424 STAY AT SAN ANTONIO. Book II. 
husband, an equally genuine Swabian, replied to my 
question as to how it suited him here, with a favourable 
picture of his domestic circumstances. " So far it is well 
enough," he said; " but what is all this if there is no beer 
and no wine ? And it is not all as it should be : I re- 
marked it as soon as we left Wurtemberg. Things looked 
badly when we got to Cologne, and I said then to my wife, 
the thing looks bad." By Vandenburg, Quihi, and Cas- 
troville, all inhabited by Alsatians and Germans, we came 
to San Antonio, the most considerable town in West 
Texas, where I once again found myself in civilized life. 
The reader will probably have remarked that I have 
but imperfectly described the latter half of the road from 
Rio Grande to San Antonio. The length which the 
Second Book has already attained compels me to keep 
within limits ; but if the reader will kindly accompany 
me, I shall take him again through a portion of these 
wildernesses and deserts in the Third Book of this work. 
The number and character of the German population 
in West Texas were almost entirely unknown to me, when, 
on my arrival at San Antonio, I found myself suddenly 
in a circle of well-educated countrymen, who received me 
with every possible mark of kindness and esteem. The 
surprise was great and most agreeable. I had intended 
to continue my journey to New York without stopping on 
the road, but I yielded to these pleasant circumstances ; 
and, having done this, I decided also to visit some friends 
settled on the Upper Guadalupe. The group of German 
settlements in this beautiful locality is especially interest- 
ing, from the civilization which they have thus brought 
into the wilderness, and which has struck Anglo-American 
travellers. Bartlett, and also Olmsted, remarked favour- 
ably upon this subject. The ride thither from San An- 
tonio occupies a day. At the end of my journey I had 
