pack of cards, and a shirt." "Among all ranks and classes in Mexico," continues Mr. Kennedy, as if fearing that the above anecdote would tell too strongly against the Texans, "the mania for gambling ruinously prevails." But this he advances from hearsay, never having been in Mexico, and therefore must not be taken as an infallible authority on this subject; however, the mania for gambling does prevail in Mexico to about the extent that it does in Old Spain.

The hotels and boarding-houses in Texas are conducted in the most miserable way, being extremely filthy, filled with vermin of every description, and wretchedly supplied with food. Their charges are exorbitant, and after the description I have given of the people, the reader can easily imagine what the society must be. These establishments on the sea coast, such as at Galveston, Matagorda, and at Houston, are in a slight degree better than those in the interior, one of which we find thus described by the author of "Texas in 1840," pages 49 and 50. "Hard lodging! In due time after supper we were shown to our lodging in an outer apartment, only partially covered by a roof, and that part far from being water-proof. Our bed consisted of a quilt spread upon the floor, and our covering of another we brought with us. The upper parts of the room were occupied by the poultry, whose frequent noises, and the dripping of the rain, rendered sleep a difficult though

a desirable business." Having been weather-bound for some days at this establishment, which is situated on the Colorado, I can bear the fullest testimony to the difficulty attending the desirable business alluded to in the above quotation.

The ordinary furniture of the houses in Texas, is of the rudest construction. The tables are made of boards cut from the trunk of a tree with a common axe, and pegged or nailed to cross-pieces, so as to keep them together. The chairs are formed with round sticks and cross-pieces, and then covered with the raw hide of oxen or deer skin, to form the seat; and a great many of the bedsteads are also covered in the same way. On this hide, which becomes as hard and as tight as the head of a drum when dry, without covering of any kind or even mattress, the traveller is frequently obliged to lay his weary bones; but at some places you find mattresses made of Spanish moss, corn husks, or coarse prairie grass; but as for feather-beds, they are not to be found in Texas, where they would be by no means a contemptible creaturecomfort of a winter's night.

CHAPTER VI.

The Indians of Texas-General Remarks-Manners, Habits, Customs, and Institutions of different tribes-ComanchesCarancahuas - Tawackanies-Tankaways-Waccos -Caddos — Lipans-Cushatees - Cherokees-Creeks - Kickapoos— Shawnees, and their fugitive tribes-Indian system of reckoning time compared with the Gregorian-The Maminchic Dance-Debate in Congress on the Cherokee Land BillDiscovery of an unknown tribe, &c.

THERE is not a more interesting branch of the great human family, still in its primitive state, than the Indians of Texas, who, notwithstanding the murderous depredations of their Christian brethren, are still free, and whose institutions are not tainted with modern corruption. The number of Indians still wandering in the western, northern, and eastern parts of Texas, may be estimated at about 80,000 souls, and the following sketch of their general character, will not be more interesting than the history of the many individual tribes into which they are divided.

When an European first beholds an Indian warrior or hunter, a thousand erroneous conjectures take possession of his mind; but on a second view he detects a perfect model of human symmetry, a brow, bold and unfraught with expressions of care,

though most expressively marked with intellectual power, whilst the decision with which the simplest motion of his beautifully rounded limbs is performed, shows the vigour of his nature, and the marvellous and almost unconquerable energy of the unvitiated man. Add to this the primitive freedom and simplicity of the Indian character, which have been preserved by unremitting vigilance and valour through all ages, and the European sees in this wandering child a true portrait, embracing at once the accomplishments and characteristics of his own primitive forefathers; hence the Indian becomes an interesting object of contemplation, and being thus associated, he cannot fail to draw forth the warmest sympathy of his civilized brethren.

The wants of man in his primitive state are but few, particularly in Texas, a country where game abounds, such as the buffalo and deer: with the skin of the latter the Indians clothe themselves, while the robe of the buffalo supplies them with a bed; and the flesh of both, a nutritious and plentiful repast. What is the property of one Indian, is the property of the whole tribe to which he belongs; therefore, stealing from each other is a vice unknown among them, while the exercise of their simple virtues is neither checked by a prospect of future want, nor by the introduction of rigid laws (too common among civilized men) for the suppression of vice.

Hospitality is the inmate of every Indian's bosom ; he neither asks nor cares whence those who seek it

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come; what his hut or tent contains, he holds as the right of those who seek relief; and without suspicion, which too often suggests the use of a mask, he gives all, even to the last morsel. Freedom is the basis, and justice the text of their every social compact. They do not wage war for the love of conquest, nor to add fresh laurels to their fame. Trespassing on the territory of a neighbouring tribe, who have only a sufficient stock of game on their range to supply their own wants, is held at all times to be a sufficient provocation for hostilities, which are commenced with alacrity, and carried on with great determination and valour on both sides. But with the white man who robs the Indian of his freedom-his territory or range-his only means of subsistenceand of life-their revenge is unconquerable, and their wars are always wars of extermination. Yet, if the counsel of Heaven were invoked to decide the justice of the claims of the contending parties in these sanguinary conflicts, to forbearance, justice, and humanity, the palm would be awarded to the oppressed Indian, whose sufferings in these wars with the white man, few tongues but their own can tell.

But what strikes the European inquirer most forcibly, is the profound veneration with which these Indians, one and all, though remnants of powerful and distinct nations, cherish the memory of Montezuma, (emperor of Mexico, who reigned upwards of 300 years ago,) and under whom and his pre