16 INDIANOLA 
The entire distance to Victoria is over the rich 
prairie just described. It is occasionally intersected — 
by bayous, lagoons, or small streams, where the land 
is brought into cultivation, giving evidence of its 
inexhaustible richness in the jnxuriant growth of cotton — 
and sugar-cane which it bears. Near the water are 
clumps of trees; and such spots are eagerly sought — 
after as places of residence. 
On the morning of the 6th, I reached Victoria, 
where I found great activity in the camp. Here one 
of the most important jobs was to be performed, that 
of shoeing the mules. It was believed, that breaking 
them in to the harness at Indianola, and two days 
journey with heavily loaded wagons, would render them 
more tractable, when the process of shoeing was 10 
be undertaken. But this rough handling seemed to 
have subdued them but little. They were as wild 
and skittish as when roaming at large over the broad 
prairies, and as repugnant to civilized life, and the 
arduous labors attending it, as the untamed mustangs, 
which had never been brought under the control of 
the teamster’s lash. 
The first step in this guscbesice was to construct @ — 
frame-work of timber, called the “stocks,” consisting — 
of four upright posts, connected by bars on all sides, 
and capable of containing a single mule. Near this was 
placed the blacksmith’s forge. 
The next step was to catch the mules, and place 
them in the stocks, a task of infinitely more labor that 
that of putting on the shoes. The mules were first q 
driven into a corral or pen. The animal to be shod — 
was then selected, and a lasso or rope thrown over his ‘ 
* 
Vener wale. 
