It was very dry, even as compared with the northern plains.

The bed of the Frio was filled with coarse gravel, and for the most part dry as a bone on the surface, the water seeping through underneath, and only appearing in occasional deep holes.

These deep holes or ponds never fail, even after a year's drought; they were filled with fish.

One lay quite near the ranch house, under a bold rocky bluff; at its edge grew giant cypress trees.

In the hollows and by the watercourses were occasional groves of pecans, live-oaks, and elms.