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Our C at/zolic H e1·itage in Texas
In reporting the incident, Captain Cortes pointed out that the mission was without sufficient supplies to care for the newcomers. Munoz sent fifty fanegas ( one hundred bushels) of corn. The governor instructed him to ascertain the sincerity of the petitioners, whether they had come impelled by hunger, or fear, or by a desire for leisure and security. If they wanted to live in a mission, Cortes was instructed to try to convince them of the greater advantages which San Antonio offered them, for Mui'ioz believed that they could be cared for in one of the abandoned missions at considerably less expense to the royal treasury.s 7 While waiting for the Indians to come to see him, Cortes sent the governor a list of the supplies which he estimated were needed to care properly for the newcomers. During the first year four bulls were to be slaughtered for the weekly supply of meat, and four bundles of tobacco were to be distributed to keep the Indians contented. Among other things, he requested seventy-five blankets, four suits of clothing for the chiefs, sixty-two knives, seven bolts of cloth for skirts, six bolts of brown domestic, six metates (grindstones), six large kettles, six comales (flat cooking irons), and thirty or forty pounds of powder. When on April 22 the Cocos and Karankawas met with the captain, he reminded them that they had come three years before with a similar petition but with no intention of staying. The Indians solemnly replied that they had come in 1794 seeking permission to enter a mission and that they had stayed in Mission Rosario until the missionary .had departed, obliged to leave to secure food. They explained that they had continued to baptize their children whenever possible, that they had not committed any depredations against the presidio .or the missions, and that they had always helped the mission Indians of La Bahia to get wood, bring water, and cultivate the fields. When Father Jaudenes went away, they had gone back to the woods, but they had promised him they would return when he did. They added that they knew how to plant and cultivate corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, and other things, and that they were good dbolo and deer hunters. Cortes explained to them that they would have to live in the mission, work for the Padre, and obey all his commands. The Indians replied that they were willing to do all this if they were given lands and received seed and tools for cultivation. When Cortes suggested that they go to San Antonio, where Father Jaudenes would take them, they replied that they wanted to live in Mission Rosario and nowhere else.
57Manuel Muiioz to Cortes, April 1, 1797. Bexar Archives.
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