in the development of its resources that 

 eastern Texas is taking, it is bound to find the place it deserves 

 among the stones of the State. A variety of it from five miles west 

 of Jacksonville is said to have been used with great success for 

 niill-stones. It is also found in other places. " 



Brown sandstones of variable composition and hardness are 

 found in many places, and are the most generally distributed, and 

 consequently most important of the East Texas building-stones. 

 They occur in many localities, and vary from a light brown, soft 

 and easily cut rock, to a hard flinty variety of a dark-brown color. 

 The beds are from one to over fifteen feet thick, lie horizontally, 

 and are usually found capping knolls or hills. They are some- 

 times the result of induration by the agency of oxide of iron, of 

 quaternary sands, and at others the result of a similar change in 

 eocene sands. The source of the iron solutions which caused this 

 cementing action has been the oxidation of pyrites in the bed, or of 

 ferruginous solutions percolating through the bed and derived from 

 the decomposed pyrites in associated beds, such as pyritiferous lig- 

 nites, greensands, and clays. 



The limestone of Scott's quarry, in Smith County, is a hard, 

 tough, compact gray rock, excellently adapted for building-pur- 

 poses, and of great durability. 



TEXAS ASPHALTUM. 



The absolute need of material suited for serviceable pavements 

 is well known and fully appreciated all over the State of Texas. 

 In some of the principal cities there have been considerable bodies 

 of pavements laid with asphaltum brought from Trinidad, by mix- 

 ing it with a certain amount of calcareous matter, and heating it 

 to such a point that it would harden on cooling. This is done to 

 imitate the natural mixture of limestone and bitumen found in the 

 deposit of Val-de-Travers, of which the best French pavements are 

 made. Dr. Ure, speaking of these two materials, says : " Bitumen 

 alone is not so well adapted for making a substantial mastic as 

 the native compound of bitumen and calcareous earth, which has 

 been properly called asphaltic rock, of which the richest and most 

 extensive mine is that of Val-de-Travers. The calcareous matter is 

 so intimately combined and penetrated with the bitumen as to resist 

 the action of air and water for any length of time. It would in- 

 deed be a difficult matter to combine, by artificial methods, calca- 

 reous earth thus intimately with bitumen ; and for this reason the 



mastics made in this way are found to be much more perisha- 

 ble." In these deductions he is fully borne out by the experience 

 of those using the two materials throughout Europe, and even in 

 this country. 



Among the specimens collected by Col. J. L. Tait, on his trip to 

 South-west Texas last November, was a small piece of a dark-blue 

 limestone thoroughly impregnated with bitumen. The rains were, 

 so continuous, however, that no detailed examination could be- 

 made, but later it was found that the quantity is equal to all de- 

 mands ; and a somewhat larger specimen was obtained and sub- 

 jected to analysis, with the result of proving it almost identical in 

 composition with that of the Val-de-Travers, as will be seen by 

 the following : — Val-de-Travers ; bitumen, 20 per cent ; limestone,, 

 80 per cent. Uvalde County : bitumen, 20.35 pe"" cent ; limestone, 

 79.65 per cent. 



This, E. T. Dumble, in a communication to the Texas Geologi- 

 cal and Scie^itific Bnlleiin,\.h.\nksvj\\\ prove to be of great and lasting- 

 benefit to the State. In addition to this, many deposits of bitumi- 

 nous sands or shales occur which yield ten percent, and sometimes 

 a larger amount, of bitumen. 



EXPLORATION IN MEXICO. 



In the winter of 1887-88, Dr. Ed. Seler undertook a journey tcr- 

 Mexico to pursue archseological researches. A preliminary report 

 of his expedition is given in the " Proceedings of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society," from which we learn that he devoted himself 

 principally to researches in the country of the Huaxteca and Zapo- 

 teca. The important result of his journey is the demonstration of 

 the fact that the apparent and supposed fundamental difference 

 between the Aztec hieroglyphics and the Maya manuscripts does 

 not exist. Dr. Seler, starting from the capital, first visited the 

 Huaxteca Indians. Their territory is an extensive forest country. 

 The fertile mountain slopes and river lowlands are everywhere 

 clothed with luxuriant tropical forest, in which fig-trees, and, as 

 underwood, bamboos, are conspicuous. The open valleys and the 

 high ridges which extend between the river-courses are covered 

 with either thin or thick forests of fan-palms. In the clearings, 

 tall, many-colored grasses and mimosa-bushes cover the ground. 



The principal villages are situated along the river-courses and 

 upon the plateaus between the rivers. Numerous small ranches 

 are scattered through the woods. The inhabitants are principally 

 engaged in cattle-raising ; horses, oxen, and mules living out in the: 

 forest, and being driven into the corrals only once a year. The- 

 capital draws its chief supply of meat from this province, the cattle- 

 being driven to Pachura, whence they are conveyed by rail to the 

 city. Agriculture is carried on only to a very limited extent ; and 

 it is a significant fact that this country, which might supply half of 

 the whole republic of Mexico with corn, imports this very article 

 from the United States. There are no irrigation-works, by means - 

 of which the destructive effects of droughts might easily be obvi- 

 ated. The Indians grow corn, black beans, and pepper, and make 

 brown sugar and smoked bananas. They manufacture mats from 

 palm-leaves and agave fibre. Candles are made from the plentiful 

 supply of tallow obtained from the cattle. The principal imports, 

 are coarse calicoes, ribbons, beads, cheap articles of finery, har- 

 nesses, hardware, liquor, and petroleum. There are only very few- 

 people who can read and write. Their amusements consist in. 

 fandango-like dances, cock-fighting, and horse-racing. 



The roads are mere trails cut through the forests, which, in 

 bottom-lands and at river-crossings, are often exceedingly difficulty 

 and impassable to all but native horses. The customary house in 

 the country is the jacal, or thatched house (from the Aztec xa- 

 calli), the walls of which are constructed of bamboo sticks tied: 

 together with Fictis angelica ; while the roof is made of the leaves- 

 of the fan-palm neatly plaited, and is absolutely water-tight. In 

 the larger villages there are also houses built of white bricks. 



The principal articles of food are black beans, coffee, and cakes 

 of ground corn without salt, — the so-called ioriillas, which are 

 always eaten hot and fresh. There are no inns, and the traveller 

 has to rely on hospitality. 



