Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
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bay. It seems they struck the coast at a point somewhere between the present town of Prague and Port O'Connor, in Calhoun County, judging from the rather detailed and vivid description of the locality. They arrived at the bay on September 23. "Having reached its shore, we fol- lowed the coast for about two leagues in a general southwestern direction to a point opposite a small island which seems to be about a quarter of a league long and a little more than a gun's shot distance in width. There are some cacti, mesquite trees, and oak groves upon it. On its shore is a very thick beam stranded in the sand and a little beyond this one there is another much smaller. Both are in the water but they can be seen at low tide.... There is about a quarter of a league from the mainland to the island. . . . The bay runs from north to southwest and forms a semicircle, closed by a small island that lies from east to south for a distance of about three leagues. Beyond this lies the high sea. Along the arm of the sea that runs to the north-northeast there is a passage to the sea." The Bays of Todos los Santos and San Bernardo, formed by different lakes which we explored the day before, are navigable and in canoes one can go to the rich and level lands that border them." 50 Alarcon's visit to East Texas. Alarcon and his little group now returned to the main body of the expedition. After sending a complete report of everything he had done and his observations on the Bay of Espiritu Santo, the governor at last departed for the Presidio de los Tejas, on September 28, 1718. A short distance beyond the point where he crossed the Guadalupe, about twenty leagues from the coast, he was met by a large delegation of Indians who came to ask him to establish a mission for them. There were six nations represented: Xanac, Emet, Too, Mayeye, Huyugan, and Cumercai. Presents were distributed among them and they were assured that a mission would be founded as soon as possible. The Indians said they had selected a place for it on a small hill near the river, where there was a little spring. The spot was marked by a cross and the expedition continued its march. With bells ringing, the missionaries and Indians of the Mission of Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas welcomed the new governor with undisguised joy, on October 14, when he at last arrived in East "This is evidently Pass Cavallo, off Port O'Connor. The description given here cannot fit any other section of the coast, because present Espiritu Santo Bay is the only locality where there are three small islands--one extremely small as described here--at such a close distance from shore. soo;a,y of Ma,tin de Ala,con, 21-22.
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