T/1e Organization of l'llission Life, I722-I728
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requested to order one of the two missionaries under oath of obedience to proceed immediately to look after the spiritual needs of the garrison and settlers. But the Auditor became so excited that he misread the letter of Governor Almazan which in main dealt with the proposed removal of the Presidio of Nuestra Senora del Loreto at La Bahia to the Guada- lupe River, and thinking the reference was to this coastal establishment instead of San Antonio de Valero, he explicitly and emphatically asked that the missionary be sent to La Bahia at once. The viceroy accepted the recommendations and issued the corresponding orders, in the strictest terms, on August 29, 1726. The Commissary General commanded the Father President at San Antonio, under oath of obedience, on December 9 of the same year, to send one of the missionaries to La Bahia without delay, and it took almost a year to correct this oversight of the Auditor. Although such an occurrence was not common, it nevertheless illustrates the serious evils which at times resulted from hasty action in Mexico City. 62 Mission life in Texas. It is important here to give a detailed account of the trials and the hardships which the missionaries had to endure in civilizing the Indians. Father Espinosa, who for many years labored in Texas, has left us a vivid description of their toils. First and foremost, he declares, was the difficulty of learning the languages of the numerous tribes. The viceroy issued an order at the close of 1724, directing all mis- sionaries to learn the various dialects of the tribes that were congregated in the different missions. 63 This urgent demand was hardly necessary because the Padres had striven diligently for the mastery of these Indian tongues, for that was always the first step in the great work of evangeli- zation and conversion. No one realized more than the sons of St. Francis themselves how essential this speaking knowledge was for the teaching of Christian doctrine. This was no easy task for the missionaries. To reduce to writing and to try to systematize the primitive dialects spoken by the natives was much more difficult than to decipher the most intricate modern code. The Indians depended largely on the inflection of their voices and the accompanying gestures for varied meanings of the same sound. "It is necessary to work with our fingers, writing, noting, and 62 Governor Perez Almazan to the Viceroy, July 4, 1726; Opinion del Auditor, August 19, 1726; Orden de Fray Fernando Alonso Gonzalez, Commissary Gen- eral, December 9, 1726. A. G. N., Provi11cias /11/er1ws, Vol. z36, Part 1 (Bolton Transcripts). 63 Viceregal decree, November 15, 1724. A. G. N., 11/isio,iu, Vol. 21.
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