Chap. I. THE KIVBK AND ITS SOUECES. 437 
point of view, only a narrow strip of the coast is dan- 
gerous ; and when a railway shall hurry the traveller 
over this belt of land, he will have little cause to fear. 
I had, above all, an opportunity of admiring the beauty 
of winter here. It certainly cannot be said that a 
Texan norther is pleasant, but I shall soon have to 
speak of this more particularly. These violent and 
icy gales, however, — but for which this region would have 
almost a tropical climate, — prevail only a few times every 
winter, and seldom last more than three days. They 
must be looked upon as an exceptional phenomenon, and 
to these probably it is owing that no miasmata collect, 
which would in this part of the country be highly dan- 
gerous. The salutary effect of these northers upon 
the healthiness of the climate extends as far as Yucatan 
and the coast of Honduras. I have spent several months 
at San Antonio, from the end of October to the middle 
of January, and in my daily walks I have found the 
climate in winter as splendid as it is beneficial to health. 
A brilliant and warm day usually succeeded a light 
night- frost. 
The river forms one of the principal beauties of San 
Antonio. Its sources are only a few miles distant, and 
gush forth from the rock, amidst wood and shrubs, just 
like the river, — a deep, rapid stream , clear as crystal. 
These springs are probably as copious as any on the face 
of the globe. I have already mentioned that the per- 
manent water of the Devil's River is said to gush forth 
from the rock in a similar manner. These phenomena 
are very common in Western Texas, although on a smaller 
scale, and enforce the opinion that the almost horizontal 
strata of limestone, on the southern declivity of which 
San Antonio is situated, cover a vast number of sub- 
