Explorations and Settlements A long tl1e Rio Grande
2 I 7
extreme joy at seeing how we had overcome so many obstacles in attaining our encl." The men dismounted and marched into the chapel, where they thanked God and the Virgin of Guadalupe for the successful accom- plishment of their object. The entire expedition camped that night in the plaza of the pueblo. The diary showed they had traveled one hundred and fifty-eight leagues from Presidio de! Sacramento to the first pueblo of La Junta, or approximately four hundred and fifty miles because of the many detours. Governor Rabago y Teran learned from the missionary that Captain Idoyaga, from San Bartolome, had arrived several days before, but had gone on to explore El Cajon (the Box or Canyon) to the north of La Junta. Part of his men were encamped about ten miles away at San Francisco de la Junta Mission. Father Fray Francisco Sanchez, 0. F. M., told Rabago y Teran the privations and hardships he had to endure in ministering to the Indians without a soldier to compel respect among them. He declared that the Indians were good but very independent and soon tired of the presence of the missionary. If the Padre stayed at the mission for some time, the natives would become restless and frankly ask him, "When are you leaving, Padre?" Description of La ]1111ta, December, z747. On December 19, the missionary said a Mass of thanksgiving and Governor Rabago y Teran and his men attended in a body. Taking thirty men, he then went out to explore the whole region. Setting out to the east, he went about nine leagues down the river to where the Rio Grande bed narrows to pass between two mountains. At this point he crossed into Texas, very near present day Presidio. "Half a league beyond [from the point of crossing] I examined some old walls of houses in ruins said to be of the old Mission of San Antonio de los Puliques, founded years before for the Tapalcome nation." Here he spent the night. On December 20, he went upstream, on the Texas side and inspected the site of the Pueblo and Mission of San Cristobal. No resident mis- sionary was living there at this time. The distance traveled from San Antonio de los Puliques was about eight leagues. He now recrossed the river into Mexico and marched back to Guadalupe. The next day he noticed that the Indians of this mission had many horses with brands known to belong to men from Coahuila and to some of those on the expedition. He warned his men, however, not to claim them in order to avoid giving offence to the natives. He advised the
Powered by FlippingBook