299
Establishment of San Fernando de Bejar, I723-I73I
case of attack, the dwellers might protect each other; but plenty of room for ventilation should be allowed, so that air currents might enter the different houses from the four cardinal points of the compass. This would make the residences more sanitary. Each family should be provided with ten ewes and a ram, ten goat does and a buck, five sows and a boar, five mares and a stallion, and five cows and a bull. The governor was authorized to purchase all these ani- mals at the most reasonable price and to include them in the list of sup- plies furnished to the colonists by order of the king. He was asked to make a complete report of the survey of the lands, their distribution, and all the measures taken in carrying out the orders of the viceroy for his information and approval. 50 Arrival of Canary Islanders in San Antonio. Notwithstanding the careful calculations of the viceroy and his able advisers, it took the lit- tle group of undaunted Canary Islanders from November 15, 1730, to March 9, 1731, finally to reach their destination. On that day, at about eleven o'clock in the morning, the worn-out travelers filed slowly before the Captain of the Presidio of San Antonio de Bejar, after their long and fatiguing march from Mexico City to Texas. Agreeable to the express orders of the viceroy, Captain Juan Antonio de Almazan, received them in person. The conductor, Francisco Duval, presented him with the list of the families and of all the supplies and equipment that they had been given when they set out from Cuatitlan and what they had received from Captain Aguirre at Saltillo. It seems that they did not leave this latter city until January 28, and that it took them forty days to make the trip to San Antonio. Hardships of the marck. Nothing gives a better idea of the hard- ships of the journey than the report of the number of exhausted or jaded horses left by each family on the roadside. Juan Leal Goraz declared that he had everything which he had received as equipment, except the horses that had been given to him. He had left all of them, worn-out at various places along the way. Juan Curbelo lost ten horses in the same manner. Juan Leal, Jr., stated he was forced to abandon thirteen horses for the same reason. Antonio Santos lost a bridle and a quilt, which 50 Para que el Govcrnador de Texas; y en su auscncia el Capitan del Presidio de Sn. Antonio, Reconosca el Parage donde ha de fundarse la Poblazon a que ban ido las quince familias, lo mida, deslinde, y Reparta . . . November 28, 1730. A. G. N., Historia, Vol. 84.
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