254 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REIKHNISOENOES. 



tion to Del Rio made use of 

 their sixshooters. Uncle Sam's 

 ■soldiers, it is known the world 

 over, are crack shots with the 

 pistol, and on arriving at the 

 Nueces River, whilst taking a 

 swim in that romantic country 

 around Del Rio, some of the 

 soldiers made targets of the 



Such were some of the good 

 olden time "reminiscences" of 

 1875. 



I iappend in these sketches a few 

 original photO' views from my pri- 

 vate coUeetion of Texas prairie 

 sceneries. 



To those taking the least in- 

 terest in nature's great works, 

 will find a multitude of interest- 



In Midst A Wilderness op Texas Prairie Flowers Near San Antonio 



many moccasins abounding 

 there — ^the genuine, broad-head- 

 ed and deadly water-moccasin, 

 many of which the soldiers 



destroyed by shooting with their 

 six-shooters whilst they swam 

 along the water's edge or basking 

 in the sun on some rocks or ever- 

 hanging tree branches. 



ing nature-sceneries and nature- 

 products around San Antonio's 

 near vicinity. Besides prairie 

 flowers, it is the peculiar and 

 interesting pachydermatoid cactus 

 plant, which, though rather a 

 very common and ugly plant 

 to many, these plants, during 

 bloom and berry-bearing time. 



