TO CORPUS CHRISTI. B19 
ments, both astronomical and surveying, were in 
vharge of the principal surveyor, Major W. H. Emory. 
Having made these arrangements, we prepared to con- 
tinue our journey to the coast. A steamer ran to Ma- 
tamoras ; but as there was no communication between 
that place and New Orleans, I thought it the surer 
way to proceed by land to Corpus Christi, on the Gulf 
of Mexico, about one hundred and fifty miles distant, 
and thence by land or water to Indianola, where a 
line of steamers connected with New Orleans. 
December 27th. Left Ringgold Barracks at one, P. M., 
with a portion of the train, accompanied by Major 
Emory with his officers and several wagons. Mr. 
Thurber remained, intending to follow the next day 
with the rest of the train. The country for five or six — 
miles is undulating, with low hills and a gentlé ascent 
from the river until the plain is reached. For this dis- 
tance it is covered with the same dense chapporal as 
on the opposite side of the river, and is equally desti- 
tute of grass. Passing this belt, a higher level is 
reached, where there is better soil. Here grass be- 
gins to appear,. with larger shrubbery; the mezquit 
reaching a height of from fifteen to twenty feet, and 
necessary funds, through the kindness of Messrs. Vance & Brother, 
merchants at that place; which enabled him to discharge and pay off all 
the teamsters, laboring men, and mechanics, some sixty or seventy in 
number, as well as to furnish the means to the rest of the officers of 
returning to their homes. He then remained with three or four men, 
barely sufficient to take care of the hundred animals he had reserved 
and the other property, until the following June, when he was released 
by the parties sent out to resume the work. The interruption of | 
the survey delayed its completion about eight months, at an additional 
expense of fifty thousand dollars. 
