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Handicaps to ill is sion D evelopmcn t, I 7 3 I-I 7 5 o
eight. Of those on the mission records twenty-four only were m1ssmg, eleven of whom were baptized and thirteen instructed. In his detailed report, the happy Pad1·e declared that of those brought back eighty-seven were married and twenty-one were children. 66 Fligl1t aud recovery of Indians of Jltlission San Juan Capistrano. At about the same time the neophytes of Mission San Francisco abandoned their pueblo. those of San Juan Capistrano also ran away. Of the four tribes: Thelojas, Venados, Orejones, and Saiopines (Chayopines?) con- gregated, only about twenty Thelojas and three Orejones remained. As late as December, 1737, about one hundred and eighty were still in the woods. The Saiopines and Venados numbered about one hundred and thirty, of whom more than ninety were Christians. When they abandoned the mission some of them left their wives behind. Several attempts were made to induce them to return of their own free will by sending messen- gers to them but without results. Father Mariano de los Dolores, who had charge of the mission, asked Governor Orobio y Basterra, therefore, on December 3, to furnish him an escort to go in search of them. To this the governor acceded gladly and ordered Andres Hernandez, an expe- rienced officer, to go with nine men immediately. But that night, at about eight o'clock, Andres Hernandez and the nine men returned to the presidio to report that Father Mariano, having learned that the Apaches had surprised the guards on the Cibolo River and carried away a large number of horses, had ordered the escort to report to the governor, feeling that under the circumstances their services might be needed. The journey of Father Mariano was postponed for almost two months. Corporal Hernandez and the nine men were not again ordered to accompany the Padre until February 26, 1738. Not until March 2, however, was the little party ready to set out in quest of the Saiopines. After twenty-one days, they returned and presented themselves to the governor at about five o'clock in the afternoon with the Indians they had brought back. These were counted in the plaza (public square) and found to number one hundred and twenty, including men, women and children. The governor distributed presents to them and ordered that they be lodged in Mission Valero for the night, where they could rest, and that next day they should go on to San Juan eapistrano. 67 66 Report of Sergeant Miguel Olivares, January 13, 1738; Report of Father Ysasmendi, February 23, 1739, in Ibid., pp. 46-48. 67 Petition of Fray Mariano de los Dolores, December 3, 1737; Order for escort, same date; Report of Andres Hernandez, same date; Fray Mariano de los Dolores'
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