They saw many fine springs spouting from the earth, and emptying into river and creek.
It was a noble land, but, although it had been settled long by Spaniard and Mexican, the wilderness still endured in many of its aspects.

Now and then a deer sprang up from the thickets, and the wild turkeys still roosted in the trees.

Churches and other buildings, many of massive stone adorned with carved and costly marbles, extended ten or twelve miles down the river, but most of them were abandoned and in decay.

The Comanche and his savage brother, the Apache, had raided to the very gates of San Antonio.

The deep irrigation ditches, dug by the Spanish priests and their Indian converts, were abandoned, and mud and refuse were fast filling them up.