Escandon and Settlemeut of LrruJer Rio Grande, r738-r779
131
and zealous missionaries to penetrate and occupy this area before the middle of the eighteenth century but to no avail. These attempts were prompted not only by the desire to put a stop to the constant menace which the Indians in this region offered to both life and property, but to exploit the rich salines and reputed mineral deposits said to exist in this area. "There," said the Marquis of Altamira, "many barbarous Indian nations of Chichimecas, apostates, and unconverted natives live without religion, without fixed habitation, without dress, who like wild and wandering beasts, occupy the coast of the Mexican Gulf, its ports, its famous salines, rich rivers, healthful plains, fertile lands, and valuable minerals. With their murders, thefts, fires, and all kinds of inhuman atrocities, they desolate entire jurisdictions, provinces, cities, villages, and Christian settlements along the southern, western, and northern confines of their haunts. They obstruct the roads, paralyze commerce, and occasion incalculable losses to the royal treasury daily with the increased annual costs involved in the maintenance of presidios and the organization of campaigns." 1 The viceregal government fully realized that this obstacle to colonization must be overcome. The occupation of the area beyond the Sierra Gorda, generally known as Seno Mexicano and destined to become the Colonia de! Nuevo Santander, was imperative to defend the lives and property of the frontier provinces and to prevent the possibility of foreign encroachments along the unprotected coast. There was another incentive now being brought forcefully to the attention of the viceroy, the need of settling the vast expanse of territory that lay between the Panuco and the remote and lonely Presidio of La Bahia del Espiritu Santo on the Guadalupe in Texas in order to insure safe communication. Just as strong a desire and one ever present, however, was the conversion of the numerous tribes that roamed this vast area. Plans for tlze occupation of tlze Seno J11 exicano. The first to make a formal proposal for the conquest and settlement of the unoccupied coast region was Don Narciso Barquin de Montecuesta, former Corregidor of Santiago de los Valles, near Tampico. After urging the importance of taking possession of this land, stressing the temporal and spiritual benefits that would result, he proposed to undertake the conquest and settlement of the area immediately adjacent to Tampico and Santiago
1 Dictamen del Marques de Altamira, March
21, 1748. A. G. 111., Provincias
lnternas, vol. 179, pt. 1, pp. 345-346.
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