Our Cat/1-olic H eritnge in Texas
were acquainted with conditions in the remote province, were consulted. The first of these to report was Juan Antonio Bustillo y Ceballos, former Governor of Texas. In his detailed opinion on the project, he voiced serious objections to the plan, which started a controversy that was destined to delay the formal erection of the missions for almost three years and cause an appeal to be made directly to the king. Bustillo y Ceballos began by summarizing the proposals up to May, 1746. He pointed out that for the safety and defense of the new missions Fray Mariano had advised that thirty men be detailed from Los Adaes. This plan had been modified by the Fiscal in his opinion on the project, by suggesting the suppression of the two small detachments stationed at Boca de Leones and Cerralvo in Nuevo Leon, in order that the funds used for their maintenance might be applied to the expenses necessary for the establishment of the intended missions; and the transfer of thl! garrison of Presidio de Santa Rosa del Sacramento in Coahuila to th.! San Xavier River for their protection. As to the facts involved, he explained that from San Antonio to the Trinity, which marked the confines of the Asinais, a confederation of Indian nations commonly called Tejas, it was one hundred and twenty leagues. In the area that lay between these limits were found the Mayeyes. who habitually roamed between the Brazos and Navasota Rivers; the Acdoces (Deadoses), who ranged ordinarily from the Navasota to the Trinity; and the Yojuanes, who lived northwest of the upper Trinity, bordering on the lands of a tribe of Apaches called Melenudos. Between the Acdoces and the Yojuanes were the Indians of the so-called Rancheria Grande, large only in name. This consisted of an agglomeration of the remnants of numerous nations, that had been reduced to impotency, and runaways from the missions. As to the Acdoces (Deadoses) they were not numerous. The last time he had visited them was in 1734 and their number had not increased greatly since that time, he concluded, because of the frequent epidemics of measles and smallpox with which they were wont to be afflicted. The Melenudos (Apaches) were the traditional enemies of the Yojuanes and the Tejas. So much for the Indian tribes who were to be congregated in the proposed missions. As to San Xavier River as a site, he explained that on October 31 , 1732, he had undertaken an expedition against the Apaches with one hundred and twenty-five soldiers, thirty-two servants, and nine hundred mules and horses. Going northeast from San Antonio he had reached the San Xavier (San Gabriel), a mere creek as far as he could
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