purpose of burying his dead. This was granted until 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the 9th. Lines were drawn 100 rods distant from the American camp, within which the British were not permitted to approach. In the ditch, and in front of the works, within the prescribed lines, 482 British dead were picked up by the American troops, and delivered to their companions over the lines for burial. The afternoon of the 8th, and the whole of the 9th, was spent by the British army in burying their dead. The American sentinels guarding the lines during this interval, frequently repeated in the hearing of the British, while tumbling their companions by hundreds into pits, "Six killed, seven wounded."

Retreat of the British.-On the night of the 18th, they broke up their encampment, and commenced their retreat to the place of their first landing. To accomplish this with safety, it was necessary that the army should move in one body. With this view, immediately after the battle of the 8th, large working parties had been employed in constructing a road through a quagmire, for a considerable distance along the margin of the bayou: by binding together large quantities of reeds, and laying them across the mire; in the course of nine days, these parties had constructed someting resembling a road from their encampment to the place of debarkation. Along this insecure track the British army silently stole their march in the night of the 18th of January. By the treading of the first corps, the bundles of reeds gave way, and their followers had to wade up to their knees in mire. Several perished in the sloughs, the darkness of the night preventing their companions from affording relief. At the mouth of the bayou were a few huts, which afforded shelter for fishermen in the season of catching fish for the New Orleans market; here the troops halted and bivouacked previous to their embarkation. Their provisions being exhausted, a few crumbs of biscuit and a small allowance of rum was their only support. Here they were 80 miles from their ships, the whole of which distance they had to traverse in small open boats; and having but few of these, the embarkation occupied ten days. On the 27th, the whole land and naval forces which remained of this disastrous expedition, to their great joy, found themselves on board their ships. Their ranks thinned, their chiefs and many of their companions slain, their bodies emaciated with hunger, fatigue, and sickness, they gladly quitted this inauspicious country. The surviving commanding general observes, "that the services of both army and navy, since their landing on this coast, have been arduous beyond anything he ever before witnessed, and difficulties have been gotten over with an assiduity and perseverance beyond example by all ranks.” A British officer of distinction, an actor in the scene, thus describes his tour from the encampment to the embarkation: "For some time our route lay along the high road beside the brink of the river, and was agreeable enough; but as soon as we began to enter upon the path through the marsh, all comfort was at an end. Being constructed of materials so slight, and resting upon a foundation so infirm, the treading of the first corps unavoidably beat it to pieces: those which followed were therefore compelled to flounder on in the best way they could; and by the time the rear of the column gained the morass, all trace of a way had entirely disappeared. But not only were the reeds torn asunder and sunk by the pressure of those who had gone before, but the bog itself, which at first might have furnished a few spots of firm footing, was trodden into the consistency of mud. The consequence was, that every step sunk us to the knees, and frequently higher. Near the ditches, indeed, many spots occurred which we had the utmost difficulty of crossing at all; and as the night was dark, there being no moon, nor any light, except

what the stars supplied, it was difficult to select our steps, or even to follow those who called to us that they were safe on the other side. At one of these places, I myself beheld an unfortunate wretch gradually sink, until he totally disappeared. I saw him flounder in, heard him cry for help, and ran forward with the intention of saving him; but before I had taken a second step, I myself sunk at once as high as the breast. I could feel no solid bottom under me, and continued slowly to go deeper and deeper till the mud reached my arms. Instead of endeavoring to help the poor soldier, of whom nothing now could be seen except the head and hands, I was forced to beg assistance for myself, when a leathern canteen strap being thrown me, I laid hold of it, and was dragged out just as my fellow-sufferer became invisible. Over roads such as these did we continue our march during the whole of the night, and in the morning arrived at a place called Fishermen's huts, consisting of a clump of mud-built cottages, standing by the edge of the water, on a part of the morass rather more firm than the rest. Here we were ordered to halt; wearied with exertions and oppressed with want of sleep, I threw myself on the ground without so much as taking off my muddy garments, and in an instant all cares and troubles were forgotten. Nor did I awake from that deep slumber for many hours; when I arose, cold and stiff, and addressed myself to the last morsel of salt pork my wallet contained. Without tents or huts of any description, our bed was the morass, and our only covering the clothes which had not quitted our backs for more than a month; our fires were composed solely of reeds, which, like straw, soon blaze up and expire again, without communicating any degree of warmth. But, above all, our provisions were expended, and from what quarter an immediate supply was to be obtained, we could not discover. Our sole dependence was upon the boats. Of these a flotilla lay ready to receive us, in which were already embarked the black corps and the 44th; but they had brought with them only food for their own use, it was therefore necessary that they should reach the fleet and return again before we could be supplied. But as the nearest shipping was 80 miles distant, and the weather might become boisterous, or the winds obstinate, we might starve before any supply could arrive. As soon as the boats returned, regiment after regiment embarked and set sail for the fleet; but the distance being considerable, and the wind foul, many days elapsed before the whole could be got off; by the end of the month, we were all once more on board our former ships.”

