neatness or cleanliness of person to attract the eye. Their figures are scarcely to be described; coarse from neglect, or emaciated by self-indulgence, their skins have borrowed from the sun the exact hue of the lemon; and if the countenance be a true index of the mind, I doubt not that their dispositions have somewhat of the peculiar flavour of that sour bullet of the tropics; but yet, to those who admire silence above every thing else in woman, permit me to introduce the ladies of Texas, par excellence, as mutes.

The reader must here be left to form his own ideas of the rising generation, from the stock above described, while I merely venture to add, that in early life, will impart a striking " tincture" of the sambo character to the rising race, that will not be less amusing to their transatlantic brethren, than is Mr. Rice in his favourite character of " Jim Crow."

their "constant friction" with the near

The usual salutation of the Texan gentlemen is, "How does your copperosity sagaciate this morning?"-"How are you now?" (this is all after an absence of some years.) "A pretty considerable of a jug full of sun this morning,"morning,"—" A tarnation upstreet sort of a day this, I calculate."

On entering into conversation, they take out their knives and commence "whittling;"* first taking

* 66 Whittling" means cutting sticks, for which purpose every Texan as well as American carries a knife.

special care to eject from the innermost recesses of their "pants" those small detachments of fleas who are (backed by an auxiliary force of some twenty musquitoes) instinctively prone to locate themselves in those regions So great is their propensity for "whittling," that they frequently, if sitting on a chair, put down their hand and bring it up again with a long slice off one of the legs, which they begin to "whittle," and "calculate" the exact value per thousand of the wood of which the chairs are made.

When speaking of those men who have been fortunate enough to gain their esteem, they say, "He's an up-street man that,”—“ A right smart man,"-A pretty considerable of a man,"-"A tarnation tall man:" this last expression, when applied to some of their eminent men who happen to be considerably under the middle standard, is far more amusing than all the rest of their peculiarities, and cannot fail to probe the gravity of a stranger.

In no country in the world do men shave more clean than in Texas, and a barber is deemed as great an acquisition in a new settlement, as Sir Isaac Newton's studies have proved him to be in the advancement of science; indeed the calculations of the latter have not done more, in their way, than those of the former, who, while clinging to the nose, will tell one the exact length of beard a man shaves off in the course of a life of seventy years, "com

mencing first to shave at the age of sixteen, and allowing that in every sixty-four days he shaves off one inch of beard, it would, on a calculation, be found, that, at the end of seventy years, he had shaved off fifty-eight feet, two inches of beard." This is certainly an heir-loom in the way of discovery, that must be set down to the Texan barbers.

The religion established in Texas previous to her separation from Mexico, was the universal religion of the latter country--the Roman Catholic apostolic religion; and as the ceremonies, &c. of that church are so generally known, and celebrated for their uniformity in all Roman Catholic countries, it would be superfluous here to enter into a detail of them; however, it may with safety be said, that the religion of the present white population of Texas, which is called Protestantism, about as much resembles the Church of England, in its forms and ceremonies, as the forms and ceremonies of the Church of England resemble those of the Greek Church.

But the following comparison, as drawn by an anonymous Texan author, between the Roman Catholic religion in Mexico and Protestantism in Texas, showing their moral influence on their respective countries, will serve to establish the truth of the above assertion.

"There is not," says the Texan author, "throughout the vast extent of Mexico, the least variation in

the Roman Catholic ritual, from the frontiers of Guatemala to Santa Fé. The churches are every where scrupulously built upon the same plan-the same number of bells suspended in every steeplethe statues of the Holy Family, carved in the same posture, with the same inflexible strictness of features, and dressed exactly in the same style-the same processions are performed at the same hours, and the same cut of ecclesiastical furniture is preserved. Thus the Roman Catholic religion appears like a figure dressed up for winter, with cloak and cap, and linings of fur. The Protestant religion consists rather of negatives, and is like a young fellow in his summer deshabille. It may be called Christianity in round-about. Our creed (the Protestant) sits upon us as light as summer air. It is of a most plastic nature, suffering itself to be moulded into any form or shape. There is but one simple point in it which can be considered as unalterable, and in which we all agree-it is to protest. Hence comes our name; but we are now divided into so many petty schisms and parties, that the whole is well nigh reduced to an impalpable powder, having lost all the original leaven and

"As for us," continues the same author, " here, in Texas, we are no ways particular about religion, since we reported ourselves as Roman Catholics, though mortal enemies to that system of faith."

When speaking of this imposition, our author does not go as far as the truth of the case will admit to illustrate his assertion, for it will be remembered that the first Anglo-American colonists who entered Texas with General Austin, not only reported themselves as, but they solemnly swore that they were, Roman Catholics, which the fundamental laws of Mexico peremptorily required. But the author I am quoting goes on to say, "Think not that we deny the necessary articles which constitute the basis of all religions, such as the existence of a Supreme Being, the spirituality of the soul, and a future state of rewards and punishments. We hold fast that indispensable substratum, without which not even civil government could be maintained; and we may say, also, that we are more pure in morals than the Mexicans. There are no highway robberies amongst us, nor thefts, except such as proceed from negroes."

Here our author overlooks the cold-blooded assassinations committed with the Bowie knife and pistol, that are the constant tenants of every Texan's bosom, and with which hundreds have been killed (white men) since their introduction to the country, to say nothing of the host of Indians who are murdered without mercy in Texas daily.

However, he says, "In point of chastity, also, the most important and influential qualification of northern nations, we are infinitely superior to them. Lust is with us hateful and shameful; with them it