Our Catlwlic Heritage in Texas
settlement recently founded exposed to the wiles of the hostile tribes that surrounded him. 36 Bosque-Larios expedition. But the repeated requests for missionaries from the Manosprietas and other tribes, who lived beyond the Rio Grande, and the insistence of the Padres, finally convinced Baka.reel of the advisa- bility of undertaking a formal expedition. Believing that his presence in the new settlement was necessary for its welfare, he decided to appoint Fernando del Bosque, his trusted lieutenant and standard bearer, to accom- pany the missionaries. Ten soldiers were placed under his command, who together with twenty-one Bobole Indians under Lazaro Agustin, the gov- ernor of San Miguel de Luna, were to escort Fathers Juan Larios and Dionisio de San Buenaventura in the expedition. They were to go, accord- ing to their instructions, as far as the Dacate Mountains and visit such other places as might be deemed advisable for the better service of His Majesty. They were to visit all places to which they were invited by the natives. The Indians were to be congregated in towns and settled in order that they might more easily receive instruction from the missionaries con- cerning our holy faith . Fernando del Bosque was to bring back a full and complete description of the rivers, their locations, the character of the country, and the nature of its mountains; to take royal possession of each and every place visited and to draw up the corresponding auto or testimony in due form; and to make a full report of the number of the various tribes or nations encountered, including all the men and women, young and old. 37 Thus within twelve months, this expedition was again to cross the Rio Grande for the third time and explore more in detail than in any of the previous entradas a larger portion of the territory immediately east of the Eagle Pass-Del Rio area. The expedition set out from Guadalupe on April 30, 1675. It consisted of Fernando del Bosque, Fray Juan Larios, Fray Dionisio de San Buena- ventura, ten Spanish soldiers, Lazaro Agustin, the Indian interpreter and governor of the Indian pueblo of San Miguel de Luna, Juan de la Cruz~ a captain of the Bobole nation, an ensign, twenty Boboles, and one hundred Indians armed wtih bows and arrows of the Guyquechale nation who joined the expedition at the Nadadores River. By the fifth of May the expedition reached the Sabinas River (Coahuila). After formally taking
S6$teck, o;. cit ., 23-24. S7Portillo, Ajuntes, 105.
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