The Audubon Reader (76 page)

The White Pelicans appear almost inactive during the greater part of the day, fishing only soon after sunrise and again about an hour before sunset; though at times the whole flock will mount high in the air and perform extended gyrations in the manner of the Whooping Crane, Wood Ibis and Vultures. These movements are probably performed for the purpose of assisting their digestion and of airing themselves in the higher and cooler regions of the atmosphere. Whilst on the ground they at times spread their wings
to the breeze or to the rays of the sun; but this act is much more rarely performed by them than by the Brown Pelicans. When walking they seem exceedingly awkward, and like many cowardly individuals of our own species are apt to snap at objects which they appear to know perfectly to be so far superior to them as to disdain taking notice of them. Their usual manner of
flight is precisely similar to that of our Brown species. It is said by authors that the White Pelican can alight on trees; but I have never seen a single instance of its doing so. I am of opinion that the ridge projecting from the upper mandible increases in size as the bird grows older, and that it uses that apparatus as a means of defense or of attack when engaged with its rivals in the love season.

The number of small fishes destroyed by a single bird of this species may appear to you, as it did to me, quite extraordinary. While I was at General [Joseph M.] Hernandez’s plantation in East Florida, one of them chanced to pass close over the house of my generous host and was brought dead to the ground. It was not a mature bird but apparently about eighteen months old. On opening it we found in its stomach several hundreds of fishes of the size of what are usually called minnows. Among the many which I have at different times examined I never found one containing fishes as large as those commonly swallowed by the Brown species, which in my opinion is more likely to secure a large fish by plunging upon it from on wing than a bird which must swim after its prey.

This beautiful species—for reader, it is truly beautiful, and you would say so were you to pick it up in all the natural cleanness of its plumage from the surface of the water—carries its crest broadly expanded, as if divided into two parts from the center of the head. The brightness of its eyes seemed to me to rival that of the purest diamond; and in the love season or the spring of the year, the orange-red color of its legs and feet as well as of the pouch and bill is wonderfully enriched, being as represented in my plate, while during the autumnal months these parts are pale. Its flesh is rank, fishy and nauseous and therefore quite unfit for
food unless in cases of extreme necessity. The idea that these birds are easily caught when gorged with fish is quite incorrect, for when approached on such an occasion they throw up their food as
Vultures are wont to do.

I regret exceedingly that I cannot say anything respecting their nests, eggs or young, as I have not been in the countries in which they are said to breed.

[The American White Pelican,
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
, appears in Plate 311 of
The Birds of America
.]

April 24 [1837]
. Arrived in
Galveston Bay this afternoon, having had a fine run from Atchafalaya Bay. We were soon boarded by officers from the Texan vessels in the harbor, who informed us that two days before, the U.S. sloop of war
Natchez
fell in with the Mexican squadron of the harbor of Velasco, captured the brig
Urea
and ran two other vessels ashore; another report says they sunk another ship, and went in pursuit of the squadron. These vessels were taken as
pirates—the fleet having sailed from Vera Cruz without being provisioned, had been plundering American vessels on the coast. There is also a rumor that the Texan schooner
Independence
has been captured by a Mexican cruiser. The American schooner
Flash
was driven ashore a few days since by a Mexican cruiser and now lies on the beach at the lower end of the island.

April 25
. A heavy gale blew all night, and this morning the thermometer in the cabin is 63°, and thousands of birds, arrested by the storm in their migration northward, are seen hovering around our vessels and hiding in the grass, and some struggling in the water, completely exhausted.

We had a visit this morning from the secretary of the Texan navy, Mr.
C. Rhodes Fisher, who breakfasted with us. He appeared to be a well-informed man, and talked a great deal about the infant republic, and then left us for the seat of government at Houston, seventy miles distant, on the steamer
Yellowstone
, accompanied by Captains Casto and Taylor, taking the
Crusader
in tow.

April 26
. Went ashore at Galveston. The only objects we saw of interest were the
Mexican prisoners; they are used as slaves; made to carry wood and water and cut grass for the horses and such work; it is said that some are made to draw the plough. They all appear to be of delicate frame and constitution, but are not dejected in appearance.

April 27
. We were off at an early hour for the island, two miles distant; we waded nearly all the distance, so very shallow and filled
with sandbanks is this famous bay. The men made a large fire to keep off the
mosquitoes, which were annoying enough for even me. Besides many interesting birds, we found a new species of
rattlesnake with a double row of fangs on each side of its jaws.

April 28
. We went on a
deer hunt on
Galveston Island, where these animals are abundant; we saw about twenty-five, and killed four.

April 29
. John took a view of the rough village of Galveston with the [camera] lucida. We found much company on board on our return to the vessel, among whom was a contractor for beef for the army; he was from Connecticut, and has a family residing near the famous battleground of San Jacinto. He promised me some skulls of Mexicans [Audubon was collecting skulls for a Scottish colleague] and some plants, for he is bumped with botanical bumps somewhere.

Galveston Bay, May 1, 1837
. I was much fatigued this morning and the muscles of my legs were swelled until they were purple, so that I could not go on shore. The
muskrat is the only small quadruped found here, and the common house rat has not yet reached this part of the world.

May 2
. Went ashore on Galveston Island and landed on a point where the Texan garrison is quartered. We passed through the troops and observed the miserable condition of the whole concern; huts made of grass, and a few sticks or sods cut into square pieces composed the buildings of the poor
Mexican prisoners, which, half clad and half naked, strolled about in a state of apparent inactivity. We passed two sentinels under arms, very unlike soldiers in appearance. The whole population seemed both indolent and reckless. We saw a few fowls, one pig and a dog, which appeared to be all the domestic animals in the encampment. We saw only three women, who were Mexican prisoners. The soldiers’ huts are placed in irregular rows and at unequal distances; a dirty blanket or coarse rag hangs over the entrance in place of a door. No windows were seen except in one or two cabins occupied by Texan officers and soldiers. A dozen or more long guns lay about on the sand, and one of about the same caliber was mounted. There was a lookout house fronting and commanding the entrance to the harbor, and at the point where the three channels meet there were four guns mounted of smaller caliber.

