CHAPTER I.
A map of North America, with the West India Islands, was published in London, February, 1777. It was laid down according to the latest surveys, and corrected from the original materials of Governor Pownall, member of Parliament. On the region between our north-eastern boundary and the Colorado, as laid down on that map, the name Ticas is found in capital letters. It is assumed by students in aboriginal and Spanish etymology, that Ticas is the same as the present word Texas. The history of the discovery of Texas has been in dispute. Yielding credit to authorities possessed of the best means of giving true information, it will be admitted that early Spanish navigators first discovered Texas, landed on its coast, and laid claim to the country. Previously to 1595 they established settlements on both sides of the Rio Grande. This was nearly one hundred years before La Salle, the French navigator, then in search of the mouth of the Mississippi, was carried by errors of reckoning out of his course, and landed on Matagorda Bay, February 18, 1685. La Salle was a gallant knight, and claimed the country under the name of his master, Louis XIV. Enterprising, firm, talented, he was furnished by his king with a squadron of four vessels, manned by 300 men. Touching land first near Sabine Bay, making no discoveries, and obtaining no information from the Indians, La Salle proceeded westward, sailed through Pass Cavallo, and entered the Bay of St. Bernard, now known by the same name. Wrecking unfortunately one of his vessels in the attempt to land, he Succeeded in landing the men of the other three, and formed a camp on the west side, near the entrance of the bay. Game and fish refreshed the new comers. The country charmed them. They saw herds of deer and buffalo grazing on the prairies, and innumerable wild flowers covering the earth. They were cheered by the warbling of wild birds in the trees, and a sky clearer and brighter than Italy smiled upon them. It was not strange that they fancied they had reached an earthly paradise. But troubles with the Indians, supplies failing, sickness thinning their numbers, disagreements between La Salle and his leading men, the desertion of a captain — leaving with a vessel carrying
