The road from Goliad to San Antonio de Bexar runs near the river, and it is somewhat dangerous to travel over upon account of Indians. The first night we stopped at Minifee creek. The next day we crossed the Clito and remained at night near the Rio Cibolo. About 8 miles from the Cibolo and a few miles S. of the sulphur-springs, the surveyors find their compasses disturbed, the vibrations becoming sluggish. We again came to the river at the 18-mile ranche -- here a rapid and narrow current running between limestone cliffs. The ground perceptibly rises from Goliad to Bexar, and from the road, before descending a low hill, you look over the town of Bexar -- the four missions of La Es-pada, San Juan, San Jose, and Conception lying in the valley of the river to the left.

In this journey from Houston to San Antonio there was little variety in the appearance of the country. That there is an immense extent of land that will hereafter be profitably cultivated is beyond doubt: I think, however, that S. of a line running W. from Houston and bounded by a line running N. of Victoria, experience has proved the country to be unhealthy to Europeans, and on the settlements near the coast to be very fatal. Painful relations were also made to me of the frequent deaths of immigrants on the southern district of Trinity river -- a part of the country which I have not visited. The western and northern districts I believe to be very healthy.

The town of San Antonio was founded in the year 1698, and is placed by Mexican authorities in long. 98° 30' W. of Green wich, and lat 29° 25' N. It is laid out with some regularity, the streets running at right angles to one another. It occupies chiefly a tongue of land swept by the river, and part of it is on the E. bank. There are two squares, called the civil and military, and between them is a stone-built church of the date a. D. 1717. The town was exceedingly well governed by an incorporated municipal body. The inhabitants were orderly; and I never knew any person to wear arms habitually, though, being on the frontier and subject to Indian incursions, it was always necessary to carry arms on leaving the town. Whilst I was in the neighbourhood some Comanche Indians galloped into one of the streets and killed a Mexican at the door of his own house. On the E. side of the river is the old mission and presidio, called the Alamo. It was similar in form and arrangement to the other missions in the neighbourhood : it was a square inclosure, presenting on the exterior a blank wall. This wall formed the back of houses opening into the square. The church and other buildings were ruined during an attack made by the President Santa Anna in 1836, when it was defended bv some Texan troops.

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Adapted from Thomas Falconer
"Notes on a Journey through Texas and New Mexico, in the Years 1841 and 1842"