n 111 1
Ottr Catlzolic Heritage in T ezas
II6
The Indian pueblo consisted mainly of jacales for the neophytes. There -were three stone houses for the soldiers assigned as guards to this mission and a large granary made of the same material. The abode of the Padres was in a two-story stone house, with two cells upstairs and two office rooms downstairs. The entire pueblo or mission plant was surrounded with a wall made of stone and mortar to protect the establishment from the attacks of the hostile Indians. On the farms under cultivation the neophytes planted five fanegas of corn annually, which yielded about one thousand; one of beans from which they harvested thirty; a good patch of melons and watermelons and a field of pumpkins and sweet potatoes were also very productive. The entire farm was irrigated by a ditch that flowed through the middle of the mission pueblo. To carry on the work of the mission there were thirty yokes of oxen, twenty hoes, forty axes, eight handbars, ten adzes, and all the necessary tools for the blacksmith shop, for a carpenters' shop, and for stone work and masonry. Because of the hostilities of the Apaches and the fact that the pasture where the cattle grazed was far removed from the mission, the livestock could not be gathered and brought before the inspector for him to count it. The inventory record of the mission, however, showed that it owned nine hundred head of cattle, three hundred sheep, and one hundred horses and that it had a brand to mark all its property. 69 General summary of -progress made to 1745 by Qtteretaran Missions in San Antonio. Striking indeed, are the details of the progress made by the missions that have just been enumerated, but they become even more impressive when the various figures given are presented as a whole. Thus the spiritual labors of the missionaries show that from 1718 to 1745 a total of two thousand two hundred and eighty-two Indians had been baptized and Christianized in San Antonio by the four Queretaran missions. Of this number one thousand three hundred and forty-nine had received the last sacraments and had been given a Christian burial. In the missions at this time there were eight hundred and eighty-five Indians of both sexes and all ages, of whom seven hundred and forty- four were baptized Christians, meaning they had been duly instructed in the Christian faith, and one hundred and forty-one who were being instructed preparatory to the administration of baptism. The significance of these figures becomes greater when the difficulties and incredible
"Ibid., ,A,cl,ivo del Co/egio de la Santa Cruz, 1729-17 58.
Powered by FlippingBook