cherry, _mulberry_, and blackberry grow luxuriantly. Wine of good
quality has been made here.

New Braunfels is the county seat. It has 2,000 inhabitants, and
boasts of having the only free school in the State, supported by
aid from the State school fund, and by direct taxation on the
property of the school district. Four teachers are employed, and
there are 250 pupils.

The letters of my Texas friend give the following description of the
climate of Texas:--

The climate of Texas is very peculiar. This is owing to the body
of water to the eastward of it, and to the dry and elevated plain
of the Llano Estacado, and the lofty mountains which lie to the
westward. To these two causes are due the moisture and the cool
temperature, and at times and in certain localities the excessive
dryness of Texas.

The Gulf stream, in its course along the coast of Florida and in
the Gulf of Mexico, has beneath it, running to the south, a cold
stream, nearly down to the freezing point. The great equatorial
current which strikes north of Cape St. Roque and through the
Caribbean Sea is suddenly narrowed between Cape San Antonio and
Cape Catoche; here the upper and warmer current, being condensed,
strikes deeper, and forces to the surface the cold water from the
under current, sometimes occasioning a roaring and very peculiar
noise. By this means the Gulf stream is divided, part turning to
the eastward around Cuba and between that island and Florida, and
part turning to the westward, north of the banks of Campeachy, and