01'r C at/1olic H er-itage in T e:xas
:.?J2
come to the settlement, where we have at distances of two, three, five, and seven leagues more than three thousand and two hundred Indians." Having convinced the Giornas of the advantages of coming to live in a mission, Father Peiiasco returned to Santa Rosa with the Manosprietas and their new friends. With an adobe chapel and sacristy for divine services and a large hut for their quarters, a good crop of corn planted, and a supply of vegetables, it seemed as if the worst troubles of the zealous missionaries were at an end. That they had been eminently successful is evident from the fact that they had assembled approximately three thousand Indians of various nations at Santa Rosa. But their real task was still to be done as Father Steck has so aptly pointed out. "To humor the petulant children of the forest and keep them in the settlements, to preserve peace and harmony among them, to travel on foot from settlement to settlement, to visit the Indians in their hovels and to witness their depraved ways, to acquire a working knowledge of their language, to imbue their carnal minds with Christian truths and principles, to wean them from their barbarous customs and habits and win them over to clean and orderly living, to provide food and clothing for them, to teach them, and especially to induce them to cultivate the land, to protect their rights and interests against selfish and unscrupulous whites-these were the tasks that involved many hardships and problems."z 9 Fray Francisco Basin, who came to Santa Rosa, it seems, with Father Peiiasco in May, has left us a vivid picture of the conditions that pre- vailed in the mission. Speaking of the friars he says: " Their habits are very ragged from traveling. Since in their poverty they lack the mules to transport sufficient supplies, there is no occasion to help them often. Only when they sent for it with two mules, were two loads of wheat and ground corn and a string of sausages brought to them. This is all the luxury they possess . .. At present they have prickly pears in abundance. This will last until November. But after that there will be no more. If they have snow and the weather is very cold, it will be fish without end. But one cannot eat fish every day. We have seen and caught some delicious fish; they are large and palatable. If elsewhere they are good because fire, fat, and spices are available, there they are prepared merely on live coals. The number of people is large and they live in
29Steck, o-;. c;t., 20.
Powered by FlippingBook