THE State of Texas lies between 25° 50' and 36° 30′ N. latitude, and between 93° 30' and 107° W. longitude. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Territory and New Mexico, on the east by Arkansas, Louisiana, and the Gulf of Mexico, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico and the Republic of Mexico, and on the west by the Republic of Mexico and the Territory of New Mexico. It is very irregular in shape, and is the largest of the States. Its extreme length, from northwest to southeast, is estimated at 800 miles, and its extreme width, from east to west, at 750 miles.

TOPOGRAPHY.

"This great State embraces every variety of surface, mountain, plain, hill, and desert within its limits. In the southeast, along the coast is a level belt of land, from 30 to 60 miles in breadth, which is succeeded by an undulating and prairie country, occupying another belt of from 150 to 200 miles in width, which is followed in the west and northwest by the mountainous region and the table-land. The extreme north is invaded by the Great American Desert, which extends, perhaps, about 60 miles within the boundary of Texas. According to Mr. Bartlett, the pleateau of Texas, including part of New Mexico, extends from 30° to 34° N. latitude, and from the Rio Grande east for 300 miles. The north portion, called Llano Estacado or 'Staked Plain,' is 2500 feet above the sea. This broad district is des

titute of forest trees and shrubbery, except along the margins of the streams, and even there never extending 100 yards from the banks. Just after rains a short stunted grass springs up, but speedily becomes dry, affording little nourishment. In this region rise the Red, Brazos, and Colorado rivers. About 29° 30′ N. latitude the table-land breaks off into spurs, which descends to the prairies. The rivers have generally alluvial bottoms of from 3 to 20 miles in width, which are of great fertility, and heavily timbered. The belts referred to above run across the State in a direction nearly northeast and southwest, so that almost all the northern part of Eastern Texas is included in the second division, or the undulating country. Little is known of the elevated lands of the west and northwest, as they are yet the home of few white men except the hunters, who pursue its buffaloes and other wild

animals. It is, however, represented as being a well-watered and fertile region. A low range of mountains, called the Colorado Hills, runs in a northern and southern direction, east of the Colorado River; indeed, the whole section of the State in the same parallel, between the Colorado and the Brazos rivers, is broken with low mountains. Between the Colorado and the Rio Grande, and north of the sources of the Nueces and San Antonio, the country is crossed by broken ranges of mountains, running in various directions, but of whose altitude and character we have little reliable information. They appear, however, to be outlying ridges of the great Rocky Mountain chain. Of these the Organ, Hueco or Waco, and Guadalupe Mountains extend from the north western extremity of Texas, where they terminate, in a northern direction into New Mexico. According to Bartlett, the first are about 3000 feet above the Rio Grande, and the last the same altitude above the plain.

"The coast of Texas is lined with a chain of low islands, which form a series of bays, sounds, and lagoons; the most important of which are Galveston, Matagorda, Espiritu Santo, Aransas, and Corpus Christi bays, and the Laguna del Madre. Commencing at Galveston Bay, in the northeast, they lie along the Gulf of Mexico in the order in which they are named. Galveston Bay, the largest of these, extends about 35 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, in a direction nearly north. Matagorda Bay, 60 miles long by 6 to 10 wide, and Laguna del Madre, 90 miles long by 3 to 6 wide, are sounds rather than bays, and run nearly parallel with the shore. The inlets of these are much obstructed by bars; Galveston Inlet, the best, is said to have but 12 feet water, the entrance of Matagorda Bay 11 feet, and that of San Luis but 10 feet. Aransas Bay extends in a northeastern and southwestern direction about 25 miles, by about 12 miles in width; Corpus Christi Bay, 40 miles from north to south, by 20 miles from east to west; and Espiritu Santo is 20 miles long by 10 wide; Copano Bay, opening into Aransas, is 20 miles long by 3 wide. A writer in De Bow's Resources in the South and West,' however, says 'Steamships of 1200 to 1500 tons, and sail vessels of 1000 tons, can enter the port of Galveston.' Texas is crossed by several long rivers, generally rising in the table-lands of the west and northwest, and pursuing a southeastern course, discharge their waters into the Gulf of Mexico. Commencing with the Rio Grande, the largest river in Texas, 1800 miles long, and which forms its southwestern boundary, and proceeding along the coast, we have the Nueces, San Antonio,