357
Establislnnent of J11issions in East Texas, 1689-1693
because of the great distance from shore and the lack of a boat or canoe. He explained that the buoys were several miles from shore and that one seemed to be to the right of the other, and had on it what appeared to be a signal flag. 27 The matter was referred to the Auditor, on the twentieth, and to the Fiscal on the twenty-second. After hearing their opinion, the viceroy decided to call a Junta General to consider the course to be followed in view of the new developments. 28 The officials met on August 29. After due deliberation, they decided that the presence of the buoys in the bay was a very serious matter and advised that the viceroy should take immediate steps to have them removed. The ltmta recommended that such orders as were deemed advisable should be issued at such time a s seemed most convenient. 29 Tl,e Llano-Cardenas ezpedi t.ion, 1690. The Count of Gal ve took the matter under advisement before he issued orders for a new maritime expedition. It seems that he was not only interested in the removal of the buoys that had been left apparently to mark the entrance to the bay, but that he desired to find a more convenient route by water to the distant missionary center that had just been established among the Tejas. In his decree, therefore, he reviewed the circumstances of the case and explained that a land expedition was too costly and too difficult. If while undertaking to remove the buoys by means of a maritime expe- dition, however, the coast could be more carefully explored and a river found that would lead into the interior, it would facilitate communication with the distant outpost in the future. Consequently, on September 14, he issued the necessary instructions for the contemplated expedition. A ship was to be equipped for three months and placed in charge of Captain Francisco de Llanos, an officer of the West Indian fleet. Juan de Triana, an experienced pilot of the Gulf of Mexico, well acquainted with its coast, was to accompany Llanos. Captain Gregorio Salinas Varona, who had just returned from the recent land expedition to the country of the Tejas, was to be in charge of land operations, and Manuel Joseph de Cardenas y Magana, the skillful engineer . who built the still renowned prison and fort of San Juan De Uh'.1a in Veracruz was to go as map- maker. 27 Declarations of Captain Salinas Varona and Pierre Meusnier, August 19, 1690 in Ibid ., 54-64 . 28 Report of the Auditor and the Fiscal, August 22 and 29. 1690, in Ibid., 64-6( !?Junta General, August 29, 1690, in Ibid., 66-67.
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