and copious language of Castile should be capable of being orators might be presumed; and how naturally eloquence would prevail among the Spanish race, if their institutions permitted freedom of opinion, received some illustration from a boy in this school, who was directed to rise and compliment the visitors, an act of civility which he executed with much grace and self-possession, and with an almost manly dignity of manner.

such quick and rapid succession as to fill the whole heaven with one continued and mighty din. Sometimes, so soon as the rain ceases, hail falls, of such force and size that it is necessary to raise the blanket covering the head to ward off the sharpness of the blow given by the icy pellets. When the hailstorm passes all is quiet, the stars appear, and, lying in a pond of water, you will sleep soundly until the gray light of morning comes.

There is no scenery about the town of San Antonio to be spoken of, and yet it is It is strange, but these aquatic beds, not among the few places where, on account of made for invalids, and not apparently saluthe climate, a residence is singularly agree-brious, do not cause rheumatic pains, disease, able. There are no flies, no mosquitoes, and, or physical debility.

It is a

except when a "norther" blows during its Not far from the San Antonio springs the three days, it is always agreeable—suppo- | timber-district ceases, and an irregular rollsing a few hot weeks in summer are not ing prairie, with misgrait trees here and regarded as any drawback. It is certainly there, is seen; and here is the home of the not to be compared to the town of Jalapa, Indian, where he wanders, hunts, and dwells on the road to Mexico from Vera Cruz, His hand is against every white man, and where the scenery is grand and magnificent, the white man watches for every sign that and the tropical vegetation of great beauty; may denote his recent presence. but next to it, as a place of residence, it terrible feud that prevails between them; may advance its claim. It is dry and for both are always prepared for mortal healthy, and there is a charm in the clear war, and neither expect peace or mercy. ness and freshness of the atmosphere which Pass on a few miles beyond the edge of the it is impossible to describe. prairie, and from those distant trees, no higher than hedge-rows as they appear on the rising-ground, the alarm of your presence is already spread. A puff of smoke rises from them and ascends into the calm sky, for some time hardly disturbed in form, but rising, and by slow degrees attenuating itself until it is lost. A second or a third, or | another will follow. The out-hunters are warned, and the presence of the white man is told to all the country round.

There are two periods of rain, one in the early part of the year, and the other early in June; that of June is a season of storms, and the ground is deluged with water. These storms come on with great rapidity from the north. A long black line may be seen in the horizon, and after some hours the wind begins to blow fresh; it is then time to prepare for what is coming. At no long interval the clouds spread over the whole sky, and the storm breaks forth. At night the sky is suddenly darkened, and every thing becomes invisible; presently the rain falls in a heavy mass, and lightning, followed by thunder, comes on. As the storm increases, the lightning is so incessant as to keep the forest in a state of continued and brilliant illumination; it seems to be on all sides, striking among the trees in almost straight and also in zig-zag forms, so in tensely bright as to have a metallic lustre, and as though some palpable and molten substance was passing through the air. Nor do the explosions following this atmospheric conflagration appear to come in distinct order. The reverberation of the sound of one is confused with that of another, and in

This power of signalizing by smoke shows the usual calmness of the atmosphere; and during those seasons when wandering tribes of Indians are scouring the country for the buffalo and collecting the winter supplies of food, there are few days when such signals may not be effectually given. If by some sudden accident more than warning is intended, and actual danger prevails, a pile of dry wood, or grass, will be instantly collected and set on fire, and so spread as to throw up a large and continuous cloud of smoke So it was when a party of Indians, falling in with two white men, attacked and killed them. Shortly afterwards, discovering that some white men were on the trail behind them, and others not far off on their right

flank, they lighted up a fire and then suc-| beyond them the world is hostile, and he is cessfully retreated. Those who alarmed subject to invasion and attack. So, also, on them did not know the Indians were so near, the slightest sense of injustice or of wrong, and it was not until the next day that the he is himself an invader, and carries desad discovery was made of the bodies of the struction against the friends of him who has murdered men. wronged him. He has no idea of injury being done by one man and not applauded by his companions. If one of another tribe injures him, he and his friends all revenge themselves against the whole tribe of the wrong-doer. This principle of retribution is the source of his destruction when he comes into collision with the white man. If his hunting-grounds are disturbed by some few white men, if one white man commits an injury, a foray on the white settlements is determined on, and the burning of houses, the destruction of crops, the slaughter of unresisting men and helpless women and children follows. An alarm is given to the nearest white settlements and every man with a horse and rifle is instantly mounted and on the alert. The deepest and most desperate revenge is the predominant desire, and the tribe is followed up with fierce and vindictive hatred, and is frequently destroyed without mercy or compassion.

