CHAPTER XXXII.
We had now entered the white settlements of the Sabine river, and found,
to our astonishment, that, far from arriving at civilization, we were
receding from it; the farms of the Wakoes and well-cultivated fields of
the Pawnee-Picts, their numerous cattle and comfortable dwellings, were
a strong contrast to the miserable twelve-feet-square mud-and-log cabins
we passed by. Every farmer we met was a perfect picture of wretchedness
and misery; their women dirty and covered with rags, which could
scarcely conceal their nudity; the cattle lean and starving; and the
horses so weak that they could scarcely stand upon their legs.
Where was the boasted superiority of the Texans over the Indian race? or
were these individuals around us of that class of beings who, not daring
to reside within the jurisdiction of the law, were obliged to lead a
borderer's life, exposed to all the horrors of Indian warfare and
famine? Upon inquiry, we discovered that these frontier men were all,
more or less, eminent members of the Texan Republic, one being a
general, another a colonel; some speakers of the House of
Representatives; and many of them members of Congress, judges, and
magistrates. Notwithstanding their high official appointments, we did
not think it prudent to stop among them, but pushed on briskly, with our
rifles across the pommels of our saddles; indeed, from the covetous eyes
which these magistrates and big men occasionally cast upon our horses
and saddle-bags, we expected at every moment that we should be attacked.
Pages:
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428