We readily observed that not much nicety prevailed among the Mexican prisoners, and we learned that their habits were as filthy as their persons. We also found a few beautiful flowers and among them one which Harris and I at once nicknamed the Texan daisy; and we gathered a number of their seeds, hoping to make them flourish elsewhere. On the top of one of the huts we saw a badly stuffed skin of a gray or black
wolf, of the same species as I have seen on the Missouri. When we were returning to the vessel we discovered a large
swordfish grounded on one of the sandbanks, and after a sharp contest killed her with our guns. In what we took to be a continuation of the stomach of this fish we found four young ones, and in another part resembling the stomach six more were packed, all of them alive and wriggling about as soon as they were thrown on the sand. It would be a fact worth solving to know if these fish carry their young like viviparous reptiles. The young were about thirty inches in length, and minute sharp teeth were already formed.

May 8
. Today we hoisted anchor, bound to Houston: after grounding a few times, we reached
Red Fish Bar, distant twelve miles, where we found several American schooners and one brig. It blew hard all night and we were uncomfortable.

May 9
. We left Red Fish Bar with the
Crusader
and the gig, and with a fair wind proceeded rapidly and soon came up to the newborn town of
New Washington, owned mostly by Mr. Swartwout, the collector of customs of New York. We passed several plantations; and the general appearance of the country was more pleasing than otherwise. About noon we entered
Buffalo Bayou, at the mouth of the
San Jacinto River and opposite the famous battleground of the same name. Proceeding smoothly up the bayou, we saw abundance of game, and at the distance of some twenty miles stopped at the house of a Mr. Batterson. This bayou is usually sluggish, deep, and bordered on both sides with a strip of woods not exceeding a mile in depth. The banks have a gentle slope, and the soil on its shores is good; but the prairies in the rear are cold and generally wet, bored by innumerable crayfish, destitute of clover but covered with coarse grass and weeds, with a sight here and there of a grove of timber rising from a bed of cold, wet clay.

It rained and lightened, and we passed the night at Mr.
Batterson’s. The tenth it rained again, but we pushed on to Houston and arrived there wet and hungry. The rain had swollen the water in the bayou and increased the current, so that we were eight hours rowing twelve miles.

May 15
. We landed at Houston, the capital of Texas, drenched to the skin, and were kindly received on board the steamer
Yellowstone
,
Captain West, who gave us his stateroom to change our clothes and furnished us refreshments and dinner.

The Buffalo Bayou had risen about six feet, and the neighboring prairies were partly covered with water; there was a wild and desolate look cast on the surrounding scenery. We had already passed two little girls encamped on the bank of the bayou, under the cover of a few clapboards, cooking a scanty meal; shanties, cargoes of hogsheads, barrels, &c., were spread about the landing; and
Indians drunk and hallooing were stumbling about in the mud in every direction. These poor beings had come here to enter into a treaty proposed by the whites; many of them were young and well-looking, and with far less decorations than I have seen before on such occasions. The chief of the tribe is an old and corpulent man.

We walked towards the President’s house, accompanied by the secretary of the navy, and as soon as we rose above the bank we saw before us a level of far-extending prairie, destitute of timber, and rather poor soil. Houses half finished, and most of them without roofs, tents and a liberty pole, with the capitol, were all exhibited to our view at once. We approached the President’s mansion, however, wading through water above our ankles. This abode of President Houston is a small log house consisting of two rooms and a passage through, after the Southern fashion. The moment we stepped over the threshold on the right hand of the passage we found ourselves ushered into what in other countries would be called the antechamber; the ground floor however was muddy and filthy, a large fire was burning, a small table covered with paper and writing materials was in the center, camp beds, trunks and different materials were strewed around the room. We were at once presented to several members of the cabinet, some of whom bore the stamp of men of intellectual ability, simple though bold, in their general appearance. Here we were presented to Mr. Crawford, an agent of the British minister to Mexico, who has come here on some secret mission.

The President was engaged in the opposite room on national business and we could not see him for some time. Meanwhile we amused ourselves by walking to the capitol, which was yet without a roof, and the floors, benches and tables of both houses of Congress were as well-saturated with water as our clothes had been in the morning. Being invited by one of the great men of the place to enter a booth to take a drink of grog with him, we did so; but I was rather surprised that he offered his name instead of cash to the barkeeper.

We first caught sight of President Houston as he walked from one of the grog shops, where he had been to prevent the sale of ardent spirits. He was on his way to his house and wore a large gray coarse hat; and the bulk of his figure reminded me of the appearance of General Hopkins of Virginia, for like him he is upwards of six feet high, and strong in proportion. But I observed a scowl in the expression of his eyes that was forbidding and disagreeable. We reached his abode before him, but he soon came, and we were presented to his excellency. He was dressed in a fancy velvet coat and trousers trimmed with broad gold lace; around his neck was tied a cravat somewhat in the style of ’76. He received us kindly, was desirous of retaining us for awhile and offered us every facility within his power. He at once removed us from the anteroom to his private chamber, which by the way was not much cleaner than the former. We were severally introduced by him to the different members of his cabinet and staff, and at once asked to drink grog with him, which we did, wishing success to his new republic. Our talk was short; but the impression which was made on my mind at the time by himself, his officers and his place of abode can never be forgotten.