Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
230
to Santa Rosa. The next day they set out for the Rio Grande. At this point Fray Manuel is careful to note that he had spent twenty-one days in the region north of the Rio Grande "that is in what today constitutes Maverick, Kinney, and Valverde Counties in Texas. They crossed the river at two forks and over a wide ford, in the middle of which there was an i,sland of sand. Two days later, pursuing a southerly course, they came to a creek where they met the Pinanco and the Tiltiquimayo Indians, numbering one hundred and sixty-six persons. Taking these with them, they traveled eight days and reached the Nueces River, in Mexico. This they crossed and on the following day came to a meadow which lay between two hills and through which flowed a spring. Here they met eighty-two Indians of the Bausorigame tribe, who welcomed the visitors and gladly joined them on their way to Santa Rosa. Manuel's company now numbered eight hundred and twenty-one Indians. Finally they came to a creek which was only ten leagues from Santa Rosa. Here Manuel permitted the Indians to rest for three days, he himself con- tinuing the journey alone."% 7 When he arrived in Santa Rosa he found that Father Larios and Captain Barbarigo had almost finished building an adobe church, with its sacristy, and a hut for the missionaries. Thus in the space of six weeks a zealous Franciscan Brother had gone from Santa Rosa on the Sabinas to Maverick, Kinney, and Valverde Counties in search of Indians and had spent half of this time within the present limits of Texas. Not in vain were these unselfish and enthusiastic missionaries sent with all the honors of true conquerors from the distant seat of the bishopric of Guadalajara. Fatlzer Peiiasco enters Texas. On May 3, the day after the return of Brother Manuel from his remarkable journey across the Rio Grande, Father Francisco Penasco de Lozano, who had gone to Guadalajara to make a personal report to the Commissary General in February, arrived in Santa Rosa. Encouraged, no doubt, by the success of the good Brother, he now determined to emulate his accomplishment by going after another tribe who had failed to return to the mission. These were the Manosprietas ( Blackhands). In the course of the search for these Indians, Father Penasco was destined to cross into Texas. Unfortunately the details of his journey are not set down in a diary nor in a formal report, but are
%7Steck, "Forerunners of De Leon's Expedition," in Texas Catholic Historical Society, Preliminary St11dies, II, No. 3, pp. 16-17.
Powered by FlippingBook