Our Catl,olic Heritage in Texas
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falls. Between December 8 and December 12 they passed numerous aban- doned ranclzeri.as. On the last mentioned date they halted to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron saint of the expedition, at an arroyo formed by a spring, whose stream had been dammed by beavers. They called it Nutria Creek (Beaver). The rancleerias in the vicinity appeared to have been abandoned only some twenty days before. In this area there are numerous small creeks and it is difficult to determine just where the camp was established on the Texas side of the river, but they must have been in the vicinity of present day Laj itas. On December 13, the march was resumed to the north-northwest. A large Indian trail was encountered, which led to the northeast. The Indian guides said it went towards the Cibolo plains. The expedition continued to the river, where it camped near a ranc/1eria abandoned about twelve days before. The vicinity was explored and it was decided that it would be impossible to continue up the river on the Texas side; so the next day the river was crossed at a place which Rabago y Teran called Real del Paso. This must have been at or very near Lajitas. Here they found the remains of an enemy's camp very recently abandoned. Part of a cooked horse was noted and evident signs of a dance around a totem pole where scalps had been hung. The expedition had gone fifty-three leagues from Santa Rita crossing, which distance they had traveled on the Texas side of the river through the very heart of the Big Bend. Continuing their march north, with slight inclinations to the west and keeping as near the river as possible, the expedition saw smoke columns rising in the distance on December 18. A halt was made and a reconnoitering party, under the command of the lieutenant of San Juan Bautista del Rio Grande, was sent out. It is to be noted that on December 16 it is recorded that the canyon through which the river flowed was red. It is evident that they were at that time on present Canyon Colorado, some forty miles below Presidio. The reconnoitering party soon returned to say that the smoke rose from the Pueblo of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe on the Rio Grande; that they had entered the pueblo but had found no Spaniards there except a missionary from whom they had learned that this was one of the missions at La Junta de los Rios. The Pueblo of Guadalupe was on the Mexican side of the river and below the actual juncture of the two streams (the Conchas and the Rio Grande). The expedition immediately set out for the goal of their journey: "We were received with ringing of bells by the missionary, who expenenced
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