Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/601

 TEXAS

543

TEXAS

was subsequently sold by the king to the parishioners of Tewkesbury, and was thus saved from destruction. It measures 317 feet long by 122 across the transepts, and the massive central tower is 132 feet high. The pill.ars and triforium of the nave and the lower part of the choir belong to the original Norman church; the splendid groined roof, replacing the original Norman ceiling, and apsidal choir with chevet of surrounding chapels (closely resembling Westminster Abbey), date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The choir windows contain some fine old stained glass. The whole church underwent careful restoration under Sir Gilbert Scott (lS75-79),and four years later the restoration committee was enabled to repurchase what remained of the monastic buildings.

TJennett, Hist, of Ten-kcshuri/ (London. 1.S30); Blunt, Tewkes- bury Abbey and its Associations (London, 189S) ; Annates monasticit ed. LUAHD, I (London, 1S64), xv-xxvii, 43-180; Duodale, Monast. anglic, II (London. 1817). 53-80; Tanner, Nolitia monasticri: Glouc., (London, 1787), xxxi; Gasquet, Henry VIII and the English Monasteries (London, 1889). I, .58, 295, 41S; II, 469; Antiqucrian and Topogr. Cabinet, II (London, 1808), E, E2 (interesting plates).

D. O. Hdnter-Bl.\ir.

Texas, State of. — The name, Texas, is probably derived from Tejas, the name of a friendly tribe of Indians met within the territory by the early Spanish exjilorers.

Geography and Physical Characteristics. — The state is bounded on the north by Oklahoma, on the west by New Mexico and Mexico, on the south ,^»»»»»t, by Mexico and the

Gulf of Mexico, and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico, Lou- isiana, and Arkansas. It lies between 2.5° .50' and 36° 45' N. lat. and 93° 30' and 106° 30' W. long. It embraces 205,896 sq. miles, of which 3498 sq. miles are water. Four great natural provinces, running in general direction from south to north, are formed by geological development. The first of these, nearest the coast, is called the Coastal Plain, consist- ing of Coast Prairies, a Tertiary area, and Black Prai- ries. Extending back from the Gulf Coast for from thirty to fifty miles, an outcrop of underlying clays gives a flat, almost treeless tract running along the whole length of the coast and known as the Coast Prairie. Different climatic conditions with respect to rainfall vary the products of different parts of this re- gion. The eastern and northern part, where the rainfall reaches from forty to fifty inches annuallj', are suitable for rice culture, which is locaUzed there; in the central portion along the coast where the rainfall is less, sugar-cane, fruit, and "truck" are extensively culti- vated, while in the southwest, with a rainfall of only 20 to 28 inches annually, cotton culture and "cattle raising on the range" are the chief industries. Irri- gation, however, in this south-western region makes the cultivation of sugar-cane and sorghum as well as cotton of some profit. Favourable underground conditions make this Coast Prairie the location of important oil-fields. Further to the interior the Coast Prairie is succeeded by Tertiary deposits giving a generally sandy condition to the soil. This Tertiary area also is divided by climatic con- ditions. The south-western and western part, the "Rio Grande Plain", having a very shallow rain- fall, produces only a dwarfed and shrubby natural vegetation and is hence called the "Chaparral Country"; the humid part, however, north and north- eaat, called the East Texas timber belt, grows both

Seal of the State of Texas.

the short and long-leaf pine. Lumbering is here the important industry. In the northern part of this region more fertile soil affords the great fruit and "truck" products; cotton and tobacco are also grown. In one part of the west of this Tertiary region cotton is cultivated, and valuable deposits of brick and pot- tery clays and lignite are extensively worked. Fur- ther inland and north of the Colorado River in this Coastal Plain are the Black and Grand Prairies, the most important agricultural region of Texas. Black wax-y calcareous clay soil, for the most part underlaid by prohfic and widespread water-bearing formations, makes this region the great cotton and cdrn produc- ing section, while oats, wheat, alfalfa, and sorghum are also extensively grown. Wherever the climate becomes .arid cattle raising increases as an industry. The Central Basin is the second great natural prov- ince. This region, situated in north-west and central-west Texas, was once covered with cretaceous materials, but now is denuded by the head waters of the Red, Brazos, and Colorado Rivers. Its south- ern extremity, the "Llano Country", as it is called, has a granite foundation, much quarried, .and depo.sits of hematite and magnetite occur here plentifully. On the eastern side the soils show a carboniferous area, and include sands, loams, black and light-coloured clays, producing, in the heavier soils, cotton, wheat, oats, sorghum, milo-maize, and in the lighter, cotton, maize, fruit, and garden products. The western portion contains notably fertile soils, yielding abun- dant crops of kafir-corn, milo-maize, cotton, wheat, oats, peaches, and alfalfa. Deposits of salt, clay, and gypsum occur in this area. The third natural province of Texas is the Plateau Province, having three great divisions: the Llano Estacado, Staked or Palisaded Plains, which extend beyond the limits of the state, and the Edward's and Stockton Plateau. The Llano Estacado, a plateau 2500 to 4000 feet in elevation, derives its name from being itself an ex- tensive upUfted mesa, surrounded, except on the Edward's Plateau side, by "breaks", cliffs, or walls, which, as palisades, have to be climbed before the plateau is attained. The plateaux are treeless, grass-covered prairies; the soils are fine, sandy loams, and the annual rainfall only from fifteen to twenty inches. Formerly this region was devoted entirely to cattle, but now alfalfa, barley, broom-corn, maize, cotton, wheat, and fruits are being successfully culti- vated. The water supply may be made abundant mainly from wells at a depth of 100 to 600 feet. Attempts to utihze these for irrigation on a small scale are now being made. On the Edward's Plateau the upland prairies are mainly given over to cattle, sheep, and goats; in the canon valleys, however, are alluvial plains in which cotton, corn, milo-maize, wheat, and oats are a success. On the Stockton Plateau the formation resembles that of Edward's, but the rainfall being less, averaging only fifteen inches annually, it is used almost entirely for cattle. The fourth province is that of the Trans-Pecos Mountains, with elevations ranging from 5000 to 9.500 feet. Here the chief wealth is in the minerals, consisting of silver, copper, and lead of good grade and some gold, tin, zinc, and quicksilver. Local conditions hiive, however, retarded the mining devel- opment, and silver and quicksilver are the only ores worked on a commercial basis. The annual rainfall on these mountains is as low as ten to fifteen inches, but irrigation of the valley Lands is practised by means of impounded storm-water, and alfalfa and kafir- corn are commonly grown. The chief industry of the section is the care of cattle. Over such an ex- tended area the drainage is natunilly <liverse. In the east there are numerous small streams flowing south and east into the Gulf of Mexico, in the Trans- Pecos region there are ])ractically no streams at all that reach the sea. In the arid regions the drainage