rly attracts our attention, and the
spot of earth which was the chief cause of dispute between Mexico and
the United States, and where our armies assembled, justly demands our
first notice.

Texas, until she attained the rank of an independent State, seems to
have been almost an unknown country even to the Mexicans. This was
natural for a people who are not essentially agriculturists, but pass
their lives as herdsmen, miners, or merchants, and whose central
government is far removed from its outposts.

In the year 1834, General Almonte was deputed by the Mexican authorities
to visit this northern province, and prepare a statistical report upon
its extent and character. According to this valuable document, Texas
proper lies between 28 deg. and 35 deg. of north latitude, and 17 deg. and 25 deg. of
longitude, west from Washington. It is bounded on the north by the
territory of Arkansas; east by Louisiana; south by the Gulf of Mexico
and State of Tamaulipas; and west by Coahuila, Chihuahua, and New
Mexico. Almonte was informed, by the State government of Coahuila and
Texas, that instead of the Rio de las Nueces forming the boundary
between Coahuila and Texas, as the map denoted, the true limit commenced
at the embouchure of the Rio Aransaso which it followed to its source,
whence it continued by a direct line until it reached the junction of
the Medina with the San Antonio, and thence proceeded along the eastern
bank of the Medina to its source, terminating, finally, on the borders
of Chihuahua. The territory comprised within these limits is estimated
at near two hundred thousand square miles--a surface almost as extensive
as that of France.[70] But, since Texas receded from the Mexican central
government, these confines have been changed. By an act of her congress,
in December, 1836, the boundary was declared to begin at the mouth of
the Rio Grande, and thence to run up the principal stream of the said
river to its source; thence due north to the 42 deg. of latitude, and
thence, along the boundary as defined in the treaty between the United
States and Spain, to the beginning.[71]

* * * * *

The great body of the territory of Mexico is rich in upland vallies,
extensive plains, noble mountains, fertile soil, beautiful groves, and
rich mines, but it is almost entirely deprived of rivers, whilst Texas
is singularly favored in this respect. On the east, the Gulf of Mexico
affords her an exten