■H37 



450 PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [1885. 



region. Thence, going westward on the Texas Pacific Railroad, no ma- 

 terial change is noticed until the Brazos is passed when the arboreal 

 vegetation becomes less luxuriant. The Cottonwood and American Elm, 

 common hitherto, are now sparse, while the Mezqnit begins to show itself. 

 Groves of Live Oak, Red Oak and Juniper continue as far as Baird. 

 Beyond this town, we pass out of the timbered and farming region of 

 North-Central Texas and gradually enter what has been called the great 

 Texano- Mexican Desert, a vast expanse of plains and prairies, scarred 

 by arroyos, where streams are few and very far apart, and timber, if 

 there be any, confined to water-courses and mountains. The epithet 

 of desert has only reference to the scarcity of timber and water, which 

 imparts a bald, barren aspect to the face of nature; shrubby and 

 herbaceous vegetation fairly covers this immense zone which in many 

 districts is admirably adapted to the raising of live stock. Even sandy, 

 alkaline soils are seldom entirely destitute of grass or chaparral. 



If we draw a line from the southeast corner of the Pan Handle, or 

 from Fort Elliot, to the harbor of Corpus Christi, we shall divide Texas 

 in two unequal parts. The eastern, comprising about two-fifths of the 

 State, with rich alluvial soil, warm climate, and good rainfall, is an ex- 

 cellent agricultural and pastoral land. The larger western part, of cre- 

 taceous formation, consists mostly, as already mentioned, of treeless 

 plains of various degrees of fertility and barrenness, from the best pas- 

 tures to bare sand flats. Near the extreme west, from the New Mexi- 

 can border to the Great Bend of the Rio Grande, are several large 

 mountain systems where good timber and perennial waters are found. 



I roughly estimate that, of the western plains beginning at the imagi- 

 nary line drawn above, one-third is worthless owing to sterility of soil 

 and absence of water. One-third, with good loamy land watered by 

 living springs and running creeks, always affords excellent grazing. 

 The capability of the other third to subsist herds and flocks de- 

 pends entirely upon the rainfall, and, therefore, varies from year to 

 year ; thus the district which an explorer in a dry season finds a barren 

 waste, may, the next year, with an increased and better distributed 

 precipitation, be covered with good grass through which flow many 

 ephemeral streamlets ; hence the discrepancy of accounts as to the pas- 

 toral worth of Western Texas. 



RAINFALL. 



The rainfall of Western Texas is small and exceedingly variable as to 

 time and quantity. It ranges from 10 to 33 inches. At San Antonio, the 

 mean is 32.75 ; it decreases irregularly but steadily as we proceed west- 

 ward to El Paso and the Colorado of the West, then increases slightly 

 to the ocean. Although the rainfall is small in Western Texas, it is not 

 as scant and hopeless as in the desert districts of Arizona and Cali- 

 fornia. 



All this is shown in the following table computed from the data of 



