TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENOES. 183 



voice of a Mexican, who lived in a 

 Mexican jacal close by our camp, 

 calling "Un armadillo, un arma- 

 dillo, vengan pronto!" All of us 

 picked up the nearby weapons 

 and hurried to the scene, but be- 

 fore we reached the place where the 

 armadillo had been captured by 

 the dogs the Mexican already 

 was on his way towards us with 

 his trophy, a big and fat armadillo. 

 We had the animal in camp dur- 

 ing the night, tied to a strong 

 rope, and we observed with what 

 dexterity the animal makes use 

 of its strong clawed feet. As soon 

 as it had a chance to reach the 

 ground, which was covered with 

 dried leaves of the oak trees, it 

 began to dig a hole with its front 

 feet (one of the boys holding the 

 rope attached to the hind leg) and 

 in a surprisingly short time Mr. 

 armadillo was nearly entirely bur- 

 ied under the leaves and earth. 



I here present to my readers, 

 a splendid photograph of this 

 same armadillo, the hunter holding 

 it with a cord tied to its hind leg, 

 and who had a time to keep it from 

 jerking as it was very heavy and 

 lively, and tried its best to escape, 

 which it did two days after the 

 photo was taken by one of my boys. 

 It came about in this way: the Mex- 

 ican who had captured it with the 

 fine hunting dog, had placed, 

 the animal in a large barrel close 

 to the romantic hacienda, at the 

 farm of a near relative of mine, not 

 thinking it had a chance to escape. 

 But on the third night this slick 

 armadillo managed to dig a large 

 hole under the barrel, (which had 

 no board bottom) and away it 

 went during the night, to its old 

 haunts. The view was taken in 

 the rear of an old-time rock fence, 

 and it depicts some of the sur- 

 rounding country, with part of a 

 forest where our tent was located. 



I will now describe the interest- 

 ing country scene northward along 

 the Bandera Road. The main open 

 road leading to Helotes, eighteen 

 miles northwest of San Antonio, 



now has a substantial foundation 

 for traffic, whilst in former years, 

 before the era of good roads build- 

 ing was inaugurated by the Bexar 

 County authorities, this road, as 

 well as all others leading outside 

 the city limits to the mountainous 

 regions, were in a most deplorable 

 condition, and the farmers had 

 considerable difficulty to come to 

 town to dispose of their wagon 

 loads of country products, hay, 

 wood, coal, etc., and it is com- 

 paraitvely easy traveling nowa- 

 days to and from the city and 

 country places. 



From our nearby West End sub- 

 urbs, with its attractive modern 

 dwellings and the famous Military 

 Academy and the St. Louis Col- 

 lege, and the West End Lake, the 

 Bandera Road is -now in good trim 

 and leads the traveler to the Helo- 

 tes settlement, a thrifty little Ger- 

 man farming section, with lovely 

 vales and dense forests of live oak, 

 post oak, cedar, hackberry and 

 various other berry-bearing trees 

 and bushes, and where San Anto- 

 nians often take an outing or 

 spend a pleasant day at the old 

 "Schuetzen Verein Halle," where 

 the fair sex and sturdy farmers 

 congregate on Saturdays and Sun- 

 days and enjoy music and dancing; 

 or they journey to the famous 

 Boegel rooming house and farm; 

 or, during the open hunting sea- 

 son, enjoy hunting and fishing 

 along the picturesque Leona Creek, 

 or ramble along hilly regions, which 

 are just now (May) exceedingly 

 attractive with their ever present 

 and blending prairie flora, and 

 wild berries, etc. 



Some of the photos in other 

 pages, were prepared during 

 one of our tours through the Helo- 

 tes country and further north, de- 

 picting some of the picturesque hilly 

 ranges and farms along the Ban- 

 dera road between Helotes, at the, 

 San Geronimo settlements, ; and. 

 other views taken show part of. 

 the mountain ranp'es and cliffs at 



