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authorization be granted him to found missions among all these Indians, who had solicited missionaries for many years. 26 At the same time Captain Juan Dominguez de Mendoza presented a similar memorial in which, as a loyal subject of His Majesty, who had served him in the province of New Mexico for forty-two years, he promised to undertake an expedition to explore all the countries from New Mexico to the North Sea (Gulf of Mexico), bringing back detailed information concerning the inhabitants of these lands, their number, their manner of life, and their wealth. He offered to find La Gran Quivira and the Kingdom of the Tejas, whose very threshold he had visited in 1684. He said that with two hundred men, for whom provisions would be needed for the march as far as the Rio de las Nueces ( the Concho or perhaps the present Colorado) he could take possession of the Kingdom of the Tejas, where corn, pumpkins, and beans were cultivated. He promised to build two forts in that land at his own expense, and agreed to forfeit his head should he fail. 27 Unfortunately the viceroy at this time did not realize the close con- nection that existed between the country of the Tejas and the location of the French settlement on Matagorda Bay. Being obsessed with the desire to locate the colony of the intruders said to be on the coast, he was not interested at this time in the proposals for the occupation of the J umano country or the establishment of missions in the Kingdom of the Tejas which was in the interior. Since Mendoza made no special mention of his ability to find La Salle's colony, the authorities disre- garded his plan which was in the main concerned with the establishment of missions, paying no more attention to this petition than they had to the proposals of Father Lopez. Second effort of De Leon to find La Salle. In the meantime the Marquis of Aguayo, who was convinced that the French had established themselves somewhere on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, was determined to find the colony before the expiration of his term of office as governor of Nuevo Leon. Accordingly, early in February, 1687, he ordered that a new expedition be. undertaken. This time the men were to explore the east bank of the Rio Grande, descending the stream to its mouth and going hence along the coast to the north and east until they came upon the French colony. It was known that there was a good
26 Nicolas Lopez, "Memorial," in Fernandez Duro, Don Diego de Pe,ialosa, 67-74. 2 7 Dominguez de Mendoza, "Memorial," in Jb;d., 74-77 .
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