GLOOMY PROSPECTS. 165 
anda savoury breakast of venison and wild turkies, large flocks 
of which abounded in the vicinity. The stream, was bordered - 
with hackberry, willow, wild china, post oak and elm, grass 
very green and luxuriant, and being of course all much over- 
come, we rested here until three o’clock in the afternoon. 
I found a large diamond back terrapin on the banks of the 
stream, very similar to those found in the north; deer were 
plenty, and many wolves. 
Heavy clouds and the low rumbling in the west, betokened 
a coming storm, just as we had got all ready to start, and 
before we got far it burst upon us terrifically, with rain, hail, 
thunder and lightning. A storm, on the plains, is a serious 
matter. The wind blowsirresistibly, and the driving rain and 
hail so cuts and blinds both men and horses, that no headway 
ean be made against it. My horse turned completely round 
in his tracks, and it was with much difficulty that I forced him 
to the shelter of a low clump of bushes, where, dismounting, I 
seated myself under their scanty cover, whilst he instinctively 
turned and ‘exposed his haunches to the blast, and stood with 
drooping head and reeking flanks, trembling in every limb, 
until its violence had passed, 
Wet and uncomfortable, we started once more, but our 
troubles. were not yet over. We had, as we thought, left 
forever the nauseous and. disgusting water of the Brazos 
country, and after our pleasant bivouac, were all refreshed 
and cheered by the prospect. of better times in our eastward 
march to camp, when, after a long ride in our wet clothes, we 
15 
