Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine | Page 5

the most enchanting features of Texian scenery.
Of infinite variety and beauty of form, and unrivalled in the growth and
magnitude of the trees that compose them, they are to be found of all

shapes--circular, parallelograms, hexagons, octagons--some again
twisting and winding like dark-green snakes over the brighter surface
of the prairie. In no park or artificially laid out grounds, would it be
possible to find any thing equalling these natural shrubberies in beauty
and symmetry. In the morning and evening especially, when
surrounded by a sort of veil of light-greyish mist, and with the
horizontal beams of the rising or setting sun gleaming through them,
they offer pictures which it is impossible to get weary of admiring.
Mr Neal was a jovial Kentuckian, and he received us with the greatest
hospitality, only asking in return all the news we could give him from
the States. It is difficult to imagine, without having witnessed it, the
feverish eagerness and curiosity with which all intelligence from their
native country is sought after and listened to by these dwellers in the
desert. Men, women, and children, crowded round us; and though we
had arrived in the afternoon, it was near sunrise before we could escape
from the enquiries by which we were overwhelmed, and retire to the
beds that had been prepared for us.
I had not slept very long when I was roused by our worthy host. He was
going out to catch twenty or thirty oxen, which were wanted for the
market at New Orleans. As the kind of chase which takes place after
these animals is very interesting, and rarely dangerous, we willingly
accepted the invitation to accompany him, and having dressed and
breakfasted in all haste, got upon our mustangs and rode of into the
prairie.
The party was half a dozen strong, consisting of Mr Neal, my friend
and myself, and three negroes. What we had to do was to drive the
cattle, which were grazing on the prairie in herds of from thirty to fifty
head, to the house, and then those which were selected for the market
were to be taken with the lasso and sent off to Brazoria.
After riding four or five miles, we came in sight of a drove, splendid
animals, standing very high, and of most symmetrical form. The horns
of these cattle are of unusual length, and, in the distance, have more the
appearance of stag's antlers than bull's horns. We approached the herd
first to within a quarter of a mile. They remained quite quiet. We rode

round them, and in like manner got in rear of a second and third drove,
and then began to spread out, so as to form a half circle, and drive the
cattle towards the house.
Hitherto my mustang had behaved exceedingly well, cantering freely
along and not attempting to play any tricks. I had scarcely, however,
left the remainder of the party a couple of hundred yards, when the
devil by which he was possessed began to wake up. The mustangs
belonging to the plantation were grazing some three quarters of a mile
off; and no sooner did my beast catch sight of them, than he
commenced practising every species of jump and leap that it is possible
for a horse to execute, and many of a nature so extraordinary, that I
should have thought no brute that ever went on four legs would have
been able to accomplish them. He shied, reared, pranced, leaped
forwards, backwards, and sideways; in short, played such infernal
pranks, that, although a practised rider, I found it no easy matter to
keep my seat. I began heartily to regret that I had brought no lasso with
me, which would have tamed him at once, and that, contrary to Mr
Neal's advice, I had put on my American bit instead of a Mexican one.
Without these auxiliaries all my horsemanship was useless. The brute
galloped like a mad creature some five hundred yards, caring nothing
for my efforts to stop him; and then, finding himself close to the troop
of mustangs, he stopped suddenly short, threw his head between his
fore legs, and his hind feet into the air, with such vicious violence, that
I was pitched clean out of the saddle. Before I well knew where I was, I
had the satisfaction of seeing him put his fore feet on the bridle, pull bit
and bridoon out of his mouth, and then, with a neigh of exultation,
spring into the midst of the herd of mustangs.
I got up out of the long grass in a towering passion. One of the negroes
who was nearest to me came galloping to my assistance, and begged
me to let the beast run for a while, and that when Anthony, the