San Antonio de Valero and J11issio11ary Activity, 1716-1719 tor
no longer any rush, and having unsuccessfully attempted twice to explore the Bay of Espiritu Santo, the governor now decided, after consulting with the missionaries and officers, to proceed to the exploration of the bay first, and afterwards to go from there to the missions in East Texas. He concluded that traveling together the group would be safer. Preparatory to leaving, on September 5, Alarcon officially appointed a prominent chief, generally called Et Cuilon, governor and captain general of all the nations found on the road to the Tejas. In an impressive cere- mony, the Indian governor was baptized and given the name of Juan Rodriguez. Alarcon then gave him his own baton as a symbol of his new office, and all those present appeared to be well pleased. This chief was highly respected and well liked by all the Indians. It will later be seen how hard he tried to congregate several nations to found the short-lived and almost forgotten Mission of San Francisco Xavier on the San Antonio River." According to Alarcon, he set out from San Antonio for the Bay of Espiritu Santo that same day (September 5, 1718). He had twenty-nine persons in his party and there were seventeen others with Father Espinosa,. but as agreed, they all traveled together. In addition to Father Espinosa, there were two other religious in the group: Father Fray Joseph Guerra, of the College of Queretaro, and Father Fray Francisco de _Celis, Chap- lain and Chronicler of the expedition and missionary in charge of the Mission of Santisimo Nombre de Jesus del Peyote in Coahuila. They took along twenty-eight loaded mules, sixteen of these with goods and supplies for East Texas and twelve with provisions and gifts for the Indians of Espiritu Santo. There were two hundred and nineteen horses in all. Because of the numerous streams and heavy woods they had to cross, it took the expedition almost three weeks to reach the first destination. Alarcon and a small group of soldiers, together with the three mis- sionaries, left the main body of the expedition on the Guadalupe, about twenty leagues before reaching the coast and proceeded to explore the 4 'The mission was founded by Aguayo in 1722, two years after San Jose was established, but for various reasons the Indians failed to congregate and it was abandoned in 1726 before permanent quarters had been erected. Mission Records, San Antonio, Texas. From here on the account is based entirely on the heretofore unknown Diar-y of Alarcon. The statement of facts has been checked as near as pos- sible with all other documents available on the subject and found to be correct. Allow- ances must be made only where Alarcon speaks of llis accomplishments, which he naturally tends to over-emphasize.
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