THE AUSTIN PAPERS. 727 On my arrival in the Colony which I had commenced nearly two yen t·s before I found that most of the Emigrants discouraged by ~y long absence and the uncertainty in which they had been for such 11 length of time had returned to the United States, and that the few who remained hard pressed and harrassed on every side by hostile Indians and threatened with the horrors of famine in consequence of the drougth were on the eve of breaking up and leaving the Province. Encouraged however by my return we per- severed through the Complicated and appalling difllculties which surrounded us on every side untill the new Crops yielded us Dread. .. Since my arrival I Have been most industriously laboring in Con- junction with the .Buron de Bastrop the Commissioner appointed by the Government of this Province in Conformity with the decree above rn.entionecl, in completing the affairs of the Colony and hope to make a finish of them in a few months more tho' owing to the many unfavourable reports propagated by those who returned and my delay in l\Iexico many of the families who originally in- tended to remove have not come which has produced some delay in Completing the 300 families which I am permitted to settle in this Colony. The Superior Government in the Decree above alluded to, gave me authority to administer justice, and preserve good order in the colony untill its . Organization was Completed- This part o:f my duty has .been attended with many embarrassments owing t.o the absolute want of copies of the laws and forms- I Have however in every instance Conformed t0 the laws of this Nation where I could ascertain them, and where I could not, or where they did not apply to the cases arising of our peculiar situation, necessity has compelled me to adopt provisional and temporary regulations which are only entended to operate untill the laws can be procured and translated into the English Language-- The Situation I am placed in .near the Frontiers of two Nations, and surrounded o.n every side by hostile Indians and exposed to their attacks and to .the no less vexatious pilfering and robbing of Those Tribes who profess :friendship but steal whenever an occasion presents, renders my task peculiarly laborious and difficult and re- quires a most severe and efficient police to keep out and punish fugitives and vagabonds from both nations, And I have experienced some difficulty on this subject owing to the want of more full and ample authority relative to the Punishment of Crimes- The Com- manding General of Monterrey ordered me by his Decree bearing elate the 16 th • clay of June last to condemn Criminals to hard labour on public .works untill the superior Government should decide on their cases and to punish .them in no other way. But a difficulty
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