---·
Ottr Catlzolic Heritage itt T e:xas
a quarter pesos a pound which cost twenty-five cents; soap, ten bars for a peso, but the bars were very thin; silk scarfs at one and three-quarters pesos; children's shoes at two pesos, which cost fifty cents; silver braid at two and a half pesos an ounce which cost half as much; silk shawls at thirty pesos, cost ten; and cotton hose at two pesos, cost sixty-five cents. The list gives a good idea of the prices at which the most commonly used goods were sold and the enormous profits made by the captain of the presidio who generally supplied them. 39 But the best picture of life in El Paso is found in two day-by-clay reports for the year 1765. Here we find many purely routine matters of the presidio and human incidents of interest and significance curiously mixed. On January 31 two Apache chiefs, El Surdo (left-handed one) and Bigotes (mustache) visited the presidio. They came bearing a cross as a sign of peace. They told the captain they had come to make a truce for four tribes, and to convince him of their truthfulness, they presented him with a picture drawn on a piece of paper of their big chief whose name was Cuerno (Horn). They remained in the settlement until February 3, when they departed with a message to their chief, asking him to come in person. Nothing of interest happened until February 18. On this day a large party of merchants and Indians left El Paso with a long train of their wares which they were taking to Chihuahua to trade. An escort of soldiers under the command of Tomas Duran accompanied the party to protect them on the road. Life went on undisturbed. On March 2, three old Indian squaws and a child came to the presidio. They were Apaches. Under the pretense of coming to make peace, they brought a supply of hides and skins which they traded for food. It is to be noted that it was these hides and skins which constituted the chief articles of trade of the settlers in their trips to Chihuahua. Thus the Apaches furnished the hides and skins and secured supplies in exchange. The three women were treated kindly, but they were told plainly that if their chief wanted to make a treaty, he would have to come in person, and that any others who came to the settlement would be treated as spies. The warning had little effect, for on March 6 two Indian prowlers were captured, who had the same pretense or excuse. On March IS, Fray Joseph Paez, missionary at San Lorenzo, reported
b :,i6 17 66 A. G. I., .A11di1mcia de Guadalajara
"Rubi to the Viceroy, Octo er ' (Dunn Transcripts, 1767), PP· 69 - 7 3 ·
·
Powered by FlippingBook