Our Catlzolic Heritage in T exas
Ca11os, a name given by the Indians to the French, had also visited them. From the description given by signs, Fray Mariano suspected that they were English. These intruders had attempted to make a treaty with the Indians, who had told them that they could not be friends because the Spaniards were going to found a mission for them. The foreigners, whoever they were, doubted the Indians. When they left, they said that they would return and they advised the Indians to ask the Padre to give them a paper. But Fray Mariano refused to communicate by this means with the visitors, reasoning that if he gave them such testimony, the strangers would know of the mission with certainty and might plan an attack upon it. That these Indians traded with the French could not be doubted, he affirms, judging from the large number of firearms of French make among them. In view of the facts reported, Fray Mariano concluded that a regular presidio was highly advisable at San Xavier for the protection of the Indians against the Apaches, the safeguarding of the missionaries, and for general respect. San Xavier was far more exposed than San Antonio. While among the Indians he had wasted no time. In addition to starting the buildings described, he had begun to cultivate the fields and to sow . some seed. Some of the plants he brought from San Antonio were frost- bitten and withered away. Cheered at the prospect of the conversion of so many Indians, he closed his letter to the Father President in San Antonio with a protestation of obedience humorously phrased. "I am well," he said, "but frozen on one side and toasted on the other from sitting near the fire. I am strong, however, and fit to carry out whatever your Reverence may order." 7 And this trait showed the religious sim- plicity and ardent zeal still maintained by Father Fray Mariano after thirteen years of incessant labor among countless tribes and nations in Texas. First ,petition to tlze viceroy, February, r746. The College of the Holy Cross of Queretaro enthusiastically embraced the plan for the propqsed conversion of the four tribes. On his return from the visitation Fray Ortiz made a detailed report of the circumstances. To this were added the two letters of Fray Mariano to Fray Benito Fernandez de Santa Ana and Fray Alonso Giraldo de Terreros. Agreeable to the suggestion of Fray Mariano, the College commissioned Fray Francisco Xavier Ortiz to secure the approval of the plan and the required official
1/bid., San Francisco el Grande Archives, vol. 1 9, PP· 6 2 -65.
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