The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 81, July 1977 - April, 1978 Page: 45

W. Steinert's View of Texas in 1849*

Translated and Edited by GILBERT J. JORDAN
The Trip from Galveston to New Orleans with Comments on Texas
S.S. "Palmetto," August 27
AT FOUR O'CLOCK THIS AFTERNOON WE LEFT GALVESTON AND TEXAS.
We are again floating along on the water on our way back to New
Orleans. However, before I set foot on other parts of America, I will add
a number of comments on the land I crossed on my trip.
[Sections 1-1 7]131
Section I8. Livestock Raising
There is no doubt that West Texas appears to be especially suited to
livestock raising because there is an abundance of good water and
grazing.132
Cattle are among the most essential animals for agriculture here as
elsewhere, and you have less trouble with cattle here than in Germany.
Almost the year round the cows go to the pasture in the morning and
return in the evening and give milk. As a rule, the calves remain with
the cows [unweaned] almost until they themselves have calves. For this
reason the productivity of the cows here is less than at home.
When a cow has calved, the calf is put into a pen. Her love for her
calf causes the cow to follow [the calf into the pen]. When the calf has
received its portion of milk from its mother, the housewife comes for
her portion. Sometimes, however it happens, too, that the cows do not
come home, but stay on the meadows or wander off elsewhere. I had oc-
casion, especially in New Braunfels, to be convinced of this. Anyway
you take it, the rounding up of cattle is a bothersome, often time-
*The last part of a five-part translation.
131At this place in Steinert's account some to to is pages, containing short descriptions
of the land, the people, the plants, and the animals of the state, have been omitted from
the translation. Inasmuch as the omitted portion contains 17 numbered sections, the dis-
cussion presented here begins with Section 18.
l32From the omitted sections and from Steinert's earlier travel accounts, it can be seen
that by West Texas the author means the Hill Country or parts of the Edwards Plateau.