Reorganization and New Policies, z770-z800
31
Some idea of the number of cattle that were caught and branded as a result of the new policy, first instituted by Croix and finally confirmed by royal decree, may be gathered from the official reports on the revenues collected at fifty cents per head. The money thus collected was kept in San Antonio in a special chest under three locks, in keeping with an old Spanish custom. Governor Martinez Pacheco had the key to one, Juan Jose de los Santos, alcald(J, had the key to the other, and Juan Arocha, alcalde, had the key to the third. In order to deposit or take out any of the funds from the chest, all three officials had to be present, each to open his respective lock. Up to January 1, 1787, a total of eight thousand eight hundred five pesos had been collected. This indicated that over seventeen thousand head of unbranded or wild cattle had been caught and killed or shipped out of the province. It is further to be kept in mind that the hunters of wild cattle were not particular about reporting accurately the number caught or killed because the more accurate the report was, the greater the amount that would be due the royal treasury. An idea of the distri- bution of the cattle at this time may be obtained from the annual reports made. For example, in 1786, there were two hundred twenty-eight head paid for at La Bahia, seven hundred twenty at Nacogdoches, and one thousand two at San Antonio, according to reports made by Governor Pacheco, Captain Luis Cazorla, and Antonio Gil Ibarbo in January, 1787. The number that the friendly and hostile Indians killed or drove away is not known. But the wild cattle had not by any means been exhausted in spite of the ruthless destruction. On March 16, 1788, Martinez Pacheco reported that as the result of special round-ups executed by the ranchers and the missions to take advantage of the four months' period of grace granted by the royal decree of September 21, 1787, as many as six thousand two hundred thirty-one head of cattle and one hundred eighty- three horses were caught in the country west of the Guadalupe alone, and one thousand four hundred eighteen head in the former pastures of Mission Espiritu Santo. The governor explained that the San Antonio missions were unable to participate in these round-ups because of their lack of neophytes and tame horses. 40 Thus in two round-ups in the winter and spring of 1787-1788, without participation by the San Antonio missions, more than seventy-five
40 Reports on Mestefios, 1786-1788. Saltillo Arc/Jives, Vol. V, pp. 49-53; 56-62.
Powered by FlippingBook