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Our Catltolic Heritage in Texas
a few miles below present Villa Acuna. Finally on September 9, a month after starting from the Nadadores, they came to the Rio Grande, some distance below the mouth of the Pecos River. Here they camped and decided to wait for the return of the_ messengers sent to the viceroy. 52 From the general route followed, they must have reached the Rio Grande near present Del Rio. They waited for three weeks without receiving any news or instructions from the viceroy. In the meantime the supplies began to dwindle rapidly and Sosa had to resort to a system of rations to prevent their complete exhaustion. While they were waiting, a number of scouting expeditions were sent out and the route that should be followed was discussed at length. Sosa listened to the rather frank and varied opinions of his com- panions but kept his own counsel and finally decided to follow his original plan, which was to try to find the Salado River ( the Pecos) and ascend this stream to New Mexico. They seem to have established their camp on the Rio Grande a short distance below the mouth of Devil's River and to have crossed at this point while waiting to determine their future course. On October 1, camp was broken and the long caravan with its creaking carts pulled by oxen began to move with diffi- culty over the rough, uneven country. The next day they came to a river which they called Laxas and which in all probability was Devil's River. One of the scouting parties had previously located a suitable ford which proved more difficult than had been anticipated. Once safely across, the party pitched camp, while a group of scouts tried to find the best route to the Pecos. This became a much more arduous task than had been foreseen, Twice the scouts returned during the next few days to report they had found the Pecos, but that the road to it was impassable for the wagon train, on account of the dense thickets and the ruggedness of the land. The supplies were still diminishing and the rations had to be again reduced . Some of the members of the party became so disappointed with the outlook that they seriously proposed giving up the enterprise and return- ing to Almaden. Sosa was determined to go, however, declaring that as for himself he "trusted in God that He would provide a way out of 51Castafio de Sosa has left us a detailed and full but not very clear account of the entire expedition in his "Memoria del descubrimiento . . . " printed in the Pacheco y Cardenas, Documentos, XV, 191-261. In the remainder of our account this Memor!a will be followed as well as the very able summary and scholarly deduc- tions of the study of Miss Hull previously cited.
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