If you look at the map, you will see that the Gulf of Mexico is somewhat in the shape of a horse-shoe. Its opening is defended and adorned by the Island of Cuba. Commencing at Cape Florida, we find that its capes and harbors are very numerous, and are sufficient for the vast commerce of this great inland sea, and the rich territories that border it. They are Tampa, Apalachie, Mobile, New Orleans, Atchafalaya, Calcasieu, Sabine, Galveston, Brazos River, Matagorda, Corpus Christi, Brazos Santiago, Tehuantepec, Campeachy, and Sisal.

At the toe of this great shoe lies the State of Texas, reaching for a distance of four hundred miles along the coast, and embracing in its entire boundaries, two hundred and thirty-seven thousand square miles, or about one hundred and fifty millions of acres. It is four times as large as Virginia. The country along the coast is a level prairie; but as you pass to the interior, the surface gradually rises and becomes more uneven; and still further inland, it becomes hilly and mountainous. After crossing an extensive belt of timber, and reaching more than a hundred miles from the coast, you find the high rolling prairies, composed of the richest soil in the world, covered with musquit-grass, and having along the streams and valleys sufficient timber for all needful purposes.

Texas is what is called an alluvial country, and bears strong evidence of having been once under water. Very little rock is found, except in the northern part. It possesses every variety of climate and surface, and there is nothing which can contribute to the comfort and wants of man which will not grow here. Oranges and sugar-cane flourish in the south; cotton in the middle regions; wheat in the north; and potatoes, corn and vegetables flourish everywhere; while countless numbers of cattle, horses, sheep and hogs can be reared in any part of the State. In fact, there is no country on the continent better suited to become the abode of millions of contented and happy people. It is a world in itself, where nature teems with all kind of riches, and holds out all kind of attractions to people of other States to come and find homes for themselves and their children. Our only wonder is, that so boundless a country has remained so long without being filled up with civilized people.