Our Catliolic Heritage in T ezas
families with three hundred and fifty-seven persons. The settlers owned over four thousand mares, almost five hundred mules, over forty-four thousand sheep, and eight hundred head of cattle. The houses of the settlers were poor in general and the place resembled more a large ltacienda than a city. Fray Miguel de Santa Maria declared that he had tried to congregate the Indians, but that he had been unsuccessful for lack of adequate supplies and equipment. At his own expense he had built a one-room house of stone and mortar for himself at a cost of ninety-seven pesos. He said that he needed two soldiers to congregate the Indians. The two tribes that came, when food was available, were the Malos Hombres (Bad Men), and the Cueros Quemados (Burnt Skins). The Carrizos lived beyond the Rio Grande and twenty-seven families of this tribe had lived together for five years at Dolores, where he had attended to them. But few friars were more overworked than Fray Miguel, who had to look after the settlers of Revilla, Dolores, and Laredo, while trying to establish a mission at Revilla. The inhabitants of Revilla, like those of the other settlements along the river, depended largely on the salt trade for their supply of agri- cultural products. They sent mule trains across the river to bring the salt from the salines northeast of Reynosa, which were almost fifty leagues away, and exchanged the salt for corn and other supplies. By 1758, there were sixty-seven families with more than four hundred persons, including Spaniards, mestizos, and mulattoes, all from Nuevo Leon. Many of these had ranches and property north of the Rio Grande. Lopez de la Camara Alta informed the viceroy that most of the settlers were able to pay royal tribute and should be made to do so. The plaza of the town was one hundred and twenty-four varas square, but only a few jacales were built around it, most of the houses being scattered over the hills. A small chapel made of brush and mud and thatched with palm leaves had been built. There was no mission nor were Indians congregated, although many continued to visit the place and all were friendly. There was little hope, however, of a mission being established, thought Camara Alta, because most of the Indians who frequented Revilla were of the same nations as those being congregated at Camargo. In 1761, Escandon described Revilla and the progress made in the following words: "The increase in the number of settlers continues, as well as that of its herds. The inhabitants have settled likewise all the lands that belong to them on the opposite bank of the Rio Grande del Norte. They did not do so badly with the small amount of grain they
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