Our Catkoli& Heritage in T ezas
186
be irrigated with ease. There was abundant timber to rebuild the pre- sidio and stone could be secured if desired from a quarry which Captain Bustillos claimed was found about two leagues away. A quarter of a league from the proposed site was a small creek with abundant water, where the missionary had already started to congregate the Indians for the mission that was to be established there. The irrigation ditch for the farms had been dug and the fields were already plowed and planted. Here a new nation, the Jaranames, were to be congregated. The mem- bers of this tribe were numerous ·and seemed pleased with the idea of the establishment of the presidio and mission in the midst of their coun- try. Captain Bustillos declared that they came and went all day. He had doubts as to whether all of them could be congregated in one mission, but he said that fortunately, a large creek had been discovered about three leagues on the west side of the river, on the new road he had opened from La Bahia to the Rio Grande, with sufficient water to irri- gate the broad plains that bordered it. Another mission could be founded at t_his place, if necessary to accommodate all the Indians. "So many are the natives who live in this region that it moves the most indifferent observer to pity to see so many lost souls, ..." declared Bustillos in his letter to the viceroy. 26 The former neophytes of Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo were no longer hostile and visited the old presidio from time to time peacefully, refusing however, to be congregated again in the former mission now abandoned. Ever since the new captain arrived there had been no depredations committed by the coastal tribes and gen- eral tranquility had been observed. Aside from the natural advantages described, it was reported that the new site was in reality only a league or two farther from the entrance to the Bay of Espiritu Santo than the former had been. If one followed the river, which was navigable to its mouth, the Bay of San Rafael, where it emptied, was only five leagues to the southeast. From here to the Bay of Espiritu Santo it was about eleven or twelve leagues in a general east-southeasterly direction. The difference in the distance from the former location to the entrance to the bay was two or three leagues. 17 According to the instructions of the viceroy, Captain Bustillos and Governor Almazan were to make separate reports on the findings of the exploration. As Almazan had returned to San Antonio immediately after 26Bustillos to the Viceroy, June 18, 1726. A. G. N., P,-ovincias lnte,-nas, Vol. 236, Part I. 11/bid.
i I
i r.
I
Powered by FlippingBook