292 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



densely overgrown chaparral, 

 steep ravines and canyons, trom 

 the Helotes range up to Leon 

 Springs, Boerne, Comfort, Ban- 

 dera, Fredericksburg and all the 

 other north and southwestern dis- 

 tricts, as well as other favored 

 regions of our great State of Tex- 

 as. 



Finally, with these sketches, 

 and through courtesy of my 

 friend and esteemed townsman, 

 Mr. Albert Friedrich, I take the 

 liberty to include herein some ele- 

 gant photographic views of one 

 of the most remarkable collection 

 of deer horn trophies found any- 

 where — the "Albert's Buckhorn 

 Saloon Collection," pronounced 

 by experts as the greatest collec- 

 tion of horns in the world, and 

 containing, to use the words of 

 the publisher of Mr. Friedrich 's 

 superbly illustrated catalogue ; 

 "Heads and horns of rare value 

 from the jungles of Africa, from 

 the pampas of South America, 

 from the mountains of Europe and 

 Asia, and from the wild, woolly 

 "West of our own lands, etc. 



"Another element of it is a col- 

 lection of rattles of Texas rattle- 

 snakes wrought in various artist- 

 ic designs, which is the work of 

 Mrs. Albert Friedrich. This work 

 is artistically arranged in the 

 shape of a deer, anchor, eagle, 

 Indian heads, etc., and any one 

 will be well repaid for their time 

 spent in examining this collec- 

 tion. The rattlers of this most 

 deadly of all reptiles used, number 

 over fourteen thousand." 



In his separate and artistically 

 arranged catalogue, Mr. Friedrich 

 has this to say personally: 



"When visiting my establish- 

 ment my customers as well as 

 strangers ask many strange and 

 varied questions; but with one 

 accord they never fail to ask how 

 the idea originated in my mind to 

 collect such a vast number of 

 horns. 



"To be brief about the matter, 

 I will state that the decorations 

 of a saloon are essential as well 

 as beneficial; so twenty-nine 

 years ago the idea of decorating 

 mv place with mounted horns 

 forced itself upon me, and during 

 that period, time, money and en- 

 ergy have been spent, and I am 

 proud to state that I now possess 

 the grandest and largest collection 

 of horns existing, native as well 

 as foreign. 



"To commence, I will call the 

 reader's attention to the deer head 

 with forty-two prongs, which is a 

 rare specimen. 



"Prom Africa, one can see the 

 heads of the Bull and Cow Buf- 

 falo, the Spring Bok, Lichten- 

 stein Hartebeest, Bosch Bok, Wa- 

 ter Buck, Oliby, Clark's Gazelle, 

 Gem's Bok, Koker's Hartebeast, 

 Brindle Gnu, etc. 



"From India, Musk deer, Ax- 

 is, Deer Goat Antelope, and Moun- 

 tain Deer. 



"From Switzerland is exhibited 

 the Chamois and Ibex. 



"The State of Colorado is repre- 

 sented by a large number of fine 

 mounted Elk heads. 



"Texas has the greatest repre- 

 sentation with heads and necks in 

 proper, natural style, of wild Tex- 

 as Mustangs, fine specimens of 

 Texas longhorn steers, one pair 

 of horns measuring from tip to tip, 

 8 feet 1 3-8 inches, one pair 7 feet 

 1-2 inch, and another pair of 7 

 feet 1 inch, mounted on their or- 

 iginal heads, as well as antelopes, 

 deer heads, etc. 



"The Canadian and Alaskan 

 Moose have also representation in 

 this collection, as well as the Cari- 

 bou. 



"Magnifieient heads of Rocky 

 Mountain Sheep and Wild Goats 

 are included. 



"Another interesting feature is 

 a large collection of rattlesnake 

 rattles, numbering over 14,000 in 

 all, which form a fine display un- 

 der glass. Of these 637 have been 



