INTRODUCTION. xvii 
ereat gun of the Campbell; and almost equally so when I re- 
ceived a visit from the Secretary of the Navy of the infant 
Republic of Texas, with a written invitation to proceed to the 
seat of Government, the newly founded city of Houston, dis- 
tant from our anchorage about eighty miles. Toward this 
place the Campbell proceeded about twenty miles, when, 
meeting with a bar, on which there is not more than about 
four feet of water at full tide, she again came to anchor. 
At this place, which is called Red-Fish Bar, on the 9th of May, 
my friend Epwarp Harris, Captain Coste, and five sailors 
took the gig, while the Crusader, our tender, took the Secre- 
tary of the Texian Navy, M. Fisner, Esq., a Mr Warp, my 
son, and myself. We crossed a large but shallow bay with a 
fair wind, and proceeding rapidly, passed the lately founded 
town of New Washington, and soon afterwards several plan- 
tations, the sight of all which afforded us much pleasure, as 
contrasted with the low salt-marshes and flat lands along the 
shores of the Mexican Bay, among which we had so long 
wandered. About noon we entered Buffalo Bayou, near the 
mouth of the San Jacinto River, almost opposite the cele- 
brated battle-ground. Ducks of various species, Ibises, Wild 
Turkeys, and many other birds, were seen in great numbers, 
and we proceeded smoothly over the then turbid waters of 
the Bayou, until we reached a comfortable house, where we 
spent the night, after previously examining several miles of 
the country around. 
The Secretary of the Texian Navy being anxious to reach 
the seat of his government, we started in the gig of the Camp- 
bell, although the rain, which had commenced in the night, 
was falling in torrents, and the waters of the Bayou, which 
b 
