Our Catholic Heritage, Volume V

Our Catliolic Heritage in Texas

52

the surveyor, was instructed to proceed with the survey and division of the mission lands, but nothing more was done this day. On July 12, the actual survey and distribution took place, witnessed by the two governors, the new justicia, and Fray Norena. Eight plats, four hundred by two hundred varas each, were first surveyed and set aside as communal lands of the mission pueblo. Then fifteen other plats were surveyed, each three hundred by two hundred varas, one of which was assigned to each mission Indian. They were then told that any lands which they could not cultivate should be rented to the Spaniards with the consent of J,uticia Jose Lazaro de los Santos. It was further explained to them that the woods and pasture lands of the mission were now theirs, and that they should demand rent from any person who used them for his private stock and cattle. In addition to the communal lands assigned the new pueblo and the individual farms granted to each Indian, they also were given on this day eight yoke of oxen fully equipped, eleven plows, nine harrows, and four hoes with handles; twenty-five pounds of iron, three pounds of steel; three crowbars, five axes, one bucksaw, a handsaw, an English saw, a compass, four bits, a pair of beam scales, a brass scale, a small brass frame; two one-pound cannon weighing two hundred fifty-six pounds, and ninety-eight pounds of lead; fifteen pairs of shears, eight hundred seventy-five pounds of wood, and two looms complete with their respective combs, cards, spinning wheels, and shuttles; a mare and three horses, three mules, and nine sets of harness, a cow with a calf, and eleven hundred fifty head of sheep. The two hundred seven sheep and their lambs were not divided among the Indians but left to be cared for as a flock by Joaquin Lerma who agreed to tend them. The Indian governor and the others agreed to pay Lerma eight pesos, two bushels of corn, and a ,peso and a half of cigarettes each month for his services. These were to be paid after the sheep had been sheared. Having completed the delivery of all the mission property to the neophytes, Governor Munoz reviewed for them again the new method they were to follow in the administration of their individual property, the cultivation of their lands, and the disposal of the crops raised. They replied that they understood their duties and would consult with the new justicia to solve all the problems that might arise. Governor M ufioz further explained to them that the plat of land called " jardzn," and

Cl

..

Powered by