Our C at/10/ic Heritage in Texas coast. If the first expedition failed to find the French colony, another attempt was to be made in October after the rainy season.2 3 As agreed, the men gathered in Cadereita, but it was not until June 27 that the force was organized and Alonso de Leon named leader. There were about seventy-five persons, among them three Indian guides. Father Fray Diego de Orozco accompanied the expedition as chaplain. Taking a good supply of flour, hard-tack, meat and chocolate, and four hundred and sixty-eight horses, the expedition set out that same day. They made their way to Rio de San Juan which they reached on the 29th. Following the course of this river, mainly to the east with a slight inclination to the north, they arrived at its junction with the Rio Grande on July 3, but finding no suitable ford, they followed the western bank for the next few days. The stream was found to be about one hundred yards wide, the water muddy, and the current swift. On July 13, Alonso de Leon came unexpectedly upon an Indian village which was on a great plain and not far from the mouth of the river. The Indians had fled before his arrival, but he succeeded in capturing three natives, who, on being questioned, said there were other Spaniards living to the north and northeast, but they could not tell the name of the place where the strangers were, nor the distance. Since the mouth of the river was to the east, Alonso de Leon concluded that the French colony was not at the mouth of the Rio Grande. 24 The following day De Leon decided to explore the mouth of the river with a group of picked men. With considerable difficulty he made his way across swamps and shallow lagoons for a distance of about six miles. When he reached the mouth of the river, he found no trace to indicate that it had been visited before by Europeans. "The stream is very muddy as it enters the sea for a distance of a league," says De Leon. "The water is a reddish color, the mouth is about a musket's shot in width, perhaps a little more. I ordered a canoe to be built in order to sound the channel and found the deepest part to be seven and a half and eight fathoms deep, which would permit a large vessel to enter for a distance of about two leagues. This day I explored the coast for a distance of four leagues and found some fresh Indian tracks . . . the coast runs from north to south slightly inclined to the northeast; the sea is rough even when there is no wind ... the beach is very clean, without rocks, 2 3Auto de la Junta de guerra en Monterrey, June 11, 1686, in A. G. / ., Audien&ia de Afexico, 61-6-20 (Dunn Transcripts, 1685-1688) . 24Derrotero diario y demarcacion del viaje que yo, el General Alonso de Leon . .. hice ... in Genaro Garcia, Doc11mentos /11edi tos, Vol. 25, pp. 297-306.
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