011r Catholic H e,·itage in Texas
170
slightly east, they recognized the Brazos which they crossed not far from Mineral Wells. Here he began following the Brazos upstream to the vicinity of Graham, and continued to or near Seymour. He remarked on the saltiness of the stream which was no other than Salt Fork. He changed direction to the northwest to the Wichita River, finally reaching Pease River which he confused with the Red. He now made his way to the Blanco River in New Mexico, where he camped on August 5, 1789, on the same spot as before. He continued along the well-established route to Santa Fe by way of Chapelle and Pecos pueblo for eighty leagues, and arrived at home on August 20. With Fragoso and his guides, Vial had accomplished a remarkable exploration without the loss of a single man. He had travelled 361 leagues from Santa Fe to Natchitoches, 51 to Nacogdoches, 154 to San Antonio, and 348 back to Santa Fe to complete the circle, a total of 914 leagues, or approximately 2,295 miles. 31 He had visited many Indian pueblos in the vast area explored ; he had found everywhere an abundance of wild game, fruits, and nuts; he had made an accurate map 32 of the road to Natchitoches; and he had followed a route that was probably the shortest and most practical in connecting all these points. The route was, in fact, followed subsequently. These expeditions of Vial, Mares, Fernandez, and Fragoso are significant not only because they blazed the way, but also because they afford us detailed geographic and ethnological informa- tion. They reveal the general distribution of Indian tribes in Texas at the close of the eighteenth century, the relations existing among them, and their habits and customs. The dangers braved by these explorers are comparable to those of Lewis and Clark, and the fund of information obtained is no less important. They prepared in great part the way for future penetrations of the vast area between the remote Provinces of New Mexico and Texas and the no less remote fringes of Spanish dominions in the hitherto unexplored regions of the north and east.
' 1 I
SI/bid., July 28-August 20. 32 Bolton, op. cit., reproduces the map opposite p. 126.
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