Yet notwithstanding the skill of Indians in making attacks, and in the mode of conveying distant communications, the civilized man is their superior in their own arts. Every sign which the one practises, the other knows and practises with more than equal skill. The fresh trail, almost indistinct, and to the unpractised eye quite so, will be followed by the white man with confidence, and without fault or delay. He knows how old it is whether made a few hours since, whether a day, or whether two days old. He knows when it gets fresher, and the moment when more precaution is needed. From old camp-fires he will accurately estimate the numbers of those who made them, and, from the form and arrangement of the encampment, the tribe that has passed on. He will accurately infer if it were a hunting-party, or one engaged in marauding, dignified by the name of a war-party. In dangerous places he will ensconce his companions in the bushes, and, on an alarm of his own sentries, will infer from a strung or an unstrung bow of passing Indians, the pirouetting of a horse, or from any movement indicating care or the absence of watchfulness, his own position, and his security or insecurity from attack. On the open prairie he will disturb the Indian signs, and confound the march of hostile savages. If he is sometimes surprised, he more frequently surprises. Would that it could be added that he is more merciful! But on this frontier, peace is a period of suspicion. There is no confidence; and “friendly" Indians may be spoken of, but there is no friendship but that absence from violence which the fear of superior prowess imposes. The civilized man estimates the effects of certain acts. In his own community he can single out a wrong-doer, and the wrong-doer is known to be such by all. But he who is educated in the wilderness has no policy; his powers of communication are limited, and he can only, when thoroughly subdued, understand that he is not still among savages. His violence and brutal passions are, by habit, restrained among his own people, | But in how short a time will even the west

To what certain destruction are such wandering tribes doomed! From the Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi the early tribes have disappeared, and the few Indians that remain in that space of country are only similar to small gangs of gipsies. It was once thought merciful to remove tribe after tribe, the remnants of large bodies, across the Mississippi; and Arkansas is the home of many mixed bodies of such immigrants. But the voluntary migration, before forced migration was part of a State policy, must have been considerable. That remarkable tribe known as the Flatheads was, in 1680, on the banks of the Mississippi. They were for some time lost, and were rediscovered on the coast of the Pacific and on the banks of the Columbia river. After the winter stores of the first-known tribes had been destroyed there was no security but in a western migration. In the vast plains at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains · freedom from encroachment existed, and the buffalo, which is utterly extinguished on this side of the Mississippi, continued in those distant regions to afford easy means of subsistence.

ern prairies present no dissimlar aspect of civ- | this representation, though frequent inilized life to that on the east, not long since stances may be given to the contrary, upon covered with the forest! The settlements some western routes on the northern border of Americans were rapidly extending up of Mexico. Here is no truce. It is constant the Missouri when the discovery of Califor- and unvarying hostility on the part of the nia brought many thousands to open roads native tribes, and those signs of amity which in all directions to the Pacific. What had farther to the north are noticed and rebeen the extraordinary excursion of bodies spected are disregarded. Let a white man of few men for the sake of pleasure and watch as sentry, and in the broad daylight curiosity, became the undertaking of masses he may be attacked: indeed, night-attacks of human beings carrying their stock, their very rarely happen. The writer was preshouses, and their food, to establish them- ent when, in the middle of the day, an Inselves in places only a few years since dian approached an out-sentry, and before unknown even to the most daring adven- he was observed had speared him; but the turers. How, before this great inroad of a act was incomplete, for assistance was rennew race, can the hunting tribes exist? They dered and he was saved from being scalped cannot conform to new customs, or suddenly The Indian, however, retired in safety. become a fixed population seeking their maintenance from the earth, and anticipating not merely their own wants but those of domesticated animals. No violence that they hereafter commit will go unpunished, and sweeping and dreadful will be the punishment. On one side, their means of subsistence will visibly diminish; on the other, they will meet a foe whose encroachments they cannot check.

We can draw no analogy from the cases of islands where an aboriginal population continues to exist among whites. There the elements of civilization may be taught, and Justice may establish her throne; but how is law to assume its regular jurisdiction over illimitable districts where no tribunals can be fixed, and where its ministers can themselves find neither home nor security?

Those who have traversed these regions of wildness, placid and beautiful as Nature has made them, so calm and magnificent in all their forms, so vast and extensive as to bow down the sense of human existence to the very earth, cannot fail to have seen many examples of the painful relation in which the red and the white man occupy towards each other. Sometimes necessity will make white men exclaim that "they wished that Indians took prisoners." Hardly, however, can a white man separate bimself from his companions without being almost certain of attack. Like a cat watching at a hole, patient and enduring, every movement will be observed, though nothing is sought or expected but the life and the scalp of some man who may stray from his party. Nor is there any exaggeration in

At another time, three men went a short distance to pick the fruit of the misgrait tree, a mimosa plant, similar to a stunted acacia; it bears a long podded fruit, the shell of which is sweet and edible. For horses this fruit is nourishing, and supplies food sufficient to keep them in good condition. Among Indians it is pounded up and kept for their own sustenance. It was when going out to gather it, and only a short distance from camp, that they were attacked. One was instantly killed and scalped; another speared, dying a few days afterwards; and the third was slightly wounded. These two last were not scalped, assistance being instantly given them.

Other men were cut off in a similar manner, and equally suddenly, those by whom the blow was struck instantly disappearing; and their very presence was unknown except on such murderous events.

Most frequently such attacks are made after the night has been rainy. Then, the next morning is one of watchfulness, when there is an expert commander. Yet the daring of the savage is remarkable. It had been a wet night, and the horses were around the camp. A guard was placed on a hill at a short distance overlooking the camp, with the opportunity of seeing up an open valley for nearly the distance of a mile. One horse alone had strayed to near the visible extremity of the valley. It was seen by the owner, and a Mexican in the company went out to bring it in. As he caught it the cry of Indians was raised They came down, and, quick as lightning, slew and scalped the Mexican and led off