Om· Catliolic H eritage in T e:xas
urgent need for the erection of numerous public offices in San Antonio for proper administration. Lines of communication from San Antonio to other towns within the province and to neighboring provinces should be improved, kept up, and better guarded. The more difficult crossings should be repaired; canoes and ferryboats built and placed on the larger streams; and new settle- ments established at suitable locations along the old roads by those who were willing to found them. The establishment of these new settlements would be facilitated by discontinuing the practice of forcing all immi- grants to settle in only designated areas. Turning his attention next to the four missions in San Antonio, Bonavia pointed out that the Indians still living in them were so incon- sequential in number that they were insufficient to form even the nucleus of a town. The four churches were in good condition, he reported, and were being taken care of by two missionaries. He proposed that the mission lands be surveyed for four new towns, and be subdivided into lots and farms. Worthy subjects of the king should be permitted to purchase or should be assigned land in the new towns for meritorious services. In either event, the settlers should be required to cultivate and develop their property and to maintain school. The regulations per- taining to new settlements now in force in the Interior Provinces would be followed in establishing the proposed towns. He suggested a slight modification be made in accord with the Ordinance of Sierra Morena- to forbid joining or subdividing the lots and plats assigned. Within a specified time the settlers were to fence their lands under penalty of forfeiture. Equally important to the defence and development of Texas was the establishment of water communications. Water routes would reduce freight rates, and consequently, lower prices on supplies; water routes would also encourage colonization of the Gulf coast region. Bonavia informed the Junta that this last recommendation was already being put into effect. A certain De la Rosa had been authorized to proceed from Matagorda Bay to Vera Cruz to determine the feasibility of estab- lishing direct communications between that port and Texas. 69 Proposals of tlie ltmta. Although the members of the Junta were in accord with Bonavia on all his recommendations, they made several sug- gestions, some of which were radical and ambitious. For example, they 69Minutes of the /1111ta de Guerra, June 19, 1809. A. G. I., A11diencia de Guada- lajara, 104-2-25 (Dunn Transcripts, 1800-1819, pp. 227-230).
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