Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
friars from Sevilla to Queretaro was four thousand and eighty pesos, which was paid by the royal treasury in Mexico City. 57 But the year 1731 seems to have been an unfortunate one for the mis- sionaries. This amount was paid to Captain Gazpar Garcia del Rivero, Sindico, or legal representative, of the College, who died shortly after. When the College executives tried to collect this sum and five thousand four hundred pesos more, which had likewise _been paid to him as the allowance for the missionaries already in .charge of missions that year, they found out that the property left by the former trustee and custodian of funds was not sufficient to cover his personal debts. 58 As related in the course of this chapter, large sums had also been spent by the mis- sionaries in moving from East Texas to the San Antonio. In the letter to the viceroy, the Guardian explained that these and many other unex- pected expenses had been borne by the College during the last three years with the aid of the alms given to it by His Majesty and its many bene- factors. But in spite of all that the pious friends had done, and were doing, debts had been incurred which now had to be paid. The death of the Sindico and the loss by him of all recently acquired Franciscan funds, through no fault of the Padres, whose rule prohibited them from handling their own finance, made it imperative for the head of the College to appeal to the generosity of His Excellency. 59 The petition was, as usual, referred by the viceroy to Rivera, who reported a few days later that His Excellency should do in the matter whatever his judgment dictated. He declared that the College was entitled to receive help and that the request for the grant of a special aid in view of the circumstances described seemed justified. As to the amount, it was a matter for the viceroy to decide. Conditions in La BaMa and Los Adaes. It will be well to turn now to conditions in La Bahia and Los Adaes. From the report of Rivera, the progress made at La Bahia up to 1727 has been seen. The garrison had been so improved since the removal of Diego Ramon, that it forced the inspector to admit that it was the best in Texas. On December 28, 1728, Captain Bustillo y Ceballos wrote a letter to the viceroy to inform him that salines had been discovered by a scouting party about fifty leagues to the south of the presidio. The salt they yielded was so abundant s;Father Pedro de ~1ezquia to the Viceroy, August 8, 1731. A. G. N., Provincias /nler11as, Vol. 236.
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