portion of the State, and the trip takes about thirty-six hours. We left Galveston about 7:30 P. M., July 6, 1896, with the thermometer in the nineties. That first night it grew comfortably cool aboard the train. At 7 A. M. on the seventh we reached San Antonio, but did not leave the cars. From a few miles west of San Antonio to El Paso the country traveled over belongs to the first of the four climatic divisions of Texas as enumerated above.

I. During the morning, after leaving San Antonio, we passed out of the cultivated portion of the State and struck across the Texas desert where the country was as barren as any that we later saw in New Mexico. For mile after mile no living thing excepting scattered cactus was in sight. The altitude gradually increased although there were places where the grade would rise or fall several hundreds of feet within a few miles.

The heat was intense in the middle of the afternoon, the thermometer in our car registering as high as 118 degrees F. at three o'clock. The air was very dry and not oppressive. The only unpleasant effect was to make us very thirsty. There was plenty of ice water on the train, but it all had the peculiar alkali taste and did not seem to satisfy us. During the night succeeding we passed over the side of a mountain reaching an altitude of more than five thousand feet. As we went up the thermometer came down and at five A. M. our thermometer recorded a temperature of only 58 degrees.

Some of the scenery along the road was very beautiful. We had the valley of the Rio Grande, the boundary between Texas and Mexico, in sight a good part of our journey. Our road ran through a mountainous country toward the last, and after daylight on July 8th it was down grade nearly all the way to El Paso, where we arrived at eight in the morning.

El Paso is the most westerly settlement in Texas. It is a city of some 12,000 inhabitants, a majority of whom are Mexicans. The city is directly opposite the Mexican town of Juarez, and a line of street cars carries passengers from one city to the other for ten cent fares. El Paso is quite a railroad centre:--The Santa Fé enters the town from the north, the Mexican Central from the south, the Texas Pacific from the northeast, and the Southern Pacific passes through from the east to the west. Through cars come to El Paso from Chicago, the City of Mexico, St. Louis, New Orleans, and San Francisco, over these various railroads, thus giving direct communication with all parts of the United States and Mexico.

El Paso is located in the valley of the Rio Grande, thirty-eight

hundred feet above sea level, and is surrounded by mountains reaching up to an altitude of nine thousand feet. The city is but a few miles from the southern border of New Mexico at the tip of an irregular corner of the state that extends between New Mexico and Mexico proper. The climatic conditions, with the exception of the altitude, are practically the same as at Albuquerque. The soil about El Paso is fertile when water can be obtained for irrigating purposes. Many varieties of fruits are raised in the surrounding country, the grapes being particularly fine.

The following figures are taken from the reports of the United States Weather Bureau:

From the above table it will be seen that El Paso is considerably warmer than any of the three places mentioned in the section treating of New Mexico. This is due to two reasons: First, it is nearly two hundred and fifty miles directly south of Albuquerque, the warmest of the three. Second, the altitude is considerably lower, being but thirty-eight hundred feet at El Paso, while it is five thousand feet at Albuquerque, seven thousand feet at Santa Fé, and sixty-five hundred feet at Las Vegas. Snow is exceptional. The rain fall is less than at any other place in the United States excepting only Albuquerque.

El Paso is hot in summer. The Weather Bureau thermometers are kept in the shade, and although they registered more than 100 degrees for many consecutive days of the summer of 1896, the rec

ords convey no idea of the heat. It had to be felt to be appreciated. My family and myself will always remember our twenty-four hours' stay at El Paso as the hottest day and night of our existence.

From El Paso I went to New Mexico, where I remained for five months. Thence I traveled across the southeastern corner of Colorado and re-entered Texas by way of the narrow northwestern portion of the State known as the "Panhandle." It was the 1st of December, 1896, when I entered Texas a second time, and the thermometer registered several degrees below zero.

The "Panhandle," like the rest of the extreme western part of Texas, has a considerable altitude-three to five thousand feetand a dry climate. The "Panhandle" is on the eastern slope of the mountains that run through the eastern part of New Mexico, and extends quite far to the north, some three hundred and fifty to four hundred miles north of El Paso. This region is the coldest part of Texas. The winters are comparatively severe and they sometimes have a great deal of snow. I made no stops in this part of the State, but I learned that a good many health seekers had found their way there and were living comfortably The country is adapted to sheep and cattle raising and is largely given up to those industries. As yet the district is sparsely settled and living somewhat crude, so that unless one wants to rough it he had best go elsewhere in his search for climate.

I later visited one other town in this climatic division of Texas. Early in January, 1897, I spent several days at Abilene, a place of some 3,000 inhabitants, located on the broad prairies of the central western portion of the State at an altitude of seventeen hundred feet. I found the air dry and bracing. During my stay fires were necessary within doors night and morning, but in the daytime they became uncomfortable. Out of doors one needed a heavy coat early in the morning or in the evening, in the middle of the day the coat became burdensome.

The Texas physicians think very highly of the climate of Abilene and send many of their lung patients out there. It seemed to me as though this good opinion was justified by the conditions. The altitude-seventeen hundred feet-I believe to be sufficient for all practical purposes; the air is delicious and dry; the rainfall is about that of Las Vegas; the temperature range little different from that of El Paso.

The surrounding country is not so desolate looking as that already spoken of. Considerable small timber grows near Abilene,

furnishing fuel in plenty. Cotton, grain and fruits are cultivated and usually do well because water is abundant enough-except in rare instances-to grow them.

The following figures are taken from the reports of the United States Weather Bureau:

There are many other places in west Texas where the climatic conditions are very similar to those already noted; it is unnecessary to speak further regarding them, so I will take up the next division. II. The second climatic division of Texas, the black prairie region, runs north and south through the whole length of the middle. of the State. The altitude varies from three to seven hundred feet. This is the best agricultural portion of the State and the most thickly populated. Fort Worth is on the edge of, and the cities of Denison, Sherman, Dallas, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, and many smaller towns are within this fertile belt.

I spent from two days to three weeks in each of the town named and visited many of the others. My observations led me to believe that the climate of this part of Texas is as well adapted to the lung invalid as is the higher, drier country further west In fact, the -country about the southern end of this belt,-Austin, San Antonio, and on down to the Rio Grande-has long enjoyed a high reputation as a resort for consumptives.

In January, 1897, I spent three weeks at Fort Worth, just on the west edge of this belt of prairie lands. The city is a thriving town

of some 40,000 inhabitants, built on ground higher than the surrounding country, and at an altitude of about seven hundred feet. The following figures are taken from the reports of the United States Weather Bureau:

From this table it will be seen that the days get very warm during the five months beginning with May. The daily range of temperature, however, is considerable, so that the nights are comparatively cool. The rainfall is more than in the country further west. In the year 1896 no snow was reported. During my stay there was a light fall one day. It did not last long and would have been unnoticed in a place where snow was at all common.

I would like, if space permitted, to write more at length concerning the various other towns in this region that I visited. I spent ten days at Waco and enjoyed the baths in its well-known natatorium. The water in its swimming pool-said to be the largest. tank in the United States-comes from artesian wells at an unvarying temperature, summer or winter, of 103 degrees. The surface of the water is promptly cooled by the surrounding atmosphere so that the bath itself is always comfortable, about 90 degrees. I enjoyed my morning and evening plunge while at Waco more than I did any other one thing on my whole trip through Texas.

I spent two weeks at Austin, the capital of the State. I went through its magnificent capitol building, said to be the seventh larg