29 



■<vith. salt, soda and magnesia; temperature of one, one 

 hundred and ten degrees, and the other ninety-four 

 degrees. They are three thousand two hundred and sixty 

 teet above the sea. 



Southwest of there, in Mexico, at no great distance, are 

 hot springs, hot enough to boil an egg or blister the hand. 

 So said Mr. Russell, an American merchant of Presidio, 

 who has lately visited these springs. 



These springs, both Texan and Mexican, are in a region 

 of igneous rocks, of dolerite and trappean form. Large 

 dikes of these are in the limestones near and in the vicinity 

 of the springs. 



MASTODON AND ELEPHANT. 



Bones of the mastodon and elephant have been found in 

 nearly every part of the State, showing that these huge 

 animals were quite numerous in the olden time, say a few 

 thousand years ago, when man was also living. 



Bones of the ancient elephant were found recently in 

 digging a cellar at Austin, at the depth of five or six feet 

 in a dirt bed, where it would not be strange to find the 

 bones of man. The teeth show that it was the ancient ele- 



S)hant {elepJias primagenius), different from the one now 

 iving. 



PAINTED EOCKS AND CAVES. 



At the Cerro Hueco, or Waco Tanks, about thirty miles 

 a little north of east from Isleta, are painted rocks and 

 caves. The Cerro Hueco is a small group of granite moun- 

 tains, abounding in caves and precipices. Sonle rocks have 

 perpendicular faces from three hundred to four hundred 

 feet high* and one, Blanchard' s Tower, has a height of more 

 than five hundred feet above the plain. On the perpen- 

 dicular sides of some of these, and in cave-like hollows 

 beneath overhanging rocks, are numerous rude paintings of 

 men, women, and various animals, including birdg and ser- 

 pents. In one place there is a conspicuous figure of the 

 sun facing the east and sending forth his rays. The paint- 

 ings were made with red, blue, black and white paints, 

 with little or no regard to perspective. 



Mr. Blanchard, of Isleta, who accompanied us, stated 

 that about sixteen miles southeast of this locality there 

 also are similar paintings in an exccjUent state of preserva- 



