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Ottr Catleolic Heritage in Texas
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Padre evidently submitted a copy of Bustillo's report, since in the reply Mediavilla refers specifically to the various points of the former document. This information he could have acquired from Fray Domingo Arricivita, who was sent to deliver the letter and confer with the former governor. He first described the character of the nations for whom the new missions were intended. The Deadoses. Yojuanes, and Yerbipiames of Rancheria Grande were gentle and tractable Indians. While Governor of the Province of Texas he used to pass their randeenas six and seven times a year and he found them consistently kind and friendly. It did not surprise him that they should have asked that missions be founded in their lands. Their natural abode was not far from the San Xavier River. It would be best to establish each nation separately because although friendly with each other, they preferred to Jive in separate groups. Report of Mediavilla y Azcona. Contrary to the opinion of some, the San Xavier River was an abundant stream, that afforded all the advantages necessary for the erection of the new missions along its banks. The stream had two tributaries: Santa Rosa and El Venado that flowed down from the north and joined to form the main river. Captain Bustillo y Ceballos had undertaken his campaign against the Apaches at the suggestion of Mediavilla, and although he had gone northeast of San Antonio and visited the Brazos River area and perhaps the San Xavier, the facts as shown by his report at the time of the expedition seemed to indicate that he did not see the latter stream himself, having sent out a party of scouts for that purpose, who returned shortly to report with some fright the discovery of a large number of enemies in the vicinity. Under the circumstances their observations of the natural facilities of the San Xavier River could not have been other than cursory. It was possible, furthermore, that either one of the tributaries could have been mistaken for the main stream. Mediavilla had often gone from the -country of the Nabedaches to the region of the San Xavier River, which was some twenty-five or thirty leagues to the southwest. The-information concerning this river submitted by the missionaries was in full accord with his impression of it. Knowing the nature of the Indians to be congregated, he entertained serious doubts concerning the advisability of establishing the new missions in the pueblo of the Nabedaches or of the Ainais because these nations were not congenial. The proposal of Bustillo in his opinion was impractical and doomed the new enterprise to failure. They differed in language,
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