124 : . NOTES TAKEN. 
snakes were so seldom met with, Conner replied, “ may be so, 
in de timber and valley, dere you catch him great many, out 
here in de prairie, fire burn all up.” 
Every one that we met with was sure to be taaginidhed: 
and though the dimensions given’ appear fabulous, yet I can 
vouch for their accuracy, for their size so astonished me, that 
I was —— enough to measure each one described with a 
tape line. 
"We iicited under a live oak, the first specimen we had 
met with. All the timber thus far, from the Belknap road, 
having been gum elastic, mesquite, and a few cotton wood 
trees near the streams. 
In the afternoon we marched only one mile, and reaching a 
branch of the Little Witchita, found that so much work was 
to be done, bridging the stream and digging down the banks, 
that we could not expect to cross before sundown, which we 
did, and encamped in an old Kickapoo camp, on a plain 
covered with mesquite grass. I employed the evening in 
gathering the seed, now fully ripe, with the intention of - 
introducing it into the Northern States. This grass, having 
a long head upon it like oats, yields two crops during the 
year, is very hardy and good alike either for pasture or 
fodder; the cultivation of it among the farmers in Texas 
who have tried it, has proved very flattering and productive. 
At this camp—plenty of Indian signs being visible—much 
additional precaution was taken, horse stealing being a uni- 
versal propensity with the savage. Their plan is to crawl 
» * 
