The mission of Conception is a very large stone building, situated on the river about 2 miles below the town. The mission of San Jose is about 2 miles further down, and is remarkable for the very elaborate carvings of figures and flowers on the W. front of the church. The mission of San Juan is very inferior to the others, and that of La Espada is in ruins. Excepting in that of Conception, the houses within these missions are inhabited. These institutions were dependant on the Franciscan convent of Guadaloupe, near Zacatecas.

The climate of Bexar is very healthy, and many of the old residents had attained a great age. There are no musquitoes, the common plague of hot countries. Scorpions sometimes get into the houses. On one occasion a man sitting near me was bitten by one, but some hartshorn after a short delay was rubbed in, and no inconvenience followed from the wound.

There are no settlements on the Presidio road between San Antonio and the Rio Grande. I rode along it as far as the Laguna Espantosa in May, 1841. The river marked in the maps as the Leon was at this time nearly dry. A short distance beyond it is the valley of the Medina. The land on the banks of this river is covered with fine oak, cotton, pecan, and white-sycamore trees. We saw here some very large alligators. Before reaching the Rio Honda, which we found dry, we passed through an extensive wood of post or white oak. A few miles E. of the Rio Frio is a low ridge of hills, part of the side of which, to the right of the road, was broken away and exposed a bed of sand. This place is called the Loma Blanca. The Rio Frio is a fine stream, the banks of which are high and shelving, and were covered with trees. From hence is a dry sandy country until within a short distance of the Rio Leona. This river was not above 9 yards wide and between 4 and 5 feet deep. A little beyond, a sandy district again commences. From a hill called the Loma de Buena Vista (part of a continuous ridge running from the north), an extensive and arid plain is overlooked, reaching to the Nueces and forming a great part of what is often called "the desert between the Rio Grande and the Medina." It is not, however, barren, and is sprinkled with misquite trees. Having notice of a party of above 200 Mexican soldiers, chiefly militia, being in the neighbourhood, we left the road and went to the N.W. At the point at which we reached the Nueces the river ran between deep alluvial banks, and was not above a yard wide and a few inches deep. At a short distance from it were many masses of mica. We spent the greater part of a day on the banks of the Laguna Espantosa, a wide sheet of water, and then returned to Bexar by the direct route. The only part of the country on this road, where it is possible to anticipate any extensive settlements, is in the fine valley of the Medina.

There was a considerable Mexican trade on the Presidio road, which was protected by the people of Bexar -- by the Mexican government it was prohibited. I several times saw upwards of fifty pack-mules leave Bexar for the Rio Grande laden with manufactured goods.

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