487
THE AUSTIN PAPERS.
AUSTIN TO J.A?tU-.S E. B. AUSTIN
Loredo ~1areb 23 1822
DR BROTHER, "\Ve arrived here on the 21 and finding that a considerable Com- pany were going on to La Punta, on Sunday afternoon I thought it most prudent to wait for them, on acount of the Indians, who are very numerous on all these roads,-about six miles this side of the river Nuesis 50 Camanches charged upon us a little before sun rise, the Doctor and Waters were out after the Horses and I was alone at Camp, they surrounded me in an instant and took possession of every article we had-resistance was useless for against so many it would have been ineffectual the Doctor and Waters and the Horses were soon brought up by the Indians and I then expostulated with them for treating their Friends the Americans in such a manner,- ·when they found there was no Spaniards with me, they gave us back our Saddle bags, saddles, and everything else except 4 blankets, a bridle, my Grammar and Several other little things and all our pro- visons, nothing saved our lives but being Americans,·a.nd as the next party might not be so polite I have waited for the company that is going on to morrow. Two men were taken prisoners·, the day before yesterday within a few miles of this place, one of whom escaped and got in this morning he says the Indians are waylaying the road be- tween this and Punta, (the road I am going)-nbout 3 miles this side·of where the Indians, charged upon us, we met another party of .34 who were encamped behind a hill watching the road, only two of them came to us, they said their captain lmew us to be .Ameri- cans and ordered his men to let us alone. The Country from the River Madina to this place is the poorest I ever saw in my life, it is generally nothing but Sand, entirely void of Timber, covered with scrubby thorn bushes and Prickly Pear- this place is on the bank of the _Rio Grande-and is as poor as sand banks, and drought, and indolence can make itr---The river is about • the size of the Arkansas, if anything a little larger- I hope you are applying yourself closely to Study-get the first volume of Dufiefs ( 1) Grammar from the Doctor and Study the familiar phrases and lessons, and w1·ite tlzern, also after commitincr , ' 0 a verb write it from memory and then compa.re it with the book to see that the spellin,r is correct--nlso repeat your Yerbs as you learn them to Francisco 0r some other who can correct your pronuncia- tion, a bad ·pronunciation at the start will be diffici.1lt to correct! therefore take no lessions [sic] •from n.ny but those who are enpnble of giving them-Remember that it is all important to learn to writ6 the language-
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