164 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Audubon has left a graphic account^' of what he 

 then saw at the capital of this short-lived infant Re- 

 public, including its picturesque President, the melee of 

 dejected Mexican prisoners then gathered there, and 

 its drunken Indians, "halooing and stumbling about in 

 the mud in every direction." Houston's abode was a 

 small log house, "consisting of two rooms, with a passage 

 through, after the Southern fashion." 



The moment we stepped over the threshold, on the right 

 hand of the passage, we found ourselves ushered into what in 

 other countries would be called the ante-chamber; the ground 

 floor, however, was muddy and filthy ; a large fire was burning ; 

 a small table, covered with paper and writing materials, was in 

 the centre; camp-beds, trunks, and different materials were 

 strewn around the room. We were at once presented to several 

 members of the cabinet, some of whom bore the stamp of intel- 

 lectual ability, simple though bold, in their general appear- 

 ance. . . . 



The President was engaged in the opposite room on na- 

 tional business, and we could not see him for some time. Mean- 

 while we amused ourselves by walking to the capitol, which 

 was yet without a roof, and the floors, benches and tables of 

 both houses of Congress were as well saturated with water as 

 our clothes had been in the morning. Being invited by one of 

 the great men of the place to enter a booth to take a drink of 

 grog with him, we did so ; but I was rather surprised that he 

 off^ered his name, instead of the cash, to the bar-keeper. 



We first caught sight of President Houston as he walked 

 from one of the grog-shops, where he had been to prevent the 

 sale of ardent spirits. He was on his way to his house, and 

 wore a large gray coarse hat, and the bulk of his figure re- 

 minded me of the appearance of General Hopkins of Virginia, 

 for like him he is upwards of six feet high, and strong in pro- 

 portion. But I observed a scowl in the expression of his eyes, 

 that was forbidding and disagreeable. We reached his abode 



