West of the Brazos, and southeast of the moun tain region, if it can be so called, extends a vast plain, whose inclination, as indicated by the water courses, is very considerable. As this plain ap proaches the alluvial border, its inclination sensibly diminishes, and a comparatively level surface is presented along the whole extent of this formation. Although the country between the coast and the lower road is very level, it is nearly free from marsh, and west of Galveston bay it is entirely so.
Northwest of the mountain region, which, as has been stated, lies in the central and southwestern parts of the province, immense prairies, covered with grass, and affording inexhaustible pasturage for cattle and horses, occupy the entire space be tween the "Cross Timbers" and the northern and western confines of the province. The Cross Tim bers, so called, constitute a singular feature in the northern part of the province ; they consist of a dense growth of forest trees, some of them of a prodigious height, and extend in a strip about 300 miles in length, and not exceeding 20 miles in mean width, nearly due north from the Waco village, on the Brazos, to the Arkansas river. This forest, which may be justly ranked among the natural cu riosities of the country, forms, by its peculiar ap pearance, a striking contrast to the dull and mono tonous prairies on either side. The lines which mark its limits are so completely defined, as almost to induce a belief, that art had been employed in giving form to this extraordinary work of nature.
Climate, soil, and the central and northern parts of Texas, the climate is highly salu brious, and may, when its geographical position and southern exposure are taken into view, be regarded as a comparatively cold region. The winters, in those parts, as in the corresponding portions of Coahuila, are generally cold, and sometimes severe. Near the coast, and especially in the southwestern quarter of the province, the climate is greatly af fected by the long droughts which prevail, and, in connexion with its relative depression, serve to in crease its mean temperature far beyond what the difference of latitude between its northern and southern sections would lead us to expect. Rains in this quarter rarely fall, but when they do occur, they fall in torrents. The excessive rains that sometimes deluge, and the protracted droughts which occasionally parch, the southwestern parts of Texas and the northern portions of Tamaulipas, are among the most remarkable phenomena of phy sical geography. From these, and more local
causes, the climate of Texas generally presents less uniformity of temperature than most other coun tries in similar latitudes. A great portion of the country is entirely exempt from those stagnant swamps and pools which constitute a fruitful source of disease in most of the southern states, where the periodical pestilence, and almost infinite variety of febrile affections, common to the maritime sections of those states, may be ascribed to the malignant effluvia of extensive swamps and marshes, which abound to an extent so frightful. This exemption from such receptacles of disease, gives to the pro vince a decided advantage over its eastern neigh bour the state of Louisiana, whose southern border consists almost entirely of sea marsh, intersected by stagnant ponds of all dimensions, which serve no other purpose than to engender disease. The entire structure of this province appears to be es sentially different from that of Louisiana. In the latter, especially within a hundred miles of the gulf coast, the lands decline from the banks of the rivers, and fall into swamps, which uniformly main tain a lower level than the river banks. On the contrary, in Texas, the lands gradually ascend on leaving the streams, and are backed by rolling prairies, which afford in many places plantations of considerable extent. Beyond the alluvial border, which extends about 60 miles from the gulf coast, the prairies commence, and reach to the timbered uplands. The alluvial lands, particularly the bor ders of the large streams, are thickly covered with the different varieties of oak, elm, cedar-wood, alder, dog-wood, walnut ; and every other species of tim ber, common to such regions, is found in great abundance east of the San Antonio ; but west of that river it becomes scarce, many extensive tracts being completely destitute of this important article. These lands are interspersed with extensive cane brakes, and arc considered by planters as well adapted to the cultivation of sugar, cotton, indigo, &c., and for grazing to an unlimited extent. Wheat, corn, and the various kinds of provisions, can be successfully cultivated throughout the whole of the northern parts of the province. The luxuriant growth of the cane in the southern part, justifies the belief that sugar will become one of its most important productions. Already has this valuable commodity been produced as an experiment in the vicinity of San Felipe de Austin, with the most flattering prospects of success.