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November 5, 1845 Article 2
From Corpus Christi. — A friend writes us
from Gen. Taylor’s camp an amusing letter, in which things public and
private are set forth in such admirable commixture that it is hard to
separate them. We must give extracts, though we mar them by suppressing
all the fun. His letter is dated the 24th ult.:
My Dear Sirs
— Davis, a trader between this and the Mexican frontier towns, arrived at
the camp on the 20th Oct. During his absence he was at
Monterey, with Gen. Arista, with whom he appears to be intimate. He
speaks of him in terms of commendation and high praise. Gen. Arista has
recovered from his indisposition – not indisposition to fight – and is
still disposed to give us a few balls, but he cannot raise a
sufficient band to play the fiddle. I feel confident we should
Taylor him if he would
invite us to a “boo-down.” We would at least show him the Worth of
our little party.
Another reconnoitering party leaves here
to-morrow in the direction of the Salt Ponds, which are supposed to lie 70
or 80 miles off in a south-western direction. Capt. J. Saunders, of the
Engineer Corps, is, I believe, to be the principal of the party, and as
usual several officers volunteered to accompany the command; our friend,
“the ______________ the White Hat,” is one of
__________________________________________ is to obtain the accurate
topography of the country, the localities of wood and ______________ and
the most practicable route for an army in case of active operations.
The greatest difficulty in traversing this
section appears to be in the want of fresh water. The traders all carry
tied to the pummel of the saddle a large kind of two-decker gourd,
something in the shape of a figure 8, filled with water; and the Spanish
bridle-bit has two or three small pieces of copper attached to the cross
piece – these pieces rest on the tongue which excites the saliva, and thus
keeping the mouth slightly moist, the animal does not suffer so much for
the want of water.
There is wood enough for temporary purposes,
cooking &c, but no building timer. The country is covered generally with
a kind of underbrush called “muskete wood,” but so devilish crooked that
none but cross-eyes rabbits can “take a brush” in it without endangering
the top of that important part of most animals – the brains. In fact,
there is no man that has never seen it who can form any idea of such timer
and brush, except perhaps the “India Rubber Man;” and even he could not
guess the number of thorns on it.
The chamelion is said to take its color from
the substance upon which it stands and a similar freak of nature appears
to be indulged in with the animals in__________ this muskete brush; the
legs of the large grasshopper, which are as crooked as the bush, are all
studded over with small thorns, &c.
Source: The Daily Picayune,
November 5, 1845, p. 2, col. 2.
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