From San Lorenzo to Retroccssion of Louisiana, 1795-1801
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Louisiana with their catch but were soon afterward attacked by a large party of Comanches who succeeded in taking the herd. Lieutenant Amangual was sent in pursuit, but the herders had delayed reporting the outrage for obvious reasons and so made the venture futile. 47 The horses, strays from the missions, had multiplied with incredible rapidity and sired the numberless droves that attracted so many adventurers to Texas in the closing years of the century. \1/hen in 1806, Captain Zebulon Montgomery Pike undertook to explore Rer:1 River and the Arkansas by order of General 'Wilkinson, he was amazed by the number of the wild creatures thundering proudly across the plains, their defiant neighing causing the horses and the mules of the pack train to stampede and follow the herd. "The wild horses," he wrote in his account, "are in such numbers as to afford supplies for all the savages who border on the province, [as well as] the Spaniards, and the vast droves for other provinces of the United States.... They go in such large numbers that it is requisite to keep an advance guard of horsemen, in order to frighten them away; for should they be suffered to come near your horses and mules which you drive with you, by their snorting and neighing, they alarm them, and are frequently joined by them and taken off, notwithstanding all the exertions of the dragoons to prevent them. Texas 11mstangs. "A gentleman told me," he continued, "he saw seven hundred beasts carried off at one time, not one of which was ever recovered. In the night they frequently carry off the droves of travellers' horses and even come within a few miles of San Antonio and entice away the horses in the vicinity." 48 A description of the manner in which the Spaniards were wont to catch them may not be amiss. "They take a few fleet horses," continued Pike, "and proceed into the country where the animals are numerous; they build a large inclosure, with a door which enters into a smaller inclosure. From the entrance of the large pen they project wings out into the prairie to a great distance, and then set up bushes, etc., to induce the horses when pursued to enter within these wings. After these prepa- rations are made, they keep a lookout for such a drove; for if they unfortunately should start too large a one, they either burst open the 47 Nava to Elguezabal, October 13, 1801. Bexar Arcliives. 48 Pike, Zebulon M., Exploratory travels tliroug/i t/i4 western l4rritori4S of NortA America, 331-332. (London, 18n.)
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