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Our Catliolic Heritage in T e:xas
slender means. In this way Father Jaudenes was enabled to keep his little flock together through the winter. 50 Early in the spring of 1792, Governor Mufi.oz sent Jaudenes clothes for the Indians, forty-eight blankets, other miscellaneous supplies, and two hundred ,pesos in cash. In his report the governor estimated the cost of the supplies sent at this time as six hundred twenty-four ,pesos. 51 Little wonder that Governor Munoz was much displeased to learn late that fall that Father Jaudenes had complained of lack of cooperation and had requested two thousand pesos as reimbursement for the expenses incurred in restoring the mission. Father Jaudenes had appealed to Nava in a memorial in which he explained the conditions he had found on his arrival, and that he had been obliged to rebuild practically the whole mission at the request of the governor. He had taken it for granted that the king would defray the expenses. To do the work he had had to borrow two thousand ,pesos, he declared. It was this sum which he now requested the commandant general to repay him. It seems that Father Jaudenes decided to take this step after he had written to Munoz on October 19 to ask him for a fixed annual allowance to assist in the maintenance of Rosario. This was an unusual request, and the governor naturally replied that he had already given the cus- tomary assistance allowed a mission during its first year; that to continue it, would require the approval of the viceroy. 52 The controversy grew warm and as late as the summer of 1794 had not been settled. Father Jaudenes maintained that the sum he requested had been spent in the construction of the church, the lodgings, and the new wall. 53 Progress during the first few years was slow and halting. Lack of adequate supplies prevented the missionaries from keeping the Indians constantly under instruction. Every three months the neophytes had to be permitted to hunt food. When Father Cardenas in San Antonio appealed to Mufioz, the governor replied that there was little he could do to relieve the gravity of the situation. The custom of permitting the Indians to absent themselves had been started by Father Reyes and soon was regarded an unavoidable evil. When in August, 1794, the SOMuiioi to Revillagigedo, October I, October 10, and November 7, 1791. Nacogdocl,es Arcl,ives, Vol. ·1, pp. 120-125. 51 Muiioz to Revillagigedo, March 12, 1792. Nacogdoches Archives, Vol. 7, pp. I 89-190. S 2 Jaudenes to Nava, November 17, 1793. Bexar Arcllives. Munoz to Revillagigedo, October 21, 1792. Nacogdocl,es Arc!,ives, Vol. 7, pp. 248-249. 53 Nava to Munoz, May 7, 1794. Bexar Archives.
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