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Our Cat/10/ic Heritage in Texas
had visited the site, but had been sent back to Mexico to present the case of the missionaries. In his memorial he prophesied that neither the Governor of Texas nor the Captain of La Bahia would give more than formal obedience to the new orders of July 27, presenting new objections which would result in more delay. Los Adaes could ill spare seventeen men, being on the French frontier in the midst of hostile Indians. The sixty soldiers there were needed constantly to escort the governor, the missionaries, and convoys from Saltillo; to cultivate the fields; and to guard the storehouse. La Bahia was similarly situated and was constantly harassed by the coastal Indians, particularly the Cujane. Granting that the men could be spared, thirty soldiers were inadequate to protect the new missions. Nothing less than fifty would suffice to guard the missions and the herds of horses, to escort supply trains and missionaries. to keep the new converts under proper discipline, and to resist the inevitable attacks of the Apaches. A presidio was therefore essential. It would inspire proper respect, protect the frontier against the Apaches, and check French influence among the natives. He concluded by urging again that the garrison at Sacramento be moved to the San Xavier as previously suggested, and that it be reinforced with thirty or forty additional men. If it was impossible to effect the transfer of Presidio del Sacramento, then the force of eighty or ninety men should be recruited from other presidios not in Texas to erect the new fort on the San Xavier. 25 It was this last suggestion which was eventually to bear fruit. As Fray Anda had prophesied, Captain Orobio y Basterra at La Bahia, soon presented excuses for not complying with the instructions of July 27, 1747. That they were reasonable did not obviate further delays. On November 1 he made a long report to the viceroy, before he had received the new orders. He narrated how upon his return from an expedition against the Coco Indians to the East of La Bahia, the Orcoquisacs, a nation never known to have come west of the Brazos River, had sent a delegation to La Bahia on May 3, who had stayed at the presidio until the 9th·. They had requested that missions be established in their land, and they offered to be congregated if their petition was granted. He explained that he had treated the visitors with kindness, and had given them presents. When they left they promised to return for an answer at the close of the summer. True to their promise, two chiefs and nine warriors
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25Memorial of Fray Anda. Cited by Bolton, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Cen- tury, 178-179•
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