Destruction of the San Xavier Missions
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Having completed the census, Eca y Musquiz then witnessed the daily distribution of rations, which was conducted by the missionary in charge. Each neophyte, regardless of age or sex, was given a gourdful of corn, equivalent to two handfuls. This constituted their daily allowance whicfi was supplemented every twelve or fifteen days by killing a bull and dis- tributing it equally among all the Indians of the mission. The chiefs of the various tribes were then questioned through an inter- preter and without the presence of the missionaries in order that they might express themselvec; freely. "I asked one of them," says Musquiz, "to tell me without restraint how they felt [about mission life]. I hinted to them the various inconveniences they were actually suffering [such as] the shortage of corn because of the lack of irrigation, and I suggested the advantages they might enjoy in another site, where they would not experience hunger as they do now, with many other reasons intended to incline them to move to a more convenient place. Each and every one of them replied in turn that this river and these lands are good because the river had water and the land had many buffalo, wild grapes, and other fruit; that here their fathers died and those who are still living reside nearby; that from this site they go to visit their kin and they [in turn] come to see them; that they had lived in the mission since they had given their word to the padres and had never gone to the woods without permis- sion." The inspector then told them that they would have to give up their m it o t e s ( pagan dances) and other heathen practices and to work to raise more corn or be punished. To all this they gladly agreed. When they were assured that they would not be moved they all appeared happy. The mission records were then examined. It was found that from February, 1748, when the mission w~s officially established, to the day of the inspection seventy-seven persons had been administered the Sacrament of Baptism. Eleven of these were adults, all having been baptized in articttlo mortis, but only three had died. Seventeen burials had been per- formed, ten adults and seven children. Speaking of the nations that might be congregated, the resident mis- sionary declared that the Yojuanes, who had been among the first to solicit admission, had come when the mission was founded, but after they received their share of presents, clothes, and food they had abandoned the mission and had gone to the woods "moved by their natural restless- ness." They had returned on several occasions and asked to be readmitted, but they had been refused for lack of facilities to feed and clothe them.
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